Ok, after using the HTC Hero for almost 2-weeks now, I finally know what’s missing in the Hero and know for sure what I miss most of the iPhone. In one simple word – media. Music, movies and of coz, apps. Syncing media with iTunes is really very well thought out and I don’t see any company can stand up against it – well, for 2009/2010 at least. Before the HTC Hero with it’s removable battery, MicroSD card – seems everyone was bitching why Apple couldn’t just give us that? Here’s why: (warning: long post)
Accessing photos or media on the phone via the MicroSD card (Class 2, 16Gb) – it’s almost snail like. Music playback is not as bad – you’ll still notice a slight lag. On the iPhone, it’s stored on solid state memory which provide faster access, hence reducing load time giving your machine a speedier performance.
Fellow Hero users are saying that getting a Class 6, 8Gb MicroSD will improve it’s performance with a nite and day difference. I’ve yet to try that for myself and would think so as well. Less memory to read, faster read speed (Class 6) – would definitely translates to better performance.
Now, having removable media cards are great. But then again, unless you’re storing every damn song you have in your music library, it’s really kinda hard to fill-up for an average user who uses his phone mainly as a – phone. Sure, what’s a phone without music, videos and photos these days. But definitely not everything you’ve got?! That’s just madness. So, having solid state memory chip pwns removable media card – any day.
iTunes. That’s the killer. Syncing media is just a couple of clicks away. While on the Hero, you gotta copy your media files as you would onto a portable hardisk or thumbdrive. Drag and drop, right click delete unwanted files. Though not life threatening difficult – but iTunes works great in this department. Yeah, yeah, yeah … it’s not fair to compare a seasoned app with what the Hero has to offer. Yada yada yada. Am not comparing the apps – am highlighting the process.
Apps. Being an iPhone user since 2007 – I’ve got myself quite a bit of apps from the Apps Store. One that I missed most – WunderRadio which allows online streaming of the most popular stations around the world. I listen to Hong Kong radio during office hour – so it’s kinda hard not having that luxury anymore. I tried searching for an app on Android Market which will play my fav stations – none available. If you’re reading this and you know of one – please let me know.
So are you saying you hate the HTC Hero now? Of coz not! As mentioned before, the Social Network part of HTC Hero trumps the iPhone. Being connected out-of-the-box with Flickr, FaceBook, Twitter is just unparalleled. If you have a group of friends who connects socially – HTC Hero rocks!
Tethering. Tried tethering (using your phone’s data connection to surf the net on a laptop) the other day – and it’s lightning fast. My friend was on Maxis and the HSDPA speed recorded 2.2Mb. YouTube videos and websites load instantly. Not sure bout the 3GS and tethering here with Maxis – is it enabled?
The form factor. Between the HTC Hero and iPhone, I prefer the Hero. It just fits in your hand better than the iPhone – and that coming from someone who has a fairly big palm. So, there are pros and cons between the Hero and 3Gs – but I can’t say which is better than the other. To me, both are equally strong and hence, it’s really kinda hard to choose or recommend between one and the other.
So, what’s the solution? Get ‘em both. Weekdays – the 3Gs for all your online streaming and media needs. Weekends and off days, HTC Hero all the way. That, would be the perfect match made in gadget heaven. With Android 1.6 a.k.a Donut released to developers – brace yourself for some pretty cool things happening in the Android platform. Though new, HTC Hero has very big potential for some very big surprises.
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