Help hero vs moment?

[Edaze55]

SDScorch just found the internal memory specs on the Moment and it's the same as the Hero 512/288

Yep, saw that, and its LAME!

 

[Hohlraum]

There is a video from the press conference for the moment where the demo guy specifically states the the Moment would ship with 1.6.

YouTube - Samsung Moment @ 1 min in.

 

[SDscorch]

yeah well... "one guy" said 1.6

what seems is happening is.. the GOAL all along has been to ship w/ 1.6 - i'll bet you dollars to donuts (ohhhhh.. irony) that there are some issues behind the scenes and sprint is holding out [note: both htc and samsung are holding at 1.5]


and that's not a knock on sprint - that's good actually

i remember a while back there was talk of an android ph coming out on sprint and sprint said no, its not up to our standards

and look what we're getting - hero and moment (damn good phones - both of them)


so.. sit tight - when it comes out, it'll come out good!

 

[Yugami]

Another good example of this is the Peep app (Twitter) HTC has for Sense. It was causing all sorts of problems, HTC regularly reported back with updates (tweets) that they were working hard to fix the problem and when it was finally resolved they let everyone know that too.

I like when people stand behind what they put out.

The UI itself give Android much needed polish in my opinion. While I could use a stock droid, I would prefer a skin, more homescreens, and an overall better look.

Samsung is only building the phone, and to me, its like they dont even care at this point if the users get updates. I would be like buying a car, and trying to get the dealship to do regular maintaince on it and having them say they wont be doing that.

Well, my phone is four years old so I don't really have any experience in the "smart phone" world of software support. But here are my feelings on the situation with these android phones. Android is the operating system. Why do phones still need custom software? The reason I'm interested in Android is because it's open software that will definitely continue to grow as has every other major google product. I don't want an Iphone that is stuck the way Apple deems it to be with very little flexibility.

You guys seem pretty stuck on this Sense thing. Do you think it's not going to be overcome by future updates of Android? What's stopping Android from adding more home screens, if that's what people like? What happens when Google updates Android to something that's way better than Sense?

 

[SDscorch]

sense is (imo) the best there is "right now"

and right now is all i have



*shrug*

 

[TattierPub]

There is a video from the press conference for the moment where the demo guy specifically states the the Moment would ship with 1.6.

This same reviewer is also the one who stated the Hero would ship with 1.6 and as we know it's shipping with 1.5.

You also have reviewers out there stating the Hero has a mini USB port while others are saying it has a mirco USB port. Can't really trust the reviewers they only get at most a few days to play with a phone. As far as the Moment they only had minutes to look at it.

 

[Hohlraum]

sense is (imo) the best there is "right now"

and right now is all i have



*shrug*

If you are buying it outright without a 2 yr contract I could see not caring about your purchase. But honestly I think right now is a bad time to buy an android phone. HTC isn't doing anything special with their phone hardware.

The biggest issue I see with the current and announced phones is that they all use the 512mb ROM. That is incredibly lame. How is that competitive with the iphone?

I want to wait and hear what the specs on these new motorola phones are going to be. if they end up being the same 512mb ROM then I'll just get a HERO. If not I think its worth waiting. Don't you?

 

[TattierPub]

I look at it this way I'm a Sprint Premier customer so if say the HTC HD2 rumor is true that's it's coming to the US with Android & CDMA then I'll get it when it hit Q1 of 2010 with the upgrade from my 2nd line. If it's delayed any I'll use my yearly upgrade.

I don't see any talk about an Android device coming out with increased ROM. Hell, I don't know what all the fuss is up until recently Blackberry wasn't very ROM friendly and we all managed to live.

If you are buying it outright without a 2 yr contract I could see not caring about your purchase. But honestly I think right now is a bad time to buy an android phone. HTC isn't doing anything special with their phone hardware.

The biggest issue I see with the current and announced phones is that they all use the 512mb ROM. That is incredibly lame. How is that competitive with the iphone?

I want to wait and hear what the specs on these new motorola phones are going to be. if they end up being the same 512mb ROM then I'll just get a HERO. If not I think its worth waiting. Don't you?

 

[ChrisPlague]

Hero hero hero hero

Hands down

 

[SDscorch]

If you are buying it outright without a 2 yr contract I could see not caring about your purchase. But honestly I think right now is a bad time to buy an android phone. HTC isn't doing anything special with their phone hardware.

The biggest issue I see with the current and announced phones is that they all use the 512mb ROM. That is incredibly lame. How is that competitive with the iphone?

I want to wait and hear what the specs on these new motorola phones are going to be. if they end up being the same 512mb ROM then I'll just get a HERO. If not I think its worth waiting. Don't you?

well.. i'm very happy w/ sprint - so "committing for two years" is not a concern for me


i mean.. where would i go?

vzw? wayyyy more expensive
att? expensive - and..... iphone (bleh!)
t-mo? okay, but mt3g (too small) - g1 (getting long in the tooth)

spcs is the only game in town for me right now



also... i've been needing a replacement ph for a while - mine is showing its wear and tear --- and, for my business we need this to facilitate customer info mgmt

the hero is the right phone at the right time


if i delay, will i get a better phone? yeah

can i wait - yeah, probably


do i "want" to - no

 

[Edaze55]

If you are buying it outright without a 2 yr contract I could see not caring about your purchase. But honestly I think right now is a bad time to buy an android phone. HTC isn't doing anything special with their phone hardware.

The biggest issue I see with the current and announced phones is that they all use the 512mb ROM. That is incredibly lame. How is that competitive with the iphone?

I want to wait and hear what the specs on these new motorola phones are going to be. if they end up being the same 512mb ROM then I'll just get a HERO. If not I think its worth waiting. Don't you?

Im a Sprint Premier customer, which really doesnt mean much. I have been out of contract on my line for almost a year. I have been waiting for a phone that does what I want and liked. Up until the announcement of the Hero, they had exactly 0 phones I would have switched to.

The only point to me saying Im a premier customer is that this time next year, I can get another phone at the same upgrade price as everyone else. If by some chance someone drops a awe inspiring handset in the next 12 months, that I just have to have, I will buy it out right. If its close enough, I may wait.

My point is, Im buying this phone, on contract, KNOWING I will be looking to upgrade next year (if something comes along).

If you continue to wait for "something better", you will never buy a new phone. There is always something better just around the corner. A great example of that is the Palm Pre. Now this used to be the best phone on Sprint... for 3 months. See how that works? If only they would have waited.

 

[bkfist]

Interesting, but I swear that we were told the Hero would ship with 1.5 and we'd get an OTA update to 1.6.

I am wondering here if the real reason for not doing an OTA update might be because they are putting a "hacked" version of 1.5 on both of these phones to support CDMA in the 1.5 release. I would *assume* that the CMDA stack, unless it was borrowed directly from the 1.6 code, might not like having itself replaced during a upgrade, possibly leading to loss of connectivity if they were to push an OTA update? Or do OTA updates operate by completely writing a single file to the phone that is updated during the reboot process, in which case it shouldn't matter. (Or are the CDMA drivers maybe just a bit flaky and they are worried about corruption in the download?)

Personally, if I had assurances that we wouldn't be waiting until "sometime" in 2010 for the ROM update for the Hero, I would feel a lot more "warm and fuzzy" about getting a device with the Sense UI on it. Right now I'm still a little hesitant to plunk down my money and sign a contract with Sprint on Sunday.

 

[bkfist]

[snip] If you continue to wait for "something better", you will never buy a new phone. There is always something better just around the corner. A great example of that is the Palm Pre. Now this used to be the best phone on Sprint... for 3 months. See how that works? If only they would have waited.

I agree with you, and that is why I've decided not to worry about what Verizon has in store next month. I figure either way, if I get a phone this year I will be "unhappy" with it in a year, and with the Simply Everything plan I will qualify for an upgrade next year at this time, right around the holiday season as all the phone manufacturer's are pushing out their new candy for the shopping season. I won't have that option with Verizon (without doing a straight purchase... then agian I would be paying over $600 more during the year to Verizon) just as as long as coverage here doesn't suck, I don't think I can go too wrong with Sprint. (Their online map shows "Dark green" here, although I don't think the data is 3G (orange, but not the "broadband orange")

My only sticking point is worries about HTC's ability/willigness to quickly roll out new android updates on their Sense UI phones. Is the Sense UI an "over-lay" kind of app, or does it require a complete re-work each time the base Android is updated?

 

[Edaze55]

I agree with you, and that is why I've decided not to worry about what Verizon has in store next month. I figure either way, if I get a phone this year I will be "unhappy" with it in a year, and with the Simply Everything plan I will qualify for an upgrade next year at this time, right around the holiday season as all the phone manufacturer's are pushing out their new candy for the shopping season. I won't have that option with Verizon (without doing a straight purchase... then agian I would be paying over $600 more during the year to Verizon) just as as long as coverage here doesn't suck, I don't think I can go too wrong with Sprint. (Their online map shows "Dark green" here, although I don't think the data is 3G (orange, but not the "broadband orange")

My only sticking point is worries about HTC's ability/willigness to quickly roll out new android updates on their Sense UI phones. Is the Sense UI an "over-lay" kind of app, or does it require a complete re-work each time the base Android is updated?

Honestly Im not real sure how Sense is put into Android. My gut says its baked in for better integration, but thats just a guess.

For the OTA updates, it wont be HTCs fault as they have proven very good about fixing stuff when it breaks. Sprint has chimed in with a number of reasons for not doing OTA updates, including size and their newness to the OS. From what I understand, we should be able to update manually with our computers and data cables, so Im not too worried about OTA at this point. It would be nice, it would be easier, but doing it myself beats having to wait for Sprint to roll it out.

 

[Deleted User]

Do you think maybe Sprint is holding out on the 1.6 upgrade because 2.0 is supposed to be out soon? Maybe they're just saying they are working on 1.6 in hopes that they'll really jump straight to 2.0. Probably a long shot, but it's a hope none-the-less, right?

As for the whole Sense vs standard Android... isn't the point of Android to be open and highly customisable? (Cyanogen issues aside...) I think it stands to reason that someone will come out with some app(s) that will allow standard Android users to implement most of the Sense features they feel they are missing.

As of right now, I'm leaning towards the Samsung, I just love the keyboard. I'm going to wait until about a week after the Moment hits the shelves to see where the reviews fall and hope that will allow me to make a more informed choice.

I would really like to know about an internal compass on the Moment though, that could be the only sticking point for me.

 

[mstarman]

November 1st the Moment may still be inferior to the Hero, but what about post

 

[SDscorch]

i really really wish i wasn't so enamored w/ the sense UI




cuz i really really want that hw kybd

moment + senseUI = heaven (for me)





the minute (oops - almost said "moment"!lol) someone hacks the moment and has the senseUI on there.. my hero "may" appear on ebay!lol

 

[jvasquez2758]

Amoled screen ? What Is that ?

im sticking with the hero even though the amoled screen is tempting

 

[docprego]

Amoled screen ? What Is that ?

Assuming you are being serious: It's a display technology that offers much brighter colors, better viewing angles, and lower power consumption.

i really really wish i wasn't so enamored w/ the sense UI




cuz i really really want that hw kybd

moment + senseUI = heaven (for me)





the minute (oops - almost said "moment"!lol) someone hacks the moment and has the senseUI on there.. my hero "may" appear on ebay!lol

I am not sure i understand the whole hype over the Sense UI. I tried it and and I don't have anything bad to say about it but when I launched Android apps the phone felt exactly the same as stock Android. So other than basically being an enhancement to the stock Android software and the home screen, to me it's not that dramatic. Certainly the AMOLED display, hardware keyboard, and 800M MHz processor are far more valuable. The moment's software can always receive upgrades, it's hardware can not. I wouldn't want to be on the opposite end of that with a Hero.

November 1st the Moment may still be inferior to the Hero, but what about post

 

[johnbarry3434]

agreed, the Moment will dominate the Hero!!

 

[SDscorch]

Assuming you are being serious: It's a display technology that offers much brighter colors, better viewing angles, and lower power consumption.



I am not sure i understand the whole hype over the Sense UI. I tried it and and I don't have anything bad to say about it but when I launched Android apps the phone felt exactly the same as stock Android. So other than basically being an enhancement to the stock Android software and the home screen, to me it's not that dramatic. Certainly the AMOLED display, hardware keyboard, and 800M MHz processor are far more valuable. The moment's software can always receive upgrades, it's hardware can not. I wouldn't want to be on the opposite end of that with a Hero.



Eclair is going to bring the Moment up to if not beyond the Hero's level of software. And Moment owners are likely to get Android updates faster than Hero owners.

those are really good points - can't argue

personally, i just really like the polished look of HTC --- and i really don't want to get into the whole "rooting" scene in order to make my phone do what i want it to do or look the way i want it to look



but yeah.. you get 30 days to turn this in - i got mine 09oct... so i'll take a look at the moment when it comes out - for sure

(hey.. i don't know - will best buy be selling the moment? i haven't seen that in the news yet - ??)




a good thing about Sense is seven (SEVEN!) home screens - the look/feel/appearance are important to me - so i like it




another thign that went into my decision was ppl said HTC really stands behind their products and provides on-going support, whereas samsung the reputation was "not so much"

and that's important to me

 

[jvasquez2758]

Sorry I am ignorant when it comes to this

Assuming you are being serious: It's a display technology that offers much brighter colors, better viewing angles, and lower power consumption.



I am not sure i understand the whole hype over the Sense UI. I tried it and and I don't have anything bad to say about it but when I launched Android apps the phone felt exactly the same as stock Android. So other than basically being an enhancement to the stock Android software and the home screen, to me it's not that dramatic. Certainly the AMOLED display, hardware keyboard, and 800M MHz processor are far more valuable. The moment's software can always receive upgrades, it's hardware can not. I wouldn't want to be on the opposite end of that with a Hero.



Eclair is going to bring the Moment up to if not beyond the Hero's level of software. And Moment owners are likely to get Android updates faster than Hero owners.

 

[5280droid]

Im looking forward to the MOMENTS release. With the faster chip...the Amoled screen and a slidout keyboard it could be a heavy hitter. It may take some time for Sense UI or some other UI to make its way around, but it WILL happen. Just look at the things they are STILL doing with the G1. Check out some of the vids on youtube. They are running all sorts of ROMS and UI's and the preformance still looks good on the G1.

So...I'll keep customizing my HERO until the Moment comes out and then may make the jump.

 

[johnbarry3434]

Im looking forward to the MOMENTS release. With the faster chip...the Amoled screen and a slidout keyboard it could be a heavy hitter. It may take some time for Sense UI or some other UI to make its way around, but it WILL happen. Just look at the things they are STILL doing with the G1. Check out some of the vids on youtube. They are running all sorts of ROMS and UI's and the preformance still looks good on the G1.

So...I'll keep customizing my HERO until the Moment comes out and then may make the jump.

So you will be trading in the hero or buying in addition to?

 

[5280droid]

I purchased the Hero about 5 days ago...and with the 30 day return policy I'll be able to return it if the Moment is able to step up . But..I've gotta tell ya.....im really enjoying the Hero. I wish the Moment had a bigger display....but I still think its going to be a Modder's dream.