September 3, 2009 4:20 PM PDT

How the Hero tops the MyTouch 3G

by Taylor Wimberly
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The Sprint Hero features a similar body to the MyTouch 3G.

(Credit: Sprint)

Now that Sprint finally has announced its first Google Android phone, we thought we'd take a closer look at how it stacks up against the competition. Sprint has chosen the HTC Hero, which is the third Android phone HTC has made. The Hero was first released overseas shortly after the HTC Magic, which T-Mobile launched in the United States as the MyTouch 3G. The Hero and MyTouch 3G are similar, but the Hero offers a few key advantages.

Memory
The Hero and MyTouch have the same processing power, but the Hero should be faster thanks to its increased memory. The Hero features 288MB of RAM compared with the 192MB RAM on the MyTouch 3G. Many current Android users have complained about speed issues, which normally are caused by background processes that slow the phone down. Having more free memory will let the Hero be more responsive, even when multiple programs are open.

Multimedia
Media fans will be pleased to find a 3.5-millimeter headset jack on the Hero. This was a major complaint of the first two Android phones, but now HTC has committed to including a 3.5-millimeter jack on all future devices. The Hero also includes a 5-megapixel camera, which is an improvement over the 3.2-megapixel shooter on the MyTouch.

Battery
The first Android phone, T-Mobile G1, suffers from battery issues that HTC addressed in the MyTouch. The Hero takes it to the next level by offering a 1,500mAh capacity battery, which is the highest capacity available on an Android phone. In contrast, the MyTouch has a 1,340mAh battery.

Software
The Hero's software is another of its advantages. The Hero will be the first U.S. phone to feature HTC Sense, an HTC enhanced version of Android. HTC Sense provides tighter integration with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. What's more, Sprint will offer several of its exclusive sports services for Android, including NFL Mobile Live and NASCAR Sprint Mobile Cup. Sprint Navigation will also offer turn-by-turn driving directions.

Pricing
With all the advantages the Hero offers over the MyTouch you might expect a higher price tag. Yet, Sprint will offer the Hero for $179.99 with a 2-year contract, which is $20 less than T-Mobile's price for the MyTouch 3G.

Sprint's service contracts are also priced lower than T-Mobile. The cheapest plan starts at $69.99 and offers 450 minutes with unlimited data and text. Sprint also offers a 900 minute plan with unlimited data for $89.99 or an unlimited everything plan for $99.99. T-Mobile customers can get a MyFaves 300 minute plan with unlimited data and text for $74.99.

Conclusion
If you're a Sprint customer waiting for an Android phone, the Hero should offer one of the best experiences when it goes on sale on October 11. Our complaint for the moment is that the Hero features the same 528MHz processor that we saw on the first couple of Android phones. As such, we're eagerly awaiting to see what Motorola announces next week.

Taylor Wimberly became obsessed with cell phones working as a Sprint reseller as a teenager. When he's not writing about the newest handsets on the market, you can find him on the beach working the BBQ pit. Taylor also blogs about the Android community with Android and Me. Taylor is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. E-mail Taylor.
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Phones

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google android,

sprint,

htc hero

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) (39 Comments)
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by lil-yankee September 3, 2009 4:47 PM PDT
Sounds like a great deal, My girlfriend has the mytouch and i thought was a great phone if it wasn't for the proprietary headphones and for the lack of hard drive. Hope they could get around and give this android phones a hard drive, that will start to move the clouds in Copernicus
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by TyDiz September 3, 2009 7:52 PM PDT
Hard drives? You are probably thinking solid-state drives like the iPhone has...There's no reason to add more latency(and battery drain) to phones by making them spin a bunch of mini disks around to find data. I think adding the cost of even bigger SSD's(like 16-32GB) to a device who probably will only need a 512MB SSD at max, when the can support expandable memory...the rest would be overkill, and who wants to pay for overkill?
by zelrik September 4, 2009 12:28 PM PDT
@ lil-yankee, why would you need a hard drive when you can use SDcards and swap them as much as you want like CDs in a computer? That is ridiculous.
by lil-yankee September 4, 2009 3:10 PM PDT
@/TyDiz
you were right, I meant to say ssd.
But follow me on this one. You need more than just 512mb, don't you think that is a pure limitation to what is an otherwise very solid os (android).
I have navigator in my iPhone and that alone is 1.4 gigs with only the us and Canada maps but it's an mazing app. And no, is not cool carrying many sd cards arround, you need to have a phone with everything you need. And although I do think that will add price, tmo should still subsidize the extra cost. To me, the only reason why they don't add it, it's because they (tmobile) don't advertice the phone as a multi media device, just a cool phone.
And you zelrick I'm not going to answer you, you sound like my ex, and that's why I dumped her.
by baggyguy1218 September 12, 2009 11:28 PM PDT
Wait a minute. Why would you carry a micro-SD card around with you to swap with the card already in it. You can expand the micro-SD in the MyTouc up to 16GB which the last time I checked was a pretty common size for the iPhone.Only, the MyTouch has onboard SD for the OS.

The Hero looks good but who wants to get Sprint service at any price? The reason I went with the MyTouch was the T-Mobile service, no AT&T person can say they have good voice quality on AT&T's system.
by miketaylor00 September 3, 2009 4:47 PM PDT
There is a flaw in this article. Both the G1 and the MyTouch3G have the same processor as Hero. However, the processor is underclocked on both of those phones to 384MHz. It may be the same processor but it is a third faster than what the other two phones have.
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by TyDiz September 3, 2009 7:54 PM PDT
That drove me nuts...Thank goodness the newer modded ROMS raise the processor to 512MHz automagically :)
by GilbertMendoza September 3, 2009 5:32 PM PDT
I'll definitely be camping out and buying an HTC Hero on release day! I'll donate the Palm Pre to my lovely wife, who will be happy to finally rid herself of the Samsung Instinct.
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by lil-yankee September 4, 2009 3:11 PM PDT
Doesn't she deserve a new phone? I hope she doesn't read this.
by TyDiz September 3, 2009 7:59 PM PDT
I was really bummed out when T-Mobile cut the $29.99 minute plan out of their services...There was one point that I was paying between $50-60 a month after the taxes and other jargan that add about $15 to your bill.

What was the price on the loyalty plan? Unlimited calls for $45? So if you had that with T-Mobile plus the $35, you would only be paying $80 plus tax for unlimited everything, right? Dang, I probably should have signed myself up for that :(
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by ewilts September 4, 2009 7:20 AM PDT
T-Mobile contracts start cheaper than Sprint. You say that Sprint's cheapest is $69.99. My Individual 300 T-Mobile contract for 300 minute (no MyFaves which I don't need) is $30. My data plan (with 400 text messages, many more than I need) is $25. So my contract is $55 - 20% lower than the best I can get from Sprint. Although I have less minutes and text messages than Sprint offers, I have what I need for a lot less money. Sprint needs to start offering plans on the low end of the scale - they're currently excluding potential customers like me.
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by bennywhatever September 4, 2009 8:08 AM PDT
The reason Sprint doesn't do this is that there is a minimum plan requirement that they must abide by. Just like Verizon and ATT, it's a requirement to be on a base plan that's 39.99 or higher, or you don't get your upgrade. Sure, you can buy the phone outright, but if you have your eligibility, then you're screwed.
Also, most people that faithfully use the internet are most likely going to use more than 400 text messages.
by Henzapper September 4, 2009 4:25 PM PDT
Yeah, I'm on that same plan with my G1. It's really not fair to say Sprint has cheaper plans. Since I use my G1 for mainly web browsing, the $25 unlimited data with 400 texts serves me just fine. And with T-Mobile's lowest voice plan (300 minutes for $30), it comes out to $55, which is way cheaper than the $70 that Sprint requires you to pay to use their high-end phones.

Even if you're using a $40 voice plan, that's still $65 total which is less than the Sprint plan. Sprint is only cheaper if you want every single feature that the Everything Data plans offer on another carrier.
by drezjohnson September 9, 2009 2:18 PM PDT
The article lists T-Mobile's 39.99 MyFaves plan but T-Mobile also offers 600 min + unlimited nights and weekends for the same price (non MyFaves plan)...bringing the total to $74.99 when u add the $35 unlimited data + text. So really we're comparing Sprint's $69.99 for 450 min vs T-Mobile's $74.99 for 600 min (both including unlimited data/text)
by N0t0rius September 22, 2009 9:04 AM PDT
These devices are aimed at users that use data. Data drives revenue. Having said that, Sprint crushes everyone not just on price ($69.99) plus AnyMboile, Anytime but also top notch data quality.
by Chao_Sama September 4, 2009 7:22 AM PDT
I wish they would have left the white teflon from the europe version i was willingly to put up with the chin for the unique look overall.....now it looks plain blahhh
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by heulenwolf September 4, 2009 7:50 AM PDT
"Having more free memory will let the Hero be more responsive, even when multiple programs are open. "

If the speed issue in the MyTouch is caused by memory swapping between physical and SSD memory, then I'd agree that additional physical memory will help. If the speed issue is caused by background processes overwhelming the processor, then additional physical memory will only enable the user to keep more background processes open. In effect, more memory could allow more background load on the processor and appear to make the phone less responsive. Lets hope the clock speed bump removes this possibility without causing excessive battery drain.
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by angry jubu September 4, 2009 8:13 AM PDT
"Sprint's service contracts are also priced lower than T-Mobile"

I disagree with this as well. You can get 1000 minutes and unlimited data for $75. A 900 minute/unlimited data plan from Sprint is $90.
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by taylor_wimberly September 4, 2009 8:55 AM PDT
That is correct. I have 1000 minutes for 39.99, but it is not a normal rate plan. It is a special that they offer several times a year.
by killa08 September 4, 2009 9:14 AM PDT
As loyal tmobile customers know by now, they always fail when it comes to phones. We always get the short end of the stick with HTC phones(Wing, Mytouch, no touch or touch pro, just getting the touchpro2 etc) so we're use to it by now.
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by Henzapper September 4, 2009 4:28 PM PDT
I have to disagree with this. First of all, T-Mobile got the Touch Pro 2 first in the U.S. And even though they were lacking in phones a year ago, they've been doing quite well recently. They were also the first to get 8MP cameraphones, the Blackberry Pearl Flip, the Blackberry Curve 8900, and the first Android phone. I say they deserve some credit for that.
by trey68 September 4, 2009 9:21 AM PDT
I was very excited to get a Hero--I loved the edgy design. Unfortunately, the Sprint version looks like the very boring soap bar design of the MyTouch (which I looked at and was underwhelmed by).
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by utznosalt September 4, 2009 5:45 PM PDT
I agree 100%.
by zelrik September 4, 2009 12:37 PM PDT
I should say that while the mytouch 3g has 192Mb of ram, it's not the case of its clones around the world. For instance the HTC Magic in Canada has 288Mb of ram.

I think the US customers should welcome that release. They'll finally get a good android device.
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by utznosalt September 4, 2009 5:44 PM PDT
Yo, Sprint! I've waiting for the European model with the 'chin'. This new design looks sooooo bland.
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by delraydoc September 5, 2009 4:59 AM PDT
Honestly, do not expect this phone to be a huge success. The iPhone and Blackberry will continue to dominate the smartphone market. I can see no reason for me, or anyone else to switch to this phione. Its underpowered, lacks apps, looks ugly and doesn't offer enough dollar savings to make a big enough of a difference. I am just being honest. The lack of prestige, the bland looks, the bland performance, the bland features are all turn-offs. I almost vroke out laughing when one commenter above said he is planing to "camp out" to get one. Is he living in this world?
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by trey68 September 5, 2009 5:37 AM PDT
While I agree with some of your comments (this revised Hero could be better looking), I disagree with others. "The lack of prestige"--***? I buy a phone for prestige now? And as someone who uses both the Android and iPhone app sites, I much prefer the Android one. There are a lot of really great apps that are free on the Android market; there are a zillion worthless crappy applications on the iPhone app market, most of which they want you to pay for.

You say there isn't much of a difference in savings, I say ridiculous. Calculate how much an average iPhone user pays over 2 years with an ATT contract, and then take into consideration that their network is getting extremely overwhelmed to the point that 3G performance can be very poor, and it makes the ATT contract a very bad deal.

If the original Hero is offered in the US, I'd take it in an instant over the iPhone--I'm already bored with the same old main screen, and limited customization options of the iPhone. I'm just not as excited by this bland Sprint version..
by slicker_916 September 6, 2009 12:49 PM PDT
@trey68 well said

@delraydoc - u have insecurity issues - prestige, peformance - u remind me of suburu dude who cant give respect to other suburu owners unless they have a STI
by slice77 September 6, 2009 1:22 PM PDT
I couldn't agree more with the above responses. Though they did miss out on the additions of widgets, background processing, notification bar, and an open nature that make Android a better platform than the iPhone and Blackberry.
Yes, the iPhone has more apps than anyone, we got it, everyone knows it, but thats really not the point (quality > quanitity). What is the point is even with less apps, from less (none?) big name devs, I'm still able to do more with my sexy chinned Hero than my friend's iPhones. Google and the OHA manufacturers just need to start marketing!
by randygrenier September 6, 2009 7:26 AM PDT
I have a Palm Pre from Sprint which in spite of a lot of negative comments is a really awesome phone. The Sprint service is very good including customer service. Now with the Hero, there is another smart phone option.

I don't want any long-term variable rate mortgage to Apple. Choice is good.
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by nychitman1 September 9, 2009 10:28 AM PDT
What you all seem to be forgetting here is that T Mobile's data service is horrific. Sprint on the other hand has the best data network hands down. Verizon comes in a close second.
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by drezjohnson September 9, 2009 4:35 PM PDT
Honestly it really depends...I'm in Kansas City and T-Mobile's 3G is excellent for me. Having said that, T-Mobile is the smallest of the major cell companies so its expected that they may not have as wide a coverage area as the larger companies. Really every carrier has poor areas for service so its always good to check out each carrier's coverage in your specific area
by MeepMan September 9, 2009 7:52 PM PDT
And, as Verizon is the best here, I will be waiting...............
by Akiba September 10, 2009 2:32 PM PDT
That all depends on where you live and operate. I'm using T-Mobile 3g in the Seattle area and it's been great. I had no complaints in Vegas or the Bay Area either. But T-Mobile and ATT's GSM support has made them the only options for me .
by sawyerleemoore September 10, 2009 12:04 PM PDT
Does anybody know if verizon will ever get this device, or atleast one with HTC Sense UI? I actually really like it.
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by SyonATL September 10, 2009 3:59 PM PDT
I am so looking forward to ditching my Touch Diamond in favor of the Hero. I don't quite know why everyone seems to think the white chin version looks better. This two-toned grey chinless version looks much classier to me. Can't wait!!!
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by yz599999 September 20, 2009 5:30 PM PDT
T-Mobile's mytouch also has 288MB memory. Cnet probably needs to do some fact check before publish an article like this. I've noticed more and more such kind of irresponsibilities on cnet in recent years.
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by yz599999 September 20, 2009 9:07 PM PDT
As a matter of fact, the spec gap between the mytouch and the Hero is quite small -- other than the entirely revamped Sense UI, the Hero's 5 megapixel camera is about the only thing the Hero model has over the mytouch, physical design notwithstanding. That gap is on the fast track to getting even smaller, too, since HTC has issued a press release detailing a Sense upgrade for the Magic(which is the Europen/Asian version of mytouch), and I won't be supprised that it will come to mytouch as well.
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by Sprintinyourface September 21, 2009 2:18 PM PDT
So no one cares about longer battery life>? Or getting the new plan with sprint that gives you free mobile to any mobile>?
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