So… Which?
I can get either on an Orange contract at my next upgrade, but which will perform better or, perhaps more accurately, are there any good reasons NOT to choose either one or the other phone?

hmm – difficult as I am having a few doubts about my iphone at the mo – its just I can't do everything with it an apple want to control what I do with it – does work nice and look nice but has its limitations 🙂

Don't be a victim, try something different and get the hero. One day, the zombie virus will be distributed via the iphone …

Hero. The novel experience of being able to listen to music and do something else at the same time has to be seen to be believed.

I've had the top range HTC's for the last 3 years? Paying to upgrade everytime a new one was released.

So my opinions is:

If you want a fun phone, which is simple and has games and things to impress your mates. Then get the Iphone (Which i may be changing over to as it comes to it)

or

If you want a top spec phone, that's more business orientated than fun, get the HTC.

Hero. The novel experience of being able to listen to music and do something else at the same time has to be seen to be believed.

do you REALLY think you can't do that with an iPhone???

iphone. Dont be a try hard who buys a gadget because its different, people buy the iphone because its very good. By far the best mobile internet browsing, the apps, music and videos, good email and text interfaces make the iphone a great phone.

iPhone again. I looked at everything out there (not really wanting to buy an Apple product) but nothing beat it overall for me.

Don't be a victim, try something different and get the hero.

I always find this attitude strange. Why would you buy something just to be different if the 'non-different' choice is the better one for you? Being different for the sake of it alone surely makes you a bigger numpty and try-hard than any notions about having the same as everyone else?

No idea what the comment about music and doing other things was about btw – iPhones can play music in the background.

but tomzo, it's much cooler to slate apple stuff and tell everyone they're coffee shop posers who buy over priced gadgets purely for how they look. Then point out that your unusable Korean tat has an 8 megapixel camera and is therefore better than an iPhone.. blah, blah

Then point out that your unusable Korean tat

You're doing a good job of demo'ing why people think that Apple fanbois are "coffee shop posers who buy over priced gadgets purely for how they look"…

Are they your only options? If not, how about a Blackberry Curve? Very good music player, email is a doddle, and just a really logical/easy to use piece of kit. Oh, and epic battery life as well.

They are both very nice. Everyone I know who has the HTC G2 (is that the Hero isn't it) loves it. Same for the iPhone. They both have good user interfaces now. Neither of them are unusable Korean tat or pointless coffee shop poser toys.

If you're a programmer / technology nerd, who likes modifying stuff, writing your own software or whatever, then I would get the HTC unless you're already a die hard mac user (iPhone is a pain to develop for, you need mac, and to do a lot of the interesting stuff you need to jailbreak it, which is also a pain). If you want a few more applications available, and you don't care about power-user things like running multiple applications at once, leaving things running in the background, or just running applications that Apple wouldn't like you using, then Apple it is. Apple is probably a slightly nicer mp3 player if that makes a difference, and also it depends a bit on whether you get on with iTunes, as you're locked into it with the Apple.

Joe

FWIW, I'm not a fanboy of apple and I'm not a UNIX-loving programmer or tech-head, so I take hardware quality more seriously than what OS it will be running on.
Some specifics. My music collection is all mp3, downloaded or ripped at home. Can I play these on an iPhone? I know I can on a Hero.
How well will the iPhone/Hero snc with a MS Outlook calendar, if at all? I had NO LUCK AT ALL doing this with my supposedly 'compatible' WinMo6 powered TYTN2, so I'm a bit hesitatnt to sign a 2 year contract for something that offers me little advance in functionality.
How easy (ie, can a 24 carat numpty do it) is it to root the hero so I can use Bluetooth to actually do something useful like data transfer?

If it'll help you to decide how to answer these questions, I'm fairly lazy/impatient and a little inept at most IT stuff, but that may be because IT and me don't speak the same language.

Any help/info on these much appreciated.

MP3 is fine for iphone

Haven't tried the outlook sync beyond my initial data load but it worked fine that time (iphone)

IPhone, unless you want to spend the rest of your contract explaining why you bought the alternative.

Think of it as a bit like buying a Porsche Boxster – no doubt very good but then have to explain that the reason you bought that and not the 911 is that you can't afford one…

'tat' maybe a little harsh, but the UI on all the touch screen LGs and HTCs that I've played with has been very poor. And the high spec'd cameras with poor lenses are disappointing. Obviously the camera is the iPhones weak point but I had a 5 megapixel Nokia that took worse pics.

There's a lot of anti apple, inverted snobbery based on fallacies like you can't listen to music while doing other things!

I find the google competition the most exciting – maybe have a look at the pre?

@ Flashheart:
Blackberry curve, eh?
I don't have a need for push email, as I work from home mostly and have no access to a Blackberry or Exchange-type server.
But I DO need to know where all my documents are, and need to be able potentially to share things with clients and contacts when I'm out and about, have access to weather forecasts (not just for biking, but for work), find things in unfamiliar towns, etc.
I might look at that.

apple certainly tie things down a lot – my nieces couldn't believe I couldn't blutooth them a song from my iPhone – fair criticism – in bed with the record companies an' all that

I'm not anti-apple in any way, I just don't own a Mac (despite 90% of people in my industry swearing by them)
I've played with a mate's iPhone, and it does look and feel very nice, but mucking about in the pub isn't a proper test. I've got very tech-headed mates who wouldn't touch an iPhone with yours but, guess what? They're developers…

'tat' maybe a little harsh, but the UI on all the touch screen LGs and HTCs that I've played with has been very poor.

The newer (android) ones? Very different from the old ones – Android user interface is alright, not as flashy effects wise as the iPhone, but pretty usable.

Personally I'd avoid blackberry since playing with the Storm – it is horrible, I can't believe they released such a piece of junk. Guy at work has one bought for him by work, and keeps trying to accidentally drop it in the hope that it will break (the only good thing about it is that it is very robust).

Joe

The Storm is indeed utter pish!

Bob, for a non-tech head (as you say you are!) Crackberry's are incredibly simple/logical to use. Really simple "folder" management, like Windows, I suppose. Wifi compatible, very high quality display, good sound/media player. Can edit and work with Word/XL/PPT documents, as well as simply drag and drop in to files using Windows Explorer to manage them. Music and videos are also a drag and drop set up. Much simple.

http://worldwide.blackberry.com/blackberrycurve/8900/

@Cap'n Flash: Hmmm… might be the answer.
I'll have a look at those 'berries now. Thanks.

Is it just me or do Boxsters actually look better than 911s?

having had a smartphone of some sort since orange introduced them, my current HTC touch diamond will be the last. Fed up of being the test market for the buggy pieces of cack HTC produce – every phone I 've had has been replaced due to major issues, the software is lousy (windows mobile 6- havent tried android) – my current phone has serious issues, that even a factory reset and running it with no extras or any info on it apart from basic phone book hasnt solved… when my contract is up, its interfacing with a large hammer and I am either getting an iphone, or going well retro and resurrecting an old nokia I have in a drawer – it may be old, naff and not feature rich, but at least it bloody works.

The most iritating things on the iphone is getting into the file system, Bluetooth push etc and the lack of adobe flash in mobile safari 👿

Doc_Blues… I know your pain. My TYTN2 was a waste of bloody time and effort. Bought as a 'mobile office' so I could work and blog away from home, it was heavy, slow, crippled with piss-poor OS and a pointless hardware keyboard. I used it for 4 months and went back to my SE K800i, which is only now beginning to fail me.
I've given the TYTN2 to my Mrs and she loves it, so it just goes to show that a lot of it is about expectations.
I will, however, never touch WinMo again as long as I live…
I too have been powering up the drawerful of old Nokias that look like shite but still work.

@pjbarton

Go on then, play a song and browse the web at the same time on your iPhone.

Try them both out, see how they feel.

The people I know who have a HTC Hero are the same people that would slate iPhones & users when they haven't even used one. This doesn't mean all Hero owners think this.

The people I know with an iphone, thought it may be rubbish, but found they are actually really good.

My music collection is all mp3, downloaded or ripped at home. Can I play these on an iPhone? I know I can on a Hero.

Add your music collection to itunes, and it will convert it to the correct format.

How well will the iPhone/Hero snc with a MS Outlook calendar, if at all?

I think they both do, the iPhone does, I get email on the phone during the day, and it can also sync with my account on my PC at home. It will also do exchange, hotmail, and all that.

How easy (ie, can a 24 carat numpty do it) is it to root the hero so I can use Bluetooth to actually do something useful like data transfer?

..I DO need to know where all my documents are, and need to be able potentially to share things with clients and contacts when I'm out and abou

I have no idea about blueteeth. But you can transfer stuff to your iphone over wifi, like documents and things and then forward them on via email.

I wanna know how to access public folders via exchange!! Now that would be handy.

I expect I will be giving a different phone a go when this contract runs out, and when other phone companies release a worthy rival of the iPhone. HTC HD2 does look nice, 4.3" touch screen, but it is a windows phone…

I have an iphone, and I'm fairly techy and here's my take:

It works as a phone and it syncs with outlook/exchange perfectly for my needs. I.e. push emails, syncs outlook calendar and contacts. You can even store them separately to your own personal contacts and calendars.

Camera isn't fantastic, but I don't take that many pics so its never been a selling point or detractor for me.

The user interface is great to use and as of the iphone 3GS its much faster and much more responsive.

I suppose the most important thing you have to ask yourself is if you're going to use it for apps too. If so then the iphone is way ahead of the others in terms of the number of apps there are. Note: this doesn't mean better hardware, just more stuff out there for it.

I don't see this changing in the next year or so and imagine the iPhone will remain ahead on this alone. It doesn't have the best hardware but Apple have never been about that, its about the experience. I think its the best phone experience (bar a few niggles) available.

Go on then, play a song and browse the web at the same time on your iPhone.

Doing it right now on mine – just to check I wasn't going mad and that you are wrong. The iPhone does indeed have the limitation that you can't run most apps in the background but there are exceptions and the ipod app is one of them.

I can't transfer anything to anything else via wifi, as I have an all-wire connection at home… Hence the need for bluetooth until I can figure out how to turn my house wireless (don't worry, that's next week's numpty-tech thread).

Go on then, play a song and browse the web at the same time on your iPhone.

I just had to give it a go… I was thinking, seriously I'm sure you can…

Seriously you can, it's like having a seperate phone & ipod.

I can't transfer anything to anything else via wifi, as I have an all-wire connection at home… Hence the need for bluetooth

A quick google revealed "there's an app for that" iBlueTooth. 😉

@ Milkie …and would this "iBluetooth" enable me to surf off my wired Broadband via my pc while I was downstairs in the living room. If so, I'm sold!

A little more looking and that app is for Jailbroken iPhones and I dont think you can surf off it…

Why would you want to surf the net via Bluetooth, when your iphone contract comes with free internet, therefore you can use 3G for free.

Sort your wifi out, and you wouldn't need to have blueteeth. 😉

Sort my wifi out? I'm a tech-numpty, for God's sake!
I'd rather surf off my landline as I find the 3G/mobile internet experience to be terribly limited, and not at all free… 😉

*note to self: Get Wifi access point sorted.
Cheers!

I've had a Hero (Yodafone) for a couple of months now, after really wanting to like the iPhone enough to give it a go. But I didn't.

IMHO, I think the Hero is a solid piece of kit with a slick UI (with the 2.73 upgrade), some good apps and loads of potential. I use it daily for email and calendering (Exhange and Googlemail), RSS feeds, Googlemaps with v good GPS, Twitter, etc.

Answers:

MP3 – yes, these work fine – just drag n drop using Media Player, etc. Currently using MixZing app which pulls down album arts and creates fairly accurate playlists based on what I'm listening to. Sound quality with good hp is excellent.

Hero syncs pretty much faultlessly with my Exchange and Googlemail accounts. Does have an option to sync with Outlook (and other PC stuff) so I'd imagine that would work fine too.

General task management is pants though – IMO. Doesn't pick up Exchange or Googlemail tasks, and needs an app to support other stuff, e.g RTM, etc.

If you want to root the Hero then check out the XDA Developers forum as well as other Android/Hero forums.

Downside at the mo is battery life. There's an issue with the default SMS client preventing the phone from sleeping = 1/2 day battery life at times (without even using the phone). Some people seem to be able to fix it (do a Google), but mine is still having random battery life even after doing loads of configuring. Some days 1/2 day, other days 1.5 days.

Overall, I like the Hero and am expecting support and apps to improve in the next 6-12 months. If not, I can see myself selling it and getting an iPhone.

For the record, every phone I've had in recent years has been from a "proper" provider, e.g. Vodafone, Orange, CPW. And I've never had a hardware problem (or much of a connection/line problem).

I've purposely avoided resellers etc because I know loads of people who keep trying to save money by taking a phone and contract from a provider in a newspaper or magazine – everything works fine for 2 months then suddenly turns to sh1t. This includes mates with HTC.

I'm not saying this is the case for other people with technical problems – just my own experience. Hence I'm always wary of (but do listen to) people that say X phone is sh1t, blah blah.

Just my tuppence

I love my HTC TyN II thing. Couldn't live without the proper slide out keyboard.

The Hero is a decent bit of kit, you don't need to be a techy to get the thing to do pretty much what ever you need to do.

Got awards from T3 and Stuff
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6252589/Hero-phone-voted-Gadget-of-the-Year.html

The firmware upgrade is a must though (easy to do)
as it made the whole UI soo much more responsive.
there's a lot of HTC hate on here too I've had a few and yes some of it's been shocking but the Andriod stuff is way better and improving all the time

multi tasking and background task anything you like is a + over iphone

but tbh I think you'll find a lot of similaritys between the two but a few less ties on the Hero.

oh and battery wise I get a day and half to 2 days out of mine (not much different than an iPhone)
which is fine for me I just stick on on charge when i go to bed it's usually about 1/2 battery
exchange and gmail syncing all the time weather updates on rss news feeds etc but Wifi Bluetooth and GPS are off until I need them
wifi i don't use really as i find the 3g/HSDPA is fine for all my needs.
SpaceMonkey I think something is up with your's tbh

The app store's great plenty on there and getting bigger all the time

have a look at one seriously