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ReviewIncredibly functional yet subtly streamlined and trendy, the HTC Hero is one of HTC’s first gadgets to hit the Android market in 2009. Unlike its GSM counterpart, the CDMA Hero looks downright simple without the “chin,” which many users find a little too awkward for a smartphone. Measuring 4.46 inches tall by 2.2 inches wide by 0.54 inch thick and weighing about 4.5 ounces, the HTC Hero is still considered a lightweight and compact device that comes with virtually all the essential features of what a smartphone should have. Adding to the Hero’s clean lines and curvy edges, the 3.2-inch TFT LCD touchscreen, which supports 262K colors, delivers clear and vibrant display with a resolution of 480x320 pixels. A built-in light sensor constantly adjusts the screen’s brightness depending on the surrounding lighting condition. Plus, the HTC Hero’s built-in accelerometer automatically changes the display’s orientation to portrait or landscape mode depending on the phone’s physical angle. What’s missing though is a proximity sensor, which would lock the screen when the user holds the device near the ear during a call. Also, the HTC Hero does not have a front camera, making it impossible to engage in video calls or video chats whenever 3G coverage is available. Still, this handset is a beast in terms of multimedia, messaging, and application support. The HTC Hero features a virtual QWERTY keyboard. HTC also took the initiative of replacing the standard Android keyboard with its own, making the buttons appear larger with wider spaces between the keys. However, the keys still looked cramped in portrait mode, but the onscreen dialer proves easier to use with intuitive capability of auto-searching for related contacts when one starts entering numbers on the screen. The HTC Hero also supports an internal GPS antenna, which provides network-independent GPS navigation. In terms of connectivity, the Hero features a standard 3.5mm headset jack, PC syncing, Bluetooth 2.0, and Wi-Fi capability. High-speed data service is also possible with the Hero’s EV-DO Rev capability, the full potential of which is dependent on the network carrier. In the multimedia department, the HTC Hero sports a 5-megapixel camera on the back of the device. But a built-in flash, which the Hero lacks, would have added more flexibility in any lighting conditions. The autofocus functionality, however, somehow gives the camera an edge over those of other Android devices. Video capture is also possible, and the video quality is rather modest for a megapixel camera. When it comes to performance, the HTC Hero delivers above-average call quality and advanced messaging features. Bluetooth headsets work perfectly fine with HTC’s stereo Bluetooth capability. And although the Hero’s 528MHz processor lags behind today’s 1GHz beasts, the system still runs just fine with minimal sluggishness reported especially with media playback or when running power-hogging applications. SpecificationsGeneral Network CDMA 800/1900MHz Data 1xEV-DO rev.A Dimensions 4.5" x 2.22" x .54" Weight 4.50 oz (128 g) Keyboard Design Virtual QWERTY Keyboard Antenna Internal Type Bar Phone Screen Size 3.20 inches Resolution 320x480 pixels (HVGA) Technology TFT Touchscreen (262K colors) Others LED Backlight/Multi-Touch/Scratch-Resistant Glass Operating System Android Processor Qualcomm® MSM7600™ (528Mhz) Internal Memory 512MB ROM/ 288MB RAM Memory Card Slot microSD Multimedia and Entertainment Music Player MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV Video Playback MPEG4, H.263, H.264 Main Camera 5 Megapixels (With Autofocus) Ringtones Polyphonic/Music Files Voice Recorder Yes Applications Video Player/Downloadable Android Apps Web/Messaging SMS Yes MMS Yes Email IMAP, POP3, SMTP Instant Messaging Yes Browser Support HTML Wi-Fi Yes Mobile Hotspot No Call Management/Call Functions Phonebook Capacity Expandable Phonebook Additional Features Multiple Numbers per Contact/Picture ID/Ringer ID Speakerphone Yes Voice Dialing Yes Others Vibrate Mode/Hearing Aid Compatible Others Bluetooth Version 2.0 PC Sync Yes USB Yes Headphone Jack 3.5mm TV Out No GPS Internal GPS Antenna Others Accelerator/Compass/Calendar/Calculator/Stopwatch/Notes Frequently Asked QuestionsGeneral How do I increase the battery’s talk time and standby time? You can adjust the display settings, turn off data connections, disable vibrate mode, or change other settings to save more battery power. How do I turn the device on/off? Press and hold the End/Power key until the display lights up. To turn the device off, press and hold the End/Power key until the Phone Options menu appears on the screen. Touch Power Off>Ok. How do I lock the screen? You can lock and turn off the screen by pressing the End/Power key. To unlock the display, press the End/Power key then glide the lock screen bar downward. You can also press the Menu key to unlock the screen. How do I display my phone number on the screen? Press the Home key>Menu key and touch Settings>About Phone>Phone Identity. Your phone number and all other essential information about your device will be displayed. How do I set my device to silent mode? Press the Volume down button until the silence mode icon appears on the status bar. How do I set my device to airplane mode? Press the Home key>Menu key. Touch Settings>Wireless Networks. Select the Airplane mode check box. The status bar will display the airplane mode icon. How do I reset my device? Press the Home key>Menu key. Touch Settings>Security>Privacy>Factory data reset>Reset phone. Please take note that resetting your device erases all data stored in the phone memory. Call Management How do I call a number embedded in a text message? While reading the message with a phone number, touch the number to display the Select link screen. From the onscreen list, touch the number you wish to call to display the Phone screen, which already automatically indicates the number. Touch Call. How do I answer an incoming call? Press the Call key to answer incoming calls. To end the call, press the End/Power key. How do I mute the ringing sound during an incoming call? To mute the ringer, you may choose any of the following options: press the Volume Down button; press the Menu key and touch Mute from the onscreen menu; or place the device face down on a level surface. What is the function of the Quiet Ring on Pickup feature? This feature automatically scales down the volume level of the ringtone when you pick up your device during an incoming call. To activate this feature, press the Home key>Menu key and touch Settings>Sound & Display. Scroll down through the onscreen menu and touch Quiet ring on pickup check box. How do I turn the speakerphone on during a call? Press the menu key during a call. From the onscreen in-call option, touch Speaker On. You may also choose other in-call options such as, among many others, Add Call (to start a three-way call), Mute or Unmute, or People (to display your contacts list). How do I dial from the People List? Press the Home key and touch People. Touch the contact you wish to call and press Call (type of number). Can I use a standard headset with the HTC Hero? Yes. The device features a standard 3.5mm headset jack, which means doing away with audio adapters. Display How do I adjust the screen’s brightness level? The HTC Hero has a built-in light sensor that automatically adjusts the brightness level depending on the surrounding lighting conditions. How many Home Screen panels does the HTC Hero have? The HTC Hero supports up to seven home screen panels. Does the HTC Hero support pinch-to-zoom gestures? Yes. How do I customize the Home Screen? Press the Home key and press the onscreen + button. The Add to Home options provides you the following customization options: Widget (to add HTC or Android widgets such as clock, calendar, mail, people, etc.) , Program (add application shortcuts to the Home Screen), Shortcut (add shortcuts to bookmarked webpages), or Folder (add a folder on the Home Screen). How do I reposition a Home Screen Item? Press and hold the item until the item expands and the device vibrates (Edit mode). Drag the icon to the desired position and release it. How do I remove a Home Screen Item? Press and hold the item on the Home Screen until the item expands and the phone vibrates. Drag the icon to the Phone button, which will then change to Remove button once the item hovers over. Once the Remove button turns red, release the icon. How do I create a folder on the Home Screen? Press the Home key>Menu key. Touch Add to Home>Folder>New Folder. Text Input and Messaging What keyboard options can I choose besides the QWERTY layout? You may also choose Compact QWERTY or Phone Keypad keyboard layouts. How do I set the QWERTY keyboard to landscaped orientation? Your device has a built-in accelerometer that automatically orients the screen and the keyboard to landscape mode when you shift your phone’s position sideways. How do I change the onscreen keyboard layout? On the onscreen keyboard, touch the gear icon located beside the comma (,) key. Touch Keyboard types and select QWERTY, Phone Keypad, or Compact QWERTY. The Compact QWERTY features two letters on each key. How do I add a word to the Predictive Dictionary? On the onscreen keyboard, touch the gear icon located beside the comma (,) key. Touch User Dictionary>Add New. Type the new word and touch Ok. Ringtones, Multimedia, Documents and Camera How do I select a default ring tone for my incoming calls? Press the Home key>Menu key. Touch Settings>Sound Display>Phone ringtone. Touch the specific ringtone you wish to use and press Ok. Can I use music files as ringtones? Yes. The HTC Hero supports, among many others, *.wav, *.mid, *.mp3, and *.wma as ringtones. Can I view MS Office documents on my HTC Hero? Yes. Press the Home key and touch the onscreen All Apps button. Touch Quickoffice and scroll through the list of documents. Touch the selected document. You may pinch the screen to zoom the pages in/out. How do I view PDF files on my device? Press the Home key and touch the onscreen All Apps button. Touch PDF Viewer and touch the selected item from the list of available files. You can slide your finger on the screen to flip through the pages. Pressing the Menu button displays the following options: Zoom, Open (to open another PDF file), Toolbar (toggle between showing and hiding the page toolbar), Go to (to go to a specific page of the file), View (to choose between Continuous or Reflow), More (to search for specific texts and to view properties or information about the viewer). How do I record voice memos? Press the Home key and touch the onscreen All Apps button. Touch Voice Recorder and touch the onscreen Record button before speaking into the microphone. To stop recording, touch the Stop button. How do I view the microSD Card memory? With the microSD card inserted, press the Home key>Menu key. Touch Settings>SD & phone storage. The total memory available will be displayed on the screen. Write Your Own ReviewYou're reviewing: HTC Hero |
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