How to Help the Ignorant

[Stocklone]

The Hero freaking rocks with CM6. If you go on CNET, you will see that the Hero has a ton of 1-star or less reviews. Way more bad reviews than it deserves. A lot of the bad reviews seem to be within the last couple months. I think many of the problems people talk about would be fixed if they switched to CM6.

I spammed a couple reviews telling them to put CM6 on their phone. Honestly, I don't what else to do besides come to you guys.

Could we as a group reply to a bunch of these reviews and explain how awesome the phone could be with just a bit of effort? I used to be one of those people that was about ready to break their Hero into itty bitty pieces out of the frustration that it couldn't perform the simple task of being a phone. And now I even let my wife have my 1 year upgrade (she chose the Epic) because I have no problem waiting out the contract with my Hero. It just makes me sad that there are so many people out there that could be happy with their phone but aren't.

 

[Kelmar]

I think the problem here is that most users (i.e. non-tech geeks like the rest of us) just want their phones to work right off of the shelf. Honestly, it SHOULD work right off of the shelf.

You are right, in my opinion, that CM6 > Stock, but people shouldn't have to root (or as they call it "hack" their phones to get them to function the way that they want.

 

[andygu3]

I think the problem here is that most users (i.e. non-tech geeks like the rest of us) just want their phones to work right off of the shelf. Honestly, it SHOULD work right off of the shelf.

You are right, in my opinion, that CM6 > Stock, but people shouldn't have to root (or as they call it "hack" their phones to get them to function the way that they want.

The android os is still a learning process for most, hopefully some day it will become a little easier. Also, CM6 is AOSP, so things may be a little less confusing without the 'sense' overlay

 

[Stocklone]

My mom figured out how to use CM6 with Launcher Pro. She's not an expert but she can use her calendar (which is sync'd with Outlook), listen to music, browse the web, play games and connect to wi-fi networks. And I spent 30 minutes with her on the phone one time trying to explain how to zip pictures in Windows XP before sending them in an e-mail.

 

[chawski]

honestly, theres not a single bad review about the phone that isnt true. Ive praised this phone on here left and right, but thats only since rooting. Out of the box, this phone simply sucks. Its slow, it lags, bluetooth didnt work with 2.1, headphone jack cuts out....I could go on forever. Dont get me wrong, since running CM6, I LOVE the phone and it does everything i could ask of it, but if i were in the market for a new phone today, the Hero would be close to the last choice on my list. Also, Id be pretty pissed knowing i paid "full sprint price" on this phone today, knowing sprint gave up on this phone months ago

 

[Stocklone]

honestly, theres not a single bad review about the phone that isnt true. Ive praised this phone on here left and right, but thats only since rooting. Out of the box, this phone simply sucks. Its slow, it lags, bluetooth didnt work with 2.1, headphone jack cuts out....I could go on forever. Dont get me wrong, since running CM6, I LOVE the phone and it does everything i could ask of it, but if i were in the market for a new phone today, the Hero would be close to the last choice on my list. Also, Id be pretty pissed knowing i paid "full sprint price" on this phone today, knowing sprint gave up on this phone months ago

Sad but true. I would not tell anybody to buy this phone if they were looking for a new one right now. I just want to help the poor people who are stuck with a stock phone for the year or 2 years (poor bastards)

I did have my sister buy one back in spring because it was $50 at best buy but I think I will root it for over the holidays. She has yet to install a single app. She does Facebook and takes photos with it. I think I made the right choice for her. She's paying $20/month on my plan so it's not like she is getting screwed with some $90/month plan.

 

[330D]

Like Andy said, Android takes a little getting used to. If you want an easy to use, boring smartphone, BB or iPhone is for you. Rooting just makes Android way better. People also tend to forget that the Hero was one of the first high caliber android phones, and that it was released with an os that was designed to run on a gsm phone, patched to work with cdma. I think they (Sprint and HTC) have learned a lot, and it will only get better. If HTC and Sprint put half as much effort into it as the devs, there would be a lot less complainers....

I did a LOT of research before I bought the Hero and was glad with my purchase. I knew all the quirks, and knew it wasn't going to be perfect, but I am truly happy that I bought it.

 

[andygu3]

Like Andy said, Android takes a little getting used to. If you want an easy to use, boring smartphone, BB or iPhone is for you. Rooting just makes them way better. People also tend to forget that the Hero was one of the first high caliber android phones, and that it was released with an os that was designed to run on a gsm phone, patched to work with cdma. I think they (Sprint and HTC) have learned a lot, and it will only get better. If HTC and Sprint put half as much effort into it as the devs, there would be a lot less complainers....

I did a LOT of research before I bought the Hero and was glad with my purchase. I knew all the quirks, and knew it wasn't going to be perfect, but I am truly happy that I bought it.

+1

Glad I bought mine, good introduction into the android platform

 

[permazorch]

Man, I really like my Hero, and it was fine at stock. I'm not sorry I rooted it, and I love CM6, but honestly, the stock internet browser was a hell of a lot better than opera mini or dolphin hd.

Rooting gave me better performance and even without playing with uncapped kernals, the battery life is longer. Rooting also gave me wireless tether, which is pretty nifty.

 

[xevious]

Part of the problem also is that the world of phone modding can be very intimidating. Yes, once you've done it and know what to do/not to do, it's not all that bad. But have a novice do it? They could get themselves into trouble.

One thing I find quite daunting about this whole thing is:

1. There are a number of tutorials written up on how to root your phone. Which one is best? No clue.
2. There are a few different methods available for rooting. Which is best? It would seem Z4Root would be, but I'm not sure about that.
3. Once you're rooted, now you've got to ROM. Wow... there's a HUGE choice!
4. I've found a list on XDA that shows all of the ROM's available. Many different dates are shown. What are these ROM's all about? No clue... it's a maze to try and research this stuff.

Is there an updated list somewhere that explores the ROM's available? Something that tells you what the difference is between a non-developer ROM and a developer ROM, along with pros/cons? And what about those existing ROM's? Are some pretty much done with no further development? Is that because the developer got tired, or that it stabilized to the point of not needing any more improvement? Are some newer ROM's a leap ahead of previous ROM's? Which ones?

It's these kinds of questions that seem to require a tremendous number of hours combing over the website to find them... which is daunting. It would be so great if there was a concise guide somewhere. Perhaps there is and I've just not found it?

 

[MahaloCat]

1) Check out DonB sig line - he links his process....Very straightforward and built for a novice
2) Depends on your software version - 1.5, 2.1, 2.1 Update one....2.3......7
what do you have
3-4) responded to this on your other post. Really depends on what you want....

 

[xevious]

Like Andy said, Android takes a little getting used to. If you want an easy to use, boring smartphone, BB or iPhone is for you. Rooting just makes Android way better. People also tend to forget that the Hero was one of the first high caliber android phones, and that it was released with an os that was designed to run on a gsm phone, patched to work with cdma. I think they (Sprint and HTC) have learned a lot, and it will only get better. If HTC and Sprint put half as much effort into it as the devs, there would be a lot less complainers....

I did a LOT of research before I bought the Hero and was glad with my purchase. I knew all the quirks, and knew it wasn't going to be perfect, but I am truly happy that I bought it.

I am very happy I bought my Hero. I was very interested in the Evo, but a number of things turned me off. The Hero form factor suits me just fine. And when I saw the enormous developer community surrounding it, I knew that there would be ways to make it better without significant effort--the research and hard work had been and is being done. Yeah, it would be nice to have a zippy 1GHz phone on 4G... but let's face it--4G is not widespread enough at this point and some of us don't want to be saddled with another $10 per month.

I'm at the research phase, trying to learn enough to be settled on what I want to do before I take the modding plunge. Meanwhile, I'm observing my phone's stock performance so I have a reference point going forward--I'll have a good idea of what kind of improvement I've gained. Based on what I've heard, if you can customize your phone to your liking (and bloatware removed) increase battery life by 20+%, and remove lag/improve performance, then this becomes an excellent phone that will serve your purposes well for a few years. I like that... I'm not big into changing phones every year. You invest time and energy to get your phone as you wish it to be... only to switch to another phone that may not be as good? That doesn't make sense to me. I like this phone and plan on using it until something really better comes along.

 

[vals4con]

Part of the problem also is that the world of phone modding can be very intimidating. Yes, once you've done it and know what to do/not to do, it's not all that bad. But have a novice do it? They could get themselves into trouble.


One thing I find quite daunting about this whole thing is:

1. There are a number of tutorials written up on how to root your phone. Which one is best? No clue.
2. There are a few different methods available for rooting. Which is best? It would seem Z4Root would be, but I'm not sure about that.
3. Once you're rooted, now you've got to ROM. Wow... there's a HUGE choice!
4. I've found a list on XDA that shows all of the ROM's available. Many different dates are shown. What are these ROM's all about? No clue... it's a maze to try and research this stuff.

Is there an updated list somewhere that explores the ROM's available? Something that tells you what the difference is between a non-developer ROM and a developer ROM, along with pros/cons? And what about those existing ROM's? Are some pretty much done with no further development? Is that because the developer got tired, or that it stabilized to the point of not needing any more improvement? Are some newer ROM's a leap ahead of previous ROM's? Which ones?

It's these kinds of questions that seem to require a tremendous number of hours combing over the website to find them... which is daunting. It would be so great if there was a concise guide somewhere. Perhaps there is and I've just not found it?

What he said^^^. I have been thinking the same thing but couldn't seem to organize my thoughts and say them like that. I think I'm almost ready to take the next step and wipe my current (original) ROM and try a new one. But, I can't help but be skittish about jumping off the nice, safe ledge. There's all the talk about getting the gapps and needing to add back other stuff which, after reading threads over and over, all gets jumbled up and I just keep going back to read the same posts hoping it all falls neatly into place in my non-tekkie brain. I'm in no hurry to screw up my phone, I really like it since the root. I know it could be better so I'm still planning to try LiquidSense if I ever get the nerve.

 

[xevious]

1) Check out DonB sig line - he links his process....Very straightforward and built for a novice
2) Depends on your software version - 1.5, 2.1, 2.1 Update one....2.3......7
what do you have
3-4) responded to this on your other post. Really depends on what you want....

Thanks for the response. I'll make the response to your reply over on the other thread.

 

[andygu3]

What he said^^^. I have been thinking the same thing but couldn't seem to organize my thoughts and say them like that. I think I'm almost ready to take the next step and wipe my current (original) ROM and try a new one. But, I can't help but be skittish about jumping off the nice, safe ledge. There's all the talk about getting the gapps and needing to add back other stuff which, after reading threads over and over, all gets jumbled up and I just keep going back to read the same posts hoping it all falls neatly into place in my non-tekkie brain. I'm in no hurry to screw up my phone, I really like it since the root. I know it could be better so I'm still planning to try LiquidSense if I ever get the nerve.

The only way of screwing up the phone is by flashing a NON-CDMA Hero rom. All else can nandroided back to the original state without trouble

 

[xevious]

What he said^^^. I have been thinking the same thing but couldn't seem to organize my thoughts and say them like that. I think I'm almost ready to take the next step and wipe my current (original) ROM and try a new one. But, I can't help but be skittish about jumping off the nice, safe ledge. There's all the talk about getting the gapps and needing to add back other stuff which, after reading threads over and over, all gets jumbled up and I just keep going back to read the same posts hoping it all falls neatly into place in my non-tekkie brain. I'm in no hurry to screw up my phone, I really like it since the root. I know it could be better so I'm still planning to try LiquidSense if I ever get the nerve.

Thanks. The main thing is, once you've rooted your phone you can switch between ROM's without too much trouble. So, if you try one out and don't like it, you can roll back to what you had before. The key is backing things up with nandroid so that you can restore easily, including your data. But... there's also the matter of customizations. I know for myself, I've gone through a lot of screens and made various settings. If I start from scratch with a new ROM, I won't remember everything. I'm going to write up a note document to keep track of it all... at least, anything that's not immediately intuitive.

At least in your case, you've already rooted. I haven't. I'm on 651.7, so I'm going to have to roll back to 651.5 in order to be able to root. Which means, I'll lose everything I've got right now, because there's no way to backup. Thus... I'm going to have to do this on a weekend where I've got the flexibility of time to be off the grid for a good stretch.

 

[MahaloCat]

NOT TRUE -
Super oneclick - roots .7 as does z4Root in the market!
: )

 

[andygu3]

Thanks. The main thing is, once you've rooted your phone you can switch between ROM's without too much trouble. So, if you try one out and don't like it, you can roll back to what you had before. The key is backing things up with nandroid so that you can restore easily, including your data. But... there's also the matter of customizations. I know for myself, I've gone through a lot of screens and made various settings. If I start from scratch with a new ROM, I won't remember everything. I'm going to write up a note document to keep track of it all... at least, anything that's not immediately intuitive.

At least in your case, you've already rooted. I haven't. I'm on 651.7, so I'm going to have to roll back to 651.5 in order to be able to root. Which means, I'll lose everything I've got right now, because there's no way to backup. Thus... I'm going to have to do this on a weekend where I've got the flexibility of time to be off the grid for a good stretch.

Sounds like you can use the z4 root method on .7. Once you are rooted and have superuser permissions, download rom manager, flash the clockworkmod recovery. Once you have flashed cockworkmod recovery successfully, then make a nandroid backup of your current stock setup. Then you have the power of doing whatever you want and you can always go back to your current setup, if you want

 

[vals4con]

I'm on .7 and Z4 worked great for me.

 

[xevious]

Wow... it was a few weeks ago I checked on this, and I could've sworn that the only means was to go back to .5 first. Cool! I'm off to get some Z4.


Heh. Well, as Staples says, "That was easy!". Got it onto my phone via bar scanner, launched it... How long is it supposed to take? About 10-15 minutes?


I waited up to 20 minutes, then noticed somebody posted about how it took them about 7 minutes on their HTC Hero. I clicked the home key and my phone rebooted. Maybe it got stuck for some reason? Well, when I booted up I didn't see any super user app installed. I checked the full list and nothing showed. So I launched Z4Root again and it immediately went back to "Please wait while your root completes and your device is rebooted..." Am I bungled in the jungle, or is this normal?

 

[xevious]

I pressed the home key and the white screen with green HTC lettering appeared. It took a while, but the sense desktop finally loaded. Things seemed a bit laggy... Didn't see a super user application. So, I ran Z4Root again. It immediately jumped to the screen it was on previously. I waited another 15 minutes. Still no response. This time I completely rebooted my phone manually. And... it worked!

I don't have any clue why I had to reboot manually, as the page said it would happen automatically. But that's all it took. I'm finally rooted.

 

[andygu3]

I pressed the home key and the white screen with green HTC lettering appeared. It took a while, but the sense desktop finally loaded. Things seemed a bit laggy... Didn't see a super user application. So, I ran Z4Root again. It immediately jumped to the screen it was on previously. I waited another 15 minutes. Still no response. This time I completely rebooted my phone manually. And... it worked!

I don't have any clue why I had to reboot manually, as the page said it would happen automatically. But that's all it took. I'm finally rooted.

Yea

 

[wilcox99]

Agreed on the above comments. A lot of people buy these phones and really do not want or need the features they come with. They don't realize that the phone is like a computer, that needs to be managed and monitored so it can perform correctly.

 

[xevious]

^ That's a good way of putting it. I'm still amazed that Sprint provides a "locked" ROM, where so many default apps cannot be removed. I guess they must do that as part of their licensing deal. I could care less about NASCAR, but Sprint won't let me remove the widget? I'll bet Sprint got a higher percentage of revenue from them because of that. Every time you see the icon in your list, it's a form of advertising.