This is a great phone, it takes great photos and is very easy to use. I've only used the video recorder one time, but that was also very easy to use and send through text messeging. Battery Life I charge my battery every day, but I dont have to. Display/Screen Quality Very nice screen. Easy to read and I like the zoom with 2 fingers feature. Call Quality My phone does drop calls, but I believe that is a US Cellular issue not a phone issue Ease of Use Very easy to download and useall the apps. Durability Very good construction. Light weight but duriable. Design Very easy to use. Nice design.

blondesnowqueen

Oxford, ME

I've had the Hero now for about a year and a half, and when I first got it, I seriously couldn't put it down. If you haven't had an Android phone before, it is completely different than anything you've ever used. It allows limitless possibilities for customization, and has so much available for free on the market as well. When it comes to money, I don't typically like to spend much (though I did spend a bit on this phone), so this phone has been great at assisting me in finding great deals, and making wise purchases. There are so many apps that are great and free to use, lots of free games that can be used on the Android market as well. Since this phone has been out for a couple years now, it is a bit slower than the new phones which does get a bit annoying, but if you haven't previously had the internet on your phone, then it's a lot better than nothing, and much better than the ghetto mobile internet. It's a pretty fast, pretty responsive phone that's been reliable, and would be a great beginner phone for a user new to Android, or the Smart Phone world.

mjweston311

Birmingham, AL

My husband has this phone so I don't use it all the time but I find myself finding excuses to snatch it from him whenever he isn't using it.  Very user friendly with a good, responsive touch screen.  There are only two downsides of this phone that I am aware of.  The first one is the lack of multi-tasking.  You have to completely exit out of whatever you are doing, even the smallest thing, in order to do anything else. The second disadvantage to the HTC Hero is the speed with which it dims and then you have to press the power button and unlock the screen.  It starts to get annoying when you constantly have to be re-unlocking the phone if you accidentally leave sitting there for a few seconds. The lock itself is alot better than an immobile pressure point that can easily be unlocked by something pressed against it in a purse or something else.  Overall this phone is a particularly good and useful phone.

KTWHAT

Rexburg, ID

I must say that I do believe in love at first sight. I just love my HTC Hero Smartphone. I may be a little biased but I love Android and the android market. It's so much better than IPhone. I have had my phone since October 2010 and refuse to upgrade at this point. I love the fact that the phone is so customizable (without being rooted) with availables them from the android market. I love the HTC UI Sense and it's interface. A lot of people complain about battery life, but once you know which programs are running and how to manage them, your phone's battery life improves by more than 50%! I use an app called Advanced Task Killer...it turns off any unneccessary running tasks and improves battery consumption. The trackball is a little weird but I never use it so it's not a problem for me. It took a little while to get used to texting, but once I calibrated my screen, texting is much easier now. I have loaded tons of music on my phone and I love this feature, especially when going for my afternoon walk. HTC has a nice sleek design, is lightweight, and just a great affordable smartphone.

poemful78

Tallahassee, FL

This phone is my first experience with a smart phone so I was not sure what to expect. At first i really liked this phone. It has so many different functions that are easy to use. I love all the apps that are available. The speed of the phone was great at first but seemed to slow down with time. At first the phone reacted almost too fast to my touch but now sometimes it does not even react at all. I have taken it in to be calibrated and reset but it is still really slow. I have owned my phone for almost a year now and the sound quality is not so good now too. I don't know if that has to do with the service or the phone. I think my next phone will be an iphone as this one did not quite live up to my expectations.

anielson

Rexburg, ID

I have had this phone for just a couple months now but it has been pretty good. I had a motorola razor before so this was my jump into the smart phone thing. It was really really hard to get used to at first, especially not being able to just fall back onto a keyboard, but I like it a lot now. I love the size. It is just small enough to fit comfortably in your pocket but big enough to watch a video or see print comfortably...for a cell phone anyway. It doesn't have as strong of a camera as I would like either being that I use that feature frequently because I have a baby I'm always snapping pics of. But the main reason I only gave it three stars is that it has the capabilities of great apps, camera, and touch screen, but it doesn't seem to have a fast enough system to run the programs. It does seem to delay a little on opening apps and texting especially. This can be extremely frustrating when you want to move quick and you have to wait to load. Sometimes I think I could move faster on my old razor. But I got it for free and it has enough great features I can't complain.

shanthenman

Cedar City, UT

The HTC Hero is very simplistic to use. It is literally at your fingertips. With the touchscreen apps it brings texting and phoning into the new wave of phone era. The applications are easy to find in the access menu at the main screen as well. However, the phone battery is not up to par with the phone. It cannot handle the multiple functions that the phone is capable of doing. I am unable to run my GPS for any length of time and keep a battery charge on the phone. I am required to charge two to three times a day as I use this phone as my main phone for the household. The phone has a tendency of crashing similar to a pc with vague errors and unrelated issues to each other. The touchscreen for keyboard on text is not always touch friendly in accepting letters and makes words go off in another direction with the auto-correct feature. If you try to run a third party application it is near impossible to do so without a massive critical failure at least on my personal phone. I have tried contacting the company and my provider and neither seem to understand why it is doing this. Another con on the phone is the camera. The pictures when you try to enhance on the computer come out distorted and blurred and do not even bother with low light or night situations as there is absolutely zero flash on this phone. It is hard to use the camera as the rollerball is the only way to click the picture and if you hit wrong you go straight back to main menu and have to start all over again. If I had to choose again, I would most likely not go with the Hero and do further research as it does cause a lot of headaches and frustrations for myself. I do enjoy the touchscreen capabilities but do not prefer all the complications of my phone acting like it is possessed. Another quirk of this phone is if you tap it wrong i.e. a slight bump or in my case pulling it out of the box holder turns it off then I have to go through the process of resetting it and turning it back on to use it. It really becomes more hassle than it is worth.

GumbyGirl

Mabank, TX

I've had my HTC Hero for almost two months and I LOVE it! It's so user friendly and intuitive! I have it in a cute pink silicone case and it goes with me everywhere I go. The only con I can think of is: it can be slow sometimes, especially if it's in "sleep" mode and you get a call. I've missed quite a few calls because the touch screen just wouldn't respond to my touch. This only happens when it's in sleep mode though. Oh, and it would be awesome if you could uninstall some of the pre-loaded apps. I'll never use Nascar, and would like having that "space" back. It does need to be rebooted occasionally, as it's a computer. I love the app market, and all the fun things I can do on there - listen to music, look at the stars, have a handy flashlight, keep up with my email on the go. I've even installed apps for my kids to keep them occupied! I really recommend this phone, like I said in my title - I LOVE it!

JustJenP

San Antonio, TX

I have owned the HTC hero for several months now.  I have been very pleased with its durability.  Even after dropping it, it still works like new.  The processor is adequate for android to run on it.  I installed 2.2 just for fun and it worked fine.  The screen looks and works great.  The spekerphone is clear for both phone calls and multimedia audio. Several of my co-workers own this phone as well and they have all been pleased.  The battery is as good as any other phone.  I have looked at several of the comparing smartphones, but none have been able to compare with the hero until just recently.  I like the design and the buttons.  They make it very functional and don't limit me to only having one button (i.e. iPhone). After looking at many of these used, there seems to be one commonality.  The paint on the phone buttons tends to either wear off or the buttons fall off completely.  But as long as you are gently with it, that shouldn't happen.  All in all, I am very please with it and would recommend it to anyone.

baumank

Saint Anthony, ID

I purchased this phone when I first switched to sprint. I was all excited about my first android phone and though the Hero might fit the bill. WOW! WRONG! From day one this phone was terrible. Slow, laggy, delays on phone calls. I setup a shortcut to my wifes phone. From the time I would press it to the time it would call her, could be up to 45 seconds. That is just insane! I tried upgrading the software, firmware and resetting to factory defaults. Still same issues. Also incoming calls would ring on their end for about 3-4 rings before I would even hear it. I missed a lot of calls because of that. I think this is just an underpowered phone and was rushed out. When it was brand new there weren't many other options for phones, so I can see why a lot of people bought it and dealt with it. But now there are way to many choices for anyone to even consider this phone. If you are looking for an amazing sprint phone, go with the EVO. If you are looking for an entry level sprint phone go with the optimus s and stay far away from the hero.

billjclements

Grimes, IA