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[MrHaugen]

I've been drooling over the new iPhone 3GS for the last weeks. It started when I hear that a Spotify client was soon to be published on on the App Store. I've put my name on the waiting lists in a couple of stores, but now I'm not so sure any more. Today a college of mine showed me his HTC Hero phone. It has a lot of the same features as iPhone, and does have a few things that iPhone don't have.

I have not tested the two phones much, so there might be something I'm not correct about, but here's what I've thought of so far:

- Full sync support with MC14 on Hero? No support for iPhone (have to use iTunes and plugin)
- Better CPU on the iPhone? Hero seems to struggle a bit when navigating
- Better multi touch support on iPhone?
- No remote control app for android yet? A good web remote seems to be available through the 3'rd party plugin section
- Better camera on Hero, but no manual focus point
- Hero uses geo tags automatically when taking pictures. iPhone have this supported?
- Hero does not use compass when navigating maps
- iPhone have Spotify clinet (soon). Androids Spotify client (not official) have been in the stores but have been pulled back because of some arguments between the developer and the music labels? Might be possible to download anyway. Hopefully it will return, or an official client.
- Menus and homepage of Hero seems highly customizable, and intuitive. iPhone lacks quite a bit here?
- Thousands of free apps for Android. More apps on App Store and maby better quality.
- No out of pages animations on Hero menus (white space to indicate the end of a page, or a series of pages)

After thinking for hours I'm still not sure at all which to buy. I'm still 50/50 here. Any of you have any more experience with this phones?

[jmone]

I've had many HTC phones (current one is the Touch HD) and at the end of the day the flexibility and support you get is much better than with Apple.  It will work with MC (it will work with anything), you can install apps from anywhere, there are a heap of cooks coming up with custom ROMS....then again, Apple do "white" better than anyone else....

[MrHaugen]

So the HTC Android phones syncs perfectly with MC14? And I guess the Android system have a much wider movie and music filetype support than Apple right?

[JimH]

MC will sync to the G1 (my phone).

[dcwebman]

I just got an iPhone 3GS last week. I can't compare against the Android OS but it FAR outweighs Windows Mobile that I've had on my past few phones. My thinking besides a couple friends that had them was that there are a ton of apps, a lot free, for the phone and the list is just going to grow, not to mention any accessories. I have never had a data plan on a phone because I didn't see the need for it since I'm either in front of a computer at work or at home. But in the week I've had it, the extra I'm paying per month for the data plan doesn't matter anymore. With the ease of use, lots of apps, etc. I have fallen in love with the iPhone. Now unfortunately I have to figure out how to use iTunes. 

[bennyd]

I have a HTC HERO and I'm very happy with it.
It syncs perfectly with MC14 (as an external drive device).
The only thing it doesn't do is update the play statistics.

Sure, it lags a little bit, but HTC promised to have a major ROM upgrade by mid September which addresses the Performance issues and some bugs.

I came from HTC Touch HD and before that a HTC Diamond which both have Windows Mobile.
Android is a big relief after working with Windows Mobile for so many years.

From what I've read, Android is far more customisable than Iphone.
Also with the new HTC Sense software on top of Android, you can personalise the HERO to your needs and moods.

[MrHaugen]

Thanks for the input.

I know apple OS are picky about formats. How is Android handling various files like aac, flac, mpg, avi, mks? It's up to the Android system to decode, or is this more dependent on each media player and it's decoders?

[MrHaugen]

Ahhh. Some of the slow response on the HTC Hero will be fixed with a new ROM update in a few weeks now. It also looked like the support for "Last page bumping animation" is in place. I guess my choice gets simpler then. At least if I can find that Spotify application for Android.

*Edit*
Application is available in the form of torrents Just need a premium account to use it. Spotify also said that they are working hard on an official application.

[MrHaugen]

What a phone! After only two days, I'm totally in love with my Hero. After a rom update and rooting of the Phone it's capable of doing about anything. The speed is much improved as well.  Though there are more apps for iPhone I think that the apps for Hero can do more as there is no restrictions. There is several thousands out, so you can bet you'll find what you need anyway. The Android Market is impressive and easy to understad. The best of all: you don't need iTunes!

Now I'm browsing the net while listening to Spotify and checking my mail. Facebook status and such is done in seconds, and the home pages of the Hero can be fully customiced with gorgeous widgets who's actually usefull! I'm looking forward to every time I grab my Hero to explore more

I have not used iPhone much, other than the few times I've played with one of my friends iPhone. I'm pretty certain that the Hero beats iPhone by a good margin in most areas. The two most important factors would be multitasking and costumization.

[tdipower]

Hi Haugen! 

Gratz with your new phone!
I enjoy my iPhone 3GS and I need my daily podcast's. I have tried many win-mo's and symbians that at no degree could be even close to the iPhone.
Lately though I have been thinking about geting the HTC Hero (second phone, or maybe first). :-)
mostly for syncing against J River. The issue I have found before when trying other phones is a poor musicplayer with bad sorting and missing rating and so on.
What do you feel about the Hero? It does a good job?
Is there any podcast option?
Did you find a remote for J River?

Anything else you could highlight?

[boydn]

Moved from a Diamond Winmo to the Hero about a week ago and haven't looked back once.  love it
Make sure you dnload the "where" widget.  Pretty cool for free.

[MrHaugen]

I installed Spotify on my Hero, and was happy with that for a while Have not gotten around filling my phone with music or videos as I have been waiting for a Class 6 Memory card for apps and media, and everything I would have done on my phone would be erased when I partitioned and installed the new rom. I did this yesterday however, so I'll be sure to tell you how it's working with media later on.