Hero Pre-Purchase Questions

[Jason101]

Hello.

I have a few Sprint Hero pre-purchase questions. I've tried my best to search the forum, and found answers to a few, but there's a few I have not been able to find.

First off, I'm a Touch Pro user and have always been a Windows Mobile user so Andriod is a big jump for me. I was able to do a little hands on with the Hero in the Sprint store and I am very impressed with its speed and features.

Here's my questions:

For the "Scenes" are you able to customize the ringer, message tones, etc? From what I read in the owners manual, looks like you can only do wallpaper and widgets?

I had an all on my windows mobile phone called "PhoneAlarm" by pocketMax that allowed you to setup "Profiles" with different ringers, message tones, etc based on time of day or GPS location. This way, I never had to change anything and the phone would adjust all my settings based on my time of day or GPS location. I like to have different/quiter tones when I'm at work and at night time, whereas nice loud ones when I'm outside without having to put any effort into remembering to switch them. Is this possible with the Hero?

Also, I'm not a Google mail or apps user nor do I want to be. I do, however use IMAP Push email (From FastMail.fm) very heavily. I used FlexMail on my Touch Pro which got email to my phone quicker than my desktop outlook got the mail. I have read that the HTC email app doesn't support IMAP IDLE (Which you need for the push email), but there's a program called K9 email that does? has anyone had any good experiences with the app?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer. These two are really the deal breakers for the Hero for me.

 

[cvam1985]

Hello.

I have a few Sprint Hero pre-purchase questions. I've tried my best to search the forum, and found answers to a few, but there's a few I have not been able to find.

First off, I'm a Touch Pro user and have always been a Windows Mobile user so Andriod is a big jump for me. I was able to do a little hands on with the Hero in the Sprint store and I am very impressed with its speed and features.

Here's my questions:

For the "Scenes" are you able to customize the ringer, message tones, etc? From what I read in the owners manual, looks like you can only do wallpaper and widgets?

I had an all on my windows mobile phone called "PhoneAlarm" by pocketMax that allowed you to setup "Profiles" with different ringers, message tones, etc based on time of day or GPS location. This way, I never had to change anything and the phone would adjust all my settings based on my time of day or GPS location. I like to have different/quiter tones when I'm at work and at night time, whereas nice loud ones when I'm outside without having to put any effort into remembering to switch them. Is this possible with the Hero?

Also, I'm not a Google mail or apps user nor do I want to be. I do, however use IMAP Push email (From FastMail.fm) very heavily. I used FlexMail on my Touch Pro which got email to my phone quicker than my desktop outlook got the mail. I have read that the HTC email app doesn't support IMAP IDLE (Which you need for the push email), but there's a program called K9 email that does? has anyone had any good experiences with the app?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer. These two are really the deal breakers for the Hero for me.

Scenes is only for customizing the homescreen's appearance. Wallpaper, widgets shortcuts, etc. Somewhat pointless for me since I just like to keep one "scene" and adjust it as I see fit - but I can see how some people would want something different for at the office vs at home.

There are a few apps for changing the ringer based on time and where you are. The most popular is called "Locale" and it's gotten some pretty good press. I don't use it personally. I use an app called "Quick Profiles" - which allows you to set up and change profiles manually. I don't like too much GPS battery drain.

My experience with K9 is limited. I tried it twice and hated it both times. I've read some people love the interface but it's way too hard on the eyes for me. Plus, it was SO extremely buggy and crash-prone at the time I simply had to uninstall. I'm sure there's other mail apps to try but I can't offer you any advice I'm a Gmailer.

One thing you should note is that you have to create a google/gmail account to actually activate the phone. I suppose what you could do as a workaround is set up a filter with your email to forward it to your gmail to have your mail pushed to your phone.

 

[Jason101]

Thanks! I read up on the apps you suggested, and they will do exactly as I need.

I ordered my Hero from Sprint tonight

 

[mich0020]

Check out timerrific....sounds like it does exactly what you need as well. Has worked flawlessly for me since day one.

 

[vw driver]

An app from the market called "sound manager" allows you to set times to change volume for ringer, alert, system, media, etc. You can set for individual days of the week, so mine goes up at work (noisey environment) 5 days a week, and down to zero, with vibrate only at bed time, 7 days a week.

 

[kennyidaho]

I would have to advise you use Timerrific instead of Locale unless the GPS part is really important to you. Timerrific is a bit more complicated to set up but in practice works better in my opinion.

 

[FrogSplatter]

+1 for Timerrific

its an awesome program... I have my phones notifications and ringer turning off and on seperately all day at work.. ringer off when work starts... ringer on when its break times and during lunch. On vibrate the rest of the time.

It shuts notifications off at 11pm mon-sunday and back on again at 5am mon-fri and 10am sat-sun....

only thing I would ask for it to do that it doesnt (yet) is switch themes at defined times.

 

[rgildoss]

just adding my 2 cents here ...I to came from the world of winmo and TP, Diamond, and TP2 ...although tp2 has a bigger screen ( not by much ) it still does not compare to the Hero ( OS ) ..android is the way to go for sure ...i am totaly loving this hero ... i will never go back to winmo ( not even winmo 7 ) im done with those phones...i also just sold my Iphone that i had ( using as an ipod as i hate AT&T ) .. im totaly loving my hero phone ...i think i might actually go out an by the new google phone ( if i can get it cheap and work on sprint ) ....

 

[Jason101]

Just got my Hero tonight, and I am LOVING it. I don't miss my Touch Pro one bit. I am simply amazed at some of the things this phone can do, and the apps available on the market to get things done. There's just soo much to customize I don't know where to start.

K-9 email works PERFECTLY. Email is getting to my phone quicker than it is to my outlook. (and quicker than it ever got to my touch pro) I am amazed.

The only question I have on K-9 is if there is a mail widget i can place on my home screen? I figured out how to put an icon, but I would like to see my unread messages.

I was looking for some threads of a listing of good/popular apps people are using. I found a few dated threads, but is there a current updated list on the forum somewhere?


Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!