The only difference I'm aware of is the Qualcomm Adreno Graphics that the Hero has. What version or whatever the Moment has is a mystery to me. I posted about this in Android Games, because I originally did not know about that difference and I was trying to learn why Armadillo Roll (android game) did not work on the Moment. It turns out you need Andreno Graphics for the game to work

 

Does this mean the Hero has a dedicated graphics processor? I remember reading somewhere (don't have the link, but I believe it was on the Sprint forums) that the Hero did not have a graphics chip.

 

I don't know

And based on the lack of feedback in both threads where I mentioned Qualcomm Andreno Graphics, either people don't care or this is common knowledge and I'm not bringing anything new to the table

 

I have to admit I'm terribly curious about what Qualcomm Adreno Graphics means to the Hero. Is it a graphics accelerator?

Anyone?

 

I don't have access to a Moment, so I can't comment on any comparisons. But, on my Hero, the Light Saber app has always been kind of sluggish.

 

I always read the HTC Hero does not have a dedicated Graphics chip, however this is a quote taken from Armadillo Roll Android Game Review by AndroidTapp.com | Android Tapp. Android App Reviews

"Armadillo Roll Android Game exhibits by far the best 3D gaming experience for Android! However, it is a one level demo created by Qualcomm’s internal developers to showcase the graphics processor chip already in most Android phones. Use the phones accelerometer to tilt the armadillos roll through a mystic land to the goal."



Maybe they are just keeping it a secret?!

 

For clarification, will the 2.1 update that the Hero is scheduled for include all those nifty 3D animations (i.e. the gallery app), or is this exclusive to the Nexus One?

If it's stock on 2.1, then I don't see how the Hero could handle this, assuming there is no dedicated graphics chip.

 

From doing q little research, it seems the Qualcomm adreno is a dedicated graphics processor integrated into the Qualcomm chipset. The nexus has adreno 200 the hero most likely has adreno 130. Found a pdf from Qualcomm explaining the adreno. was not too in depth but it definitely seemed to be seperate from the arm9 and arm11 processor cores of the chip

 

thanks for the update Rob

I'm still a bit confused as to why this isn't a selling point for the Hero...

 

Ok. This makes sense, considering that HTC just twittered that older phones will not receive 2.1 because of "3D issues":

Twitter / HTC Source: Due to 3D issues it sounds ...

Still curious as to how our Hero's will perform once it's released.

EDIT: The above tweet appears to come from an un-reliable/unofficial source.

 

The Hero and Moment are first gen devices so of course the newer stuff is going to be better. Granted they were both released with dated internals when they launched. I doubt Sprint will be getting the Nexus One anytime soon. I think we have a better chance of the Hero 2 coming out first. Personally I am hoping the Prada 3 comes out with some spiffy specs(i.e. snapdragon)

 

Adding some literature out there for anyone interested...

I think for what the phone is, the internals are more then capable of what google will be throwing at them in terms of an OS update.

I have read 2 different things regarding the processor. Some spec sheets list it as a msm7200a, some list it as a msm7600a, but they both seem to share similar cores. Both chipsets have a dedicated ATI Imageon+ GPU that utilizes both cores of the dual core CPU. Everyone out there griping about outdated hardware just needs to give HTC a chance to optimize the GUI for the equipment we are working with. There is no reason why 2.1 even with the Sense UI should pose any problems to the Hero.


Source of some information: http://brew.qualcomm.com/brew_bnry/pdf/brew_2007/Tech-303_Ligon.pdf

 

Robchaos pwnd this thread

 

The only thing close to a "Hero 2" I've seen is the Legend, and it's barely better than the Hero. Basically just a bump from 528MHz to 600MHz. What we really want is the Bravo, which is basically the Nexus One with Sense.

72xx = GSM
75xx/76xx = CDMA

The Sprint Hero actually has the 7525, but they all have the same CPU/GPU.

As for the performance of the Hero compared to the Nexus One, they both get similar framerate scores when running Qualcomm's Neocore benchmark. This is because the Nexus One has to push 2 1/2 times as many pixels.

 

That basically means that on graphic intensive processes and games, the Heroes performance should not be that far behind the N1, but as for everyday use and just running the GUI/opening apps, the N1 will leave the Hero in the dust. Correct?

 

How similar are the Hero and the Eris? Can I assume that any limitations or advantages the Hero has, my Eris will have as well?

 

Hero and the Eris are clones. Any discussion on the capabilities of the Hero apply to the Eris as well.

 

Thank you! That is what I thought, but I wasn't certain.

 

Well, possibly, this is just one benchmark. I think in OpenGL-ES 1.0/1.1 applications the performance will be pretty close, but the N1's Adreno 200 GPU supports OpenGL-ES 2.0. So if developers program their applications only for 2.0, we'll be out of luck. Even if they make them backwards compatible with 1.0, they might just perform a lot better on newer 2.0 GPUs. We'll have to wait and see.

 

So basically in the end it all comes down to optimization for a certain platform.
I think us Eris/Hero owners are well off in terms of how many of the apps out there will be compatible with our specific device and resolution. If the amount of activity within the forums is any indicator of actual amount of device users out there, you will notice that the eris/hero/sprint hero sections of the forum have a pretty large share of the activity and overall users. They come in second only to the droid.

On top of that. there are still a lot of phones out there running some form of the Qualcomm MSM7200/7600 processor family. The oldest android phone was released October of last year. The early adopters have not even come close to fulfilling the terms of their 2 year contracts. I really couldn't see developers ignoring the largest portion of the market so soon after a platform release. I think we will be seeing compatible releases for at least another year now.
The N1 does have some nice specs, but unfortunately it does not seem that it will be coming to sprint, and even if a comparable phone did, I could not justify spending that much money for a device. The HTC Hero is more then adequate for my tastes. GPS navigation, outlook sync, social networking, geo caching, comparison shopping, making sure my pictures are hung level, killing time with games, and of course don't forget placing calls

 

I have both phones, and some apps run slower on the moment and great on the hero. and samething with some of the games too

 

Also remember this is Linux platform and app performance is not linear like it is on Windows. For instance on an older laptop I have it takes longer to open OOO but once it's up it's not noticeably slower than on my much newer laptop. This all ties in to how Linux multiasks and manages memory. So the performance you see day to day probably won't leave anyone complaining. Eventually there will be huge differences but the higher end phones are a tiny minority right now compared to the rest of the user base. Developers will usually code for the largest user base so that means we won't see our phones being left in the dust because there are a few better phones out there.
Right now there a bunch of apps that won't run on the N1 or look like crap because they are not coded for the display and that likely won't change overnight.

If you look around you'll see that there are threads all over the web wondering why apps run better on the Moment over the Hero/Eris/My Touch and that's the same thing we'll see here. I can list a bunch of games that run better on the Hero than on my wife's ex-Moment (she switched to the Hero) and it has a much better processor but still couldn't keep up. In the consumer side of the development world it's best to be in the majority and that's where the Hero sits. Development will continue for this level of device because it's what most people need. I don't think we have anything to worry about and I think Sprint will have a next-gen phone long before there are must have apps that won't run on the Hero.