A few questions I've not seen elsewhere

[Cropstar]

Hey there,

After thinking the N97 would be the next great thing, I'm now getting tempted by the HTC Hero. Opinions seem quite divided, people almost seem to get into one camp and fiercely defend the pros of one over another. Anyway, got a few questions and hoping someone here can help.

1) I have loads of my music stored in 64k aac+ (mp4) format. This worked well on my former Nokia N95, even with 16gb worth, but my current phone, the Samsung Tocco has always been incapable of me stuffing the memory card full of tracks, slowing down considerably with around 4gb and literally crashing the phone horribly when more than that was stored. Anyway, wondering if anyone has packed an HTC with 16gb or so of music (ideally, aac+ but if not, mp3) and how it runs. Does it slow down the phone with lots of music? Also, does embedded album art display as it should, some phones seem hit and miss on this.

2) When I'm not compressing my CD's down heavily above, I use a Napster subscription. These are DRM'd tracks which are effectively rented on a month on month basis. Has anyone tried a subscription music service like this on the HTC?

3) I've heard mixed opinions about the audio quality, both with this phone and the N97. I plan to use bluetooth headphones most of the time. What is the audio quality like, does it sound good or is this something which needs to be fixed in a future firmware update?

4) Does the phone play videos of any sort? Both the divx/xvid variety that can be downloaded and streaming from youtube the like?

5) Has anybody used both the N97 and HTC Hero. If so, what would you say about how they compare in a nutshell. The way it looks from reading on the web, the N97 has better hardware/worse software and the HTC the opposite?

6) The updating facebook/twitter/other widgets; do they update in a push format like Blackberry email, as and when new messages appear. Or does the phone auto check at a specified period?

7) Does anyone know if its possible to have an rss feed or two as one of those widgets?

8) Does anyone know if the phone will take 32gb microSD whenever they eventually get released?

Thanks for reading

 

[trick202]

I can comment on number 3:

I used to think the hero sound quality was terrible, but then I got a pair of sony headphones (nothing fancy, just 30 quids worth) for holiday, and they just made a MASSIVE difference.

 

[wuthton]

7, yes I have 8. Check out feedR news reader on cyrket.com. The widget displays the last 3 article titles.

8, yes it will.

 

[Spacemonkey]

3) Not sure about BT headphones, but my

 

[quantumrand]

1) I've got tons of music on my Hero (about 7GB). Everything still runs as perfectly as always. All of my music is in mp3 format, but the Hero does support aac+.

2) I have no idea how the Napster service works. I would assume you'd need to use some sort of app they develop, but like I said, I dont know how it works.

3) I'm completely happy with the sound quality. The phone's speakers themselves aren't that amazing, but still suitable for Youtube apps and such. With a nice pair of headphones though, the music sounds perfectly clear.

4) It plays mpeg4, h.263, and h.264 codec videos. On top of that, it can play Youtube videos through the browser or the Youtube app.

5) I have not used the N97, but the Hero has better hardware for certain. The N97 has a 434MHz CPU, 128MB of RAM, while the Hero has a 528MHz CPU, and 288MB of RAM. The only thing the N97 has better than the Hero is its screen. The Hero only has a 3.2" 320x480 display, while the N97 has a 3.5" 360x640 display

6) Some things are updated via push, other are periodic. HTC's email app for example is updated by push, while Facebook is periodic (I think 1 hour is default).

7) Yes, it is possible. There are several apps on the Marketplace that do it. HTC doesn't have any widgets that come standard with the Hero that do RSS though.

8) I don't know for certain if the Hero would support a 32GB microSD card. According to the SDHC standard though, it should. You should ask HTC directly (although I doubt you'll get a straight answer...).

 

[o7who]

regarding question 5 (N97 v Hero)

I have access to both phones (mine the Hero, hers the N97).

The N97 is a good sturdy reliable phone, good camera, good size in screen and form for reading webpages at length). not greatly customisable, or a toy. something you can just shove in your pocket and not bother too much about.

The Hero, is exciting, lots more apps, things you can do with it. it's pretty, something you'd definitely not just shove into your pocket. compact and light. it's something you'd treasure. camera isnt that great without natural light.

to summise, when using either phone, the N97 feels "same'ol", whereas the Hero feels "different!!" (because of Android).
The battery on the N97 last longer than the Hero. I charge mine approx every 2 days without 3G on, and light use (50+ texts, some wifi). With 3G use it last maximum 24hrs (avg 18), and thats in various parts of the UK.

If you want something that will keep you interested for quite sometime get the Hero.

IMO.

 

[Cropstar]

Thanks for the replies. I get the feeling that the N97 could be a lot better if Ovi Store was any good. But having looked at it earlier, it seems fairly light on decent software. Slightly concerned about the Hero's battery life though. Is this becaue it keeps connecting to the web to get widget updates?