What i think should be improved on android. Or at least the HTC HERO

Plymouthbiker · Feb 2, 2010

I own a HTC hero on T-mobile UK. Love the phone but there are some issues I feel HTC and Google need to work on. They are really general things, and I am unsure if they have been worked on in the upcoming 2.1 update but here goes. Hopefully someone official might read this and take heed.

1. The camera is lovely during the day but absolutely the worse phone camera by night I've ever had! It needs LED+Zenon flash (LED for lighting in dark areas on video and red eye, and zenon for normal pics) and decent camera software that can change night settings. (like most sony Ericsson phones)

2. Bluetooth OBEX . First phone I've had that cant receive or send files via bluetooth. Shocking to be honest.

3. A decent music and media player. Come on! All formats! And a graphic equaliser that I can alter my bass settings on!

4. Decent battery. 1 day is not enough for me really. I know it adds bulk, but I'd rather it lasted and was fat, then ran out right when you needed it the most. 3000mAh? (although I've fixed this myself with and after market 3000mah battery)

5. On-board memory is too small. Apps to SD like my old WinMob phone without having to root the phone or a decent on-board memory would help. Say 2GB at the least, not a puny 256mb or 512mb.

6. An alarm that wakes the phone up even when it's switched off. (another thing Sony Ericsson did well)

7. T-mobile, get your finger out and get the upgrade out asap. Why do they take so much longer to give us an update when Orange release them earlier?

Apart from that, the phone works a treat, bearing in mind, I think this phone is the best I've had (due to the fantastic amount of interesting and useful apps and games) but is also let down by some real basic things that I'm so far willing to ignore.

As I have never had 1.6 or 2.1 on the phone could you clarify if there are apps built in software that are available to fix/solve some of these issues that are only available on the upgraded software?

What do you think? I feel these things are good basic things all phones should have as standard today, leaving them out is just plain silly for a super phone!.

The most perfect phone ever if they included all of that?

vido.ardes · Feb 2, 2010

Plymouthbiker said:
1. The camera is lovely during the day but absolutely the worse phone camera by night I've ever had! It needs LED+Zenon flash (LED for lighting in dark areas on video and red eye, and zenon for normal pics) and decent camera software that can change night settings. (like most sony Ericsson phones)

2. Bluetooth OBEX . First phone I've had that cant receive or send files via bluetooth. Shocking to be honest.

3. A decent music and media player. Come on! All formats! And a graphic equaliser that I can alter my bass settings on!

4. Decent battery. 1 day is not enough for me really. I know it adds bulk, but I'd rather it lasted and was fat, then ran out right when you needed it the most. 3000mAh? (although I've fixed this myself with and after market 3000mah battery)

5. On-board memory is too small. Apps to SD like my old WinMob phone without having to root the phone or a decent on-board memory would help. Say 2GB at the least, not a puny 256mb or 512mb.

6. An alarm that wakes the phone up even when it's switched off. (another thing Sony Ericsson did well)

7. T-mobile, get your finger out and get the upgrade out asap. Why do they take so much longer to give us an update when Orange release them earlier?

1. The Hero 2 (a.k.a HTC Legend will come with a LED flash) although this is just rumour at the moment. As for your current phone, there is a bit of software that vastly improves the photo quality called Camera Zoom FX, but it is a paid app.

2. Bluetooth transfer is supported as of version 2.0

3. I don't play music on my phone so I can't comment

4. I have yet to find ANY smartphone on the market that lasts more than a day (with out an after-market solution). Everyone wants slim & sexy these days I'm afraid.

5. The small on-board memory is took keep the costs down, and Google have said they are working on an official Apps 2 SD, but as of yet know word when it will appear. Sucks, I know.

6. Useful function, but it's why I have a mains alarm with backup batteries in case of power cut. Never relied on anything else

. Would be nice though.

7. Not really Google or HTC's fault, but I agree T-Mobile were useless. Part of the reason I rooted was because I know T-Mobile are gonna take forever to release 2.1

Sorry couldn't answer all your questions, but I hope I helped with something!

malarky · Feb 2, 2010

vido.ardes said:
1. The Hero 2 (a.k.a HTC Legend will come with a LED flash) although this is just rumour at the moment. As for your current phone, there is a bit of software that vastly improves the photo quality called Camera Zoom FX, but it is a paid app.

Only problem with this is, bizarrely, if you're on T Mobile you can't get the paid app of Camera Zoom FX. No idea why, as it brings up all the add ons.

Kayshart · Feb 2, 2010

I would like to have the alarm work while the phone is off too. And I would like the alarm to be silent (just vibration) when the phone is in silent mode.

And yeah, an improved camera would be nice, esp night shots. Flash is not necessary imo.. Most of the time I keep my flash turned off when using my SE K850i, or my sony T9.

Another thing would be the ability to delete multiple smses at once.. eg. allow you to tick multiple sms and delete.. instead of having to hold down each msg and delete one by one

Oh and bluetooth file transfer.. which is supposed to be coming soon..
Other than that, I'm very satisfied with the phone.

vido.ardes · Feb 2, 2010

malarky said:
Only problem with this is, bizarrely, if you're on T Mobile you can't get the paid app of Camera Zoom FX. No idea why, as it brings up all the add ons.

I can, and I'm on T-Mobile

Plymouthbiker · Feb 2, 2010

vido.ardes said:
A. As for your current phone, there is a bit of software that vastly improves the photo quality called Camera Zoom FX, but it is a paid app. Yes but really not enough for my liking unfortunately. Even though it's a phone I've used previous phones for on-line photography as they give some great shots that even a guy with a D90 can be fooled, thinking it's a decent quality SLR.Fine for day time but no use at all at night or inside buildings with low light levels.

2. Bluetooth transfer is supported as of version 2.0 Cool! Looking forward to it!

3. I don't play music on my phone so I can't comment No probs.

4. I have yet to find ANY smartphone on the market that lasts more than a day (with out an after-market solution). Everyone wants slim & sexy these days I'm afraid. True. Guess I'm being greedy, but since owning smart phones, battery is an issue. K800+K850i would last days, but they aren't smart phones, so guess I'll just have to buy the extended batteries.

5. The small on-board memory is took keep the costs down, and Google have said they are working on an official Apps 2 SD, but as of yet know word when it will appear. Sucks, I know. Well if people can buy iphones people would pay extra for more memory or longer contracts. Apps2sd official sounds excellent. I look forward to it.

6. Useful function, but it's why I have a mains alarm with backup batteries in case of power cut. Never relied on anything else . Would be nice though. I hate normal beeping alarms and there's nothing worse than being woken up by some loud frantic music. Volume fade with a nice relaxing tune is so much better to wake up to than rage against the machine or a loud beepbeep! or the mental DJ on the radio! Both Sony Ericsson's did this very well, that in fact I still use my k800 just as a alarm, and the battery lasts a week without charging.

7. Not really Google or HTC's fault, but I agree T-Mobile were useless. Part of the reason I rooted was because I know T-Mobile are gonna take forever to release 2.1 Yeah know it isn't Google or HTC but sometimes I wish companies would leave things alone and stop messing about to make things look all beautiful with their own logos etc. How is 2.1?

Sorry couldn't answer all your questions, but I hope I helped with something! Yeah thanks for the response you have some good info there.. Thanks for your time

a

vido.ardes · Feb 2, 2010

2.1 is good, although I am using an AOSP version so I don't have the HTC Sense at the moment. In some ways I miss it, some ways I don't. I will try it again when HTC release an official version.

I must admit the old Sony "dumbphones" were great, I still have 2 W880's as backup phones, they last for weeks sometimes, never go wrong and do exactly what a phone needed to.

jimeller · Feb 2, 2010

Another thing would be the ability to delete multiple smses at once.. eg. allow you to tick multiple sms and delete.. instead of having to hold down each msg and delete one by one.

When in your inbox, press menu, then delete. This gives the option to delete several texts at once, unless I'm mistaken... I'm assuming you are talking about the stock sms app? I use handcent, which allows batch deleting of texts.

capuman · Feb 2, 2010

Plymouthbiker said:
4. Decent battery. 1 day is not enough for me really. I know it adds bulk, but I'd rather it lasted and was fat, then ran out right when you needed it the most. 3000mAh? (although I've fixed this myself with and after market 3000mah battery)

there are many threads on this forum which explain how to get the best battery life from your HERO without having to buy a bigger battery.

Mine lasts 3 days without a charge and i use it quite a bit.

Bottom line, make sure wifi is off when not used, as well as GPS, google background data and 'always-on mobile' make sure thats off. Other things you can try is use 2g network as opposed to 3g when you're not using internet, etc since it uses less battery.

GreenSLi · Feb 2, 2010

MY hero can last a week if I dont use it much and have wifi/3G off.
It also lasts pretty long even with 2G on (Edge)

peterb23 · Feb 2, 2010

malarky said:
Only problem with this is, bizarrely, if you're on T Mobile you can't get the paid app of Camera Zoom FX. No idea why, as it brings up all the add ons.

Another T-mobile user here and I have no problem downloading the app although I can't actually see that it makes any difference to the photos / camera and I've started using the standard camera app again.

Kayshart · Feb 2, 2010

jimeller said:
When in your inbox, press menu, then delete. This gives the option to delete several texts at once, unless I'm mistaken... I'm assuming you are talking about the stock sms app? I use handcent, which allows batch deleting of texts.

opps, I meant within a conversation and not separate threads.
Yeah, stock sms app.

Plymouthbiker · Feb 3, 2010

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Would be much more useful to have a converter on the phone so after download I could directly convert it. Or better still a media player that just plays everything. If windows mobile can have it why not android?

JimR123 · Feb 3, 2010

Plymouthbiker said:
Would be much more useful to have a converter on the phone so after download I could directly convert it. Or better still a media player that just plays everything. If windows mobile can have it why not android?

Can Windows Mobile actually play everything? I suspect there's some Microsoft-based formats that it can do that no other phone can, but that's because they own the rights to those formats, and use them as a USP.

I seem to remember that when I had my phone which ran Windows Mobile 6, that I had to download another app to play most of the formats I had files in. So we just need somebody to write a similar app for Android.

Plymouthbiker · Feb 3, 2010

JimR123 said:
Can Windows Mobile actually play everything? I suspect there's some Microsoft-based formats that it can do that no other phone can, but that's because they own the rights to those formats, and use them as a USP.

I seem to remember that when I had my phone which ran Windows Mobile 6, that I had to download another app to play most of the formats I had files in. So we just need somebody to write a similar app for Android.

Oh yeah. I had a after-market app that played almost everything on my Samsung Omnia (windows mobile 6.1) . I'm finding the android seems to have problems even playing some files that are supported. They can play the audio but there is no picture on some. The only useful video I can get out of it so far is from Youtube. All other streaming videos and most downloads don't seem to play or just play the audio of the video. Irritating! Anything good on the market that can play nearly everything?

JimR123 · Feb 3, 2010

Plymouthbiker said:
1. The camera is lovely during the day but absolutely the worse phone camera by night I've ever had! It needs LED+Zenon flash (LED for lighting in dark areas on video and red eye, and zenon for normal pics) and decent camera software that can change night settings. (like most sony Ericsson phones)

2. Bluetooth OBEX . First phone I've had that cant receive or send files via bluetooth. Shocking to be honest.

3. A decent music and media player. Come on! All formats! And a graphic equaliser that I can alter my bass settings on!

4. Decent battery. 1 day is not enough for me really. I know it adds bulk, but I'd rather it lasted and was fat, then ran out right when you needed it the most. 3000mAh? (although I've fixed this myself with and after market 3000mah battery)

5. On-board memory is too small. Apps to SD like my old WinMob phone without having to root the phone or a decent on-board memory would help. Say 2GB at the least, not a puny 256mb or 512mb.

6. An alarm that wakes the phone up even when it's switched off. (another thing Sony Ericsson did well)

7. T-mobile, get your finger out and get the upgrade out asap. Why do they take so much longer to give us an update when Orange release them earlier?

1. I agree, camera is nice (5mp) in the day, but rubbish in the dark, or even slightly low light. Never really used it to take pictures at night though, so not found it a problem, personally.

2. Don't know what OBEX is, but I thought I saw an app in the Market the other day that claimed to send files via bluetooth. I'm guessing it only works between Androids.

3. I quite liked the music player ("ipod") on my old iPhone, but it really ran the battery down with it's over the top fancy graphics. I'm very happy with Mixzing at the moment, especially with the suggested musics ability. The music never stops. Had graphic equalizer on the iPhone, but turned it off when found out that it also ran the battery down quicker. I suggest purchasing a good set of ear buds for best music quality.

4. Charging every night is pretty much standard for phones which do so much, I would've said. Like others have said, you can turn stuff off to make it last longer.

5. Agreed, it is a bit small, but then memory is never big enough for me. I'm the same with hard-disk size. Once apps can run from SD I don't think it'll really be an issue.

6. If it can wake itself up, then it's not really switched off. I think what you want is a lower power stand-by mode, where it does nothing but wait for something to trigger a wake-up. Personally, I like to know that if I switch my phone off, that it stays off. Not sure what's wrong with the stand-by mode it has, other than it uses quite a lot of power still.

7. Not sure what the issue is here, as not on T-mobile.

JimR123 · Feb 3, 2010

Plymouthbiker said:
Oh yeah. I had a after-market app that played almost everything on my Samsung Omnia (windows mobile 6.1) . I'm finding the android seems to have problems even playing some files that are supported. They can play the audio but there is no picture on some. The only useful video I can get out of it so far is from Youtube. All other streaming videos and most downloads don't seem to play or just play the audio of the video. Irritating! Anything good on the market that can play nearly everything?

I think I'm still using the stock Hero video player, as I always convert my videos before copying to the Hero. I think I convert to m4v, I think it is, or maybe its mp4. I use AVS4YOU's video converter. Top software for converting pretty much any media to many useful formats.

With regards to music, I found the stock Hero music player would often jump when playing my MP3's. Downloaded Mixzing and that problem went away. Mixzing don't look that great, but it's good for playing music, which you can't really look at anyway, so I'm happy!

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