is the Hero still worth buying?

[jerry56]

even with the evo 4g out

 

[glen4cindy]

even with the evo 4g out

YES!

I have the Hero, bought it about 2 1/2 weeks ago, it may not have all the same features as the Evo, but, it isn't quite as big, and doesn't cost $120 extra per year just to own. I love the Hero, and will not be going to the Evo any time soon.

 

[azman]

Yep...got mine for $29.99 a couple of weeks ago at bestbuy.com

 

[jeremysm1]

I would not buy the Hero at this point in time. I have two of them and although it has the same Android OS as the EVO, it just doesn't work fast enough. Too many delays, the typing is a bit annoying and I think the antenna is pretty terrible because my reception is 10x worse than my Treo 800w (my prior phone). It does play Pandora and all the cool apps, but it just lags too much IMHO. Back in November (or whenever it came out) it was cool and okay with the lag etc, but not since there are so many other choices out there (iPhone, Incredible, EVO).

The Android OS 1.5 was okay, the Android OS 2.1 has too many bugs right now for its own good. Some steps forward, some steps back in 2.1. Now, perhaps rooting the Hero would allow you to run a clean ROM and avoid some of these issues. I am toying with this idea right now in order to avoid having to buy the EVO.

I guess if I were to pay for a new phone I'd buy the EVO or wait for the next new Android to come out. Alternatively, you can upgrade or buy the EVO for $200, ebay it for $500 and then buy a used Hero for $120 and use the difference for the next new phone that comes out (won't need an upgrade since you have the cash in the pocket to use).

 

[tatonka_Hero]

the Hero is still well worth purchasing.

Is there a bit of lag? Of course. Is it still an awesome phone to have? Darn right it is. Especially if you're willing to really play with it, and modify it, and install custom ROM's. Doing that makes it sooo much better than it already is.

 

[mbell75]

Nope. Didnt think my Hero really lagged until I got my Evo, it flies. The Evo lags and is slower in everything you do. 2.1 bogs it down and you will never see 2.2 on it. I wouldnt bother unless you are desperate for a cheap phone.

 

[tinymandolin]

I really like my Hero. I like the size and the appearance and I'm a pretty simple girl so I simply rooted out all the unneccessary apps and my Hero's battery life lasts for a very long time, even w/ heavy txting and other app usage. It doesn't lag for me and I've been very happy with it.

Besides, I would wait for the EVO to be used by other people and have everyone else find the bugs and errors and let HTC fix them before purchasing it.

 

[Hemlox]

Yes. I love my Hero. I am not having any of the issues I read about on the forum. I have no lag, my bluetooth works, the phone is fast. I would recommend it to anyone.

 

[tazcollins]

We've had two in our house for six months. No complaints with lag or anything. Ear piece clarity, size, build quality, bluetooth connections, texting, etc., are great. we still have 1.5 not rooted or anything. The phone does not have any of the Evo issues either. I had a little dust cleaned out of mine by the Sprint store after three months. For a very good android phone I highly recommend it! I like the size too compared with the Evo. The Evo needs some issues worked out of it according to the posts I've been reading on that forum. I might even wait to see what comes out after the Evo. TC

 

[glen4cindy]

Yep...got mine for $29.99 a couple of weeks ago at bestbuy.com

Geez!

Sucks to be me!

I paid $99 for mine AFTER $100 mail in rebate when I bought it. Would rather have paid $30!!

 

[xevious]

Wirefly is all over the place on pricing. One day I saw $29.99, and the next day when I decided to go for it, they'd bumped it up to $79.99. No warning. I then went on-line to read up on reviews... there are plenty of negs against Wirefly, so I'm definitely not buying from them. Not worth the risk.

Sprint is offering the HTC Hero for $79.99 on plan renewals. Amazon has it for $0.01, but only with a new 2 year contract (not a renewal). Best Buy has it for $29.99 with a new 2 year contract as well.

You'd think with the EVO out that the Hero would drop in price even more for renewals, but I'll bet anything that the EVO being sold out is keeping that from happening. Maybe in 2-3 weeks we'll see the renewal price for the Hero drop. You'll probably never see it go below $79.99 at the Sprint stores, because it's a smart phone. The Lotus Elite is $99.99 and not as desirable (can't believe it still has a 2.0MP camera on it).

Anyway, I saw the EVO first hand and I really like it. But there are three problems for me:

1. Price - $200 is attractive, but that's false pricing; it's really much more with an ongoing $13/mo payment (including taxes). You keep the phone for two years and $512 is what you're paying for it. That is, unless Sprint backs off on the monthly charge sooner than that. You can get an Apple iPad for less!
2. Size - It's a slim phone, definitely. But the length is such that pants pocket carrying is very bulky. Even worse if equipped with a case guard. The iPhone is about the same size, but very nicely tapered and the protective casing doesn't add much bulk. I wish HTC hadn't been so fearful of making too obvious an iPhone clone.
3. Exposed lens - What were they thinking? I know that a slim profile was very desirable. So the lens juts out very obviously, not protected by any kind of bezel. I've seen enough complaints of it getting scratched up, from just resting it on a counter. And add-on casing protectors don't seem to help.

The HTC Hero doesn't add any premium monthly costs. The form factor is definitely pocket friendly, with the gentle curves and tapered design. Plus, the 5MP camera is well protected by a thick bezel.

From what I'm hearing, you definitely need to root the phone to break through a number of minor issues, including some performance lags. It might be OK for many without rooting... either way, at least there's the option.

 

[hakujin]

yeah, i think so. very satisfied w/ the fresh 2.1.2 (except battery but prolly more my location), and not laggy at all on my end; very comparable to iPhone 3GS. As previously mentioned, no thanks on the Evo 4G surcharge. If that's the future, I'll be staying w/ the 3G Android devices as long as possible.

$30 is hot. I got jealous of that as I bought mine shortly before the price drop at Amazon, but luckily got it at $60 or $70 in March (can't remember), BUT w/ no activation fee and no tax, so about the same... or less.

 

[Shadow_Rider]

YES!

I have the Hero, bought it about 2 1/2 weeks ago, it may not have all the same features as the Evo, but, it isn't quite as big, and doesn't cost $120 extra per year just to own. I love the Hero, and will not be going to the Evo any time soon.

Same here. I simply didn't want to pay the extra $230 up front that I would have had to pay for the EVO (until I got the $100 rebate check back, which would still make it $130 more), didn't want to pay the additional monthly charge for owning the EVO (mandatory $10 per for "4G"), and honestly...I liked the size and form factor of the Hero better than the EVO.

I'm very satisfied with the Hero. Wish the battery life was battery, but I'm looking into and considering a Seidio or Mugen Power extended battery.

Would I liked to have had the faster processor? Absolutely. Would I liked to have had a better (8 MP compared to 5) camera with a flash? Absolutely. Would I liked to have had the bigger, better screen? Absolutely. Was it worth the additional cost that I would have incurred. Nope. Not even.

The Hero will be fine for the next year or so, whenever I'm eligible to upgrade. At that time, there will probably be a phone with EVO type specs (or better) in the size and with the form factor of the Hero, at a reasonable price.

 

[xevious]

The Hero will be fine for the next year or so, whenever I'm eligible to upgrade. At that time, there will probably be a phone with EVO type specs (or better) in the size and with the form factor of the Hero, at a reasonable price.

Yes, better to give the EVO a year to shake out the problems. And who knows, maybe by then Sprint might repeal the $10/mo ($13 w/taxes) surcharge on it, to attract an upgrade.

 

[PhoenixRogue]

Maybe I shouldn't say I bought my Hero for $9.99 on sale at Nebraska Furniture Mart... and yes I do mean I bought it for under 10 dollars. Well worth my investment. I can tell you that much. (I bought it two weeks ago)

 

[Thefoodman52]

Hey, the Hero has all the right graphics drivers and can display video over 30fps.... I miss that...

 

[MammonLord]

Very much so. The Hero is still an excellent little phone and very cheap at the moment. If you don't want to pay through the nose for the bleeding edge, the Hero is the best Sprint phone.

 

[emblemboy]

Glad to hear this. I'm switching to Sprint in a few weeks and I need a decent priced phone. The Evo is past my budget and the Hero seems good for the price($30 at bestbuy.)

 

[Sixxx]

I got mine about 3 weeks ago for 80 bucks, after my instinct(which i had for a month) crapped out on me. I couldn't be happier. I'm only 5'2" so I have small hands, the EVO is way too big for me, plus I mostly use my phone as...ya know... a phone. So the huge screen and whatnot just doesn't appeal to me that much. The Hero is perfect in my opinion, I love it.

Only gripe I have at all is not being able to calibrate the keyboard in landscape mode, and that's pretty minuscule, don't ya think?

 

[Sixxx]

Scratch that, I didn't know BestBuy had them so cheap.

 

[ron]

I think it is still a great buy. Call quality far exceeds my BlackBerrys, and the most recent Hero I got (had earlier ones) has no lag ever and the battery lasts around 36 hrs - so long as you are not using the Mail app! Using Mail kills the battery. Use the included gmail client instead, and set it up to POP the rest of your mail accounts - this is a huge battery saver!

The last thing is that the Hero is such a nice size. I do not want a huge phone like the EVO in my pocket. I would maybe go as large as the Nexus One if they ever bring out a phone that size for Sprint...

 

[mplsnst]

I'm happy to say I got my Hero for -$1. That's right, less than zero. $99 phone from Wirefly, $100 rebate via Bing Cashback, thanks to what had to have been a pretty poorly thought out promotion a few months back. At that price, I can hardly complain about the Hero's fairly minor performance issues.