My switch from Moment to Hero

[aclark414]

I feel the same way about why people come here and type as though their opinions mean something. So you switched, bye-bye. Go play in the Hero forum where you will see the problems those guys are having, find them on your phone, and then start talking about your next switch.

Bottom line, hack your moment to ZE08/CL14. Add Open Home....you will love the Moment. It only took me about a week to know what they blue keyboard symbols are...and where they are...on the Moment Keyboard.

I love my moment!

Ok, first of all I have contributed much more to this form than my opinion about the hero/moment (see my thread with the step-by-step guide on how to load the ZE** kernels). Second, I DO like the Moment, I just happen to like the Hero more. Third, I know the Hero has problems. And lastly, not everyone has made up their mind and I simply wanted to give my experience with both phones. Both phones are great phones.

 

[aclark414]

Fanboys? Excuse me but I hate pointless threads cluttering up the forum.

I also chimed in on the Eris forum, where some new guy registered as "buh bye Eris" and proceeded to post a long rant about why he was returning his Eris because of this and that. Pretty much every one thought it was pointless and annoying.

No, threads like these do not help prospective buyers, because it gives them negative impressions without actually playing the phone and trying it out.

Threads with review type information are far better, than rants on "hey I dumped this phone for another phone"... pointless and wastes everyone's time.

To you and everyone else who has posted something negative in this forum. I liked the Moment. I like the Hero. This thread was created because I have experience with BOTH phones. Some people on this forum want to here from those users, like myself, that have used both phones. Geez, I am not telling everyone to drop their Moment and go buy a Hero. I heard so many negative things about the Hero too and was surprised when I tried at how much I liked it. This is a forum...a place where we discuss things. I am discussing my switch from the Moment to the Hero and comparing the two. That's the point of this place.

 

[aclark414]

If you want a Moment love fest, go to Samsung Moment Forum - Index since it's all Moment all the time. This is a general android site and people will be jumping ship and comparing all the various phones. People will be active in one subforum and then be active in another when they switch phones. So if you can think of a better place to put their thoughts on the two than in one of the two subforums, then be my guest and enlighten us. Until then, just don't post. If the thread is useless and wasteful, it will die and be on page 10 soon enough and you'll have your wish. Though I think there's been enough posts to the contrary. And aren't they lucky they get to read through this whole off topic argument. Way to go.

Well said.

 

[aclark414]

Well now that this thread is so far off topic, I will post one last comment. Someone above questions why people like me post opinion threads about their switch to the Moment.

I was one of those people that was trying to decide which phone to buy. I loved reading the comparison posts. I read posts about moment users going to the hero, and her users going to the moment.

Those of you that have 1000+ posts that are tired of newer users like myself posting threads like this...I just don't understand. There are just as many people that appreciate it and draw useful pieces of information from them.

As I said before, I spent a lot of time in this forum. I developed the detailed step by step how to guide for loading the custom kernels. I like the Moment and think it's a solid phone.

I am just glad that I gave the Hero a chance. That's it. That's all my point was.

 

[dbpaddler]

Well the helpful ones with duplicate threads are the ones that can simply say, "search helps and here's the thread that already discusses the topic". no animosity is needed.

I manage our Sprint account and was responsible for our sales reps going to android phones, and I'm a 13yr PalmOS user so I must say I'm greatly disappointed in Android being touted as a "smartphone". But the OS does things we need it to do that Palm wouldn't, and the fact it's going by the way side we needed to update. Figure Android had the best long term upside even though it's a bit lackluster now.

We have 12 android phones on the account and at first it was about 6/6 Moment/Hero. Now it's 9/3 in favor of the Moment. The biggest reason was the want of a real keyboard. I started with the Hero and then got the Moment when it came out, and for me it was night and day. I need to support both phones so it just pays for me to keep both and play with both. I'm inservicing people on both so I have to be knowledgeable to a bunch of technophobes.

One thing I noticed when going over the Hero with one guy (and I thankfully was using my Hero at the time) was showing him all the things he could do, change and customize. Some of the things were tied to Sense and HTC's tweaks and just made me wish I could do them on my Moment. He also complained about the on screen keyboard but liked the user friendly additions enough to keep the Hero. Some that chose the Moment or switched immediately from the Hero did so just because I went with it, and I must know better. That made me chuckle. Both phones have merit. Neither are perfect, and like Clark and ACP, I have an appreciation for both. If HTC comes out with the Espresso or a different slider phone though, my Moment will get retired pretty quick. I also wonder if 2.1 will level the playing field between the two or will 2.1 and Sense just be that much better? Time will tell.

 

[aclark414]

Yeah, sorry for my little vent there. I just get frustrated with how people respond sometimes. Guess I should follow my own advice. Anyway, now that we are back on track...

Sense really does seem to make a big difference, though some people prefer the vanilla Moment to build on. I know a lot of people got used to the odd keyboard layout on the Moment, but I never could for some reason.

As for 2.1...I can't wait to see what it does for these two phones, however I feel like it is a pipe dream. I know it's coming, but Sprint/Samsung/HTC do not seem to be rushing towards it anytime soon.

 

[dbpaddler]

Yeah you have 2.1 running now on all the competitive networks. Sprint was first to market but now last in the upkeep.

For people who've used both phones....can you see images in email on the moment? I can't, but I can on the hero. I feel like I'm missing a setting change somewhere, but for the life of me can't find it. If that is true, it's just another welcome htc addition that makes android seem extremely lackluster.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Yeah you have 2.1 running now on all the competitive networks. Sprint was first to market but now last in the upkeep.

For people who've used both phones....can you see images in email on the moment? I can't, but I can on the hero. I feel like I'm missing a setting change somewhere, but for the life of me can't find it. If that is true, it's just another welcome htc addition that makes android seem extremely lackluster.

Of course I can see email images.

I'm going to ignore your other rants. Obviously there's something going on with you about this topic that you're going to beat the horse to death with, so have fun with that.

 

[PiggyGirl]

Paddler, you need to calm down and get over yourself...anyways, the Nexus is the best Android phone available right now and the iPhone is probably the best phone period. For more info about either, please go to google.com...as for the Moment, since this is the Moment's forum, it is the best that Sprint has to offer right now. The Hero is another Android option with Sprint--see the Hero forum for more info, or google.com...

 

[cvam1985]

I had the moment for almost 45 days and took it back to Best Buy yesterday and exchanged for the Hero.

I also feel it's a night and day difference. I absolutely loved Android on the Moment, but Sense really makes it shine.

The overall operation of the Hero is so much better, and things that bugged me so much with the Moment (face-activating speaker/mute, HORRID GPS and Google Maps, no Voice Search, no LEDs, Pandora not working, etc etc etc) are all fixed with the Hero.

I have not yet experienced any lag other than accelerometer, and will be keeping a close eye to see if I get the dust problem.

Coming from the iPhone, the soft keyboard doesn't bug me one bit. I used the Moment's QWERTY so much less than I thought I would because the software took too long for me to switch from landscape to portrait.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with my switch. Different strokes.

 

[dbpaddler]

I thought the switch to landscape was much more immediate on the hard keyboard of the Moment than with the soft keyboard on either phone. I find myself tapping the Hero to speed up the transition. When I slide out the keyboard on the Moment it's pretty much instantaneous. The lack of LED's does bug me. Maybe it wouldn't if the lighted soft keys would work properly since apparently they do have some notification function, it's just inconsistent. You would think with the array of sensors to the left of the Sprint logo, that there would be a notification LED in there. Such an odd thing to omit. At least on the Nexus they say the trackball light is for notifictions and actually has different colors for voice and text.

Piggy...I'm perfectly calm. I just ramble like crazy and it takes me five sentences to say what I should say in two to three. And we'll just differ on our opinion of what this forum is for. But since you don't have the Hero and don't care for it, why do you continue to exert your opinion in this thread? We can tell you don't like it, and you really need to start or finish your sentences with "in my opinion" because your words are far from fact. And Nexus has great specs, but for those that need a keyboard it's still not the best phone. And the iphone would be the best if it wasn't tied to itunes, could multitask, had a hard keyboard, had expandable memory and didn't require jailbreaking to see the full extent of it's functionality. It thankfully did a great job at raising the bar, and for many the Nexus is the best alternative. So wish HTC would make a slider version of the Nexus. That would be a sweet phone and probably have the Moment forum hearing crickets.

AndroidSPCS...now it's bugging me why images show up in email on my Hero but not my Moment. And it's across the board too, on all email accounts, except gmail which has the show embedded images button. And Moxier doesn't let me download attachments though I can forward the email to a web account and it downloads just fine. I've factory reset the thing twice too. Will have to grab one from my coworkers' and see how it is on theirs.

 

[Mw182006]

I registered just to say thanks for this comparison. Despite what some of the other closed-minded morons have posted in this thread, there are some of us who appreciate user comparisons with real life experiences in addition to some person getting paid to write a review. If you don't like reading opinions and engaging in meaningful discussions, why the hell are you frequenting a message board, and why click the thread in the first place?

Hopefully I don't get banned after my first post, but whatever.

 

[aclark414]

MW...I had to chuckle when I read your post about hoping you don't get banned. I feel you on that.

Paddler...thank you for mentioning that all of this is just peoples' opinions.

Piggy...I disagree with you on the forums. If you are tired of hearing us compare the two phones, then why don't you just stop reading this thread? Read back through the 36+ posts in this thread and you will find that quite a few people appreciate it and find it useful.

 

[dbpaddler]

That's it. I'm telling the mods and getting your butt kicked. God forbid you actually make sense and be complimentary in your first post. Total blasphemy.

Hopefully I don't get banned after my first post, but whatever.

And why people continue to post in a thread they have zero interest in, I'll never know. They only keep a thread they wish dead to continue living. And if people truly had no interest in the topic it would die a quick death.

 

[chuckswash]

My two cents. Had a moment, liked it, but ... eventually went to the hero.

I had the moment for two weeks. The screen was great, but the build was cheap. I tried to get used to keyboard, but the placing of the keys were just terrible for me. True, I could be sort of fast with it, but I would constantly have to keep looking at the keyboard and not at the screen which was annoying. Also, the directional arrows on the keyboard just seemed extremely weired to me. And the spacebar was terribly placed. Why couldn't they have made the keyboard more like the touch pro from HTC (a well, built slider, in my opinion). The onscreen was actually decent on the moment, and I got pretty fast. I would say I was almost faster using the moment's onscreen keyboard than the phsyical, which makes the whole reason for getting the phone (phsyical keyboard) be pointless.

Apps ran fast, but the funny thing is, the HTC hero seems a lot snappier than the moment, perhaps due to the software optimizations on HTC's part. I thought I wouldn't care about the whole sense UI, but it rocks, and I actually like it. Still adjusting to typing on the hero. Never be as fast as my treo, but I can deal with it. We all know the moment is technically faster, but if you know anything about cpus, processor speed alone isn't everything if the underlying code isn't optimized, or just crap. If the Hero does lag, I haven't really noticed. I'm biased, of course. I come from a long line of WM devices where lag was the norm; the hero flies, as does the moment. Anything is better than WM lag.

Since exchange is where I keep my stuff (via work), that was key. Both units sync them well, but the Hero, for some reason, does not sync tasks, yet. Hopefully this is fixed in the future. That being said, the hero's exchange email program is miles ahead of that mozier crap, and I really like that. Hopefully 2.1 fixes that. Nevertheless, mozier does the job, and does tasks.

Battery life -- I could have overlooked some of the flaws of the moment. Really, it seems like a decent phone. However, the battery life is the worst I have experienced in all my experiences of owning pdas/smartphones. I realize there is a battery meter issue, with it not being measured right. I tried to optimize it, and do all the tricks laid out in these forums, but the battery life still sucked. No problem; get an extended life battery, which is what I usually do. I buy my batteries, usually from seidio, and I contacted them. According to them, they have no plans to make batteries or any accessories for the phone. This may change,but if seidio isn't doing the batteries, I'm sure a lot of other companies aren't going to throw there weight behind this phone. I don't have time to wait. I could get an OEM battery, but the reason why I like the extended batteries is, I use the heck out of my phone, and I hate, hate, hate doing battery pulls. Seidio batteries have been very good to me, and I often don't have to charge them for days, which is great because I am on the go a lot. I could have ignored everything else, but since the prospects of getting an extended battery from any company were looking bleak, this was the dealbreaker.


On top of that, it seems like Samsung isn't pushing this phone, given their lack of advertisment money for sprint. Did they just push this thing out, and forget about it?

Which leads me to reputation; I've owned many HTC phones, and I've had good experiences with them. This is my first samsung phone, and from my perspective, they are not known for quality phones. The moment does seem like a solid phone, but it just seems like HTC is backing up what they make a little bit more. The build quality on the moment also seems more solid as well, but I think I am going to avoid sliders from now on, unless they are really sturdy. I kept getting the feeling that the slider was going to snap off when typing.

Just my observations

 

[chuckswash]

Well now that this thread is so far off topic, I will post one last comment. Someone above questions why people like me post opinion threads about their switch to the Moment.

I was one of those people that was trying to decide which phone to buy. I loved reading the comparison posts. I read posts about moment users going to the hero, and her users going to the moment.

Those of you that have 1000+ posts that are tired of newer users like myself posting threads like this...I just don't understand. There are just as many people that appreciate it and draw useful pieces of information from them.

As I said before, I spent a lot of time in this forum. I developed the detailed step by step how to guide for loading the custom kernels. I like the Moment and think it's a solid phone.

I am just glad that I gave the Hero a chance. That's it. That's all my point was.

Agreed. Comparisons are really helpful when you are going to drop hundreds of dollars on a phone.

 

[dbpaddler]

chuck....

1. HTC doesn't sync tasks because they didn't put it in their program. I actually like Moxier compared to HTC's program in regards to capability. It's HTC's Sensed out email in general that looks cleaner and is more functional than vanilla Android. Exchange functionality should be moot when 2.1 hits as Exchange support is built in. Just might put Moxier and Touchdown out to pasture. I do wish there was more customizability to the email and messaging programs in stock Android. I don't mind customizing with 3rd party programs, but you can't even change the background and font colors in the stock programs. The Sense based email just looks so much cleaner and polished. I do like how stock actually refreshes a folder when I open it instead of me having to do it manually on the Hero.

2. The keyboard isn't like HTC's TP2 because HTC didn't make it. Samsung did, unfortunately. And if HTC makes a slider Android phone I'm sure many will drop the Moment in, well, a moment. Imagine the Nexus as a slider? Dare to dream. Question though...you complain about having to look at the Moment's hard keyboard when typing. Can you type without looking at an on screen keyboard? I've had the Moment for awhile now, but I can't comment on other landscape keyboards because this is my first slider phone. But I do type very well on it, and have gotten a bit instinctive with touch typing. I'm sure it's different though if you have a better one to compare it to.

3. Maybe some things on the Hero seem to run quicker because Sense animates transitions so loading time tends to pass quicker. Might not be true all around, but it is in some cases. The Palm Pre was that way. Wasn't really any more lag than other phones in comparison, there was just nothing going on while a program loaded.

4. Unless you load a custom kernel, the battery life is always going to appear to be crap. Just drops to yellow in a heartbeat and stays there for quite awhile. Then when it gets to red and tones things down a bit, it'll sit there for awhile. It is just a glitch, and you probably have a lot more juice left than you think. The custom kernels help make the meter more accurate, and I'm sure the final MR will help even more.

5. The lack of accessory support can do quite a bit to keep a phone from selling. And I got the email from Seido awhile ago about their lack of interest in the Moment. Maybe Mugen will come to the rescue, who knows. I'd only pay for a larger battery if it fit with the original battery cover. I think the extended batteries for the Hero with the modified battery door look like crap and couldn't imagine carrying around one unless it was on a plane, but even then, I'd just carry around a spare battery charger ala duracell.

6. I actually thin the Moment is really solid when open. It's surprising the difference in play from closed to open, but when open it is rock solid, and the slider mechanism is sturday as can be.

On a side note, if someone would actually make an accessory for the Moment, I wish it was a holder of sorts that would take advantage of the extra seam between the top of the bottom half and the edge of the battery door. Would make for a great car holder or bedside clock stand that gave access to the keyboard.

 

[IOWA]

Its amazing to me what people will do or rave about bc of this "polish". Its like having a mustang that runs on 7.5 cylinders but looks great vs a ford gt that hasn't been waxed. Oh well. My experiences with the moment have been mostly positive. The known issues do bother me. The speaker phone works great and is more than loud enough. I've used it on the highway window open with no problems. And here is one thing to consider... you can always update the software... but not hardware.

 

[aclark414]

Iowa, it's not that it's just about polish...it runs just as well as the Moment, at least in my experience. That's what I was most surprised about when I switched to the Hero after hearing everyone complain about its lagginess. In my experience, it runs very smoothly. I don't get as many force closes (I am running the same apps that I did on my moment). I know this may open a whole other can of worms...but I guess I compare it to the Mac vs. PC...my Mac just works and runs the way it should, even if it isn't as snappy as my PC. Same as my Hero.

 

[fildrigar]

The problem is that there have been over a dozen of these types of thread posted here. Yes, on or two comparison thread would be fine, but please don't keep starting them over and over. We've had enough.

 

[dbpaddler]

actually, this is only thread about someone owning the Moment and going to the Hero. If you do a search in this forum with the words Hero and Moment in the title, you maybe bring up a dozen threads with at most four that are somewhat on this topic. Two of which are from people that had the Hero and switched to the Moment. One is about the "phone" features between the two (rather specific), and one is just a general Hero vs Moment thread which is more filled with a lot of fanboy crap that has started filling this one along with general feature comparison and not real world experience which is what people seem to be after. Likewise, there are only 3 threads in the Hero forum about it, and one poll asking people's path of phone choice.

If the thread doesn't interest you, don't post. If enough feel that way, it'll die a quick death.

I do wonder what features IOWA is "amazed" at. If they are features that people utilize and make the phone more every day user friendly or give them features they are used to having on older more capable phones, I think it goes beyond polish. If one could pay $20 and put Sense on their phone (without the lag of being a typical 3rd party program), I wonder how many people with non HTC phones would buy it.

The problem is that there have been over a dozen of these types of thread posted here. Yes, on or two comparison thread would be fine, but please don't keep starting them over and over. We've had enough.

 

[aclark414]

It is rather humorous. If no one was interested in this post, it would be on page 2+ already. Instead, it is at the top of page 1 every time I check it. Again I say...read through the posts of this thread. There are many people that are interested in what everyone is sharing here.

 

[dbpaddler]

I'd love to see an actual breakdown of the features Sense offers, but I've never seen one. It's all been sporadic this feature and that feature. I'm sure if you saw it all collected in one spot it would be beyond spit and polish. And then it'd be nice to do a compare and contrast between Sense and the 2.1 upgrades.

 

[sbutch6969]

Iowa, it's not that it's just about polish...it runs just as well as the Moment, at least in my experience. That's what I was most surprised about when I switched to the Hero after hearing everyone complain about its lagginess. In my experience, it runs very smoothly. I don't get as many force closes (I am running the same apps that I did on my moment). I know this may open a whole other can of worms...but I guess I compare it to the Mac vs. PC...my Mac just works and runs the way it should, even if it isn't as snappy as my PC. Same as my Hero.

Aclark....thanks for the extensive post earlier....I too have a moment and am torn on whether or not to switch over to the Hero....

Reasons I am considering the switch....
Pandora, LastFM, Slacker....all missing Bass...I am a huge audio buff and need my phone to stream music. While the moment will stream it, the buss is muffled. You wont be able to tell when playing through the phone speaker but when you listen through an adaptor to your car or home stereo, it is VERY noticeable. Friends Eris sounded flawless. Wife has the moment as well and it sounds the same. In addition, the moment has a hard time staying connected, will change the song in the middle of the tune and often emits a "garbled" sound.

Lack of accessories - as discussed, the moment has gotten no attention really from aftermarket companies. I want a simple docking solution for my car....slide the phone in and it starts charging, plays your music, while you use the NAV....this is available for the Hero but have not seen anything close for the Moment....based on where the plug is located on the side of the phone I am not certain that they will even make on of these.

I originally came from a Blackberry and because of this felt like I needed a physical keyboard - hence the reason for the moment. Spent some time typing on my buds HTC Eris and the virtual keyboard was actually better then I thought. Not going to be writing e-mails so for the little texting I do I think the virtual keyboard will work. (Assuming the keyboard on the Eris and the Hero are the same)

BUT....and a big BUT it is.....
I have not pulled the trigger because of this stupid dust issue. I mean really....it is becoming more of a problem and I think it would bother me to see dust under my screen. It doesnt appear Sprint or HTC is going to do anything about it. I have heard that you cannot see the dust when the screen is on.....I think I would be ok with this....A good work around to hide the dust when the screen is off would be to get one of those "mirror" screen protectors....In fact, I'll offer that as a possible solution to the Hero thread covering this issue.
Also concerned that the hero does not have a proximity sensor....resulting in muting the phone or "Drunk dialing" while on the phone. Wife has big cheeks and I can see her having issues with this. LOL and no - she is not a chipmunk.

I have 14 days left before my 30 days is up.....still torn as to which Phone I am going to stick with....

The Moment is a very good Phone.....so those not bothered by the issues I stated above.....don't hesitate to get the phone. Better processor, Screen, physical keyboard.....all are great selling features. To each their own as they say!

Love this thread, Love this forum, love everyones feedback! Love Fest!!!

 

[acp]

The dust is definitely my biggest issue with the Hero. I put a privacy/anti-glare screen protector on and it really does take attention away from the dust because of the blurry/gritty look of that type of screen protector. However, I want to stress the point that the dust is not a deal breaker and I have ocd when it comes to cell phone problems.

Also, hardware keyboards are very overrated (imo) and just add bulk. Just simply use the onscreen keyboard in landscape mode, the keys are large and you still get to enjoy a nice slim phone.

Not once have I had an issue due to not having a proximity sensor and there is app for that anyways, so if it is that big of an issue just use the 3rd party app.