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How has the Android experience been for you so far?

HER0

Newbie
Sep 17, 2009
43
1
I was just wondering how other people are finding Android nowadays from when they first got their phone...?

For me it was a great excitement at first and I do love my Hero, but I kinda hate it at the same time. There seems to be a lot of random glitchyness, no big problems but just little niggles that make it feel less special but overall it's cool and I'm glad I'm with Android.

Will you always be sticking with Android in the future? I'm interested to see where it goes in the future, It's clear Android is becoming the Windows of mobiles, in the way that there is so much hardware for one OS, whilst iPhone OS is still the same situation as Apple computers - not sure what this may lead to in the future for compatibilities etc.

I think I'll definitely take a look at whatever Apple has to offer in the future because there is no doubt they are nice phones, and I think its pretty pathetic to not keep options open just because of fanboy-isms.

Like I said, glad I went for the Hero although I still don't think it got the praise it deserved from the general public...

Ramble over, cheers :p
 
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I love my Magic, Android, and the promise of Android, but the trouble we've had with Rogers and HTC in Canada has soured for me what has otehrwise been an exciting time.

We had to publicly embarrass Rogers to get them to request an update from HTC for the Dream and Magic (they originally had HTC customize Android 1.5 for them, and I guess they didn't realize there would be updates to the OS). In the end, the Dream got nothing while the Magic will eventually be updated to 2.1. (Dream users were offered a free "upgrade" to the Magic, but it was a limited time offer, and it's over now).

The splintering of the OS, and customization by manufacturers and carriers is the most horrible thing to happen to Android, imo. Yes, some of the custom UIs are cool, but if the manufacturers and carriers don't want to incur the cost of updating the OS with their customizations, users are screwed. We get left behind (already there are scores of apps that we can't use because we are still stuck on 1.5!).

If and when I buy another Android device, it will be a Google-branded version, so I will get my updates direct from Google. If there are no google-branded versions by then, I will have to reconsider.
 
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Apple's design philosophy--Steve Jobs' way, Steve Jobs' rule; you want what he tells you to want--is too repugnant for me to ever consider their products. They're not likely to change, either; the next iteration of the iPhone OS is still not going to let you run Flash, and I'll bet a big fat chunk of money that it will still not allow multi-tasking and complete customization of your homescreens, because Apple loves that godawful icon grid too much. I'd sooner go with WinMo7 or Symbian^3/4 (or Maemo) depending on how well they turn out. Any of these choices is more appealing than the "look how cool and hip and sheeplike I am" fashion-accessory approach of Apple.

For now, though? My initial impression was somewhat underwhelming, but I discover more and more I can do with my N1 every day. Rooting it opened a whole new gateway into endless fun, and I do find trying out different ROMs and kernels--sometimes flashing twice in a day--genuinely fun, not miserable. The Desire ROM makes me feel like I'm using a whole new phone. Apps2sd is the best thing ever and .32 kernel leaves me with over 200 MB of free RAM. There are so many choices, so much to try out, in an environment that encourages innovation and developers. It's wonderful.
 
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ANDROID ROCKS... Smartphones, well, that is another thing entirely. My 1st experience with a Smartphone was unfortunately with a Palm and WinMo which almost had me begging for my old clamshell do-nothing phone. I like the concept of carrying around a miniature computer that could make calls too... hahaha... Anyway...

The Android OS is wonderful and well, for all intensive purposes still cutting it's teeth. I hold great anticipation on what is to come in the near future when you think about just what has transpired over the last 6 months. When you look at the overall Smartphone field you can see the amount of innovation and competition that has exploded due to the Android OS and it's promise. Nothing the iPhone can come close to boasting... but ultimately, it IS a combination of the handset and carrier which will drive your experience and contentment with your phone. Apple/AT&T leave many things for want... but nobody is perfect.

It is interesting too that the OS is seemingly just a container and the Phone itself a vehicle... both waiting for others to fill it and carry it to places unexpected that are either useful and/or entertaining. I for one have enjoyed the Android experience immensely since my HERO (Sprint) purchase in October. I still can't put the damned thing down... lol. So all in all, once the bumps in the road are smoothed out a bit, I think the Android OS will dominate the market. I will be staying Android from now on, there is just too many good things with it which outweighs all of the bad.

:)

:cool:
 
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I probably will not. Even now, I have had my hero for less then 2 months and already apps are coming out, like Google earth that i cannot use. Apps i used to use with my other phone. The OS updates are not going to fly with the carriers, ours is still debating to sell more android handsets because of the OS upgrades, the cost, and hassles of testing, the hardware differences, etc etc. I don't think they realized what they were getting into with Android.

Too many roadblocks in the way of me getting updates, handset makers and my carrier. Android OS may let one multitask, but i cannot on my hero, so it makes for an uneven user experience when everyone says they can multitask, but i cannot. Mine is a work phone and multitasking is a must. The droids seem to be able too as well as the nexus, but there is no consistency in hardware specs to ensure all android users get the same great experience.

all in all the short comings may not be addressed in time to keep me as a consumer. So it's really a race between my contract and google.
 
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all in all the short comings may not be addressed in time to keep me as a consumer. So it's really a race between my contract and google.

I've seen you do nothing but complain about having an early model phone and praise Apple (who has similar issues with some apps made for the 3GS not running on the older phones) for about a month now. I don't think you are on the correct forums.
 
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There's something about Apple that makes its customers unusually obnoxious. Also, I admit I've never owned a Hero, but I'm pretty positive it can multi-task just fine. So... what?

The droids seem to be able too as well as the nexus, but there is no consistency in hardware specs to ensure all android users get the same great experience.

Wahhhh, my eight-year-old PC with 512 RAM can't run Win7 and play Crysis either. Brb, suing Microsoft. :(
 
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Android OS may let one multitask, but i cannot on my hero, so it makes for an uneven user experience when everyone says they can multitask, but i cannot. Mine is a work phone and multitasking is a must. The droids seem to be able too as well as the nexus, but there is no consistency in hardware specs to ensure all android users get the same great experience.

Do you even have a clue how to power the hero on, from start up the hero runs a minimal of 8 tasks;- footprints; mail; market; browser; google mail; messages; settings and clock. Thats fresh out the box... not including 3 months of downloaded apps which may run at startup. (Currently running at 20 without a problem...)
 
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I've seen you do nothing but complain about having an early model phone and praise Apple (who has similar issues with some apps made for the 3GS not running on the older phones) for about a month now. I don't think you are on the correct forums.

early model, i only got it in december? I thought this was latestet and greatest when i got it. but to be fair, it was my only android choice, and still is with this company. yes, i am complaining. sorry to rain on your parade. anyone know how to fix this phone yet? cost me over 500.00 and works like crap and cannot multitask. truth seems to bother a lot of people here.
 
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Do you even have a clue how to power the hero on, from start up the hero runs a minimal of 8 tasks;- footprints; mail; market; browser; google mail; messages; settings and clock. Thats fresh out the box... not including 3 months of downloaded apps which may run at startup. (Currently running at 20 without a problem...)

I wish mine would do the same, I really do, i work a ,lot on this phone to make it do so. I have tried to root many times, many different ways. i try new apps, i change settings constantly, i use a task killer, then i dont use a task killer.

htc does not have enough complaints about the hero to make any changes, google will not help, and my carrier has no clue about the hero or android to be of any assistance. Past my 14 day return period so i am stuck with a less then stellar piece of hardware. One way or another i will root this thing even if i have to learn new code to do it.

I am trying to be optimistic but, it's hard when its a daily struggle with this phone. things that used to be a non issue. its neato keen that 8 things run in the background, just not the 8 things i need, i need choices in my day to day operations. i do not want or need peep, or footprints, or face book to run, at all. i want to play music while i read a doc, or surf the net, i need to run the navigation while doing something else too, like i used to be able too, such as read a pdf, look up email etc....i need the bluetooth not to cut out when i receive a new email or Im..stupid me, apple fanboy i am i did not know that just because android os would let you multitask, little did i know that someone would put it onto a handset that couldn't.
 
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Hilarious. Sounds like you simply don't know how to use the phone. You can't get it to play music while you do something else, really? That's amazing, and not in a good way.

Good luck rooting that thing. Chances are, smart cookie that you are, you will brick it done dead. Fyi, there are step-by-step guides on the rooting process, but I imagine the complex task of googling it up is quite beyond you.
 
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There's something about Apple that makes its customers unusually obnoxious. (
Its funny, but thats what my friends and family said about me also with the Hero. :D Until I had them also convert over to Android and they can't stop being the same as well. lol

Coming from winmo phones such as the Touch, and Pro, I took the leap into Android and I swear i do not think I will ever go back. The system is truly great, at least for me. True it can be perfected and in time it will just get better and better. All this mind you before I rooted. Afterwards its like a whole new phone. Apple and its marketing blitz has made their products look like its the best thing since slice bread and in certain things they are just that, but over all Android is on the right track to become way better than them.

Just wish their marketplace would have a good search engine.

TS out
 
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Hilarious. Sounds like you simply don't know how to use the phone. You can't get it to play music while you do something else, really? That's amazing, and not in a good way.

Good luck rooting that thing. Chances are, smart cookie that you are, you will brick it done dead. Fyi, there are step-by-step guides on the rooting process, but I imagine the complex task of googling it up is quite beyond you.

well, yes, actually it will play technically, but it skips, pauses or stops outright when email or ims come in, or when the weather or news updates, it pauses for split seconds, what am i doing wrong? it is even worse when streaming on bluetooth and something updates in the background. so please let me know what i am doing wrong.

also, after stopping music play, say maybe 3-4 hours after the fact, i hangup from rxing or making a call, the music player will pop back on all by it self and play. even after using a task killer to kill the process...

fyi, i have tried rooting multiple ways multiple times, perhaps you could tell me whats wrong? no one has rooted the cellular south cdma yet without cameras and other things not working, which would be unacceptable, but if you know of a way, let me know. thanks in advance.
 
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Let's cut out the insults, shall we? ;)

My own previous smartphone initiation was at the hands of Nokia and Symbian S60, and Android is a revelation after that - I'm able to make my handset do what I want how I want it. I feel empowered! :D

@bbrosen: I assume that the Cellular South version of the Hero differs somehow from the other CDMA version sold by Sprint? That's a great pity, as the latter has a very strong rooting/dev community behind it.
 
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For 6 years I used WinMo phones (Moto Q, Moto Q II, Touch Pro, Touch Pro 2). Still using TP2 that my job supplies me with. I started flashing ROMs with my TP and never looked back.
The Dev community for WinMo is obviously much larger, but I expect as time goes on, the android devs will certainly increase as well. I toyed with my Droid (that just sounds dirty :D) in stock form for about a week. Started reading up on rooting and have tried a few different ROMs.
I'm positive I wouldn't be as happy with my Droid in stock form as I am now, but even in stock form, it was a good phone.

My experience is definitely worth two thumbs up and I don't expect that to change in the future.
 
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well, yes, actually it will play technically, but it skips, pauses or stops outright when email or ims come in, or when the weather or news updates, it pauses for split seconds, what am i doing wrong? it is even worse when streaming on bluetooth and something updates in the background. so please let me know what i am doing wrong.

also, after stopping music play, say maybe 3-4 hours after the fact, i hangup from rxing or making a call, the music player will pop back on all by it self and play. even after using a task killer to kill the process...

fyi, i have tried rooting multiple ways multiple times, perhaps you could tell me whats wrong? no one has rooted the cellular south cdma yet without cameras and other things not working, which would be unacceptable, but if you know of a way, let me know. thanks in advance.

Everyone who thinks they are phone geniuses, and thus qualified to suggest that bbrosen doesn't know how to use his phone, need to perhaps read a bit more, or otherwise become more experienced.

The issues he is relating sound very similar to some of the issues we have been having here in Canada on the HTC _Magic_ after Rogers and HTC gave us our "update" to Android 1.5 with Sense UI.

Before the update, no problems, however after the update many users have mentioned issues similar to bbrosen's, including specifically the skipping music.

The Hero and Magic are very similar phones, hardware-wise, but given that the Magic did not have these problems _before_ the update, and given that the Hero has similar problems, the common denominator may be Sense UI.

It is possible to disable Sense UI as the default UI on the Magic, so it may be possible to do the same on the Hero. If Bbrosen can turn off Sense UI, he can then test the music and multi-tasking functionality to see if the problems are caused by Sense UI.

On the Magic, to disable Sense UI, we go to Settings > Applications > Application Manager.

Scroll down to "HTC Sense" and clear the "deafult" button.

Press the Home key on your phone (does the Hero have that?) and your phone should ask you if you want Sense UI or the basic Android UI as your default "home". Choose the basic Android, and run your tests for comparison (you should probably reboot your phone too so you are starting from scratch).

You can switch back to Sense UI later by going back to the Applications Manager.

As for multi-tasking, we need to be careful with this term as there are different meanings. Yes, Android multi-tasks, but many users who come from using a PC to multi-task to using Android may be confused by _how_ multi-tasking works. In the strictest sense of the word the fact that apps run simultaneously means it is multi-tasking, however many users feel that "multi-tasking" should refer to being able to "easily switch between running programs" which is NOT intuitive on an Android device if you are only used to using a PC.

On a Windows machine for example you can see your running apps on the task bar and click on the one you want, or you can Alt-Tab between them. On Android you don't really have this. You have to "exit" an app (which doesn't really close or end it necessarily) and the "launch" the other app you want to get to. On a PC this would be like closing and restarting programs all the time, it "feels" different.

Personally I use TaskPanel (Here is TaskPanel Lite) which you can access from your Notification Tray. It will show you all your running apps and let you switch to another app by pressing on it in the list. This is the closest we currently have to the way we "multi-task" on the PC.

You can also Long-press the Home button (on the Magic) to get a list of the most recently accessed apps, though these are not necessarily also "currently running" apps.

Here is a discussion from these forums on Multi-tasking: http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/23356-multitasking.html
 
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All in all I love my hero. I just wish the OS was a bit quicker and less buggy, and the Marketplace was a little more professional looking. Android certainly has potential, but it needs to build on what it has, or people will swich over to the inferior, but more popular iPhone.


At the moment I am thinking of going back, only because I feel that apple is supporting the customer more. No doubt this will change on the arrival of 2.1, but I just have a niggling feeling that support of the older handsets will start to drop off.
 
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Apparently there is some software difference between the sprint and cellular south branding. The good folks at xda have been working on it as well as helping me.

To grainysand, i do not know you and just the same you do not know me. I understand my complaining may have started me off on the wrong foot here, I have spent too much time negative posting and will change this.

I am new to android, but I am not new to computers, programming or hardware.
I am learning as much as I can about the software as well as the hardware since i got this device. I do not have the time I used too, to devote to learning new software. i work quite a bit and have a family, so i am learning part time so to speak.

I honestly think that if i could root this thing without major issues, i would be a much happier camper. We will get 2.1 by the end of june we are told by cellularsouth, so I will wait to see what if any of my issues are fixed via the official update.
 
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