gdgt

9.8

Great Phone

By henshen - Oct 22, 2009

I've been using the Hero for about two months now. I've bought it in Taiwan and unlocked it in U.S for AT&T. This phone is really the first successful Android phone on the market. It offers the customization option from the Android platform while giving a well-designed Sense user interface to cover-up the somewhat bland one from the original Android.
I especially enjoy the scenes option from the phone, as it allows me to easily customize and polish my homescreen to fit my need in just a couple of clicks.
In terms of speediness, the hero in general runs pretty pretty smoothly, but does become a little laggy when running on multiple apps. (well, so do most phones.)
The "phone" part of hero, I would argue, is the worse part of the phone, as it usually has a delayed response when calling people in terms of its touchscreen, so that's still up for improvement.
The Sense UI groups all your contacts phone, sms, email, facebook and twitter account all in one place so it's really easy to browse through contacts and decide which is the most effective way of communication.
Best feature of the phone is its ability to sync with all the google applications - g-mail, g-chat, google maps..etc etc. It's proved to be extremely helpful for me.

There are some flaws that I'd love point out, however..They're minor, but I think the attention to detail could elevate the phone to a whole other level.
1. The SMS features loses its "sent time" after the day has passed..For example, if I had recieved a message today at 3:22pm, the SMS would show that I've recieved a message today and 3:22pm, but tomorrow, the message will just display that I've recieved it "yesterday" instead of the specific time, which could be sort of annoying sometimes.
2. The keyboard functions perfectly, although the backspace is a little bit faulty and takes some time to get used to.
3. Widgets are cool but they are a big system hogger. Probably due to the not up-to-date processor.

Overall, I highly recommend this phone. Support HTC, it's really an innovative company!
9.8/10.