Database Users

Sprint Hero reviews are out everywhere

See Engadget, Gizmodo, or any of your favorite gadget sites.
Many of the reviewers mentioned about speed and camera improvement over the European Hero. As we know, these are the two notable improvements brought about by the new rom update.
One exception is Engadget's review though, where Joshua mentioned no noticeable improvement in speed over the European Hero (with old rom). Upon asking, he told me that the version number on his review unit is 1.22.651.1, which indicates that it doesn't have the new rom installed (new rom has version number 2.xx.xxx.x). He also mentioned that the firmware version of his review unit is 1.5, i.e. NOT 1.6 Donut.
This is puzzling. I thought CDMA got supported only starting in 1.6. OK, I know the logic, 1.6 spots CDMA supports doesn't mean that 1.5 can't have CDMA support. It's just that, if that's the case, why call this a new feature of the 1.6 firmware?

1.6 is out since yesterday ... don´t think that the new Hero has it, or am I wrong?
Greets, Ro.

Donut/1.6 on HTC Hero

Hey Guys,
I was wondering that since Google is already sharing the Donut Love with G1's and Magic's when are we gonna see some Donut love for our lovely piece of Hardware we all know as HERO ...
I am guessing Htc is working on the 1.6 SDK provided by Google to integrate it with ROSIE, but i am thinking the Developers here are alot faster than the guys and HTC.
So can we get a Rosie with 1.6 which is rooted ofcourse but nothing else... no other modifications i mean.
Respect to all.
Cheeers

nadeemhasnaat said:
Hey Guys,
I was wondering that since Google is already sharing the Donut Love with G1's and Magic's when are we gonna see some Donut love for our lovely piece of Hardware we all know as HERO ...
I am guessing Htc is working on the 1.6 SDK provided by Google to integrate it with ROSIE, but i am thinking the Developers here are alot faster than the guys and HTC.
So can we get a Rosie with 1.6 which is rooted ofcourse but nothing else... no other modifications i mean.
Respect to all.
Cheeers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question, I would love to see that as well... BUT I suppose it is not possible without the kernel sourse, unless Sprint's Hero comes out with 1.6 and then its ROM is ported to our European Heros. That's up to the devs!

Well the Sprint Hero HAS to come with Donut... It's CDMA, and that's only supported in Donut, so I'm almost 100% positive it will ship with Donut.

chaoscentral said:
Well the Sprint Hero HAS to come with Donut... It's CDMA, and that's only supported in Donut, so I'm almost 100% positive it will ship with Donut.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was what I thought. But Joshua @ Engadget told me that their Sprint Hero review unit only has Android 1.5 on it. Well, Android 1.6 added support for CDMA does not necessarily mean that one cannot write a driver for Android 1.5 to support CDMA.
But anyway, I do think that it is almost likely that HTC will release a 1.6 update for the Hero in a not too distance future.

The Google experience G1s and Magics are purely that - stock Cupcake ROMs. The Hero presents a slight challenge as HTC put a lot of love into the ROM, with the addition of SenseUI. Hopefully, it won't take that long to cook a Donut ROM with SenseUI, but just making the transition of the great innovations from HTC for the Hero will be the stumbling block for a Donut-based ROM.

HTC Response to my Donut question.
I asked when they'd release a ROM using Dognut ( 1.6 ) for the Hero.
Their reply:
Good Morning, HTC do not release the ROM updates. Google do. If you have any questions relating thier operating system, the updates, its benefits and release dates please visit www.android.com for further support. Here at HTC, we manufacture the hardware on the device and release hotfixes for when reported bugs needs resolution. If you have a technical support related query regarding the device, please do not hesitate to contact us again. Kind Regards, HTC Europe
This has constantly been my experience with HTC - ask them a question and they say contact Google.

J-Zeus said:
I asked when they'd release a ROM using Dognut ( 1.6 ) for the Hero.
Their reply:
Good Morning, HTC do not release the ROM updates. Google do. If you have any questions relating thier operating system, the updates, its benefits and release dates please visit www.android.com for further support. Here at HTC, we manufacture the hardware on the device and release hotfixes for when reported bugs needs resolution. If you have a technical support related query regarding the device, please do not hesitate to contact us again. Kind Regards, HTC Europe
This has constantly been my experience with HTC - ask them a question and they say contact Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man thats so frustrating innit. I am sure if we ask google, they wont comment either coz our hero is not with "GOOGLE EXPERIENCE" ..... what a load of cr*p
well i actually snooped around and heard a couple of ppl say that it should not be a difficult task for HTC to induce Rosie into 1.6, infact one of them even said " should be a peice of cake" so i am a hopless optimist and hopefully it'll be sent as an OTA upgrade or " HOTFIX " by HTC soon...
I'll call HTC too and see if i can get any more info out

update
Just got off the phone with a customer support officer from HTC UK. And she said that while they dont have the exact date on when HTC will issue and update bundled with Donut, It is under works and will be sooner rather than later..... now the waiting games begin

correct me if I'm wrong, but 1.6 doesn't bring that much for us Hero owners right? When the first announcements came I looked through the "Whats new" list and I didn't start shouting from excitement

dipje said:
correct me if I'm wrong, but 1.6 doesn't bring that much for us Hero owners right? When the first announcements came I looked through the "Whats new" list and I didn't start shouting from excitement
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Click to collapse
well the only notable improvement might be of the speed and performance, although google didn't shout about it so i m thinking it'll be minimalistic ... however detailed battery usage, universal search and test to speech are a few things i wouldn't mind having....
But actually for me its just about getting the latest updates on the Android flagship device...

dipje said:
correct me if I'm wrong, but 1.6 doesn't bring that much for us Hero owners right? When the first announcements came I looked through the "Whats new" list and I didn't start shouting from excitement
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One benefit will be being able to run any future apps that require 1.6 (use 1.6-specific API features). We already have apps that run only on 1.5 or higher...

system-wide search feature would be nice...

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed this, but I signed up to point it out:
http://www.htc.com/europe/product/tattoo/specification.html
http://developer.htc.com/htc_tattoo_developer.html
The Tattoo will be shipping with Android 1.6, and it uses the Sense UI. That should mean that it isn't too far off for the Hero.

Looks promising! and the Tatoo is Due to launch orange UK this month

VPN and Global search are the two main features I am most excited about in the Donut

It's supposed to be faster also.

Does 1.6 not also include the improved App Store for Android?

mjames_84 said:
Does 1.6 not also include the improved App Store for Android?
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Click to collapse
yes it does

http://drop.io/g1i9pj0 hero is getting donut....you might also be getting a snapdragon hero.

I installed donut on my girlfriends g1 yesterday and it seemed much faster than cupcake.

Sprint Hero ROM pics

I went to a Sprint Store today and one of the reps had a Hero he had gotten over the weekend in preparation for the launch on the 11th. I got pics of the ROM info page while I was there. Someone who knows more than me can see if this includes the ROM update from HTC and if there is any other valid info. Considering he got this on friday and the release is the 11th I think this will likely be the version that is on the launched device.
IF THERE IS ANY INFO IN THESE PICS THAT REVEALS THE IDENTITY OF THE SPRINT REP PLEASE LET ME KNOW SO I CAN EDIT THEM. I DON'T WANT TO GET HIM IN TROUBLE.

eh, maybe I'm late to the game. Or maybe no one cares.

Poke_N_PDA said:
I went to a Sprint Store today and one of the reps had a Hero he had gotten over the weekend in preparation for the launch on the 11th. I got pics of the ROM info page while I was there. Someone who knows more than me can see if this includes the ROM update from HTC and if there is any other valid info. Considering he got this on friday and the release is the 11th I think this will likely be the version that is on the launched device.
IF THERE IS ANY INFO IN THESE PICS THAT REVEALS THE IDENTITY OF THE SPRINT REP PLEASE LET ME KNOW SO I CAN EDIT THEM. I DON'T WANT TO GET HIM IN TROUBLE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the same ROM that my phone has. The phone you saw was an advocate phone, not a final release version. Our ROM isn't final, since we cannot download Pandora (only available on official ROMs). There is a lot of talk that the final production version will have Donut (1.6) since it's the only Android ROM that supports CDMA. My guess is that the advocate ROM is a modified version of Cupcake, and there will be an update available at or near launch. Hopefully.

Don't get confused by the marketing name 'Hero'.
The Sprint 'Hero' is not a branded Hero for Sprint like the 'G2 Touch' for T-Mobile. It is a new device, built for Sprint with different features like CDMA, Android 1.6 and - most obviously - very different in hardware design. It has only two hardware buttons compared to six on the original Hero.
HTC's roots go back to manufacture OEM devices for big providers, and the Sprint 'Hero' is such a device. If Sprint wants an ugly version (my personal point of view) of the Hero and pay for it, they can have it ...
The Sprint 'Hero' is not as close to the original Hero as the new Tattoo. But marketingwise Sprint seems to need a 'Hero'

hkr said:
The Sprint 'Hero' is not as close to the original Hero as the new Tattoo. But marketingwise Sprint seems to need a 'Hero'
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Click to collapse
Ehhh? Apart from the radio, the Sprint 'Hero' specs are pretty much identical to the GSM Hero, and the Tattoo is *nothing* like either????
Regards,
Dave

hkr said:
It has only two hardware buttons compared to six on the original Hero.
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Click to collapse
you might wanna recount, i see the same six buttons on the sprint as on my htc, they are just different shape and not single buttons, just count the symbols around the trackball!

Indeed - whilst the other buttons look more like "touch sensitive" buttons, rather than "click push" buttons, it doesn't change the fact that they are hardware buttons.
Regards,
Dave

That's what I wrote 'hardware buttons' are buttons you can press on and get physical feedback ...
The other 4 are sensors or sensitive areas, this is really different. If you don't believe me, compare the Touch HD and Diamond 2 ... I personally like 'real' buttons for a few actions like phone on and off, home and menu ...

hkr said:
The other 4 are sensors or sensitive areas, this is really different. If you don't believe me, compare the Touch HD and Diamond 2 ... I personally like 'real' buttons for a few actions like phone on and off, home and menu ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is only different with respect to the physical mechanism, which is going to be part of the case. The actual phone innards itself won't know any different.
The point is that, radio aside, the Sprint Hero is much, much, closer to the original Hero than it is a Tattoo, which is a *completely* different device (lower screen res, resistive screen, no track ball, lower memory etc, etc, etc).
Regards,
Dave

According to this phonedog.com video review of the Sprint Hero, that area isn't actually a touch panel anyway and the device does have physical buttons underneath the panel which are depressed when you press the appropriate area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcmfn3ilXd8 - about 3:45 in.
Regards,
Dave

hkr said:
That's what I wrote 'hardware buttons' are buttons you can press on and get physical feedback ...
The other 4 are sensors or sensitive areas, this is really different. If you don't believe me, compare the Touch HD and Diamond 2 ... I personally like 'real' buttons for a few actions like phone on and off, home and menu ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the phone and those are in fact hardware buttons. You press them, they move, you get physical feedback. They aren't touch surfaces. Sorry to call you out here, but I believe I can since I have used the phone (though briefly). Just because they are flush with each other and not separated buttons like the dial and end keys doesn't mean they don't move. Plastic flexes.

hkr said:
Don't get confused by the marketing name 'Hero'.
The Sprint 'Hero' is not a branded Hero for Sprint like the 'G2 Touch' for T-Mobile. It is a new device, built for Sprint with different features like CDMA, Android 1.6 and - most obviously - very different in hardware design. It has only two hardware buttons compared to six on the original Hero.
HTC's roots go back to manufacture OEM devices for big providers, and the Sprint 'Hero' is such a device. If Sprint wants an ugly version (my personal point of view) of the Hero and pay for it, they can have it ...
The Sprint 'Hero' is not as close to the original Hero as the new Tattoo. But marketingwise Sprint seems to need a 'Hero'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint Hero uses a hacked version of Cupcake 1.5 with the Donut 1.6 CDMA stack added in and maybe a couple of other things. There have also been problems with apps from the new market for 1.6 not installing/working correctly with this version of the Hero because of it still being 1.5. SPRINT/GOOGLE/HTC can we get some info on what the deal is with this I want Donut on my Hero and or Samsung Moment

where is the FM radio

i remember lookin through alot of web sites and reading that froyo was going to have FM Radio...now that google posted the features i dont see it... where is it!!?? did google forget lol?

It was one rumor, on one French site. From a guy who said an HTC rep told him what google was building. It wasn't very reliable, and anyone who phoned Google and HTC couldn't get the same info. Very sketchy and unreliable, but everyone ignored that because they wanted it so bad. The rumors spread all from that one post onto thousands of boss, so it only looked credible.

gamefan231 said:
i remember lookin through alot of web sites and reading that froyo was going to have FM Radio...now that google posted the features i dont see it... where is it!!?? did google forget lol?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An FM Radio is physical internal hardware.
A new OS update can't "magically" add an FM radio to all Android phones, especially ones that don't have it inside.
As for the N1, Paul from Modaco.com is working on it and hopefully will get it fully operational soon!

Paul22000 said:
As for the N1, Paul from Modaco.com is working on it and hopefully will get it fully operational soon!
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Click to collapse
Really?

Well, the FM radio feature in this case is very device specific. They are not going to announce that as a feature, because it is not something that affects Android as a whole.
There is still a chance that the N1 build of 2.2 will enable the functionality.

Fm radio is a waste. I've had it on 5 phones and barely used it. Now with Pandora, especially so.

Paul22000 said:
An FM Radio is physical internal hardware.
A new OS update can't "magically" add an FM radio to all Android phones, especially ones that don't have it inside.
As for the N1, Paul from Modaco.com is working on it and hopefully will get it fully operational soon!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That means N1 DOES have FM radio internal hardware! Even if I rarely use FM radio but knowing that my dear N1 can catch some FM wave is more satisfied!

mrbkkt1 said:
Fm radio is a waste. I've had it on 5 phones and barely used it. Now with Pandora, especially so.
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Click to collapse
Pandora doesn't work at all if you don't have cell service, whereas FM radio will often work just fine.
I don't see how having the option could hurt, especially since the N1 has the hardware already. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, right?

The details for the N1 specific froyo update have not been shown yet, so we don't know.
What you have seen so far is just the updates to the basecode of android, not the update Google will push out for the N1. Likewise, the update for other devices will have different featuresets.
For example, expect the tethering options to be removed from basically any phone being sold through a carrier that offers tethering for a fee.
AOSP Code => Device Specific Code
At the conference => Not seen yet and will include stuff like trackball options (for N1 only)

JCopernicus said:
The details for the N1 specific froyo update have not been shown yet, so we don't know.
What you have seen so far is just the updates to the basecode of android, not the update Google will push out for the N1. Likewise, the update for other devices will have different featuresets.
For example, expect the tethering options to be removed from basically any phone being sold through a carrier that offers tethering for a fee.
AOSP Code => Device Specific Code
At the conference => Not seen yet and will include stuff like trackball options (for N1 only)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dead on and I was going to state that. The info on Froyo is just that Froyo, it is not the N1 that will run Froyo. So we have to wait to see if there is specific items setup for the N1 in Froyo that will not be released to any other phone.

like wireless n... which has been stated to come out on the N1, but wasn't mentioned yesterday in the keynote.

akirajds said:
like wireless n... which has been stated to come out on the N1, but wasn't mentioned yesterday in the keynote.
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Click to collapse
Again yesterday they demoed "Froyo" Android 2.2 not the Nexus One. Froyo just happened to be on the N1 cause that is Googles primary phone. They only demoed stuff that would effect all phones in the industry regardless of hardware. So yea, NO specific details would be given about the Nexus One cause it wasn't about the Nexus One. So Wireless-N, FM, screen fixes, memory increases, louder speaker phone, track ball light, and so on would NOT be shown cause those are N1 ONLY not FROYO. Same reason why they demoed a 2D game instead of a 3D game, cause some phones handle 3D better then others, but 2D is just about the same across the board.
Does everyone get this now?!?!?! I hate being so direct, but....
We will know about N1 related fixes/extras in the coming weeks when they finalize the N1 Froyo ROM.

This is obvious though......
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

akirajds said:
like wireless n... which has been stated to come out on the N1, but wasn't mentioned yesterday in the keynote.
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Click to collapse
I am waiting more on the Wireless N (since my house is all N now) more than the FM Radio.
That being said, FM Radio would not be bad either.

Talderon said:
I am waiting more on the Wireless N (since my house is all N now) more than the FM Radio.
That being said, FM Radio would not be bad either.
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Click to collapse
According to posts on Cynogen's forum, his 5.0.6 mod already had 802.11n enabled. It's not going to say it right there on the phone mind you, but you should be able to tell by your home wifi connect.
I did note that you're unlocked but not rooted yet, so you wouldn't see it yet.

Motoblur 3.0

Anyone have any info on an update? Did some google searches but didn't find anything.
My IT dept says Verizon is going to start to push the next update, 3.0 in the next week. They say it fixes the calander sync issues and mail not syncing until you open the mail app.
I really hope this is true as the phone is unreliable right now.

Do you have any info if that update is connected to an update to Android 2.3... ? Things are looking like 2.3 is definitely coming for the Droid Pro but question just remains to when it will be out... I am hoping that this might be the moment!

I am 99.9% sure this is not an update to android, its just a motoblur update. So sorry, no gingerbread. I came from an HTC Aria on AT&T. I had Gingerbread on that. Its not really as awesome of an upgrade as Eclair to Froyo was. In fact other than the animation when you turned the phone off I really didn't notice any difference.

Yea I am not too bothered about the changes for the OS itself.. I just hope it includes a new Baseband version cuz in the moment, the 3G performance is nothing to write home about, as I am based in the UK... Other than that, when the Motorola PRO will finally hit our shores, there should hopefully be a Verizon-free ROM available somewhere with an EU baseband version.