It’s rolling out and the reports are rolling in, and so far, it’s looking good. What is the “it,” you ask? The Hero updage that Engadget Mobile told us about a few days ago. The number one improvement I’m hearing about to far is a fix for the SMS glitch that was draining your batteries at far too rapid a rate. Some are claiming performance improvements as well. Quick warning: the over-the-air update is based on Android 1.5, so don’t have a heart attack when you see the notification.
We recently learned that HTC would be skipping the 1.6 update for European Hero owners; bringing them straight from 1.5 to 2.0. Now, Gearlog reports that Sprint is working on upgrades for the HTC Hero and Samsung moment, among some other cool things that may or may not include an Android with a built-in Mi-Fi-esque router. There’s no word on a time frame for the updates or which version they will be, or even if they will be the same version, for that matter. However, HTC’s decision to skip 1.6 in Europe could foreshadow their plans in the States.
In my recent Moment unboxing, I said that Moment should hit shelves with 1.6. I thought so because that was the word for some time and I hadn’t seen an official announcement that indicated otherwise. My review unit came with 1.5. Considering Sprint’s positioning of Hero and Moment as Sense vs. Vanilla, both quality Androids, it seems doubtful that they would want one running 1.6 and the other, 2.0. How much say Sprint has in the matter, I do not know. My guess is that both phones will go straight to 2.0, and with the Eclair-packing Droid dropping on November 6th, I don’t think Sprint can afford to put the update off for too long.
EDIT: Thanks to Randy for sending in the following email response from Sprint:
Dear Randy XXXXXX,
Thank you for contacting Sprint regarding the Samsung Moment.
The Samsung Moment phone currently has android 1.6 with android user
interface. If it comes with 2.0 android, we will display the information
on the website.
Did I really just say that? Yes, yes I did. I’ve only got this particular device for a day or two, then it’s off to Kravitz in San Francisco for his reviews, dogfights, and whatever else he has in mind. I think another one might be headed my way though, so feel free to ask questions and tell me what you’d like to see on video. You can get me on Twitter @PhoneDog_John or SMS me at 503-MOB-BARK. Be sure to specify the phone you’re inquiring about. For instance, you could just start the message off with “Moment.” It’s too easy to get those questions mixed up.
I’ll probably just spend this first visit getting acquainted. For now, check out my unboxing over at PhoneDog. My first impression? It’s nice. I love the AMOLED screen, but without an oleophobic coating, man… it’s tough to clean! I can see how Hero could spoil a person.
I hope to be giving you all my own opinions and observations regarding the Samsung Moment, which will be the fastest Android I’ve held to date… once I’ve held one. For now, check out Engadget’s take.
I heard from a lot of people who were frustrated by the camera coverage (or lack of it) from other Hero reviewers, so here’s what I hope is an in-depth review. The first video is me walking through the camera software. Below it are sample photos and videos from Hero. Other than switching video resolutions to show each of the available options, I left all settings at the defaults (auto).
I am not a professional photographer, so I am simply presenting you with the experience and results rather than critiquing them. As a layman, the only observation I want to make about the end product is that indoor photos tend to be blurry. In the sunlight, where the shutter speed is much quicker, it is easy enough to get a clear pic. Still, of every four photos I took, one was useless.
My review:
Photo Samples (Click descriptive text below each for full size. All are jpg compressed):
