HTC Hero – review

I waited and pondered over three different phones before decided on getting the Hero, a long 6 months. Has the Hero been something worth the wait?

The hardware of Hero has not been a radical change from the previous Android phone, Magic. With the exception of the 5MP camera, 3.5mm audio jack, the rest are very similar. So similar that i had some difficulty choosing which to get.

HTC touts the new user interface, Sense, as the highlight of Hero. Sense has changed the look of Hero until it does not resemble an Android phone and made the phone a whole lot fresher even when compared to Diamond 2 etc. Beside the new look, Sense also brings all the contacts’ information and conversation history under one screen.

All is good, almost. Sense did delivered most of the goods on all fronts but my emails from my contacts don’t show up. I still get to see the mails from the gmail widget so i am not really affected but it just feel short.

The on-screen keyboard is good surprisingly. Its very clever to know the guess the words (correctly most of the time) when i simply couldn’t care to be accurate where my fingers land. I find that i can type faster compared to the physical keyboard.

The battery-life is not fantastic. I find myself almost have to recharge every other day even though i am not a heavy user. I cannot imagine if i had to check my mails and connect to the net constantly.

The screen, supposedly coated with something to make it smudge free, works well. I never have to apply any pressure on the capacitive screen (well, not meant to anyway) and the screen is as it is to be, pretty smudge free.

The biggest gripe i have for the Hero has to be the locations of the physical buttons. As a right-handed, i always have problems using my thumb to press on the power-on and back button, which happen to be one of the most used. Left-handers will have it easier though.

I won’t say the Hero is a perfect phone. Its design, hardware-wise still has some catching up on the ergonomics aspect but the software part is satisfying so far. People keep comparing this to the I-phone but i don’t see how one can beat another, they are quite different actually. And for an Android phone, i think the Hero has shown what the OS is capable of. The best has yet to come.

Jamis 09′ Durango review

Its been a month since i got my Durango 1.0 and in short, i am pleased with what i got, though there is one thing that bothers me.

It is the brakes. The stock Tektro Io disc brakes gives me bumps everytime i braked hard, fearing that i will break the handle. The grip that this brakes have is, bluntly, very disappointing. Even when i pulled hard, the braking distance is much longer than i would expect for a Vee-brake.

Definitely a must change, top priority at that.

But other than the brakes, i enjoyed the bike tremendously. With this bike, i get the confidence to go faster and ride a little more dangerously off the road. The 2.1′ tires made those obstacles that daunted me almost painless to go over now.

The shifters also did their job well, gears change are now faster and smoother, a fresh experience from the previous bike. With 24 speeds, i am able to cruise leisurely as well as break into speed with ease.

So far, i have dug into my pockets to “zhng" the bike a bit and i am still looking for more add-ons to allow me to go further and faster. But these add-ons do not come cheap. For example, the Cateye rear light I bought cost me $40, so does the cycling trip computer that i have yet to get. Trying to change the tires to slicks isn’t cheap too. But on the whole, i still find modifying the bike much more affordable to the car. My little suzie is still as stock as it can be till this day.