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6.5 out of 10

HTC Hero

 

Information found in: from 212 sources in 25 countries

Great Deal: $79.99

  • User Score (1543)
    7.9 7.9 from 1543 reviewers
  • Expert Score (58)
    8.3 8.3 from 58 reviewers
  • Design (116)
    6.6 6.6 from 116 reviewers
  • Value for money (64)
    6.4 6.4 from 64 reviewers
  • Features (174)
    6.9 6.9 from 174 reviewers
  • Ease of use (109)
    6.9 6.9 from 109 reviewers
  • Performance (5)
    6.4 6.4 from 5 reviewers
  • Sound quality (2)
    6.5 6.5 from 2 reviewers
  • Reliability (10)
    7.0 7.0 from 10 reviewers
  • Overall quality (52)
    7.1 7.1 from 52 reviewers
  • Battery performance (18)
    6.1 6.1 from 18 reviewers
  • Display (2)
    6.5 6.5 from 2 reviewers
  • Ergonomics (10)
    6.7 6.7 from 10 reviewers
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  • Best Deals

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In Stock (S) $79.99 SEE IT
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In Stock (S) $249.99 SEE IT

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  • Score Distribution

Experts:
9-10
(21)
7-8
(31)
5-6
(5)
3-4
(1)
1-2
(0)
Users:
9-10
(484)
7-8
(195)
5-6
(105)
3-4
(51)
1-2
(94)

  • Expert Reviews

  1. Digitaltrends

    Digitaltrends
    8.0/10
    1 October 2009

    The HTC Hero which we review, hits a home run with all the features missing from earlier Android efforts. Read more

    • HTC Sense Android OS; multi-touch interface; outlook contact/calendar sync; visual voicemail; 3.5mm headphone jack
    • 5MP photos often out of focus; no flash; sluggish operation; confusing USB connectivity; short battery life (4 hrs. talk)

  2. infoSync World

    infoSync World
    8.1/10
    9 May 2010

    The HTC Hero on Sprint is the best Android phone to date, and one of the best smartphones on the market. This isn't a novice smartphone. The Sprint Hero will take some time to learn, but the device rewards patience. Read more

    • Fantastic interface design. Great Twitter and Facebook apps and widgets. Solid messaging features. Desktop-grade Web browsing.
    • Multimedia playback, especially with pre-recorded videos, was difficult to manage. Camera was disappointing. Design could be more exciting.

  3. PhoneArena.com

    PhoneArena.com
    12 November 2011

    Once upon a time… That´s how fairy tales start, isn’t it? So, once upon a time there was a company, called Google that one day decided to embark on a valorous feat and develop an open source operating system that was to... Read more

  4. Wired

    Wired
    7 September 2009

    A lot has happened since the first Google phone arrived 12 months ago. So it makes sense for HTC to finally make a legitimate stab at upgrading the Android operating system, now that Palm has its web-errific Pre, the iPhone... Read more

    • Camera flaunts touch-only zoom with tap-to-focus. Responsive touch-qwerty more or less comparable to iPhone. Battery lasts for DAYS (36+ hours!). 3.5mm headphone jack. Flash-enabled. Dead-simple USB mounting: Plug in, drag...
    • SD slot is only accessible by removing cover. This Hero has Flash, but how about a camera with a flash? Optional haptic feedback is about as subtle as a 6.5 earthquake. Lack of image stabilization produces videos reminisce...

  5. Brighthand

    Brighthand
    9.0/10
    4 September 2009

    The HTC Hero is an Android-based device that offers tight integration with Google and social networking sites such as Facebook and Flickr, but also works with Exchange ActiveSync. Read more

    • Great display, Very fast response, Well integrated with Google, Facebook, and Flickr, Exchange ActiveSync support, Great display, Very fast response; I never felt like I was waiting for the phone to catch up to my wishes, ...
    • GSM version's "chin", GSM version lacks U.S. 3G, The GSM version has an extremely high cost since there's no carrier subsidy in the U.S., This version's "Bent" bottom form factor takes some getting used to -- it feels comf...

  • User Reviews

  1. good for US use (and chinese-thailand)

    Amazon
    8.0/10
    Reviewer: A. Arevalo "A.A", Amazon
    28 April 2011

    phone is great. a little slow when trying to perform multiple quick pace tasks. language is only configurable to ENGLISH and chinese / thailand... Read more

  2. HTC Hero

    8.0/10
    Reviewer: Karla62, pcworld.com
    3 weeks ago

    I have just came off being a Blackberry user which I didnt care for the OS on it.And unless you are attached to a Enterprise server its really useless for work. The Hero I simply adore. Lots to learn. Read more

    • This phone can diffently can do a lot. Love the Android apps. I love the multi screen features. You can view all your pages on the main screen (a little small but viewable) Did the 2.1 upgrade seems like its working up to ...
    • I would have to say the Keyboard, keys are a little slow or my fingers a little to fast. But once you get the phone on its side to type its fine. The prediction word gets funky so look what you type before you send. Also S...

  3. "Slow, clunky, glitchy..."

    CNET
    2.0/10
    Reviewer: drpupfish, CNET
    14 December 2011

    This phone is not worth your $$ or your effort. If they had used a worthwhile processor, it might live up to its potential. Instead it is clunky and janky. Spend a little more and get a real smartphone. Read more

    • Reasonably good speaker phone and call quality...
    • Can't really qualify as a smartphone if you have to wait a few seconds before it responds to each command. The autocorrect on this phone is insanely bad -- my old iPhone was much more accurate.

  4. HTC Hero

    8.0/10
    Reviewer: megrob1018, epinions.com
    4 weeks ago

    I love my HTC Hero. I couldn't ask for a better phone. It helps so much in everyday life that I'd fi Read more

    • Touch screen, Wi-fi, Bluetooth, Trackball
    • Slow at times, Force Closes during certain applications

  5. Incredible Phone

    Newegg
    10/10
    Reviewer: btkeenan, Newegg
    12 January 2010

    I had thought of buying this phone ever since it was announced in June of 2009 and finally got around to getting it and I am glad. I moved from a WinMo 6.5 to Android and I am here to stay. Read more

    • Incredible phone which ties the best of an ipPd touch and a smart phone into one that is beautifully presented in a small package. I use it on At&t and am fine with the EDGE only data service since primarily I use it at ho...
    • One thing that was annoying was not being able to load the UK Rom from HTC's site onto the phone. This is because apparently there are different unlocked GSM versions causing an incompatibility. Anyways, so i flashed the c...

  • WikiFreak Description

HTC Hero

The HTC Hero is a smartphone that is powered by a Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz processor and Android™ operating system. The handset has a 512 MV ROM memory capacity with 288 MB RAM that it fitted into its 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm, 135 grams (4.76 ounces with battery) form factor. The smartphone supports a 3.2 inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320 x 480 HVGA resolution display and utilizes Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100 MHz network bandwith which pr…

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HTC Hero

The HTC Hero is a smartphone that is powered by a Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz processor and Android™ operating system. The handset has a 512 MV ROM memory capacity with 288 MB RAM that it fitted into its 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm, 135 grams (4.76 ounces with battery) form factor. The smartphone supports a 3.2 inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320 x 480 HVGA resolution display and utilizes Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100 MHz network bandwith which provides users with up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent). The smartphone supports a trackball with enter button for device input control, GPS with internal antenna, Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP connectivity for wireless stereo headsets, Wi-Fi® IEEE 802.11 b/g connectivity, and HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one) for PC synchronization. The phone also features microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible) slot for memory expandability, a G-Sensor, Digital Compass, a 3.5 mm audio jack and a 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus. The smartphone also supports audio formats such as MP3, AAC(AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media® Audio 9, and MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media® Video 9 video formats. It is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery (1350 mAh) that provides up to 420 minutes (WCDMA)/470 minutes (GSM) of talktime and up to 750 hours (WCDMA)/440 (GSM) of standby time.

Features

The HTC Hero is the first phone from HTC to utilize its HTC Sense™ concept that allows users to personalize the phone by putting its content at glance view, with a selection of widgets that can be placed right on the home screen. The widgets themselves can be personalized with a variety of designs and sizes that best match a user’s personality. A profile feature called Scenes allows users to create and switch between Scenes that reflect different moments in life. The phone becomes an extension to life by helping users relax with their choice of tunes, catch up with friends and capture some memories with HTC Footprints™. The phone also functions as a personal guide and provides users with instant access to local time, weather and maps. Users can also stay connected with friends via social network website updates and event notices as well as see the latest pictures uploaded to popular photo sharing sites.

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  • Manufacturer's Description

Be yourself. That’s the idea behind the HTC Hero™, a phone that follows your lead. Time to work? Time to play? Time to put down your phone and think? The HTC Hero helps you be you.

  • Set the Scene for every time and place. It’s like having a different phone for every different thing you do.
  • Focus on people, not accounts. Look at all the messages from any one person—their emails, calls, texts, status updates, everything—all in one place.
  • Keep your friends close. St…

Specifications

  • Processor:
    Qualcomm® MSM7600™, 528Mhz
  • Operating System:
    Android™ platform
  • Memory:
    ROM: 512MB, RAM: 288MB DDR, 2GB microSD™ memory card
  • Display:
    3.2-inch 320 x 480 HVGA resolution, 262K-color TFT LCD touch-sensitive screen with LED backlight
  • Network:
    Dual Band CDMA2000 1xRTT/1xEVDO/1xEVDO Rev. A (800/1900 MHz)
  • GPS:
    Internal GPS antenna
  • Camera:
    5 megapixel camera with auto focus

Release Date

  • First seen
    8 February 2009

Ask the community

Need more advice? Ask the community a question.

Questions asked: 5 Answers: 2

Previous questions about this product

  • How do I correct echoing when I am using the phone?

    People I'm talking to on my Hero hear their voice echoing the whole time they're talking. What's the problem.

    (No answers yet. Write an answer!) 2010-11-24

  • Hero not working

    have one of these for two months. Was working then I went on holiday leaving it at home (didnt want any roaming charges). Came on phone switched on etc made all noises but couldnt view screen. Sent phone back and have now been told water damaged. Phone has never been near water not even used in the rain. Anyone had similar problems or have any ideas battery leak perhpas.

    (No answers yet. Write an answer!) 2010-09-06

  • HTC HERO memory

    I have a bb curve, memory is terrible and can't save apps on an sd card. Was wondering how many apps you can have on the htc, and if it is capable to store apps on the sd card.

    (No answers yet. Write an answer!) 2010-02-03

  • HTC HERO memory

    how many apps will the internal memory hold? Or is there an app to store apps on the memory card?

    (No answers yet. Write an answer!) 2010-02-03

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