Have a couple questions regarding some features of the Hero

[gh0atd]

Hey guys and gals, I have been looking around these forums, and I must say that a lot of things are very helpful here. I do wish that in the App Sticky that there were some more US only apps, but that isn't that big of a deal.

My question though is about my own Hero.

1) I recently acquired this phone on christmas, already activated and what not, but sometimes when I am browsing through the market place or on the homepage, the Data connection just stops working. If I go in and look at the status, it says it is searching for a connection. Why? It was just connected. Is this a common problem, or should I go to Sprint and ask them why I keep getting Data dropped.

2) I saw something about the Beautiful Widgets Application. Now, I know that the Main Flip Clock/Weather Application is known to drain the battery, does this Beautiful Widgets App do the same thing basically? If it does, what other applications would you guys recommend for it? I have disabled the flip clock, but I still use the default Weather Application, as I like to know what phase the moon is in, and The Weather Channel Application does not provide me that information.

3) When I search for the Beautiful Widgets Application in the market place, it says it finds 5 results but then does not list any. Is there a reason for this? Is this because of limitations on hardware, location, carrier, etc?

4)My battery. Now, due to the fact that I have only had this a couple days, I can't be 100% sure on what my actual battery life will be like once I finish trying to customize every bit of it I can. Is there any other things that can help improve the battery life other then the Tricks thread here?

5) Is there any application that is free that can automatically disable applications at start-up/boot. I know I saw one, however that wasn't free and cost 5 dollars. In my opinion, not worth it.

6) What Task Killers would you recommend? As I have been seeing mixed reviews and results with different ones. Some not picking up programs running in the background, etc.

7) Are the cases that the Sprint Store sells bad? I ask this because the heat seems to hold when I have my Bodyglove case on. If I use the same idea that a phone is a computer, and heat is not good for computers when the heat exceeds the Temperature limit, wouldn't this be bad?

I prolly will have a bit more questions, but, for now, these were my biggest concerns. Thanks you guys.

 

[Kelmar]

Hey guys and gals, I have been looking around these forums, and I must say that a lot of things are very helpful here. I do wish that in the App Sticky that there were some more US only apps, but that isn't that big of a deal.

My question though is about my own Hero.

1) I recently acquired this phone on christmas, already activated and what not, but sometimes when I am browsing through the market place or on the homepage, the Data connection just stops working. If I go in and look at the status, it says it is searching for a connection. Why? It was just connected. Is this a common problem, or should I go to Sprint and ask them why I keep getting Data dropped.

No problem here! Could be a phone issue or a Sprint issue or a lack of service issue.

2) I saw something about the Beautiful Widgets Application. Now, I know that the Main Flip Clock/Weather Application is known to drain the battery, does this Beautiful Widgets App do the same thing basically? If it does, what other applications would you guys recommend for it? I have disabled the flip clock, but I still use the default Weather Application, as I like to know what phase the moon is in, and The Weather Channel Application does not provide me that information.

No idea... don't use main clock or weather app. Also don't use Beautiful widget app.

3) When I search for the Beautiful Widgets Application in the market place, it says it finds 5 results but then does not list any. Is there a reason for this? Is this because of limitations on hardware, location, carrier, etc?

Try going back to the MAIN page of the Market. I've found that the searching after I'm already in the market does not work.

4)My battery. Now, due to the fact that I have only had this a couple days, I can't be 100% sure on what my actual battery life will be like once I finish trying to customize every bit of it I can. Is there any other things that can help improve the battery life other then the Tricks thread here?

My advice - Keep wifi, internet, etc off unless you are in need of it or are using it.

5) Is there any application that is free that can automatically disable applications at start-up/boot. I know I saw one, however that wasn't free and cost 5 dollars. In my opinion, not worth it.

No idea.

6) What Task Killers would you recommend? As I have been seeing mixed reviews and results with different ones. Some not picking up programs running in the background, etc.

Don't use one. I've tried with using 2 different ones (both a month each) and without one for a month and found that my phone really run smoother without it. ***Read the sticky about it***

7) Are the cases that the Sprint Store sells bad? I ask this because the heat seems to hold when I have my Bodyglove case on. If I use the same idea that a phone is a computer, and heat is not good for computers when the heat exceeds the Temperature limit, wouldn't this be bad?

Probably... but I think you're reading into this one too much. It'll get warm regardless of if you use a case or if you do not use one.

I prolly will have a bit more questions, but, for now, these were my biggest concerns. Thanks you guys.

Feel free to ask away!!! We all, for the most part, love our Hero so we'll be more then happy to help whenever possible.

 

[gh0atd]

Alright, so, after doing a days worth of testing. I am thinking I am going to see about 9 hours of battery usage of moderate usage. Browsing the web and market place with heavy intensive websites, no texting, a couple phone calls, and using radio streaming for about twenty minutes.

My phone reports an up time of 7 hours, 36 minutes. With an awake time of 3 hours, 12 minutes, 32 seconds. (42 %)

Does this seem normal?

My sister received the Palm Pixi as a present as well, and she has said that her battery percentage of heavy usage is about 76%. She has not charged it at all today, and took it out of the charger at around the same time I did, if not sooner. Now I realize that this is completely different hardware and software, so there will be a difference.

Should I uninstall some applications/reset my phone back to stock as much as possible and go from there if I can get a better battery time? If not, does HTC make "bigger" batteries?


I thoroughly enjoy the HTC Hero, but battery time is the only thing worrying me right now.

Is there an easy to follow guide on how to root the phone correctly? I am wondering if I remove some of the Applications that are put into the phone that I never will use in my life if that could also help cut down on battery usage. I ask this because I have heard several different ROMs, Auto-loaders, Auto-Root programs, etc. Which one honestly is the best with its Pro's and Con's?

 

[Kelmar]

Honestly, only you can tell if the awake time on your phone is right or not. Do you think you used your phone for that long?

Rooting and removing stock apps really won't help your battery life too much. Check out Seidio, they make a larger battery for our Hero.

I used the following link when I rooted and I thought it couldn't be easier.

[GUIDE] How To Root The CDMA Hero (Windows) - xda-developers

 

[andypieces]

ive had my hero for about a month and a half now. my battery stays strong all day with heavy usage. it will take a bunch of charge cycles before the battery is conditioned. i had horrible battery life in the beginning also.

 

[durandetto]

I to have noticed improved battery life after a couple weeks of charging. Now I can get through the day with moderate use and have about 70% battery when I get home from work and that's with the flip clock, weather, location and gps turned on.