kenleewrites in 日本

Had a chance to try out the famed HTC Hero the other night. Phone belongs to Kyle who bought it in the UK. I couldn’t let a chance like that slip by since the Hero isn’t available in Japan… yet. I don’t even know if it’s going to come to Japan.

Anyway, that aside. Interface looks pretty good. The phone wasn’t very responsive to my touches. I had to apply a little more pressure. But Kyle assured me that it was the protective cover he had on’s fault.

What I do like about Android is the pattern recognition unlock screen.

You can watch a short Vodafone support video on how it works. Pretty nifty. If you forget your pattern, you can still unlock your phone, provided you remember your Google name and account password.

At dinner that night, except for him, everyone else had an iPhone. Well, one other guy had an arsenal of Android phones on him, but that’s another story.

Anyway, I haven’t used Android all that much to comment on how well it works. But I have a friend in Singapore who just bought his G2 and is pretty happy with it.

I do, however, see some aspects of the UI that bugs me.

As an iPhone user, I’m spoilt silly with just one button. It was only like 2 years ago since I last used a phone with more than 1 button. Yet, I can’t believe how much the other buttons confuse me now. ^^. I wonder if HTC will reduce the number of physical buttons and controls in their future models. I believe those hard mechanical buttons can all be replaced with software buttons that can just as well accomplish the same thing.

Granted, some buttons require feedback. But for everything else, we are all creatures of habit. We can adapt. I can’t say I miss the mechanical clicks too. But that’s just me.

There’s another thing I don’t understand. Why there is a need for 2 clocks on the screen.

The iPhone only shows one at any single time.

One big one here.

And the tiny one up above in the menubar here.

I wish the interface designers will adopt a little of Apple’s attention to detail in this aspect.

Afterall, Apple needs a rival and some quarters are still holding out for a Hero. ^^.