HTC Hero arrives

This thing arrived on Saturday. Initially I wanted to get the HTC official updater installed and then start loading on apps and stuff. I downloaded the updater and Sync Manager apps off their website onto my mac and in advance, had taken my Dell work laptop home to use it to install on…there is, surprise surprise, no mac installer. HTC don’t show much consideration for non-PC people but you come to expect that and try yo work around it.

The Sync app installed on the Dell easily enough (the HTC website says you need to install that on first) and so I then connected the Hero via usb cable and tried to open the exe file I had copied from the mac. Nothing except an error message happened. Drat. Perhaps the specs of the Dell are not up the “official” requirements or perhaps it does not use USB 2, I don’t know as I am not an expert on things like that…I can’t even remember what the error message was, something about a “run” error and something to do with a driver? That was a bummer anyway as I really want (need?) to get this thing updated and sort out any reported “lag” concerns.

I will need to ask a PC owning chum, with a more up to date specced PC, to try the updater for me and see if that does the trick. I was a bit down after this as I didn’t really want to try out much until the updater had been stuck on the Hero, I guess I was concerned that I might suffer a sub-par Android experience. What the heck I thought and ploughed on regardless.

So, I have used it now for just over a day and so far so good. It is the same weight as the iPhone but not as tall or wide and a bit thicker, depth wise. It has some kind of teflon coating which makes wiping off dirt from the back and screen very easy plus an added benefit is that it is less slippery. The chin is…errr….a chin, a bit Jimmy Hill like but in my view not obtrusive. Some things I like

• the screen is very nice, on a par with the iPhone I would say but photos transferred do not appear to be as crisp or lucid
• you can pull down this notification sheet, it is like pulling down a blind, from the top left of the screen and it shows all new emails, texts, Twitterings and any other items you have set up to show notifications for…nice
• it is sooooo nice to have some buttons on the front, especially the “back” button but it is a pity that so many apps that I have tried so far have gone for the sloppy and easy method of using the buttons for navigation instead of integrating the iPhone like “swiping”. That I find to be annoying
• the camera is decent in good light…..it has no flash though
• there are loads and loads of customisation options for the screens and you can add things like a wifi on/off button to the main screen…I always hate having to fanny around in the iPhone menu to do this
• there is a decent built in Twitter application that is well good enough for my needs
• the Calendar app is easy to use and you can tap on a time to add an entry….get this sorted Apple
• I have found some apps that I use on the iPhone which is comforting
• there are some sensible ringtones built in, unlike the pap that ships on the iPhone
• there are backup apps available! Hoorah! How nice to have the security of being able to restore on the move
• it is early doors yet but the battery life would appear to be a tad better than the iPhone…..but not hugely better
• the Android app store is quick to load and downloading from it is easy
• even without the updater I have not noticed any real lag at all

Obviously there will be more that I spot that is likeable in the next few days. As for some initial thoughts about some of the stuff I am not so keen on.

• the AppsStore does not as yet offer any screenshots of the application but this is apparantly coming
• talking of apps, oh dear……I tried out a few RSS ones (you chaps know I am obsessed with RSS and use it to partly judge the quality of an o/s) and was seriously not impressed. Not one of them offered a basic “swipe” facility to move between posts and some of the navigation options were appalling and entailed having to press several buttons to get back to the feed. They look great when you first load them up but soon become frustrating to use after apps like Newsstand and iNews on the iPhone
• I haven’t worked out a way to sync iTunes playlists and iPhoto albums over

I think, to date, that is my biggest gripe with the Hero. HTC have stuck on this very nice interface which is easy to move through through touch yet most of the software I have loaded on does not take advantage of this method of navigation, relying on buttons. In addition, the RSS apps I tried were not nearly as customisable as their iPhone counterparts. Say what you like about apple and their domineering approach to the o/s but this stance ensures a smooth and very uniform user experience whereby in apps, if you do something with a gesture you know the end result. On Android, the 3rd party developers just seem happy to get something out and they all seem to be doing different things with regard to how apps act. You can’t even say that it is still at an early stage because the Android sdk or whatever it is called has been out there for as long as the iPhone sdk, as has their respective App Stores yet the Android eco-system seems a bit immature in comparison.

However it is very early doors and this is not a review of the HTC Hero as you can’t do that in just over 24 hours playing with it, just some initial thoughts. I don’t mean to sound negative about it as there is a lot to like and a lot that is better than the Apple offering but if you asked me right now I would say it is more likely I will be upgrading to the 3GS at the end of this year than carrying on with the Hero.