First 2 days with the Hero

[Nighthaunt]

Well in actual fact its only about 36 hours but whos counting

Loving the phone - such a change from the N97 - I think, imo, that the N97 was designed for people who want a phone, and arent worried about customising it. Sadly this doesn't describe me, and what pleasure I've had from the Hero.

Battery life is comparable to the N97 (80% after a days use) on the first charge - the battery life tends to improve on lithium batterys after a few charge cycles.

The interface is amazing - No lag (I upgraded to the latest Rom but tbh didn't notice any lag beforehand on the original Rom).

just transferring last of the contacts over - although for some reason only for some contacts do the facebook details transfer over.

Busy installing Apps - loving the shopsavvy and the google listen podcast player.

The Hero even got me onto twitter - something I've avoided before (not a great social services user).

Looking forward to finding out more - any hand hints/tips?

Regards

Alex

 

[zacspeed]

Hi Alex, glad you enjoying the Hero
Beebplayer is a cool app, & if you wanna p!$$ of any Jesusphone fanboys, show them Layar!

 

[Nighthaunt]

Downloaded layar but haven't used it yet - spent this morning finishing transferring all my contacts over from the N97.

Getting used to the keyboard - finding it easier to use than the iPhone one but still little bit harder to use than the hardware keyboard on the N97.

Seems that google has a habit of duplicating some of the contacts - easily sorted by just deleting the second entries.

Just playing with scenes now trying to work out how I want to organise the phone - decisions decisions.

Regards

Alex

 

[J1mmyG88]

hey nighthaunt, fellow n97 --> hero user here. i agree that the only thing i miss from the n97 is the keyboard, but slowly and surely getting used to the onscreen one anyway. ive downloaded many things for my hero and have to say the ones im most impressed with are google sky map, the last.fm app works brilliantly, layar is awesome, places directory is rather cool too, got spotify too which comes in handy at times and also the various soundboards are handy

 

[uberdrums]

Seems that google has a habit of duplicating some of the contacts - easily sorted by just deleting the second entries.

It might sound stupid, but its not because there are contacts on the phone and duplicates on the sim/mem card?

 

[Nighthaunt]

Don't think so Uber mate - both entries appear as google entries - rather than a phone or sim entry.

Jimmy - lovig the robowars free app - nothing revolutionary but good fun.

Google listen is great for podcasts - might be worth considering - now I need to find a good digital wallet for all my logins etc.... was using ewallet on the N97 - must have a browse through Market

Browsing the web is soo much easier than on the N97 - been a pleasent surprise just how good it is - same quality of experience as with the iPhone which has always lead the way.

Slightly overburdened with phone protection atm - Before the whole "your phones not been sent out have some free gifts" saga I had ordered a white leather pouch and flexishield (clear) from ebay. Then was sent as gift to compensate for late delivery a black flexishield (shame phones white version) and a white HTC official pouch.

Using the official pouch atm and it feels/works great - no complaints from me at all - nice build quality, fits like a glove, and if I want to just take the phone out will fit the flexishield instead.

 

[Monkey]

Hi Alex, I`m glad that you are enjoying the phone so am I Mate.
Wow the screen is just so sensitive in fact at times its too sensitive
for my fingers.
My Only complaints are Battery life and as I said, signal strength, its Crap a lot of the time I have to say, as much as I want a brand spanking new Quality phone I do expect a phone to be able to do what its Real purpose is for and that is to be able to make phone calls.
I am even having trouble searching the market place and yet if I use another phone here on 3 I have full strength all of the time.
Not good mate, I hope that maybe 2.0 will help in this respect.
Other than that, this is the best phone I have ever had.

Peace,
Andrew.

 

[htchero123]

hi nighthaunt mate,

i'm a rock-solid nokia fan and have been using nokias since the days the first bricks came out, so when i got my htc hero it was a big shock as i also was so used to the hard keypad. I'm slowly getting used to it, but i have to be honest and say that i miss the hard keypad. Also you may notice that being touchscreen you can accidently touch the screen many times, which can become annoying. Other than that, i got to give it to HTC for creating such a wonderful phone. Only time will tell if i get the hang of it.

Now regarding contacts - i had a different problem to yours which was when i transferred the CSV file to gmail and then to HTC, the contacts were messed up. I found a more easier solution and that was to sync the nokia to outlook and then install htc sync and synchronise the contacts with the htc, which is now perfect. Try it m8.

Download
1. taskiller which will allow u to quickly terminate apps to save resources.

2. Lock 2.0 which is a brilliant key locking problem

3. Contacts Grid, which allows u have the photos of ur favourite contacts in a grid. This allows to simply simply click on the photo to dial them, saving you the time of finding them via the "people" option.

I'm not too impressed with the HTC's reception and also find it a bit difficult to make calls quickly as using the touchscreen does slow you down. Its a great phone, but i'm thinking if i should root it to maybe see if the reception improves. Good Luck to you and enjoy!

 

[Nighthaunt]

Thanks for those apps htchero mate - the picture contacts look brilliant.

Monkey mate must say I get as good reception on the Hero as on the N97.

Have you guys upgraded to the latest ROM? If you have have a look at modaco for their radio update - some people got big improvements in reception strength using that.

Also have you tried switching to 2G reception in phone / settings? That works for some people.

 

[htchero123]

ur right nighthaunt that switching to 2g improves the signal, however its very small difference.

If you went into SETTINGS>>ABOUT PHONE>>STATUS, what is your signal strength showing? In fact if a few us could post their results, it would help people like me see if this is a single phone problem or if its every phone.

I've just posted on this forum regarding updating the rom to modaco...lets hope someone can help.

 

[JayCee]

If you went into SETTINGS>>ABOUT PHONE>>STATUS, what is your signal strength showing? In fact if a few us could post their results, it would help people like me see if this is a single phone problem or if its every phone.

I fail to see how that's going to help?
Surely someone who has a cell mast a few hundred metres from them will have a different result than someone who is on the fringe of reception?

 

[Nighthaunt]

3 bars in the notification area. Phone status says -91 dBm 11 asu.

I live in an area with bad mobile reception - right out in the sticks.

As far as installing ROM goes try googling I found a few when I was considering buying a T-mobile Hero off eBay to debrand it.

 

[Nighthaunt]

All I can suggest htchero mate is pop into your networks store ( if your bought phone through network ) and ask to try the reception there incomparison to a different Hero and see if there is any difference between your phone and another Hero.

 

[htchero123]

guess wot my htcs reception shows? -109dBm for the old one in the same location and 95dBm for the new one...i'm sure thats pretty low, but the new mobile is an improvement on the last one. I have 28 days to return it to orange, although not sure if that means that i can terminate my contract if i'm not happy with the phone.

 

[Nighthaunt]

Pretty close to mate - and I get pretty good phone conversation quality..

 

[JayCee]

guess wot my htcs reception shows? -109dBm for the old one in the same location and 95dBm for the new one...i'm sure thats pretty low

The lower this figure is...the stronger the signal.

 

[htchero123]

jaycee, really m8? so -95dBm is worse signal and -109dBm is better? How can that be? The reason i say that is because at -109dBm by signal bar is only at 1 and at -95dBm its at 3 bars.

 

[JayCee]

jaycee, really m8? so -95dBm is worse signal and -109dBm is better?

No, -95dbm (lower figure) is a stronger signal than -109dbm.

 

[htchero123]

ahh right, thank u v much mate. As i said before, this 2nd phone has improved signal compared to the last one...its just that little bit more i could do with to improve it further. Some people have said the radio rom improves their signal, then some say it hardly gives them any improvement. Don't know what to do m8.

 

[Nighthaunt]

Try updating the radio ROM mate - might work might not - but can only lead to the same signal or an improvement.