Help hero vs moment?

[mstarman]

As already noted elsewhere on Phandroid there's a short term price advantage to the Hero. Its down to $129.99 ($50.00 off) at BestBuy for rewards zone members until 11/02.

Even with that, I can't quite pull the trigger. Is there a scientific name for a phobia that the day after I commit - a 4" 1680 x 1050 AMOLED phone with dual snapdragon/tegras, WiMax, 32mb of ROM/RAM ,and 96 hour battery life will hit the market for free with no contract?

At least I can get $50 back from the wife's Hero to help offset her $100.00 RedLight camera donation. Not all technology is beneficial.

 

[Edaze55]

Redlight Cameras are the devils work! No good will ever come from them unless of course you happen to be the city that owns them.

I have 2 questions to you. First, with that powerhouse of a phone you dreamed up, why did you only stop at 32gig, you shoulda went for 128gig ? (Im assuming this is what you mean not the mb listed) And of course now for the real question. If such a phone you listed DID exist, would you be able to pull the trigger on that purchase?

 

[JoeFresco]

Even with that, I can't quite pull the trigger. Is there a scientific name for a phobia that the day after I commit - a 4" 1680 x 1050 AMOLED phone with dual snapdragon/tegras, WiMax, 32mb of ROM/RAM ,and 96 hour battery life will hit the market for free with no contract?

I googled it and couldn't find any fear of the impossible. But for my sake, I hope your fear actually comes true.

 

[mstarman]

One of the frustrating things about the red light cams is a good portion of the cash doesn't even go to the village. She got the ticket in Palatine and the check goes to Lombard directly to the offshore owned company that makes the lions share of the money.

Oh yea, that should be gigs! I'd probably buy it, but then again the quad CPU with a terabyte of ROM and built in 1080p projector would be right around the corner...

 

[crow11ad]

So if anyone thinking about changing as this is the day? I am so on the border line. I really hate making decisions like this. I know that if I go with the moment, I can add to it the moment as far as widgets, but can't add the track ball. I know if I switch, I might miss the the UI, but again can put widgets and apps.

 

[MikeG7265]

Yeah, I'm considering the swap too, one question I have, and I hope this isn't too off topic......I bought my Hero at BB, if I trade it for the Moment do I start all over with the 30 days, or do I only have the remaining time left from my original 30 days?
I am going to a Sprint store where hopefully I can actually play with a Moment and not just the shell like they have at BB, then I will make my decision. If I don't like the Moment, my Hero is still going back today, and then I guess I will just wait it out and see what is around the corner.

 

[crow11ad]

If getting the phone from bb, then it should start over. But I am gping to. Sprint as soon as theu open today. I mean whem you don't get all your vms or texts, it's sad. I mean I love HTC, I really do. But when the company will not send even an automated reply back, hmmmm.

Even if I do decide to switch to the moment or keep the hero as I will have android, I am on the priemere plan and can upgrade in 1 year and get 150.00 off + any rebates every year. I will report later today.

 

[SDscorch]

If you check the thread called "Momentous Day" Scorch, you'll see that some of them have received the Moment early. Complete with pictures. So they received it early, but its not "offically" out until tomorrow at the stores.

yep! look at that!

amazing!


that kinda thing NEVER happens - lol

 

[ggoldfingerd]

I spent two hours last night at the Sprint store comparing the Hero and the Moment side by side. I am still kinda split between the two.

The amoled screen looks nicer and the extra color palette keeps certain images from looking pixelated. The only downside is that the screen has a slight blue hue to it. You can't really tell unless you have another device right next to it and is mainly only noticeable on white. The screens responsiveness to touch felt about the same on both devices, but I didn't really test that too much. The Moment is slightly more responsive in terms of the cpu, mainly when loading apps. I did notice that the Moment's screen is smoother when scrolling through all program list and comments in youtube. It was about the same in the browser. I not sure if this is due to the refresh rate of the screen, the cpu, or the way the video drivers were written in the Moment. The Hero was a little choppy when scrolling through all programs or comments in the youtube app. Both phones were reset before this I checked them out.

The keyboard has a awkward layout on the Moment. I think anyone using it will get used to it. The button press feels similar to the Touch Pro. The screen transitions quickly between landscape and portrait mode. The slider seems pretty stable but does have some wobble to it. The three capacitive buttons work fine, but once in awhile, you may be scrolling down a web page and slide your finger over it. The optical track mouse is different and worked fine, but I prefer the trackball on the Hero. The proximity sensor is a nice addition that missing on the Hero. Call quality was fine on the Moment but I was only able to call my Touch Pro and voice mail, so that wasn't a good test. The Moment didn't have any music on it, so I was unable to compare it to the Hero. The Hero's speaker was loud and sounds good with music.

I personally like Sense-UI. I was tempted to log into an exchange server on the Moment to see how Moxier Mail worked, but I decided not against it. I have always had a hardware keyboard, so this decision is hard for me. The extra cpu speed is nice and so is the amoled screen, but the Moment is bulky and heavy. It reminds me of a cross between the PPC-6700 and the PPC-6800 (mogul). I am hoping some detailed reviews come in about the Moment soon over call quality, speakers quality, music quality over the 3.5mm jack with good headphones, and whatever else.

Does anyone know if the Moment can function as a disk drive in Windows? I heard somewhere that it didn't but I figured there was some kind of app for that. I hope some more people with both device post what they think about the two phones.

 

[ElAguila]

I have not read the moment reviews yet. I have had the ppc6600, mogul, and the touch pro. I can say this about the hero. The battery life, video play, and browsing are a marked improvement over all of those previous phones.

 

[forty2]

Does anyone know if the Moment can function as a disk drive in Windows? I heard somewhere that it didn't but I figured there was some kind of app for that. I hope some more people with both device post what they think about the two phones.

Yes. Hook up USB, select mount on the phone, and your computer will recognize it as a mass storage drive.

 

[5280droid]

Just got back from the Sprint store. Spent about 30 minutes having my way with the Moment. The first thing I noticed is that swiping from one screen to another is not as clean as the Hero. I have to say that the screen/glass on the Hero is so smooth and silky. I barely have to touch it while swiping to move to the next screen. I had to be alittle bit rougher with the Moment. Would not change screens right away and the screen/ glass/plastic was not as smooth to the touch. The vanilla android is fine....you can customize it anyway you want with all the widgets and Ahome/ freshface/DXtop themes there are available. It was bigger than the Hero of course.....but the extra weight still felt good. I LOVED the Dial pad. Big and roomy. Almost took up the whole screen. Not small like the hero. The dial pad set up was set up really good. Call quality was great. Opened up the sliding keyboard. It was the first HW keyboard I have used on a phone. Did not mis type a word. Again...LOVED the HW keyboard. Oh man...if the hero had a HW keyboard I'd be a lot calmer.
Picks up finger prints and smudges pretty fast. Does not clean as easy as the Hero. If my Hero gets a little smudgy...a quick rub on my shirt gets it pretty clean again. A quick rub on my shirt with the moment just moves the smudges around...and around...and around.
The launching of apps was , I thought alittle faster on the Hero. The moment was just alittle laggy. My hero...not laggy at all. That will probably all change when 2.0 comes out though.

OK.....loved the slideout keyboard. Dial pad was AWESOME.
Screen responsiveness not as good as the Hero ( Im sorry to say )
Cant clean as easy as the Hero. The extra weight was a non issue to me.

If you have never used the Hero and are not so technical...the moment is a great phone. However...I've had the Hero for about 2 weeks and it has spoiled me.

 

[flyjbaker]

I had the Hero for 2 weeks. I just traded it in on the Moment. My biggest complaint about the Hero was the phone app. It was EXTREMELY laggy. Even ending a call with either the touch screen or the hard key, it takes about 2 seconds to register that selection. Anyway, the phone portion of the Hero absolutely sucked salty balls and it drove me friggin' crazy. I need my PHONE to be a PHONE first. And the Hero failed in this area. The Moment absolutely SMOKES the Hero as far as speed goes. Every touch is instantaneous.....pow....pow....pow. It makes the Hero look ******** to be honest. I honestly didn't give a rat's azz about the real keyboard but I already love it. I can type like crazy with hardly no mistakes. If you liked the voice dialer on the Instinct(which, BTW, is excellent) the same one is on the Moment....and it is excellent. The reviewer that remaked about the scrolling of the screens was correct. It does not scroll quite as smoothly from homescreen to homescreen. But it is not at all irritating....just not quite as smooth. The phone IS GIGANTIC but still doesn't seem like an issue to me....I do keep it in my pocket. If you use cases or gels then it will be giganticER. I don't so I don't think it will be an issue. I honestly don't think I need 7 homepages. Was it nice, sure. But you will see an IMMEDIATE difference in speed the instant you pick up the phone and you will LOVE that speed. I will miss the camera on the Hero. It was fantastic. The phone on the Sammy is good enough. This phone is not as pretty or flashy as the Hero, but I do believe it is a better executed device. The build quality of the Hero is the best in the business IMHO. The Sammy is above average but like another poster said, there is some "wiggle" because of the slider. The PRE folks call it the "Oreo effect" although it is nowhere nearly as bad as the PRE. I had this phone in my hands for 2 minutes and knew I made the right decision.

TO the poster who was asking about the 30 day period and how it applies after you switch your phone...... You only get ONE exchange and that is it. IOW, I am stuck with this phone and cannot exchange it. I would have to eBay it and buy at full price if I wanted to change phones.....I don't think that will be the case. I like it a lot. It smokes!!!

 

[5280droid]

good review Fly,

I'll give the Moment another try in a few days at another store. I really, REALLY want to like it. Maybe they did not set it up the correct way....or something was off on it. Like everything else...once I get used to it...I'll probably love it. Its the breaking in part that Im not fond of.....and Im talking about the Phone breaking me in.

HA HA

 

[crow11ad]

I got the moment today after taking back the Hero....all I can say is wow. I will post a review tonight.

 

[thefley]

You do realize that Sense UI is propretary and belongs to HTC right? Thats not to say that Samsung couldnt have done something different to the UI, but they couldnt have used Sense.

As for the extra home screens, clock widgets and what not. You CAN give your moment the look of Sense UI, including the 7 home screens. I suggest you look at openHome.

Big Analog Clock Better Android Apps

I feel like I have been repeating this a lot lately.

Cool thx for the info!!! the wife will be happy now!!

 

[MarioDRio]

I'm going to be a first smartphone user by the end of this week, or probably the end of this month.

The thing I'll use my phone mostly is for calling, texting, music, and pictures.

My biggest concern is call quality, but I'm confident they both fair well.

Texting, I like the physical keyboard, but touch is fine too.

Camera, 5mp vs 3.2mp w/flash. Hm.. I like the flash.

I can live without the music, I have an MP3 player, I just like having something that can be an all-in-one kind of thing.

On top of everything, I like it to be smooth, and functionable(I hope that's a word). A little lag is fine here and there, it's normal I guess.

I've read just about every reply here on the forum, and I see how frustrating it is to make a decision, because if I were to go to one, I would only have the opportunity to make one more decision, and bam, that's it.

I fail to understand why the Sense UI would be so important, or the 7 homepages, and the fancy widgets, although that is what attracted me.

Maybe it's because I am a first time smartphone user, that I don't understand the 7 homepages.

I mean.. OpenHome has amazing themes for the Android, I liked the Hero because of its original theme, but then I saw OpenHome and that was bam Samsung MOMENT right there.

Then, I read about Samsung's intentions of not continuing with their productivity, and throwing out something new, while HTC stays on top of their work.

Is that true? Not about HTC, but Samsung?
I mean I don't want a phone that's going to be outdated in a matter of a month, rather than basically being alive and well.

Also.. When 2.0 comes out, could it automatically (with the MOment) be grabbed off the site and updated to the phone? (or over wifi, however it works)

 

[Adrift]

Mario, Where to Begin...

This phone would be great for all that you listed

Call quality is Pretty good, on par with, maybe slightly better than Hero

I thought I prefered a touch screen keyboard till I got my fingers on The Moment's physical board, it simply extrudes quality and keystrokes are much more confident, fewer errors.

While the Hero has a 5mp camera, It BLOWS, out of focus, lacks colors, quality is terrible, I hated it. The camera on The Moment while smaller in MPs is much better in every aspect. Who cares if it is 5mp if the photo looks like junk.

Comes with an MP3 Player, and its Android! you can download a different one if you dont like that one. I personally prefer Pandora internet radio, which works flawlessly on Moment unlike Hero, on Hero it froze all the time, every 2nd or 3rd song.. GRRR..

Go for it, I have personally owned the Hero for a month... Was cool at first, it looks great, the UI is all flashy... but then the newness wears ( like within the first day ) and you see that the phone is glitchy, freezes, slow pretty much all around, won't run many apps correctly, and then you have to deal with it the next day... and the next... and the next... then texts stop coming in on time, and only arrive when you wake the phone up...*gouge out your own eyes*

Repeat above for Sense UI.

7 Homepages.... like everything in life everyone always wants more of everything.

Bam!! you realized something many folks don't... The Moment is MORE customizable than Hero (yes HTC and marketing lied to you) Sense UI limits you to only HTC and Sense UI.

I have always had Samsung phones... Never had a problem with updates and fixes... got them sometimes twice a month on the Instinct. So in my case that is just rumors... probably HTC/ (insert brand name) fanboys spreading BS.

As far as Android 2.0 I see no reason why it wouldn't come to The Moment, it has been announced for Hero, and Moment specs are higher in nearly every category.

I say why wait? I wish this phone had come out earlier so that I hadn't wasted my time with the Zero.

 

[jshapiro]

Traded in my Hero today for the Moment. I loved the Hero - almost perfect - but I am constantly changing appointments in my calendar all day long. The on-screen keyboard was just slowing me down too much. Now, I can type away and not lose 1/2 the screen to the virtual keyboard. Makes it much easier and i don't want to throw the thing across the room every time it replaces "support" with "soup art".

There are big improvements in the Moment's included exchange active sync app (moxier). It works great - picks up multiple contact lists in exchange and combines them. It handles recurring appointments properly (the hero did NOT). It even supports email flags with exchange 2007. These are big bonus points for corporate users.

The touchpad thing - eh.. the ball is definitely better but, after 1/2 day of use, the touchpad is not so bad. I have yet to try out a game but that's secondary for my needs.

The feel of the device. It just feels huge. But, it's really not even much bigger than my old Palm Treo 755 when closed. I think it's just the squareness of it that makes it feel larger in your hand. When compared to the Hero, it feels even larger. Again, the keyboard is such a plus that the extra size is an easy concession to make.

Stock Android - so, there is the sense ui and the smoothness issue. Definitely the hero has a smoother feel. I know exactly what the earlier posts referred to and it's true. The hero just swipes screens smoother BUT the moment is definitely more responsive in apps. The accelerometer built into the moment works better. The screen blanks when you hold it to you face every time. The Hero would fail to do so and I often face-hung-up on people all the time. It also switches to landscape mode much quicker than the Hero.

Overall, the Hero is the sexier device. If you need your phone to be more than a show-off piece, though, the Moment wins hands down. It is a great addition to sprint's android lineup and is a step in the right direction in swaying business users from their boring blackberries. Evaluate your own needs and I don't think you can make a bad decision with either device.

 

[flyjbaker]

Just for the record, if you learn how to use the camera properly on the Hero, it is FANTASTIC!!!!...far beyond the Moment's. It will likely be the thing I will miss most. ut this is a phone and not a camera. The Phone on the Hero SUCKED!!!....nothing like waiting 2 seconds for each keystroke to register(and wondering the whole 2 seconds if you actually successfully made your keystroke). The "phone app" on the Hero was maddening. There is no lag on this phone. I can fly through menus without a slowdown while the Hero you were waiting for each key stroke.... Anyway, the other apps on the Hero were OK.

Attached are a couple of pics from the hero. These went from the cam directly to faceook and then I copied them off of facebook....so they have gone thru a lot of risizing and reformatting and still look great.

 

[Adrift]

I always see folks saying their Hero took great photos, but mine was really terrible, I am beginning to think my Hero was just a lemon. I had many problems others didn't seem to have. Thing is though, about the camera, I am a photographer (amateur, yes but no begginer) so I do know how to set up a photograph, even with great lighting and a good subject, my photos still came out blurry and the colors muted... I was not trying to get photos like those from my D700, but I was expecting more.

That said, I am still quite pleased with the Moment's camera and camcorder.

 

[JoeFresco]

Actually those pics are going to look better at a smaller size because it will hide a loss of detail and noise. I'm not saying it's bad, just that pics that size aren't worthwhile examples of high quality pics. I personally don't care because I'm only looking at phones with a QWERTY keyboard

 

[MarioDRio]

Adrift, thank you so much for getting back on my reply.

For now it's going to be the Samsung Moment. The only thing that concerns me is if it's going to be available where I want to get it, at Sam's Club. My grandmother and famly got a great deal with them, but not a very wide selection of phones, but my mom isn't going to pass on a deal like that, so if they don't hav eit.. well.. I guess I'm a little SoL. I don't see why not, though! I mean it's new, and hopefully, being it's in Lauderdale it won't be sold out.

I'll keep reading up on the forum, and if anything I'll ask away, and if I happen to get the Moment due to avaiability, I'll be sure to write a review on it.

 

[flyjbaker]

Adrift, since you know about cameras. The Hero you could adjust the ISO and you could adjust the saturation. I turned the ISO up to 400 and turned the saturation up one notch. You can see in those photos that the colors are full and rich and they look much much better in full res. The way to take pics with it was to touch the screen where you want to focus and hold your touch...the autofocus would focus and then the shutter would click. IOW, you would NOT use the trackball like the directions tell you too. There was also a zoom....bet you didn't know that either and it worked quite well. Anyway, that is all history to me but it was amazing how most people didn't know the tricks to working that camera....it was amazing for a phone camera.

I will be looking at phone apps in the market in hopes of being able to maniulate the Moment's camera.

PS...I am a photog as well.

PSS....the Moment is a MUCH better piece of hardware....and we all know software possibilities are almost limitless with android. I do like this phone VERY much.

 

[Adrift]

As I said before, I believe my unit was defective as my results were consistent in that the focus and saturation were poor at best. I know how to adjust a camera and already knew about how to focus using the screen. I also knew about the zoom feature, though I would never use it because it was a digital zoom and only furthur degraded the image. Your post border lines on calling me an idiot, in that I don't know how to operate a simple camera.

You must remember that the cameras on these phones do not undergo the same quality control that an actual camera would. My result may be atypical for the Hero, or it may be that you received an exceptional unit. The fact remains, in my case the Hero did not perform to any sort of standard.

For now the Moment's camera has pleased me in that it attains a sharp focus quickly, and the photo produced is well saturated and of good quality. With more camera options hopefully coming with 2.0 I am optomistic about the device