Incredibly smooth Hong Kong version of the Hero

[tsekh501]

HTC just announced the Hero in a press conference in Hong Kong today. Given the support of traditional Chinese interface and an incredibly smooth interface, it is very likely that these demo Heroes are running the future firmware that Slashgear reported would be available for download very soon.

Take a look at the series of videos below (they are not taken by me, I didn't attend the event):

Look at how smooth it is when scrolling through the contacts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CABaEfQNqL0

Browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eoTT74obss

Smoothly moving between different home screens, no lag at all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcwbBjEsyxg

Some more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtsPVXJyLtA

Hero will be on sale in Hong Kong in early September. More or less coincide with the reported timing of the availability of the firmware update(s).

Update:
According to this website
http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/?prod_id=3402&tid=29166

the camera app now supports iPhone 3GS' style Tap to Focus function, and adjustable ISO (up to ISO 800)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXemcWjMYeQ

 

[spacecat]

Does this update improve video because like all HTC devices its crap

 

[David Horn]

Maybe you're not doing it properly. Videos encoded for iPod Touch profiles work perfectly on my Hero.

 

[cezarc1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcwbBjEsyxg

 

[ethan3686]

And it seems they have improved the flash support as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrRmZCuPjuo

BTW when is this coming to INDIA!! OMNIA is already launched here!!

 

[ghoonk]

Definitely MUCH smoother. If you look at how fast the Messages and Mail widgets refresh, you'd see that this firmware works a lot smoother and faster. That said, it does leave me wondering if it will suffer from a slowdown after a day of usage.

 

[tsekh501]

And it seems they have improved the flash support as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrRmZCuPjuo

That video was dated August 12 and the interface was in English, it was NOT running the Hong Kong version of the Hero.

BTW, double clicking the flash element on a website to enable full screen flash typically speed up flash performance a lot, because it enable the phone to ignore other parts of the website.

 

[ghoonk]

Are you saying that the HK version of Hero does not have English? I find that a bit hard to believe

 

[tsekh501]

Are you saying that the HK version of Hero does not have English? I find that a bit hard to believe

It has. But all the Heroes in that press event were set to the Chinese interface (if you want to waste your time saying that someone switched it back to English, go ahead). The date of the video shows that it wasn't the HK version (if you want to argue that that could be a leaked version, go ahead).

 

[ghoonk]

So what's the conclusion? The HK firmware is just BLISTERING quick but no idea if Flash is faster?

 

[tsekh501]

According to this reviewer who attended the event and talked to people from HTC:

http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/?prod_id=3402&tid=29166

特別一提，HTC Hero 支援 Flash Lite 3.0 ，理論直接支援 YouTube 桌面網站，但其實 Play 上來效果不算理想。HTC 說法是一來 Adobe 給手機的 Flash Lite 3 版本未算最好，二來本來是給予網站的小動畫使用。

He mentioned that HTC Hero support Flash Lite 3.0, but the performance was not that good when playing youtube video on its desktop website (i.e. not using the youtube app). HTC response was that the version of Flash Lite provided by Adobe for cell phone is not very good, and the flash support is mainly for displaying flash animation on websites.

 

[spacecat]

Maybe you're not doing it properly. Videos encoded for iPod Touch profiles work perfectly on my Hero.

cheers for the tip, did a couple of conversions for ipod touch in Xilisoft and the video is indeed excellent now. No stuttering

 

[joemax]

hmmm... I tried HandBrake and the encoded video using the iPhone/iPod Touch preset looked great, gave a far smaller file than I had previously, but still stuttered.

Using the stock 2GB card.

 

[superevo89]

doesnt seem like it really faster than my hero mines scrolls as fast as that one

 

[JC_Miller]

is there any leak of this firmware, there but be leaks somewhere if they allready have them built on the phones...

 

[Huey85]

Holy crap that is looking smooooooth and faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast. Can't wait to install this onto my Hero.

EDIT: Would have liked to see the software keyboard in action though - one of my biggest gripes is the intermittent keyboard lag/keystroke delay

 

[tsekh501]

BTW, the hardware specification of the HK version Hero is the same as the European ones. According to the user manual available on HTC HK website, the product ID is still HERO100 (North America GSM Hero is Hero130, CDMA Hero is HERO200). So once the HK version is released (Sept 1) and someone dumped the ROM it, it can be installed on current Hero without too much problem. Of course it would be much easier if HTC releases the firmware update on the website.

 

[Huey85]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK8c9Bs581I here's a clip of how smooth video play back is now. I really hope they improve the format compatability to include avi and wmv.

 

[ethan3686]

maybe thats a custom made video meant to be seen by the customers only and make them feel that the video play back is good...anyway if this is actually working under the update then i really wish for it to come tomm. as promised...but promises are meant to be broken! fingers crossed!

BTW aany info when HTC is launching hero in INDIA?? its released in hong kong now..so it shud be coming soon here as well...but no date!

 

[jayjay]

I have to agree with the person that said the smoothness isn't mindblowingly better in that version. My Hero is about as smooth if I wait for the clock animation to finish before starting to swipe back and forth. Same with web browser, depending on web site, of course...

My contact may be a tad more stuttery, but I have photos for many of my contacts and it seems to slightly slow down every time a photo contact comes up...

-JJ