[sclug] OT: Two weeks with the HTC Hero and Android OS

Sat Feb 13 23:15:41 UTC 2010

Hi Alex,

Thanks a million for that. I am in the NL and looking to buy a new phone for
my wife. I have the Magic and also have some positives/negatives to mention
about the Magic.

In a nutshell:
1. The deals out there I find too complex (WTF are Blox anyway...) but I
eventually signed a continuation deal with Vodafone NL in Dec that give me
the phone for free and 50% of my EU22 per month for 1 year. The 2 year deal
was totally worth it, even if the phone dies after 1 year, it was still a
cheaper TCO than any alternative. I had the feeling that Google threw some
money at this problem at that time. I cannot find this deal anywhere anymore
and the TCO of this phone is now again in line with the iPhone over 2 years.
There seems to be no new Android phones with Vodafone in the market here.
2. Voice recognition doesn't work at all.
3. This phone is effectively unrootable. Secure firmware requires you to
fiddle really extensively (SD image build externally etc.) so I gave up on
the idea. Downgrading not an option. And once you rooted the phone anyhow,
any updates will undo your good work.
4. Tethering is possible using a very cool OpenVPN app.
http://code.google.com/p/azilink/ (so not one can live with not rooting the
phone)
5. Camera is useless.
6. I am a big user of Google apps and consequently, the integration is
really good. Contact integration is superb. So is mail and calendar.

Rgds,
Pieter

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 4:01 PM, Alex Butcher <lug at assursys.co.uk> wrote:

> OK, I figured I'd write up my thoughts about the HTC Hero (aka T-Mobile G2)
> running Google's Android OS v1.5.  I acquired mine as a G2 by paying ?91
> for
> the handset and ?15 per month over 24 months for 300 minutes/unlimited
> texts/3GB data per month (3GB data comes as standard with all Android
> phones
> on T-Mobile, including the Samsung i5700/Galaxy Portal and LG GW620/InTouch
> Max).
>
> See <http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/pay-monthly/
> >
> for more details.  If you only need 100 minutes and are prepared to put
> down
> ?126 for the handset, then you can get it on a ?10/month tariff.
>
> Some people object on principle to 24 month contracts, but unless the
> mobile
> industry becomes massively more competitive in the next two years, then I
> don't anticipate mobile data getting much cheaper than this.  Note that
> Vodafone's bandwidth allowance is a meagre 500MB/month, and Orange's is
> 750MB/month.  T-Mobile's for non-Android phones is 1GB/month.  Only O2
> compete with 3GB on their iPhone offering. Given that Orange and T-Mobile
> are trying to merge their UK operations, I expect the market to be less,
> rather than more competitive, if anything, in two years time.
>
> The Good
> ========
> + Seems to be pretty stable, though apps aren't incapable of causing
> reboots
> (I suspect due to memory usage)
>
> + The security model for apps seems quite nice
> <http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/security/security.html>. When
> apps are installed, they come with a 'manifest' which details to the user
> which permissions they will ask Android for.
>
> + Hardware build quality seems pretty good. The styling isn't as flash as
> my
> old Sony-Ericsson K800i, but it seems as well-built.
>
> + Built-in GPS, 5MP camera, touchscreen, trackball, accelerometer, compass,
> 802.11g WiFi, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth and, of course, microphone and
> speaker make it a powerful platform for mobile applications.  Combined with
> the facilities provided by the OS (e.g.  Google Voice Search and
> Text-to-Speech), and it's the first platform I've been excited about since
> I
> started using Linux in 1995.  I'm intrigued to see what developers (and I?)
> can make the platform do!
>
> + Chargeable from USB, using a standard Mini-B connector. HTC's proprietary
> ExtUSB only extends Mini-B to add audio out and remote control, so you
> don't
> need an ExtUSB cable.
>
> Bad
> ===
>
> - No Bluetooth OBEX file transfer in Android 1.5. Apparently this will be
>  rectified in 2.1, due March/April 2010. Third party apps either require
>  you to 'root' your phone
>  (<http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=572683>) or have the
>  same app running on paired devices.
>
> - Bug in kernel 2.6.27's TCP/IP stack, as previously documented, resulting
>  in possible medium-term intermittent lack of connectivity, regardless of
>  whether you're using 3G or WiFi.
>  <http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4344>
>
> - Lousy camera. No flash, no exposure or aperture control. I'm planning on
>  keeping my K800i around for snaps.
>
> - Battery life is pretty short; with decent WiFi and 3G usage, it needs
>  charging every day.  Bulky extended batteries (e.g.
>  <
> http://www.oddsandpods.co.uk/hero-extended-3000mah-battery-replacement-back-cover-p-120.html
> >,
>  <
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/FoneM8-3000mAh-Extended-Battery-Cover/dp/B002VEFHFG
> >
>  <
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cameron-Sino-Extended-Capacity-T-Mobile/dp/B002VB0ZVU
> >)
>  are available, but I've chosen to pick up a spare HTC battery and a couple
>  of HTC chargers from prepaymania.co.uk to scatter around home and work.
>
> - No automatic retry for sending SMS. If you have signal (even one bar), it
>  sends, otherwise it aborts and you need to manually retry when you have
>  signal.
>
> - No voice dialling (though there are some flakey third party apps which
>  claim to be able to add it).
>
> - Birthdays/anniversaries from contact data aren't automatically added to
>  the calendar. You need to use Google Calendar to manually import Birthdays
>  (only - anniversaries don't!) from your Google Mail contacts as per
>  <
> http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Calendar/thread?tid=7b81565cbbcef8c4&hl=en
> >
>  and/or use <http://uk.androlib.com/r.aspx?r=ebobirthday>
>
> Ugly or unusual
> ===============
>
> * Sometimes the phone can get quite laggy and unresponsive. It recovers,
>  but...
>
> * Ties in heavily with Google's online apps. It's mostly avoidable (though
>  you'll probably want a gmail account if only to provide a recovery
>  mechanism if you forget your unlock pattern), but it's more convenient to
>  use it.  Obvious privacy issues, but we all trust Google not to be evil,
>  right?  Right?!  OK, just don't take your phone with you if don't want
>  Google to know what you're doing, and don't plan it via your phone,
>  either.  :-)
>
> * Possibility of dialling with your ear when answering calls. Install
>  Proximity Sensor <http://www.tomreay.co.uk/> to use the light sensor to
>  lock the screen when the light sensor is covered (by your ear).
>
> * Google Voice Search has been (temporarily?) removed from the market for
>  reasons unknown. There's a download available from
>  <http://www.eclosion-android.com/>, but you'll need to decide whether to
>  trust it or not. It force closes on boot on the G2, so that might be why
>  it's not currently on the Market.
>
> * The standard programming language is Java, using Google's Dalvik VM.
>  Dalvik currently uses an interpreter not a JIT compiler. Android 2.0 has
>  an experimental JIT. Apps generally don't terminate when the user switches
>  away, but the scheduler will kill them if it needs their resources. The
>  SDK is available for Windows, MacOS X and Linux
>  <http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html>
>
> * There is a Native Development Kit
>  <http://developer.android.com/sdk/ndk/1.5_r1/index.html> that allows
>  development of code in C, compiled to ARM machine code by gcc.  Such code
>  cannot use the framework services provided by Android, though.  It's best
>  reserved for things like signal processing and other compute-intensive
>  tasks.
>
> * With a 528MHz ARM, it's not the fastest Android device out there. The
>  Samsung i5700 and the Acer Liquid A1 (aka S100) both use the 800MHz
>  Snapdragon. It's fast enough, though, and I dread to think what the
>  Snapdragon devices' battery life is like.
>
> * The play/pause and skip buttons of wired remotes such as HTC's RC-E100
>  (or clones like
>  <http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200430375837>) only
>  seem to work with some player applications (e.g. TuneWiki). These buttons
>  didn't work with Last.fm or the HTC player.
>
> * Uses MicroSD cards. I've fitted a 16GB PNY from Play.com
>  <
> http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4-/11540450/PNY-16GB-Micro-SDHC-Memory-Card/Product.html?P36=KB4NV5
> >.
>  It's silkscreened as Class 2 (2MByte/s), but I've benchmarked it reading
>  at 10MByte/s and writing at 1MByte/s. I suspect they just buy whatever's
>  cheapest on the spot market, and sometimes it'll be faster.
>
> Favourite apps
> ==============
>
> - Transparently use http://0870.me/ to look up alternative geographic
> numbers for 08*
>  numbers:
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-simonmaddox-saynoto0870-jiED.aspx
> >
>
> - Keep track of 3G usage
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.net-rgruet-android-g3watchdog-zzA.aspx
> >
>
> - eBook reader. Plenty of Public Domain and paid-for O'Reilly books
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-aldiko-android-qpiC.aspx>
>
> - Location-dependent recommendations
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-aloqa-client_modules-android-jADz.aspx
> >
>
> - IRC client
> <http://www.androlib.com/android.application.net-andchat-zFEA.aspx>
>
> - Process killer, package backup
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.manager-phone-tools-android-com-pnCq.aspx
> >
>
> - Various Phone-to-SD/SIM card backup tools
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.developer.ritesh-sahu-FjA.aspx>
> <https://slideme.org/application/bookmarkbr>
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-happydroid-c2s-qpxm.aspx>
>
> - Barcode Scanner, looks up prices etc online
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-google-zxing-client-android-xzA.aspx
> >
>
> - As above, but has wishlist and can search for geographically-local prices
>  too.
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-biggu-shopsavvy-xqE.aspx>
>
> - BBC iPlayer, really only for WiFi
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.uk-co-johnsto-android-beebplayer-jwAn.aspx
> >
>
> - Cestos, addictive multiplayer online strategy game
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-chickenbrickstudios-cestos_full-Cti.aspx
> >
>
> - SSH client
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.org-connectbot-BDC.aspx>
>
> - Currency Converter
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-pocketools-currency-zBAx.aspx
> >
>
> - Dictionary
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.org-freedictionary-xFt.aspx>
>
> - Gigbox, find local gigs
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-gigboxteam-gigbox-qEqi.aspx
> >
>
> - Google Sky Map
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-google-android-stardroid-xBC.aspx
> >
>
> - Google Translate
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-google-android-apps-translate-pnBm.aspx
> >
>
> - GPS Status
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-eclipsim-gpsstatus2-zF.aspx
> >
>
> - Chromatic tuner
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.org-cohortor-gstrings-jmnp.aspx
> >
>
> - Augmented Reality app
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-sprx-layar-jwnq.aspx>
>
> - Find other recommended apps based on those already installed
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-magmamobile-app-androlib-suggest-xpzp.aspx
> >
>
> - Multi-protocol IM client
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-meebo-BEn.aspx>
>
> - Vehicle mileage/efficiency tracker
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-evancharlton-mileage-nzi.aspx
> >
>
> - Uses GPS to record tracks on Google Maps
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-google-android-maps-mytracks-iwn.aspx
> >
>
> - RSS reader, integrated with Google Reader
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-newsrob-wmq.aspx>
>
> - Browser with proxy setting
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.org-tomasen-android-proxysurf-xzjj.aspx
> >
>
> - FTP client
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.sh-run-runftp-ppFB.aspx>
>
> - Preview incoming SMS
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.net-everythingandroid-smspopup-zmA.aspx
> >
>
> - Toggle Settings according to time/location rules
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-cooolmagic-android-toggle-zjFF.aspx
> >
>
> - Music player, works with RC-E100 wired remote, finds and displays lyrics
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-tunewiki-lyricplayer-android-wtz.aspx
> >
>
> - Twitter, better than HTC's Peep
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-twidroid-BBB.aspx>
>
> - WiFi Analyzer
> <
> http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-farproc-wifi-analyzer-jFCm.aspx
> >
>
> - Augmented Reality
> <http://uk.androlib.com/android.application.com-wikitude-jpnp.aspx>
>

-- 
Pieter Claassen
musmato.com