Need Help, Sprint Android Phone help, Help only you can provide

[TruePaige]

Okay, so basically I use a little cheapie phone and pay about five bucks a month for service.

The reasons why are that I am usually near a landline, or just text message through Google Voice...don't really use many minutes.

Basically my parents have Sprint after I helped them find a good deal (with 25% corporate discount) and since have been trying to get me to just sign on their plan for $20/mo, it's a Sprint Everything plan.

If I was going to pay 20 bucks instead of about 5, I'd like a nice phone to take advantage of all the features. I found a deal on the HTC Hero for $99 and was thinking "Wow, maybe I should jump on this."

But now I am torn, as I try my hardest to be frugal these days.

My issues are that even though the wifi capabilities and decent browser would make it great for surfing the web...I have a laptop that I surf the web on with me at most times. Even at school when I don't bring my laptop we have computer labs.

The phone part is pretty "A phone is a phone" to me, I make a call and talk. But I think the HTC Hero might have the thing where you can hit voicemail and listen to specific voicemail instead of that old crappy menu system, that might be nice.

I don't like having to carry my camera with me and usually don't unless I know I will take pictures. Will the 5MP camera on the hero be a good point and shoot?

Applications...they are neat but..don't know if they would offer anything really special.

GPS...could it replace my car GPS? Maybe buy a car mount? The GPS nav on my Dad's blackberry I've used before and it was pretty nice.

Anyhow..I'm just looking for any reasons that I might want to get the HTC Hero...anything that will make it worth the money to me..I guess this goes for Smartphones in general, but just giving a phone model so features can be presented.

Anyone who might be able to help me decide?

 

[krylon]

So you want to pay $15 more a month for something you don't need? Sounds 100% American, so I say go for it.

Besides, a Hero will definitely get you some pussy and off these forums.

 

[Gooberlx2]

In your case, sounds like a waste to me.

I haven't seen any phones that can adequately replace the picture quality of a pocket P&S...I can 100% say the Hero does not. If you are always going to have with you other devices which do their respective jobs better, then why bother paying $$$ for a phone and then an extra $15/mo for the service?

I think the performance (or lack thereof, i.e. lagginess) on the Hero would drive you insane if you're traditionally a "phone is a phone" kind of person.

 

[TruePaige]

So you want to pay $15 more a month for something you don't need? Sounds 100% American, so I say go for it.

Besides, a Hero will definitely get you some pussy and off these forums.

You are kind of a jerk, aren't you?

 

[TruePaige]

In your case, sounds like a waste to me.

I haven't seen any phones that can adequately replace the picture quality on a pocket P&S...I can 100% say the Hero does not. If you are always going to have with you other devices which do their respective jobs better, then why bother paying $$$ for a phone and then an extra $15/mo for the service?

I think the performance (or lack thereof, i.e. lagginess) on the Hero would drive you insane if you're traditionally a "phone is a phone" kind of person.

I have my laptop with me most of the time, but I do not have my camera with me. Also, I suppose it would save me the money that buying maps for my GPS costs, but not sure if it is an adequate replacement for a traditional GPS.

Yeah..I haven't really seen a phone that does that either. I was hoping with how much praise the Hero's camera had gotten it would be a fairly good one, but haven't seen a lot of actual shots from one.

*shrugs* Seems like everyone loves their smart phones these days, and I am usually a big tech lover myself..I just hate wasting money, and am trying to see if anybody has some feedback on why it might be worth it.

It's not a bad deal, and it's not a whole lot a month, but I don't want to flush money down the toilet, and maybe a few opinions will help one way or the other.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

 

[Gooberlx2]

*shrugs* Seems like everyone loves their smart phones these days, and I am usually a big tech lover myself..I just hate wasting money, and am trying to see if anybody has some feedback on why it might be worth it.

I'd say it would be worth if you like having easy mobile (i.e. not having to lug around a laptop) access to email and web, or have need of something that approaches the usefulness of a personal organizer (calendar, meetings, notes, alarms, tasks, etc...).

That's where I am. I love having quick access to the web and web-enabled apps. I like having a feature rich calendar handy. I use that stuff all the time, and I'm not lugging a laptop with me to a restaurant, game, walk in the park, etc...

I think the sprint nav is a decent GPS replacement. I've had no issues with mine that didn't also exist on a dedicated unit*. It's nice not having to pay extra for traffic service too.

The cameras just aren't good replacements (yet). They can be "good enough", but you're not going to approach the quality of a dedicated P&S, no optical zoom, no image stabilization, etc... The Hero doesn't have a flash either.

* The Hero's re-routing is fairly slow too due to the poor CPU performance. I had the Hero and went to a Pre.

 

[TruePaige]

I'd say it would be worth if you like having easy mobile (i.e. not having to lug around a laptop) access to email and web, or have need of something that approaches the usefulness of a personal organizer (calendar, meetings, notes, alarms, tasks, etc...).

That's where I am. I love having quick access to the web and web-enabled apps. I like having a feature rich calendar handy. I use that stuff all the time, and I'm not lugging a laptop with me to a restaurant, game, walk in the park, etc...

I think the sprint nav is a decent GPS replacement. I've had no issues with mine that didn't also exist on a dedicated unit*. It's nice not having to pay extra for traffic service too.

The cameras just aren't good replacements (yet). They can be "good enough", but you're not going to approach the quality of a dedicated P&S, no optical zoom, no image stabilization, etc... The Hero doesn't have a flash either.

* The Hero's re-routing is fairly slow too due to the poor CPU performance. I had the Hero and went to a Pre.

No camera flash or image stabilization? Ick..for a headliner Android phone you'd think those would be a given. Can't believe I overlooked them.

I never thought of the traffic service, that is a nice feature.

Also I liked the Pre but lack of an Onscreen keyboard bugs me. I type much better with a virtual keyboard than those little tiny keys...I know a lot of people feel the opposite though!

Well shoot..I just saw a big flaw and a big plus...!

 

[zerocool84]

What about the Moment? Faster processor, qwerty keyboard, and AMOLED screen. I just think the processor on the Hero hinders it so much.