HTC Hero

Got my new HTC Hero this week, very impressed. Having come to despise my LG Arena to the point that I really couldn't hold out until next year to upgrade it, the time had come to find myself another phone. Got a great deal on a new Hero on eBay, with it arriving a day later. Switch on and you enter your details of the various social networks, then you're away. First thing i did was update the firmware which apparently is a marked improvement, once done, I had to go through the setup again. Setup is very simple and the phone is a breeze to use. There are plenty of full reviews elsewhere so I won't attempt one here. However if particular note is the contact integration and swipe down notification area in the top. Blue RSS is the best RSS feeder I've found from the Android Market.

Getting HTC Sync to work on Windows 7 64 bit was less easy. First try it installs fine but says its missing a driver. Connect the phone and it won't see it. You can then manually add the the drivers which many have had success with, but that didn't work for me either - the problem is getting the ADB driver installed and listed in Device Manager. The solution eventually came by installing PDA Net: http://www.junefabrics.com/android/index.php It's then just a case of doing the update from Devices and Printers, which changes it from 'Android Phone' to 'My HTC Hero and you're away. You have to remember to initiate sync from the phone though, or else it will sit there doing nothing.

Then yesterday I hear word that HTC are preparing an Android 2.0 release for the Hero - so we get voice navigation on Google maps amongst other things. I'm feeling exceptionally smug with my new purchase!