Would you swap an iPhone for a HTC hero?

Been offered an upgrade to an HTC hero. I've got a iPhone 16GB 3GS at the moment and I'm tempted to take the upgrade and flog the iPhone as they go for pretty good money.

I've heard the music player isn't particularly good on the hero, but then I've got an iPod somewhere that can be resurrected.
Does the hero do internet, email, SMS, MMS and phone calls as well as the iPhone? Also is the GPS any good on the hero as I see viewranger do an "app" for android.

I have a Hero but I cant offer a comparison as I've never had an iphone.

Just wanted to say, the only app you need on the hero for route tracking is Google's own MyTracks. Can upload the routes to google maps and even google earth. Awesomely cool.

The GPS accuracy on the Hero itself seems pretty damn good, it's never more than a few metres out when checking on google maps.

You probably want the HTC Desire now though.

How does it get on with the other stuff? I think I use my iPhone as much for internet and email as I do for texts and phone calls these days.

uh huh, Hero is old news. It's been replaced by the Legend and i'll be upgrading mine to the Desire when my contract is up

they won't offer me a desire for free.

I ordered a new Desire last night. **** stupid name though

Can you not take the Hero and sell the Hero?

I've been borrowing a Hero for a couple of weeks now and prior to using it I had my heart set on getting an iPhone at my next upgrade opportunity.

Not had the chance to play with an iPhone but I fail to see how an iPhone can offer a greater level of functionality for the cost of owning the iPhone. The Hero is amazing.

I've been using MyTracks with the Hero and the GPS is good enough to show which side of the road you are on when on minor back roads.

Internet is excellent, just like the "real" internet but on a smaller screen around which you can scroll with a swipe of the finger. You can have multiple browser windows open at the same time.

For £25 a month and a free phone it suits me. Desire or Legend for me when my current contract expires.

Got the Legend for £15 a month on Vodaphone a few days back because I ordered 2. Nice phones – still getting used to it though. Just downloaded MyTracks and going for a ride now to try it out.

Just done exactly that, but mine was a 3G rather than 3GS. A few thoughts:

Standard browser is toss compared to Safari, super sluggish. Replace it with Dolphin Browser. Well faster and generally better.

Battery life – much better, nearly two full days rather than one. This is turning Wifi and Data connections off when not in use though. But its much easier to reactivate them using the widgets which can be placed on the homescreen.

Keyboard – iPhone wins this one so far, its more accurate than the Hero's if you have large fingers like me. Slowly getting used to it though.

Market place vs App store – Again the iPhone wins here, considering Google is a search company, browsing the Market is a pretty sh*tty experience. Unless you know what you're looking for it's awful.

Interface – I much prefer the Hero's interface, specially HTS's own widgets. Certain apps aren't as nice, the SMS one in particular but still very usuable.

3G browsing – Using the Hero will get you access to the HSDPA protocal which the iPhone doesn't get. Can't remember the official figures but its somewhere between 2-7MBps – in use it spanks 3G on the iPhone.

Hope that helps.

I own a Hero. I used a mate's Iphone 3GS for about 5 minutes in the pub. I'd have swapped like a shot in terms of basic usability – the Iphone is just a lot faster. The Hero also has no proximity sensor so it is very easy to hang up a call with your face.

As for apps, there are good ones about – Cardiotrainer for keeping track of exercise etc. via the GPS.

Also, dont know if the iphone does this but you can tether the Hero (and presumably the Legend/Desire etc) to your laptop and use it as a mobile internet connection. Bit like one of those dongle things.

If you're on an unlimited internet price plan (I am) and you move around a lot, it's pretty handy

Hero looks like a pile of garbage to me, although admittedly it's a half-decent phone. I'd stick with an iPhone personally. I'd be tempted by an HTC Desire though (shame the Incredible isn't coming to the UK). Also what drugs is the guy that names HTC devices on? It's almost as crap as Linux naming

I've had my desire for about a fortnight and the guys from IT keep coming over to compare it with their iclones and walking away looking sheepish…

I've just got a Legend on Vodafone, phone free, £20 month, £150 cashback on a 24 month contract. First smartphone, though the wife's had 2 iphones, and I've got an ipod Touch. Apparently it's a lot better than a Hero, with the latest Android, and screen is a lot nicer than iphone, though smaller. Doesn't seem quite as responsive, and the keyboard's not easy to use as as the iphone 3gs though.

The HTC phones running Android are pretty spot on at the moment. The main benefit as far as I can see is the fact that you can have multiple apps running at the same time. 1-0 to HTC / Andriod over iPhone in my book.

I also still have an older HTC windows mobile phone which is still going strong and has suffered some abuse, if the new ones have the same build quality then I'd say they are a winner.

While it's all well and good enthusing about using Google Maps for navigation, you can never get away from the fact that Cloud navigation always depends on having a good strong signal at all times. Where I live in North Wilts there are many areas where the signal vanishes, so your navigation will struggle. Say you wanted to use your Google Maps around Avebury/ Marlborough Downs/Savernake Forest, you'd be lucky to get a decent signal. I use Memory Map Free with 1:25k
maps, and I can map tracks perfectly on my iPhone, which wouldn't be possible where I ride regularly. There's an App now available written by an STW regular which allows the downloading of 5km square tiles of 1:10k OS maps for free, which I'll be taking advantage of when I get a new 4G iPhone in July; my 3G's full up!

Got the Legend for £15 a month on Vodaphone a few days back because I ordered 2

damn, beats my 2 at 17.50 a month. but we are getting 600minutes and unlimited texts with that which i believe is the £30 tariff for this phone, so a decent discount!

CountZero- I have been using android for a few days now and there is a new app being developed that allows full OS mapping across all of the UK, and decent coverage of Europe from what i have seen so far. Prior to this app, I couldn't find a OS mapping app for android that allowed maps to be stored on the SD card rather than downloaded "live" which is debateably sketchy in many mountain areas. It is only a couple of days old, but the app looks promising for the future. For any of you android users, check it out. The app is called AplineQuest- available direct through the market. There is a free version, but the paid version looks to be getting the dangly giblets in the near future. All maps are downloaded free using another tool, and are fully customisable in terms of area and scale. Doesn't quite work in the same way as Memory Map, but is looking good if the developer keeps updating it.

To the OP- i am not a fan of iPhones, but i don't think i would be swapping a 3GS for a Hero- if they offered a Legend or Desire then different. The Hero is running on Android 1.5 which limits the apps you can download. Although it should be getting an update to 2.1, the upgrade has been delayed from January and now to June. A long time to wait, and no guarantee it will not be delayed again.

I've just received my Legend and tbh it's very nice. Except the phone signal drops out when I'm in the living room. Arse. Back to Vodafone I reckon.

Clicky on image for makes nice music.

Lol at Talkemada. Regarding navigation apps, I was just having a browse in the App Store, and Viewranger has just shown up, for those who've used it on Nokias. I'll have to wait for a phone upgrade, cos I've no space left, but this is the mapping app I've been looking forward to.

I've got a Blackberry 8800 sitting here that I don't know what to do with. 🙄

I do have a low boredom threshold though.

Where does the Google Nexus fit into this?

It was big news a few months ago but I've not heard much about it since.

Got my new 'desire' today. Well impressed. Was wanting a iphone as I'm an Apple man at heart, but didn't think it was worth the premium.

Higgo – HTC make the Nexus 1 for Google. The HTC Desire is virtually the same as a Nexus, but apparently has a few 'tweaks' to the buttons etc, so it's sort of a Nexus 2. I don't think any of the operators have taken the Nexus 1 (or Google haven't yet chosen to distribute this way) so they are still handset only, and therefore expensive. I've heard rumours that Vodafone will be shipping it soon.

In general…
I have a Nexus 1 and an iPhone 3GS. The Nexus is very good, but for basic usability, my phone of choice is the iPhone. I use macs, and have lots of photos on iPhoto and music on iTunes, so the in-built sync stuff all works really well. If you're a big Google apps user, and use gooole mail/contacts/calendar, picassa etc, then I'm sure you'd find the Nexus (or any Android based mobile) does an equally good job.

There's no doubt that the iPhone app-store has much more choice (about 180k apps vs about 30k apps for Android), but it all depends how important apps are to you. The browsers are great on both.

Hope that helps!
Nick

I have a Hero and have used the iPhone extensively and my honest answer would be to stick with the iPhone. The iPhone might not be quite as versatile as the Hero (eg wireless tethering etc) but the overwhelming impression you get from it is that it "just works".

The Hero tends to stutter and pause every so often, usually when you're trying to type or browse the applications list. Wait and get the iPhone 4G, which is what I'm going to do.

Don't really know about the Iphone, but I wasn't prepared to pay the premium. I got a HTC HD2. Yes I know its Windows Mob, but its running HTC's Sense on top and with Snapdragon 1ghz processor, theres no lag, just smooth and problem free. Only had it a couple of months, but it blows my previous smart phones out the water.
Oh and Gadget Show gave it 5Gs and called it "an Iphone killer".

Got a HTC desire. Using it for the 1st time and It's pretty cool. Time will tell which one I keep.

Oh and Gadget Show gave it 5Gs and called it "an Iphone killer".

If I had a quid for every phone that's been called an "iPhone killer" I'd be a rich man!!

Had a desire for a couple of weeks now, and I've gotta say I'm very impressed. Plenty of apps for doing pointless things, good internet and email access, easy wifi setup, and does just about everything I can think of it needing to do.

I didn't even consider an iphone, as I didn't want to look like a fashion following ponce. From what I can tell though, they do pretty much the same things, but go about them slightly differently.

ok then, which one works best as a gps device for tracking bike ride routes?