HTC Hero or Samsung Moment...What is your opinion?

For me, it came down to wanting a real keyboard, so I went with the Moment.

The Moment has a better display and the processor on the moment is about twice as fast as the processor on the Hero too (probably not a big deal now, but when the 2.1 Android update is released, a better processor might be handy).

The Hero has a better form factor and a better camera.

In the end, I think it will come down to a keyboard vs. no keyboard issue. Depsite the better specs on the Moment, if I could deal with touchscreen only, I would probably have selected the Hero. I need a real keyboard though, so the Moment won.

Also, if your current phone uses the standard micro-USB port (and I think the VE20 does), than all your chargers will work with the Moment. The Hero uses the weird HTC port, so standard accessories won't work unless the phone ships with an adapter.

Also, I have found that in order to get a full day of battery life on the Moment, I need to disable GPS/location. It is easy enough to re-enable when you are using a Navigation or map program though.

 

I recently did some research in preparation for possible replacement of my MotoQ. What I noticed was that the HERO didn't seem to respond to key presses as quickly as the Moment, taking what seemed to be a second or two between pressing a number and seeing the number on screen. This may have simply been related to that phone, or the location of the Sprint store I was in, however I would recommend testing responsiveness before making any selection since this, at least for me, would really become a bother.

 

I really like the Moment. Like the poster above, I wanted the real keyboard. If you'd prefer a thinner phone, then go with the Hero. I'm really happy with the camera except for the shutter lag, but that's typical on phones.

There is an issue with aGPS on the Moment. When it's on, Google Maps has placed me in China and Greece. You have to turn it off and just use the real GPS, so you lose some accuracy for your location (e.g. Sprint Navigator won't always tell you to turn in time). However, I understand that's due to Android 1.5 not really being written for CDMA. HTC created their own patch for the Hero. The upgrade to 2.1 (due before June 30) should fix that.

 

The GPS issue has been corrected with the latest Moment software update. The bad thing is that you can only get the update at a Sprint Store with a repair center.

 

Yeah, I just read about that and was going to update my post. Thanks. This shouldn't be an issue for the OP, since she should get it if she opts for the Moment.

Now I've got to drive to a Sprint store.

 

Note that many of the inventory on hand at Sprint stores has not had the software update yet. I got mine new from Sprint last week and it needed the update.