HTC Hero compared to Nexus One

[Guest Nesousx]

I finally did my own translation of the Nexus One Review. Should be a little better than the Google version.

orm-factor:

Nexus One is pretty slim, and quite heavy, but in a bad way. It feels strong! Plastic parts are good, they don’t move an inch.

You can hold and use the phone with only one hand: typing text with your thumb for example.

Volume button (on the left side) is far less sensible than the one from HTC Hero. You won’t press it by mistake!

Hero’s physical buttons: “Back / Menu / Home / Find” have been replaced by touch buttons. I was afraid about this “all-touch” thingy, but actually it is really neat, and works well.

The “Phone” button is gone, although it is not a problem at all, will explain it later.

However the “Power” button (located on the top side) is really hard to reach when holding the phone in one hand. And every time, you want to turn on screen (e.g. exit “sleep” mode), you have to press this button.

About the connectors, note that the Google Nexus One uses micro USB (and not mini USB as do the Hero, or the PS3 controllers).

Another drawback, the micro SD slot is located under the battery, which means you have to remove the battery in order to access the micro SD card.

To conclude the physical description of the phone, I want to add that the AMOLED screen is beautiful! It is full of colours, and very bright, impressive. Watching video is awesome!

The “non-Sense” Droid.

Once again, I was afraid I will be disappointed with a phone without HTC Sence. Now that I tried both I can tell you I prefer the non-Sense version a lot more.

Once you set up both your Google and Facebook accounts, contacts are automatically merged. Hence, in Contacts, you will see profile pictures from Facebook, and even birthdays. In my opinion this was the best Sense feature (e.g. the ability to link Facebook contacts to Google one, hence providing extra “funny” informations). If some contacts are not automatically merged with Facebook, you can do it manually as follow. Go to Contacts, then press: “Menu > Edit > Menu > Link” and voilà! If it doesn’t work, rename your Google contact, using the same name he as in Facebook, then link it (and then, rename it back if you want).

HTC Peep is gone, you can use Seesmic (free), which I find even better.

Biggest drawback compared to the Sense / Hero phone. Widgets are ugly(weather, time, etc.)! Well, not that ugly… but they are soooo basic, and so “not so nice”. You can still use Beautiful Widgets (paid) in order to get better looking widgets. They don’t beat the Sense one, but they do literally beat the ones from the Nexus One “stock” version.

Android 2.1, nexus flavoured:

What to say? It is really fast, and reactive, a real pleasure to use. Navigating in the phone menus, and on Internet is really smooth.

Live Wallpapers are totally useless but so beautiful. I couldn’t live anymore without those.

It definitely lacks a voice recording app such as AirVoice.

Misc:

Wifi works like a charm! On my Hero I had several troubles with Wifi and the French Freebox (disconnected, connected but no data, etc.). Everything is fixed, and it works fast!

Proximity sensor is THE feature. You no longer need that nifty “Phone” button from the Hero. The Phone rings, a big button appears to take the call. Put the phone next to your ear and the screen is deactivated (which means no battery drain, and no error “key/screen-press” on the screen with you face/ear/whatever touch it). You have to enter numbers on the Keypad (damn voice machines), just pull the phone out of you ear and the screens turns on allowing you to access keypad and/or hang up. Killer feature!

I didn’t bench battery life, but on the paper it is a bit stronger (1400mAh) than the Hero (1350mAh) one.

I didn’t test the sound, too subjective.

However, I found small bug. One installing all my favourite apps at the beginning, I noticed that while typing text in the market if a market notifications appears (such as “Download complete and/or Installation complete”), you will lose the focus from text area. This is boring…

[Guest werziluk]

Good review, I am holding out to see what other handsets HTC come out with later in the year.

The text box disappearing when a market notification appears has always been an issue with every android device :)

[Guest Nesousx]

Good review, I am holding out to see what other handsets HTC come out with later in the year.

The text box disappearing when a market notification appears has always been an issue with every android device B)

Thanks for your answer.

I never noticed this "market bug", I guess it was because I wasn't fast enough to install, & search apps, since I was discovering Android. :)

[Guest venturerider]

You are comparing Android 2.1 to Android 1.5. Of course some of the functionality will be different.

[Guest Rubber Ducky]

I think hardware wise it is not that different from Hero.

Only the processor and the memory have been upgraded. Battery is barely improved. <-- Please tell if I missed something.

I read somewhere that the screen is not as sensitive as 'other phones' (See the results here).

I only hope that the next google phone is not made by HTC (rumors say Motorola???).

Edited January 28, 2010 by Rubber Ducky

[Guest teknologist]

I think hardware wise it is not that different from Hero.

Only the processor and the memory have been upgraded. Battery is barely improved. <-- Please tell if I missed something.

I read somewhere that the screen is not as sensitive as 'other phones' (See the results here).

I only hope that the next google phone is not made by HTC (rumors say Motorola???).

Well, when I read the capacitive screen comparison test link you put in your post, I really hope Motorola doesn't do the next Google phone.. ;-)

Have you seen it ? it's the only phone in the test that misses finger touch in some lines... ;-)

Funny though that motorola puts up a DIY screen test that shows their phone is the worst ... lol !

Edited January 28, 2010 by teknologist

[Guest stevenz]

I think hardware wise it is not that different from Hero.

Only the processor and the memory have been upgraded. Battery is barely improved. <-- Please tell if I missed something.

Plus the significantly higher resolution and clearer LCD. Adds up to a pretty reasonable upgrade.

[Guest Nesousx]

Higher resolution and AMOLED screen are really a treat to my eyes.

Battery is almost the same, as mentioned in my review.

Using the phone on a daily basis, I really enjoy the Nexus One, even more than the Hero. And I was really enjoying the Hero... was my best phone ever (and I tried a lot of them for years).

About my review, I'am not paid by Google / HTC, have no stocks options (though, I wish I did...), didn't run any benchmark. It is pure feelings, my feelings added to my "phone experience". :)

Edited January 29, 2010 by Nesousx

[Guest Rubber Ducky]

So, the next Android phone will be made by Apple then???

Best screen so far.