HTC Hero review

HTC takes aim at the iPhone again - but is the Hero a hit or a miss?

The HTC Hero review
The HTC Hero review

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As before, the Android operating system interacts well with all types of messaging, be it SMS, MMS, email (both Gmail and Microsoft Exchange) as well as IM through downloadable clients.

SMS is once again split into the conversation you've had with people in much the same way you see Google Mail displaying your conversations with people on the internet client.

The htc hero texting

Tapping out a text message is easy as well, with both a portrait and landscape keyboard on offer. The phone has the same XT9 correction for spelling as the Touch range, meaning as long as you've vaguely touched the right keys the HTC Hero will quickly spell the right word for you, like a wildly intelligent butler keeping his master out of trouble on a series of madcap schemes.

Setting up Gmail is as easy as you could want, with the phone simply asking you for your Google sign in details at the start of the process and the HTC Hero taking care of the rest.

The htc hero

Adding in other accounts is a little bit more difficult, as the phone asks you for the Exchange or POP3 settings to use other clients. However, if you don't know these a quick check on the internet will help you out and set you up in no time at all.

We actually used the internet on the phone to find said settings to join up our Microsoft Exchange email, and we managed to sort the whole thing in around 30 seconds. Failing that, you can always throw the phone at the IT guy in your office and let him or her figure it out if you're the lazy sort.

The htc hero

Sending messages from a picture or other media is easy too, with the phone automatically re-sizing the photo for the message. We were worried it might be a little more convoluted as HTC gives around a million options when trying to do the same thing on Windows Mobile 6.1, but thankfully the company has learnt which features to port and which not to.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.