iPhone 3GS vs HTC Hero

HTC Hero UK prices and deals

Apple iPhone 3GS UK prices and deals

Looks
Apple is renowned for its aesthetically pleasing hardware that screams “Buy me” as people walk past. The iPhone is no exception and is certainly a stunner. When the first generation was launched it served up a big dollop of the wow factor and Apple continued in that ilk with two subsequent generations.

A massive 3.5in (480x320 pixels) capacitive screen dominates the handset, which features minimalist buttons (just one home button in the centre at the bottom, volume adjuster on the left-hand side, next to a mute button and a power button on the top right-hand side).

Prior to the iPhone’s arrival, many thought it was only possible to have good-looking devices that lacked brains or boring but brilliant products. Never the twain shall meet it seemed. While the original and second generation

iPhones weren’t without fault, the iPhone 3GS signalled the arrival of a product with as much inner beauty as its outer skin - which despite its look isn’t plastic. Apple hasn’t divulged exactly what the back casing is made of, although it did file a patent for a ceramic coating called Zirconia a while back. Mystery solved?

The HTC Hero, on the other hand, is also somewhat of a design leader. It copies the minimalist design showcased in the G1 and HTC Magic. Its 3.2in screen is also capacitive and ‘oleophobic’ like the iPhone, the latter meaning it should at least minimise the dreaded finger mark effect that plagues every touch screen handset we’ve ever encountered. But this magic can only do so much and both handsets are not impervious to grease. The white HTC Hero also has a Telfon-coated rear to help further minimise any smudge marks.

Below the 3.2in (480x320 pixel) screen, sits more hard buttons than the iPhone 3GS, but still far less than on your average handset. There are four hard keys directly below the display for calling, bringing up the menu and the like, while a trackball is present for navigation. Nestling next to said trackball you can find a search key and back button. And, while the iPhone 3GS is a straight up and down affair with curved sides, the HTC Hero sports the banana-esque lip, which is a love it or hate it piece of design.

The iPhone 3GS and Hero also share the existence of a 3.5mm headphone jack which can often be a deal breaker for users who aren’t prepared to use anything but the best headphones.

Both handsets are also available in black and white, with size (8GB or 16GB) the only restriction determining which hue you can have when it comes to the iPhone 3GS.

Vital statistics
There’s not much in it screen-wise between the two handsets, with the iPhone just edging ahead of the HTC Hero with its 3.5in display to its 3.2in offering. The two mobile heavyweights are also level pegged when it comes to weight at 135g a piece.

Getting out our measuring tape also proved an interesting experience as, although the two handsets clearly differ in size in the hand, when you look at the stats on paper there’s not a world of difference between them, with the iPhone 3GS measuring 62.1mmx12.3mmx115.5mm (WDH) to the Hero’s 56.2mmx14.4mmx112mm (WDH).

While the iPhone 3GS comes in either 8GB or 16GB format, you can’t top up storage through external cards. That’s not the case with the Hero which has 288MB onboard memory and a microSD card slot for that all-important boost. Both are more than adequate for the average business user’s needs.

The two handsets are really set apart by their cameras. While you can take more than decent snaps using the iPhone 3GS’ 3.0 megpixel camera, they’re not mind blowing. The HTC Hero’s inbuilt camera is a whole two megapixels bigger and it also supports geo-tagging, meaning you can nail exactly where you were when that drunken office party picture was posted to Facebook.

Features
The iPhone 3GS features the (at the time at least) latest version of the iPhone operating system, 3.0, which brought with it the ability to send and receive MMS and copy and paste among other things. Both are considered almost basic human rights in the mobile space these days so their arrival was a welcome relief for die-hard iPhone fans considering their options. It also likely swayed many users who had previously ruled out the iPhone for those very reasons.

The HTC Hero, on the other hand, boasts the 1.5 version of the Android OS, otherwise known as Cupcake. It’s also the first HTC handset to feature the company’s new Sense UI, which serves up colourful, context-sensitive menus aplenty.

The Hero boasts a context sensitive search function too, which adapts depending on what application you have open at the time. The iPhone 3GS doesn’t ignore the power of search either, but its Spotlight search functionality is across the board rather than specific to each app. Both options have their merits.

Whether you’re a business user or a consumer, the ability to personalise your device - beyond buying a different coloured case to your friends/colleagues – is key. Both handsets offer this option, with the iPhone 3GS letting you move the position of icons around so what’s dear to you is also nearer to you. The Hero goes one step further with customisable widgets and home screens that bring a little bit of the desktop to the handset.

The iPhone 3G’s Safari browser is clean, quick and easy to use, as is the browser sported by the HTC Hero. Thankfully, both handsets also support multi-touch making viewing web pages and images a much more pleasant experience.

A shortcoming for both handsets lies in the area of video. Clips shot on the Hero are of average quality although watching content shot elsewhere is a much more pleasant affair. While, in the case of Apple, video (which is captured at 30fps at 640x480) still has a lot to learn, having only recently come to iPhone users with the iPhone 3GS. That said, it does make life easier for the novice video editor, which is a bonus.

While the iPhone 3GS still doesn’t support flash, we had some success with the Hero, with it coping – just about – with flash content on IT PRO. It did drop some frames and took a while to load, but audio remained intact.

AOB?
While business users and consumers alike are demanding more and more out of their phones, it’s important to realise that we still need to be able to make and receive calls on them – especially in the corporate world.

iPhone 3GS users do suffer from the odd dropped call, but this could be attributed to network issues, and some handsets also experience echo and other sound problems. However, in the main, Apple’s baby does offer good call quality. The Hero’s call quality is excellent and this even extends to its speakers, which does come in handy for conference calls during business meetings.

The Hero sports a 528MHz processor and the iPhone 3GS a 600MHz ARM processor, both of which are fairly meaty and essential for business users who are likely to have multiple apps open and require a workhorse of a device. Threaded contacts also help users keep track of the different people in their life (whether work or play) and what they’re up to, while the iPhone favours a more traditional approach to contacts management.

In addition to digital compasses, both the iPhone 3GS and HTC Hero offer strong support for corporate and personal email accounts, with POP3 and IMAP both on the menu. Set up is relatively quick and pain-free for both handsets.

The Hero also boasts a few more work-centric feature onboard as standard, including Quickoffice, a PDF viewer and voice recorder, although the iPhone 3GS also sports the latter.

Finally, both handsets share a common love of applications, offering a world of opportunity for work and play through Apple’s App Store and Android Market, both of which are incredibly easy to use.

Verdict
It’s unlike us to sit on the fence, but on this occasion we feel we have too. The iPhone 3GS wins in the looks department and the HTC Hero has slightly more to offer users out-of-the-box, but with two quality app stores on tap, business users can quickly and easily add pretty much whatever they choose to their respective devices, so the edge comes down to personal preference alone.

From a comparison written by IT PRO

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