I don’t need to tell anyone that the 2.1 Android update for the HTC Hero handset has still not arrived, not for those with GSM handsets and neither for those Sprint Hero users. All of the rumour and speculation pointed to a March release date and given that we’re still less than half way through the month, I’m still quietly optimistic that it will make an appearance soon.
Well that was until I read a piece on Swedroid, where a member of the public received a reply from HTC Sweden that says the Android 2.1 release is not “set in stone” and expect it “around April”. Maybe there are different release schedules depending on region, but here’s where I start to get pessimistic. [click to continue…]
The latest beta for Opera Mini 5 is now available to download via the Android Market on your HTC Hero handset. There are a number of big improvements including tabbed browsing, speed dial (straight from the desktop version), password manager and Opera Link that syncs bookmarks between mobile and handset.
I’m a big fan of Opera, it is my default browser of choice on the desktop and it is normally once of the first things I install on a new phone. The HTC Hero was different as frankly the last version Opera on Android was pretty rubbish. It crashed often and didn’t do what I wanted. However, the new version is better, although it doesn’t support multitouch which is a shame. It’s still worth giving a try, go find it in the Market now.
Update: Engadget has a video comparing Opera Mini 5 against the stock Android browser. To cut a long story short, Opera crushes the stock browser in terms of speed. Check out the video after the jump. [click to continue…]
by Hero on February 27, 2010
in News
The HTC Hero will not be getting an update for Adobe’s full mobile version of Flash 10.1 according to a representative on the Adobe Forum.
No, the HTC Hero will not be supported b/c it does not have the correct Android OS version and its chipset is not powerful enough. We require a device with an ARM v7 (Cortex) processor. Examples include the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets and TI OMAP3 series.
Full support is only being given to phones with at least Android 2.0 and powerful enough processors. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t get Flash as the Hero supports HTC’s version of Flash Lite.
Via Softpedia.
We brought news earlier that the GSM HTC Hero should be getting the Android 2.1 update by the end of March. We now have news straight from Sprint that says the Sprint Hero will be receiving the same update during “early 2Q10”. Exact timelines aren’t known, but being optimistic, I’d say we’re looking at an April release date. Click through for a screencap of the tweet. [click to continue…]
With all of this talk of new HTC handsets running Android 2.1, one may think that HTC is leaving its HTC Hero owners behind. This is not the case according to Slashgear, who says that the Android 2.1 HTC Hero update will land by the end of March and bring with it a Sense UI refresh.
Exactly what this refresh will bring remains unknown for now, although we will not get the full update seen on the HTC Legend handset. Whether we get its new Friend Stream app or pinch-to-zoom homescreen feature remains to be seen. The upgrade is likely to be a downloadable update rather than OTA one.
by Hero on February 16, 2010
in News
HTC has officially launched the HTC Legend, the company’s HTC Hero successor. I have to say the Legend is one of the most attractive handsets I’ve seen from HTC and possibly one of the nicest Android handsets full stop. It is built from a single block of aluminium and is slightly smaller than the Hero.
The HTC Legend has a 3.2-inch AMOLED multitouch display, Android 2.1, optical joystick and a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset. You’ll also get a 5MP camera and LED flash. It also has a new version of HTC Sense. The new version includes the ability to view all homescreens at once, as we saw in the recent leak. By using the pinch-zoom motion you can view all seven homescreens.
HTC also has a brand new application called Friend Stream. This puts all of your friends Twitter, Facebook and Flickr updates into a single feed. The HTC Legend will land in April 2010 in Europe and Asia in Q2 2010. So far, there is no news on a US launch. Click through for some larger pics of the HTC Legend. [click to continue…]
One of the most common niggles I hear about the HTC Hero is its weak battery life. To be fair, the Hero isn’t the only phone to suffer from this. As smartphones have got more powerful and connect to the Internet, there’s no surprise to see battery life taking a hit.
A number of third party battery manufacturers have sprung up to cater for this growing market. One of the most prominent (and the only one I really trust) is a company called Mugen Power. It provides batteries of different capacities for pretty much most phones on the market today. They were kind enough to send over two HTC Hero batteries for us to test out. This included the 1550mAh and 3200mAh capacity batteries. Click through for our review of both batteries. [click to continue…]
Whilst we twiddle our fingers waiting for the Android 2.1 firmware , HTC are (hopefully) hard at work behind the scenes in making this a fully featured update. Part of the delay is caused by HTC customising the Sense user interface and integrating it with the new Android 2.1 firmware.
There may be the possibility that this new Sense interface will include multi-touch functionality within the HTC Hero’s homescreens. A video has emerged that shows that pinching the various homescreen panes allows you to zoom out to see all of the panes at a glance. It’s unclear if this will be in the official update or whether it’s some handiwork from a talented hacker. Hopefully, we’ll have more details at next weeks MWC show in Barcelona. Click through for the video. [click to continue…]
Android bases all of its major firmware releases on desserts in alphabetical order. We still don’t know what the next major Android version, codenamed Froyo, has in store for us. However, it looks like the mystery surrounding what ‘G’ will stand for has ended.
Google’s Android Linux guru, Brian Swetland, revealed that G will stand for Gingerbread over at LWN.net. “This week we’re finalizing our move to 2.6.32 for the Android “Froyo” release, and we’ll likely be on .33 or .34 for “Gingerbread”,” he said. Let the guesses for ‘H’ begin. I’ll go for Honey or Hot Chocolate…
Rumours already pointed to a March release date for the Android 2.1 update for the HTC Hero. A different source (HTC Benelux) is now pegging the release date as mid-March, giving a good chance that we’ll see the update next month.
The new update will bring with it several new features including a new Friend Stream widget that aggregates user updates across services such as Twitter and Facebook and tweaked Exchange support. One can only hope it’s true, only a month to go…
Via Whizpr [via Engadget].
There’s not much that the HTC Hero can’t do and now you can strike ‘controlling robots’ off that list too! The guys over at ENEA in Sweden use a customized Android application on the HTC Hero that controls a Mindstorms robot using Bluetooth and the tilt sensor in the phone.
For those wondering if this was tricky given the Hero’s limited Bluetooth support (as we’re still on Android 1.5 – hurry up HTC!), the answer would be yes. They instead had to use the Wi-Fi abilities of the phone to send the information to a laptop with Ubuntu Linux with a TCP/IP to Bluetooth tunnel. Once we (eventually) get Android 2.1 then this convoluted step can be skipped as we’ll get full Bluetooth support. Until that hallowed day comes, you can check out the video after the break. [click to continue…]
