A day in the life of the HTC Hero (T-Mobile G2)
Posted: August 19, 2009 Filed under: HTC Hero, linux, Mobile Phones, Operating Systems, Web | Tags: android, HTC Hero, Mobile Phone, T-Mobile G2 Leave a comment »I recently got an HTC Hero (T-Mobile G2 Touch), and I am truly astounded at the flexibility of this little phone. So instead of the boring tech specs, I thought I would bore you with my day at work…with this phone.
This will be the first in a series of articles, where I talk about the phone and the software that is available in the Android Market, I hope that you like it.
6:30am
My alarm goes off, gently rousing me from my slumber.
Alarm clock
Err it works, but doesn’t work if you turn the phone off before you go to bed, unlike my old Nokia N95.
7:00am Breakfast
Toast, coffeee, maybe some cereal?
I turn on the Hero’s wifi, and head straight to twitter (http://twitter.com/biglesp) to see what has happened overnight.
The Hero has a great twitter client, designed especially for the Hero, by HTC. It is called Peep, and it does a really great job.
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Browser
I like to keep up to date with the latest news, and being British where else would I go, but to the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk), so I fire up my browser and take a look around. Wow, this browser is good, multi-touch to zoom in and out, easy navigation of pages, very fast to use, even over HSDPA I think the browser is based on Webkit, hence the speed. I can honestly say that I could surf for along time with this browser.
I think I might catch a little video news, lets click on the link…oh, err it’s a bit choppy, but isn’t Flash in general? Ok this is still a new phone, so lets give it time, I am sure there will be a firmware update soon that will fix this issue.
After my early morning fix of news, I like to check on a few websites (insert shameless plug here), so I head over to Linux Outlaws (http://www.linuxoutlaws.com), to see if their latest podcast is ready…in OGG!!! Oh yes, after years of using a device with only MP3 and AAC playback, now I have the mighty, open OGG in my pocket. After that excitement, I head over to Planet Ubuntu (http://planet.ubuntu.com/), and catch up with the latest on there.
The inbuilt Google mail app is great, I quickly set up with my account details, then it goes to work, checking for new emails and letting me know if there is anything new for my attention.
There is also another email app, one that allows you to connect to a Microsoft Exchange server, or to other POP3/IMAP servers. I set this up too, and wow is it easy to set up, within five minutes I am reading my emails.
7:30am Off to work
Walking to work
Bag on shoulder, phone in pocket, headphones on and out the door.
Media Player
On my walk to work, I like to listen to some tunes, or a podcast, no problem on the Hero. I saved my media to the micro sdhc card earlier, either via the Hero’s web browser, or via my Ubuntu file manager, this is something I like, the fact that I can simply drag and drop files to my phones sdhc card, no need to use iTunes, or practice some dark art.
Anyway, back to my walk to work, headphones on, tunes playing, the media player is basic, but not lacklustre. I can do all the things that you can do on any media player.
Google Maps (with GPS)
Ok, it is very unlikely that I will get lost on the way to work, but a geeks gotta do, what a geeks gotta do. I turn on GPS and google maps, and see what happens. Oh my god it has found me…well within about 10 metres, not bad, seeing as though the satellite is miles above, I can see this being very handy.
My gripes with Google Maps is that there is no multi-touch (pinching the screen to zoom out), and you cannot double tap the screen to zoom in to a specific bit of the map. Google please sort this out.
Text Messages
I can text my fiancé with ease , the on screen keyboard takes a bit of getting used to, but it is fast and functional, what more do I want?
The messages are grouped by contact, and then threaded in to a conversation, handy to see who said what and when.
Phone Calls
As easy as pie (how easy is pie, I can’t make pastry, but I can eat it!).
You can select a contact directly, or type in their name or part of their number, and the in-built search will find them for you.
Call quality is good, and you have options to hold the call, mute the mic, put the call on the loud speaker, and add others to the call for a group call, all the usual stuff you should expect from a smartphone.
8am Arrive at work
I am working, no time for playing with my phone, until…
12pm Lunch!
Questionable soup from the canteen, I am using the Hero to Google an antidote, just in case.
I check twitter, emails, text messages, calls.
Then I try an app that I downloaded Nimbuzz (http://www.nimbuzz.com/en/).
This is an app that lets me log into Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk (Orkut), AIM, and social networks including Facebook and MySpace. All from one app, remarkable!
So I am now chatting away to my contacts, from my phone…whoops lunchtime over.
Home time
This is exactly the same as going to work, but in reverse, no I don’t walk backwards.
Arrive home
Time to put my phone on charge, it’s a thirsty beast, all this wifi and 3G is a drain on the battery.
I like to keep an eye on twitter, and my emails while at home. It is a real bonus that I can does this and not have to turn on my laptop.
Bed time
Night night
