HTC Hero

[shakalaka]

Ok so I've been looking to get this phone and have a couple questions. What I gather from the research I've done is that if I buy it say from ebay or something the chances are 3g won't work here in Canada on Fido. Is that right?

So I am guessing the only way of having 3G work in Canada is to either get the Telus Hero or AT&T (from US) and have it unlocked. Is that correct?

So say for example if I go in to a Telus shop and buy the Hero outright for $499 without any contract, how and where can I get it unlocked from so that I can get it to work with my Fido sim, with full working 3G and everything? In that Telus Hero when I first insert my Fido will I be able to do anything at all? I mean to ask, would I be able to unlock it without having a Telus sim card? And how much would I be looking at to unlock it and is it easy, possible to do it yourself?

Thanks for all the help.

[shakalaka]

I am also debating between the hero and the Moto Droid? I like the HTC sense UI on the Hero but also like the Droid even with it's stock Android UI.

What do you guys recommend? Which do you think is a better phone? And say if I get an unlocked droid from ebay would 3G work in Canada if I am using Fido?


Thanks again guys!

[CivicDXR]

The only NAM 3G Hero out right now is the Telus one. If you get it from eBay, you will most likey get a Euro one which will not work on the 3G bands here. There is the HTC Sprint Hero from the US, but it is not the actual 'Hero' as you know it. It is a rebranded HTC Magic.

I am currently using a Telus Hero on Fido. I love it, much snappier and faster than the HTC Dream/Magic, and HTCs Sense UI is awesome.

Don't buy it from the Telus stores, it will not be $499, more like $600 I think. You should be able to get it from FutureShop/BestBuy for $499, or order directly from Telus online.

As for unlocking, I used:
http://www.unlock-hero.com/

I got the unlock code within 7 minutes of paying for it.

As for the Motorola Droid, it is a CDMA phone on Verizon, so you woudn't be able to use it anyways, wait till the Motorola Milestone (3G GSM Droid) is released here if thats what you want. The Milestone is being released very shortly in Europe, but that will not have the NAM 3G bands anyways.

Also do a bit of reading on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X3, due out Q1 2010, and also some sort of HTC phone that was given to all Google employees a few days ago.

Hope that helps you!

[Rarasaurus]

I am pretty sure that fido and rogers use 850 and 1900 for their 3g frequencies. As long as your phone supports one of them you will get 3g i assume if it supports both you are better off.

I got the HTC touch HD 8285 version as the 8282 version does not have 3g for canada.

With HTC you can flash whatever rom you want on it. As in i could get the hero rom on my Touch HD. I think you can even go to different manufactuer roms. this way u can get whatever UI you like.

Right now im runnign wm6.5 on mine even though it was not shipped with this rom.

So to ur firt question yes 3g will work if the phone is compatible with the 850 or 1900 on the HSDPA. It has to be the HSDPA freq, most phone are quad band but just for talking.

[shakalaka]

Ok so the Droid is outta the question then, I never knew that only the Verizon version is out so far. I am aware of the X3 and the UI on that does look pretty neat indeed. But I am so bored with my iphone now, that I don't know if I would even want to wait for any of these other phones that aren't out yet. And Hero did impress me and I like the way it looks as well. So that's what I am thinking of doing then. So maybe I'll hit up Bestbuy and get it for $499 and then go on that website for unlocking purposes. Otherwise would you recommend the Hero, since you've been using it? You mentioned that it's pretty quick to work around, is that true with the sense ui working as well, cause I read somewhere that it uses a quite a lot of ram and makes it a bit laggy? And how about the Android Market, is it any better than the days of the G1? Anywhere close to the Iphone App Store?
And my last question say I buy the Telus one straight out without contract. I obviously wouldn't have a Telus sim to put in, so would I be able to insert my Fido sim and use the services of that unlocking website you mentioned (easy enough to do it myself?) and be able to enable 3G and all that?



@Rarasaurus I actually had the HTC Touch HD as well and I got rid of it maybe like a month ago. It was the non 3g version although I didn't mind that as much as the laggyness and the generally inferior UI experience of WM 6.5 compared to my iphone. I tried a lot of different rom's on it as well. Also the lack of an app store or ease of getting 3rd party apps like the iphone or android didn't help. Now I just wanna go with the Android since I've used it before as well (G1) and saw quite a lot of potential there. And hopefully since the ancient G1 days, it's improved a lot and it'll keep me distracted from the iphone at least for a little while.

[GoChris]

Originally posted by CivicDXR
The only NAM 3G Hero out right now is the Telus one. If you get it from eBay, you will most likey get a Euro one which will not work on the 3G bands here. There is the HTC Sprint Hero from the US, but it is not the actual 'Hero' as you know it. It is a rebranded HTC Magic.

Sorta wrong on this. It looks like a Magic, but see below, the Sprint Hero and Telus Hero also have the same internals, just different look.

Originally posted by CivicDXR
I am currently using a Telus Hero on Fido. I love it, much snappier and faster than the HTC Dream/Magic, and HTCs Sense UI is awesome.

Funny you mention that, the Rogers HTC Magic, and the Telus HTC Hero, are the same speed device, again, different form factor, camera, and headphone jack. The Dream however is not quite the same, nor is the T-Mobile MyTouch 3g.

Originally posted by CivicDXR
Don't buy it from the Telus stores, it will not be $499, more like $600 I think. You should be able to get it from FutureShop/BestBuy for $499, or order directly from Telus online.

Ya any telus store will not want to sell it without activation, Walmart, Futureshop, etc will sell you one, $499 + tax.

Originally posted by CivicDXR
As for unlocking, I used:
http://www.unlock-hero.com/

I got the unlock code within 7 minutes of paying for it.

While that site is good and quick, ebay is much cheaper, $13 for an unlock code now.

[CivicDXR]

^ Well I stand corrected then.

Any reasons why my Hero is MUCH faster then the Magic that I had for a month? I wonder if HTC made some tweaks to the software on the Hero.

[ZEDGE]

Sense UI may be a bit more optimized for the Hero than the vanilla Android on the Magic.

Expansys is selling the Milestone online in the UK, have been since the 10th.

http://www.expansys.com/tag.aspx?tag=MILESTONE

http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/CA...ILESTONE-CA-EN

Bell just launched the Samsung Galaxy, which is basically the same innards as the Hero/Magic, however it has a OMLED screen, 5mp camera w/flash, and 8GB built in.

[GoChris]

Originally posted by CivicDXR
^ Well I stand corrected then.

Any reasons why my Hero is MUCH faster then the Magic that I had for a month? I wonder if HTC made some tweaks to the software on the Hero.

Well the software on the Hero probably is faster. A custom rom on each might make them more equal. CPU wise they are the same. I have a custom rom on my wife's magic, it's pretty quick.

[dino_martini]

Originally posted by ZEDGE
Bell just launched the Samsung Galaxy, which is basically the same innards as the Hero/Magic, however it has a OMLED screen, 5mp camera w/flash, and 8GB built in.

However the touch screen on the Galaxy sucks the big one. It is actually some how worse than something like the HTC TyTn.

[ZEDGE]

That sucks.

[shakalaka]

Thanks for the input guys. The milestone being the UK version is not only expensive right now, but the 3G probably doesn't work either I am guessing. The moto website doesn't even sell it themselves' cause I noticed that link was for Moto Canada. So far it seems like Hero is the best option to go with, I like how it looks and everything as well, I've owned the G1 long time ago while it was good wasn't the biggest fan of how it looked. But hero I quite like. Milestone again is a decent looking one but I don't know if I want to wait a long time, or get the non 3G version, plus considering the fact that it's quite expensive to begin with as well.

Not a big fan of how Samsung Galaxy looks either, to be honest. I am not concerned too much about camera on the phone, I just bought that dual lcd camera so I don't really care if my phone doesn't have that crazy of a camera on it.

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by shakalaka
Would you recommend the Hero, since you've been using it? You mentioned that it's pretty quick to work around, is that true with the sense ui working as well, cause I read somewhere that it uses a quite a lot of ram and makes it a bit laggy? And how about the Android Market, is it any better than the days of the G1? Anywhere close to the Iphone App Store?
And my last question say I buy the Telus one straight out without contract. I obviously wouldn't have a Telus sim to put in, so would I be able to insert my Fido sim and use the services of that unlocking website you mentioned (easy enough to do it myself?) and be able to enable 3G and all that?

These are the things I am wondering about the Hero though. CivicDXR since you own one perhaps you'll know?

[CivicDXR]

^Forgot to answer that.

I like my Hero, I moved from my iPhone to it. Yes, the iPhone is more polished, but it has been around for years, so thats expected. I notice very minor lag when you are doing lots of things, but I would notice the same type of lag on my iPhone when switching or ending programs.

The Android market is getting better, but still about the same as the days of the G1. Once again, the App Store is more polished, as Apple is controlling it, and more people are writing apps for the iPhone as opposed to Android. I do anticipate the Android Market getting better with the release and more widespread phones being released (thanks Motorola).

When I got my phone, I didn't get a Telus SIM with it. I put my Fido SIM on it, got my unlock code, followed the very easy directions given with the unlock code (took less than a minute to compete), and then set up the APNs.

[ZEDGE]

Hero 2?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/13/h...render-anyway/

[GoChris]

Originally posted by ZEDGE
Hero 2?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/13/h...render-anyway/

No, this is the "Hero 2". 1ghz snapdragon processor

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/08/h...-more-lucidly/

[ZEDGE]

The Bravo? Hmm. The other has the same shape of the current Hero, the Bravo does not.

We got a pretty good glimpse of HTC's rumored Legend back in that huge roadmap leak a few days back, but now we're circling back for a better shot (and a few more details) of the probable Hero successor in all its roughly-rendered glory.

The name Legend seems to follow the same path, Hero.. Legend.

The Bravo is a high end phone, the Hero is more midrange, as the Legend appears to be.

[shakalaka]

I hate how when all these are first released they aren't compatible with our 3G here. Either we wait till the Canadian providers carry them (which doesn't happen as often) or do without 3G which also sucks.

[shakalaka]

The X3 looks pretty sick as well. But I guess it'll prolly follow the same suit as others of having an incompatible US 3G and then MAYBE getting released in the US or Canada with the functional 3G version. And that again will probably take ages and I am not sure if I want to wait that long.

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsso...a_x10-2964.php

EDIT: It seems to support 1900 right off the bat, so perhaps we wouldn't have to wait for a special US version? Any speculations on the cost of it at all?

[CivicDXR]

^ $700 US is whats being thrown around as a minimum, maybe even more. But all of SE's high end phone end up being around $800 upon release.