Thoughts on Sprint’s Hero by HTC

Last night, I found out that one of my dad’s friends got a new phone, the Hero. Since I’m the resident Android guy around here (I <3 the G1), he wanted me to show him all the cool stuff about it. He hadn’t even linked a Google account with his device, so he didn’t know about the Market and the tons of apps there were available. He was just ecstatic that he could watch NFL videos from his phone.

So I walked him through creating a Google Account, and linked it up with his device. Then, after showing him Google Sky Map on my phone, he wanted it (of course). So I showed him how the Market works, and downloaded Sky Map for him. My dad told him about the Bubble level application, and he was in disbelief after I downloaded it for him and showed him how to use it (he said he would walk into work the next day to test it against a professional level).

Now here’s my part of the story. As I held the Hero, it felt really nice. Others have mentions that the G1 feels plastic-like and toy-like, and I didn’t believe them until I held the Hero. It feels like a sturdy, clean phone. It’s light and thin, thanks to the lack of hardware keyboard. I still would never dream of a phone without a hardware keyboard, even though Android’s software keyboard works very well. It has a 5 megapixel camera, which produces masterpieces compared to my G1’s 3 megapixel camera. I had never used HTC Sense (HTC’s proprietary user interface for Android) before, so it took me a second to rediscover how to access things. That brought me to the buttons below the screen. They are beautiful! They look as if they are just labels on a smooth plate of steel, and your very touch activates them. The trackball is also very polished, and very nice to scroll with.

So, I learned a few things last night. First, you will be the envy of everyone if you get an Android phone, especially the Hero. Second, it’s very easy to convert someone to Android, with it’s countless applications and features. Lastly, I found that I am able to eat a huge Buffalo burger.