HTC Hero review

We often hear about ‘hero’ products in the world of IT. They’re the top-of-the-range models that a manufacturer brings out in the hope of bringing prestige to their brand, to spread the so-called halo effect. So there’s no doubt about what HTC is attempting to produce with this phone: the Hero is its all-guns-blazing attempt to shoot down the Apple iPhone 3GS, to kill the Palm Pre before it even arrives on these shores, to be a drop-dead gorgeous object of desire.

And in terms of features, it delivers. There’s 3G, naturally, with support for downloads up to 7.2Mbits/sec and uploads up to 2Mbits/sec, as well as GPS, 802.11bg Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, an accelerometer and a digital compass.

What’s also interesting about this phone is what isn’t present: Windows Mobile. Even though HTC’s TouchFLO 3D interface has done the best job yet at producing a usable version of the operating system, the Hero instead places its faith in Google’s Android OS. And, if it was a gamble, it’s paid off.

The pleasure is all yours
Because it turns out that the Hero is a very enjoyable phone to use. The settings are logically arranged and easy to get at; there’s no bizarre trail of menus and submenus to navigate, everything is just one or two clicks away. It also pulls off the iPhone’s trick of not needing a stylus.

This extends to the web browser, which is beautifully suited to the 3.2in 320 x 480 screen. You can double-tap on the screen to zoom in or out, or use the now-familiar multi-touch system. It isn’t quite as quick to respond as the iPhone, but nor is it far behind.

Android is no copycat OS, though, and HTC’s implementation includes a number of neat tricks. Note the arc at the bottom of the screen, in particular. Like a traditional scrollbar, there’s a small bar that indicates where you are in the arc: there are seven pages, stretching from left to right, and by rolling the scrollwheel from side to side you can swiftly navigate through those screens (or slide them along using your finger).

All seven screens are customisable. By default, they’re ordered weather; texts; emails; the home page (with a clock and weather summary at the top, plus four shortcuts at the bottom – messages, mail, browser and calendar); an odd combination of more shortcuts and favourite contacts; and web bookmarks. The seventh is left empty, so you could drag the music player here, or calendar events.

At any time, you can get the full list of installed programs by clicking the small upwards arrow that sits next to the omnipresent Phone button. It’s a clever setup, and it works.

A phone to cause a scene
But that’s not all. Press the context-sensitive Menu key and you’ll find six options, the most interesting of which is Scenes.

There are a number to start off with – from Social to Work to a blissfully empty Clean Slate – all with different wallpapers and different default programs. For example, Play pushes the Twitter app, music and photo albums to the fore.

You’re not stuck with these choices. If you make any changes – say, you create a new page of shortcuts (and you can add up to 16 on a page) – you’ll be prompted to save the theme when you next go into Scenes. It’s clever, incredibly customisable, and works beautifully in practice.

HTC Sense
HTC is also marketing what it calls HTC Sense: a slightly hazy term built upon the principles of Make It Mine (the customisability we’ve already covered), Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected.

Stay Close is something that will no doubt have Palm’s lawyers already flicking their way through legal documents, as it’s a rather similar idea to Palm’s own for webOS. Both ideas revolve around the principle of collating all the information you have about a contact into one place – say from Outlook, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. In this case, you access all the information through HTC’s People app.

It’s a disturbingly clever feature that quickly falls into the “how did I ever live without it?” category

So, at a glance, you’ll be able to find out if they’re holding events, what their job title and history is, their uploaded photos and any tweets they’ve posted recently. It’s disturbingly clever – it managed to work out someone’s surname and Facebook profile from their phone number, for instance – and a feature that quickly falls into the “how did I ever live without it?” category.

Discover the Unexpected is less easy to pin down. To quote HTC’s press release: “Many of the most memorable moments in your life are experienced, not explained. HTC Sense is focused on providing a variety of these simple yet innovative experiences on your HTC phone that will sometimes bring you moments of joy and delight.”

The first example HTC gives is that if you want to reject a call, you can simply turn the Hero over to silence the ring. A nice feature, but hardly unique.

It might have been better off focusing on the 5-megapixel camera, which is surprisingly good – even indoors. If you’re used to a phone’s offbeat colours, excess noise and poor detail capture then be prepared to be impressed.

Less impressive is the video camera, which takes decidedly mediocre, low-detail footage at 320 x 240.

The inevitable irritations
That said, there are areas where the HTC Hero lags a little. Its accelerometer will detect if you shift to a landscape view rather than portrait, but you’ll have to give it a second to kick into action.

You may also find you need to switch to landscape to make the onscreen keyboard work to your satisfaction, which is almost inevitable when you consider the slim screen. Note, though, that you can calibrate the portrait keyboard (press the dial settings key when the keyboard is showing) and we found it worked significantly better after this.

There’s no hidden hardware Qwerty keyboard to resort to, or number pad. In total there are six hardware shortcuts: Phone (for calls), Home, Menu (which is context-sensitive, and shows six app-relevant commands), Off, Google Search (for the web or, if relevant, the application you’re using) and Back.

Aside from this, all you’ve got is a rocker switch to control the volume; there are no handy media playback controls. However, music fans will be greatly relieved to see a 3.5mm earphone socket at the top of the device, and HTC bundles its own earphones complete with next/previous track controls and a pause button. The bundled software music player is easy to use, too.

It can make phone calls too
We’re relieved to say the HTC Hero is a good phone. We found call quality to be right up there with the best, and that could be because of the Hero’s odd shape. Instead of the typical straight design its bottom lip sits at a slight angle, which moves the microphone that tiny bit closer to the mouth – but also makes it feel, in an odd way, more like a conventional phone.

There are disadvantages to this shape. Slip the Hero into your trouser pocket and it will bulge that little bit more than a straight phone, although it doesn’t feel uncomfortable. It also looks a little quirky and retro, which may or may not suit you.

The rest of the styling is understated. Whether you buy it in the default black or white, or opt for the gunmetal grey of Orange’s choosing (as shown here), it’s not a phone that’s clamouring for admirers. If anything, that finish looks corporate rather than flashy consumer, but the build quality is high thanks to a metallic chassis – for the front of the device, at least.

The back is pure plastic, which helps to keep the weight down to a reasonable 135g, but it has a solid feel in the hand, and our only long-term concern is for the screen. HTC claims its Teflon coating will reduce the effect of smears, but they’re still noticeable, and we’d like to see a protective pouch in the box to guard against scratches.

Our final long-term worry is the trackball. While we’re sure HTC has invested lots of time and money to make sure it’s reliable, any moving part is a potential risk – as many owners of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl discovered.

Unlike the iPhone the Hero’s battery is user-replaceable, although at 1,350mAh its capacity is average. The exact life you’ll receive will vary hugely depending on the usage you put it through, though we can confidently say it will last even a hectic 24-hour day. We’re still performing our real-world battery test, and will update this review as soon as we know those results.

Right for business?
So to the big question – is the Hero ready for use in a business? And in particular, a Windows-based business?

We do have some concerns. Inevitably, the Hero isn’t as tightly integrated into Windows as a phone powered by Windows Mobile (see our guide to using Windows Mobile phones for business to find out why).

For example, to access the SD card you have to specify that you want to mount the card when you connect via USB. Then, when you want to synchronise, you must remember to turn this off.
We also miss having mobile versions of Office to carry around. Though Quickoffice is installed, this is for viewing documents, not editing them.

Also, rather than just using Microsoft’s Sync Center to keep everything up to date, you have to use HTC Sync (which is provided on the 2GB microSD card) and this isn’t as advanced: all you can synchronise are your contacts and calendar appointments.

However, the Hero does allow you to synchronise Office contacts and calendar appointments over the air, via Exchange. And if your business relies on Google services then the opposite becomes true: this Google-based device is excellent at grabbing data and synchronising with Google Calendar.

So, the Hero is a good choice for smaller businesses that are already leaning towards Google for some of their services, but if your workforce is trained to use Outlook for tasks, email and other CRM-related duties, then you should think twice before approving the Hero.

Perhaps most important of all, if you rely on inputting data into your phone then note the lack of editing features. Bizarrely, this still extends to Google Docs.

Conclusion
The HTC isn’t a perfect phone by any means. Few prospective iPhone 3GS buyers will be tempted by its styling, while sporadic annoyances such as its slow-to-respond accelerometer also make it feel less polished than Apple’s offering.

However, its tight integration with third-party services such as Flickr and Facebook, make it an incredibly flexible phone – plus, with Google’s Android Market now offering thousands of titles there’s now very little it can’t do.

It’s not cheap. On a pay-as-you-go contract, the HTC Hero costs £348 (£400 inc VAT), while the lowest-priced Orange contract that includes a good data package – 500MB per month – still costs £29.36 inc VAT per month, plus a one-off £48.50 inc VAT for the phone, and you’re tied in for 24 months. Opt for T-Mobile, and you’ll be paying £34.26 inc VAT for an 18-month contract, with a 1GB-per- month data cap. At least the phone’s “free”.

But even though it’s expensive, and even though it has a few annoyances, we must admit this is a phone we’ll be sorry to part with. It’s an excellent advert for Google Android, and if web browsing is more important to you than music playing then it’s a fine alternative to both the iPhone and the Palm Pre.

Once Google irons out the niggles with Google Docs, it could also become a very attractive phone for forward-thinking small businesses.

Details
Cheapest price on contract	£0
Contract monthly charge	£30.00
Contract period	18 months
Contract provider	Orange
Battery Life
Talk time, quoted	7hrs
Standby, quoted	31 days
Physical
Dimensions	56.2 x 14.35 x 112mm (WDH)
Weight	135g
Touchscreen	yes
Primary keyboard	On-screen
Core Specifications
RAM capacity	288MB
ROM size	512MB
Camera megapixel rating	5.0mp
Front-facing camera?	no
Video capture?	yes
Display
Screen size	3.2in
Resolution	320 x 480
Landscape mode?	yes
Other wireless standards
Bluetooth support	yes
Integrated GPS	yes
Software
OS family	Android