HTC Hero First Impressions

Posted on January 14th, 2010. Written by Rico.

We finally got an HTC Hero to review, the P33,900 gadget endorsed by Bianca King. Pics and a few first impressions follow.

The first thing I noticed about the Hero? How hard it is to type in text on the phone’s touch-screen keyboard! It doesn’t help that the Hero has a relatively small screen compared to the iPhone (meaning there was less space to type on). The Android OS interface—customized with a few special touches by HTC—was generally responsive, but it didn’t feel that intuitive; as of this writing I still haven’t discovered how to close a running application. My last complaint is that the Hero’s finish positively loves fingerprints. From the touch-screen to the matte, suede-like finish, it’s pretty easy to leave your mark on this phone.

Other than that however, the phone’s bending structure actually makes the gadget easier to hold, and battery life seems decent. Even as I spent the whole day going online through the Hero’s wireless broadband (HSDPA), to check my Twitter, the battery meter indicated over two-thirds of power left. I’m pretty confident the phone will last for at least two days, and as soon as I start getting used to the phone’s controls (and hopefully read the manual), I’ll be able to properly review the phone. So stay tuned!