Is it still viable to buy the Hero?

[raptorshark]

I was wondering if it's still viable to buy a Hero now (as the title suggests). I know they sorted out a lot of the lag problems with firmware updates, but what about future apps? I'm wondering if the HTC Hero will be able to run apps which are released, say, a year from now.

 

[andy d]

What worries me is a comment that was made by HTC on Twitter that they did not know when the next firmware would be.
Have they given up on the hero in favour of the next new model. ?

 

[raptorshark]

It would be stupid for them if they have - it's still the best selling Android device to date =|

 

[Merago]

I don't think they'll have given up on the Hero yet. It's still a big seller, especially considering it's only been a few weeks since Sprint's version was released. The way I Saw the post from HTC was that it was basically just an attempt to get people to stop hassling them about when the Donut update would be released.
In fact, I'm sure I read somewhere just a day or two ago that HTC found that the Hero was flying off the production line, demand was so high.

Edit - found the article.

 

[raptorshark]

Yeah, I saw that too. Doesn't really answer my question though. Will the Hero be able to run the next generation of apps made for the Android platform on its decidedly last-gen hardware?

 

[Quazar]

I don't see why not, the Hero was just recently released in the USA, so I'm sure it will be here to stay for a while yet.

 

[dbpaddler]

The Hero just came out on Sprint in the US. The MyTouch isn't running some new blazing processor. Granted the Samsung Moment and Moto Droid are a little beefier processor wise, but I can't imagine updating the OS and most programs will require better hardware. HTC would be shooting themselves in the foot. Could've swore 1.6 is right around the corner and 2.0 would be out soon after the Moto Droid comes out with it. If the Hero is going to have lesser hardware and an older version of the OS on a phone that is only a couple months old while Verizon gets a better droid phone running on 2.0? Ummm, I'd definitely have issue with that and would so pass on the Hero. Don't think HTC will be that dumb. Though doesn't 2.0 incorporate a few things people like about HTC Sense making Sense not as big of a selling feature? Maybe they want to milk Sense as long as they can... Though on the corporate side if I talk all my coworkers into a Hero because 2.0 is coming with full native Exchange support and it doesn't happen, I'll be a bit peeved.

 

[daveybaby]

This FUD paid for and brought to you by Apple.

 

[dbpaddler]

I think for some, Apple is a non-issue. I'm locked into Sprint and would never give up Sprint to go to AT&T for the iphone. Not worth the network or extra cost for service. Plus my computer will reject any attempt at loading itunes

My fear is that the PIM will still remain inferior to my 13yr old PalmOS and I'll have to keep doing workarounds to get the same functionality I've had for ages but with more hassle.

This FUD paid for and brought to you by Apple.

 

[t1jordan]

I don't see why not, the Hero was just recently released in the USA, so I'm sure it will be here to stay for a while yet.

I hope so. The phone is really great. I cant put it down. I keep making new scenes.

 

[G8D]

It's the best Android phone to date, and even with several scheduled to come out very soon, none of them really do anything different that the Hero, other than some have a physical keyboard and they all have a bad UI.

 

[Kenotic]

I think that HTC is going to try and skip 1.6 and move to 2.0. That is just my opinion.

 

[G8D]

I think that HTC is going to try and skip 1.6 and move to 2.0. That is just my opinion.

I think this is true also.
They have done two iterations of SenseUI on 1.5, I really doubt that they would make their customers wipe their phones again just for a minor update.

 

[quantumrand]

The way I see it, if you can wait 2-3 more months before you get a new Smartphone, there will be something better out than the Hero (perhaps the Dragon), but if 3 months is too long to wait, the Hero really is the best thing out there right now.

And now the source code for the kernel has been released, hopefully modders will start including the features HTC left out, such as Google Speech Recognition. Assuming they incorporate all of this before too long, the only apps I see the Hero having trouble with in the future would be intensive 3D games and emulators.

 

[dbpaddler]

minor update? For Sprint, their SMS app is a major battery drain, and there is supposed to be a fix coming which will most likely be going to 1.6. Unless they expect you to use laggy 3rd party SMS apps until they're ready for 2.0. But I'm new here so what do I know. Most of the info you get from sprint support is usually wrong anyway.

So with a firmware update you can't just back up your data and apps and do a restore after it's updated? You have to start from scratch and reinstall everything from scratch? I was actually annoyed when I switched out my Hero that my market account didn't retain what apps I downloaded so I could simply redownload them. They should have it associated with your google account so you can just click a reinstall button to put them all back or have checkboxes to just reinstall certain ones.

 

[G8D]

minor update? For Sprint, their SMS app is a major battery drain, and there is supposed to be a fix coming which will most likely be going to 1.6. Unless they expect you to use laggy 3rd party SMS apps until they're ready for 2.0. But I'm new here so what do I know. Most of the info you get from sprint support is usually wrong anyway.

So with a firmware update you can't just back up your data and apps and do a restore after it's updated? You have to start from scratch and reinstall everything from scratch? I was actually annoyed when I switched out my Hero that my market account didn't retain what apps I downloaded so I could simply redownload them. They should have it associated with your google account so you can just click a reinstall button to put them all back or have checkboxes to just reinstall certain ones.

You can back up. But I assume that HTC will not wish to hassle us users this soon after the second 1.5 SenseUI iteration.

The SMS app will not be fixed by 1.6, it will be fixed by a new SenseUI on either 1.5 or 1.6.

I do however assume that these issues are caused by poor memory management etc as both Heroes should really be running the same software and mine runs perfectly smoothly.

 

[prepbgg]

My fear is that the PIM will still remain inferior to my 13yr old PalmOS.

Is there any sign that Google have any plans to improve the PIM? They certainly need to if they want to tackle the business market.

The Palm PIM worked really well, didn't it? It seemed to make everything so simple. We very much liked Palm Desktop; for our purposes it was much better than lumbering Outlook.

 

[raptorshark]

Well if they have plans to upgrade to Android 2.0, doesn't that have a better PIM? I'm pretty sure I read an article on it from this very site; or a link to the article...or something.