HTC Hero with Google Android & Ubuntu

[Shibblet]

Just got the HTC Hero from my local cell provider. Along with a 2 year contract... Every time I sign one of those I hear "Dirty Deeds" by AC/DC in my head. But I digress.

This phone is pretty sweet, plenty of apps, most are the same that you can get on the iPhone.

Here's the best part. It mounts in in Ubuntu. Just hook the phone up with the provided USB Cable, open up the notification window in the phone. You do this by holding the status bar at the top of the screen and slide it down to the bottom. Then you will notice a menu item which says USB Connection. Touch it, then choose "Mount" to mount this as a device.

Ubuntu recognizes the device, and you have access to the directory structure to move music, ringtones, pictures, and apps. The Owners manual is actually included as a PDF on the phone.

It does come with an app for Windows called HTC Sync, but the idea here is not have to use Windows for anything.

The actual operation of Android on the phone is amazing. The menu screens are completely customizable, with Widgets. The layout reminds me a bit of XDE. It is not pressure sensitive like other HTC phones, which makes using the menu a breeze.

I'm not doing a review, just trying to let the community know that it works GREAT with Ubuntu. However, if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them before you have to commit to a contract.

[HappinessNow]

Thanks for sharing, it sounds awesome! :p

[amitabhishek]

Its a great phone. Not only Ubuntu; it mounts in the same way on PS3! It also gives you an option of switching off the sense UI incase you are looking for more speed.

[aeon.flux]

hi guys, i bought htc hero too, it's great, mostly because of android, but still don't know how to sync contacts with ubuntu or update rom(the newer version should come this month), because htc has support only for windows :( and again that stupid libraries, if i haven't filled ID3 tags or i put a soundtrack from a movie into phone, i have hundreds of artists in player and never can't find what i'm looking for. the only help is the "search button", but when the ID3 is not filled, it wont help. i'm android newbie, but i searched for some players in market, but there's nothing without commercial and my favorite "core player" from windows mobile doesn't have (again) support for android :(


any ideas about that sync????

[docus]

How does the HTC Hero compare with the Nexus One? I can get the Hero much cheaper.

[Maheriano]

I played with this phone for 2 minutes and it is so awesome that I think I'm going to buy it. I took my girlfriend in to look at phones, I wasn't even interested but she settled on the iPhone and I think I'm getting the Hero. Good to know it plays nicely.

Does a regular mini-USB cable fit into the device and also can you transfer files via bluetooth?

[mcduck]

I played with this phone for 2 minutes and it is so awesome that I think I'm going to buy it. I took my girlfriend in to look at phones, I wasn't even interested but she settled on the iPhone and I think I'm getting the Hero. Good to know it plays nicely.

Does a regular mini-USB cable fit into the device and also can you transfer files via bluetooth?

Hero's USB connector is slightly different from normal, it has couple of extra pins for audio connections (older HTC phoenes didn't have a headphone jack so the special connector is tto provide compatibility with older accessories) but any normal mini-USB cable fits in it so you don't need any spcial cables for Hero.

It dosn't have Bluetooth file transfers out-of-the-box, but there are some apps available in Android Market that provide Bluetooth file transfers. But Hero's current firmware doesn't have full OBEX support, so you can only send files, not receive them. I'v understood that the upcoming Android 2.1 update should fix that.

[kanikilu]

It dosn't have Bluetooth file transfers out-of-the-box, but there are some apps available in Android Market that provide Bluetooth file transfers. But Hero's current firmware doesn't have full OBEX support, so you can only send files, not receive them. I'v understood that the upcoming Android 2.1 update should fix that.

That's why I rooted my G1...bluetooth filetransfer and wireless (or USB) tethering make the phone so much more useful :D Personally, I use the Cyanogenmod ROM and the +10MB RAM hack.

[mcduck]

That's why I rooted my G1...bluetooth filetransfer and wireless (or USB) tethering make the phone so much more useful :D Personally, I use the Cyanogenmod ROM and the +10MB RAM hack.
I've rooted My hero as well, just to get the WiFi tethering and couple of other nice little things like easier upgrades without needing the HTC sync (not to mention the psoiibility of removing the sync from the phoen as well) I'm using AmonRA recovery image and MoDaCo 3.0 ROM. But that's still not enough to get the full OBEX support on Hero, we really need the 2.1 upgrade for that..

(sending files from Hero to other phones and devices works fine even with a non-rooted phone, but receiving files and browsing files on other devices doesn't work, at least not with any Android 1.5-based ROMs.)

[hanzomon4]

I have the Eris (VZW hero) and sucks next to the iphone.. it's just too slow and the screen to small, Also it doesn't have the sound quality of the iphone in regards to music.

I'd go, a maybe will go, with the Nexus 1.. My Eris is sweet for a free phone and Android is great. But it was meant to replace my iPhone 3g and it's a mediocre replacement. Hopefully moving to android 2.1 will help with speed(hell I'd settle for 1.6 at this point).

[Post Monkeh]

i got the nokia 5800 in april on a 2 year contract. never getting a nokia phone again. but for a couple of stupid, stupid features, it would actually be a very good phone, but it adds every file on the phone to your galleries, so if your music folders happen to have album art in them, or programs you install use picture files as backgrounds, they'll appear in your image gallery, and your music gallery also contains all your ringtones. there's also no way to organise how the various multimedia files are organised on the phone except through the phone. all files are just automatically added to the gallery, no matter where they are on the phone's physical file system, and it's then up to you to organise them into folders within the phones internal gallery, which is a real pain if you have loads of pictures to individually re-organise.

plus there's no easy way to browse the phone memory on ubuntu when using the usb cable, you have to use bluetooth, which is slow if i want to copy anything substantial. plus the phone memory (ie the storage) gets filled with things that you can't delete. mine has 30mb of files that i can't even see.

can't wait til my contract's up, never again will i get a phone just because it comes with a free ps3 :D

[blur xc]

hi guys, i bought htc hero too, it's great, mostly because of android, but still don't know how to sync contacts with ubuntu or update rom(the newer version should come this month), because htc has support only for windows :( and again that stupid libraries, if i haven't filled ID3 tags or i put a soundtrack from a movie into phone, i have hundreds of artists in player and never can't find what i'm looking for. the only help is the "search button", but when the ID3 is not filled, it wont help. i'm android newbie, but i searched for some players in market, but there's nothing without commercial and my favorite "core player" from windows mobile doesn't have (again) support for android :(


any ideas about that sync????

I think android syncs with your google gmail account. Don't quote me on that, but give it a try and see... It's all part of Google's scam to have EVERYONE on the world using gmail and google web services- just like MS has the world dependent on MS Office for the desktop.

disclaimer- I have a gmail account...

BM

[mcduck]

i got the nokia 5800 in april on a 2 year contract. never getting a nokia phone again. but for a couple of stupid, stupid features, it would actually be a very good phone, but it adds every file on the phone to your galleries, so if your music folders happen to have album art in them, or programs you install use picture files as backgrounds, they'll appear in your image gallery, and your music gallery also contains all your ringtones. there's also no way to organise how the various multimedia files are organised on the phone except through the phone. all files are just automatically added to the gallery, no matter where they are on the phone's physical file system, and it's then up to you to organise them into folders within the phones internal gallery, which is a real pain if you have loads of pictures to individually re-organise.

plus there's no easy way to browse the phone memory on ubuntu when using the usb cable, you have to use bluetooth, which is slow if i want to copy anything substantial. plus the phone memory (ie the storage) gets filled with things that you can't delete. mine has 30mb of files that i can't even see.

can't wait til my contract's up, never again will i get a phone just because it comes with a free ps3 :D

Were thoase probelms on the Nokia phone, or Hero?

If you were talking about Hero then Android has some pre-defined directories for different types of files, just use them and your ringtones won't show in your music player:

/sdcard/media/ringtones
/sdcard/media/notifications

(as a bonus, your rigntones will become selectable from the same place where the built-in tones are selectd instead of having to set them through the music player.)

In addition, putting a empty file called ".nomedia" in any directory will hide that directory's contents from media applications (like music player and the picture/video browser). Although that doesn't help with album art images, so it's better to just embed them directly into ID3 tags instead of using separate image files.

[Post Monkeh]

Were thoase probelms on the Nokia phone, or Hero?

If you were talking about Hero then Android has some pre-defined directories for different types of files, just use them and your ringtones won't show in your music player:

/sdcard/media/ringtones
/sdcard/media/notifications

(as a bonus, your rigntones will become selectable from the same place where the built-in tones are selectd instead of having to set them through the music player.)

In addition, putting a empty file called ".nomedia" in any directory will hide that directory's contents from media applications (like music player and the picture/video browser). Although that doesn't help with album art images, so it's better to just embed them directly into ID3 tags instead of using separate image files.
the nokia, so none of those useful features will work for me.

such a waste of a phone really (the 5800), it could so easily have been great (and in fact a lot of the problems are software related so nokia could fix them if they really wanted to. but they'll just bring out a new phone that handles things a bit better

[Johnsie]

What is the battery life like? How long will it go without bring recharged if using the internet moderately?

[mcduck]

What is the battery life like? How long will it go without bring recharged if using the internet moderately?

Day or two, depending on what you do and if you turn off the WiFi & 3G during night. I've gotten three days at best, so not bad at all for a smartpone that's constantly using the data connection.

[Shibblet]

I was attempting to switch from an iPhone to the HTC Hero. And don't get me wrong, the HTC Hero is an amazing phone. The Android OS is incredibly customizable, with applications and everything. But when it came down to it, the iPhone was simpler.

I was on the fence about changing over, I had the Hero for a couple of days, then I missed a phone call. I opened up the Window on the Hero, it said missed call from "Bob." So I slid down the lockscreen, and slid down the notifications bar, then touched "Missed call from Bob." Then it opened up into the dialer, and I slid down the menu until I found Bob, touched Bob, and it dropped his number into the dialer, then I touched "Dial". It was too many steps.

On the iPhone, I touched phone, and Bob was right at the top in red saying missed call. I touched it, and it dialed him.

So what it came down to for me was simplicity, and functionality. The HTC Hero is more of a PDA with Phone functions. It's really in depth. So it's a great phone for those who are looking for a Blackberry killer.

[aeon.flux]

lol, as i know, blackberry is built primary for emailing - writing emails and HTC Hero doesn't have keyboard and the on-screen keyboard is a bit small.
For me hero is like iPhone, but is customizable and support usb goodies, so you don't need no soft to use it as HW modem, or to import data (pictures, music, videos) it has 7 desktops etc...

[Pepe Lebuntu]

Hi there,

I just got an HTC Hero, but I can't seem to get it to mount - it doesn't offer the "usb connection" option in the notification drop-down thingy, and Ubuntu 10.04 doesn't recognise it.

Any ideas?

[amitabhishek]

Hi there,

I just got an HTC Hero, but I can't seem to get it to mount - it doesn't offer the "usb connection" option in the notification drop-down thingy, and Ubuntu 10.04 doesn't recognise it.

Any ideas?


Press 'Menu' and Tap 'Notification'->'select to copy files to/from your computer'.

^^Tried this?

[Pepe Lebuntu]

^^Tried this?
Yep, I don't have any problem getting into the notifications area!

Whenever I plugged in the usb cable it only showed the HTC Sync option, and not the usb connection option.

I THINK I might have solved it - it may have just been that I was using a dodgy old usb connector, and when I used another, it eventually found it. But it is still a little temperamental.

[lsutiger]

I have asked this question on the android forum and have not received a reply.

How can you root and install a new ROM from a linux desktop? All of the upgrade files are exe's

[frisket]

I've rooted My hero as well, just to get the WiFi tethering and couple of other nice little things like easier upgrades without needing the HTC sync (not to mention the psoiibility of removing the sync from the phoen as well) I'm using AmonRA recovery image and MoDaCo 3.0 ROM. But that's still not enough to get the full OBEX support on Hero, we really need the 2.1 upgrade for that..

(sending files from Hero to other phones and devices works fine even with a non-rooted phone, but receiving files and browsing files on other devices doesn't work, at least not with any Android 1.5-based ROMs.)

I got a HTC Hero from Meteor (Irish phone provider) back in March and it's been great (apart from the non-functional Bluetooth -- WTF were they thinking?). The wired (USB) tethering to my Lucid laptop "just works", which I was surprised and pleased at.

Now I'm considering rooting it so I can get the wifi tethering, but a few things bother me:


I have no idea what version of Android I am running. The "About phone" section in Settings lists half a dozen version numbers of various things but none of them mentions Android. I just upgraded it to version 3.32.405.2 of something, but it doesn't say what.
I don't know what rooting it is going to install. How do I know whose ROM to trust? Is the one I have right now something built by Meteor or HTC? Does it have hidden locks whose absence will brick the phone if I install some bizarro ROM?
Will the result still have the same features I have at present? I don't want to downgrade and lose half the things which make it such a pleasure to use.
Does anyone have RELIABLE AND EXACT AND UP-TO-DATE doc for doing this under Ubuntu on a Hero bought from Meteor (ie without all the US garbage about phones and providers I've never heard of)?

Help on any of these would be welcomed.

[cchaos]

I got a HTC Hero from Meteor (Irish phone provider) back in March and it's been great (apart from the non-functional Bluetooth -- WTF were they thinking?). The wired (USB) tethering to my Lucid laptop "just works", which I was surprised and pleased at.

Now I'm considering rooting it so I can get the wifi tethering, but a few things bother me:


I have no idea what version of Android I am running. The "About phone" section in Settings lists half a dozen version numbers of various things but none of them mentions Android. I just upgraded it to version 3.32.405.2 of something, but it doesn't say what.
I don't know what rooting it is going to install. How do I know whose ROM to trust? Is the one I have right now something built by Meteor or HTC? Does it have hidden locks whose absence will brick the phone if I install some bizarro ROM?
Will the result still have the same features I have at present? I don't want to downgrade and lose half the things which make it such a pleasure to use.
Does anyone have RELIABLE AND EXACT AND UP-TO-DATE doc for doing this under Ubuntu on a Hero bought from Meteor (ie without all the US garbage about phones and providers I've never heard of)?

Help on any of these would be welcomed.
Im sure that if you looked here: http://forums.se-nse.net/forum/133-htc/ and here http://forums.se-nse.net/forum/136-htc/ you might find some of the answers ;)

What Im more interested in is recreating this guide, but for Ubuntu: http://forums.se-nse.net/topic/46884-setting-up-adb-on-windows/ Anyone that helps me out will get a mention :)

I have the JAVA SDK installed (which is how I took these pics: http://forums.se-nse.net/topic/51432-show-off-your-android-screens-here/page__view__findpost__p__727138 ), along with what I need for my X10 Mini Pro (android 1.6)

[jmkemp]

@Isutiger

Did you ever get a response to updating the ROM from a linux desktop, or even off the phone itself?

[Steelbak]

I really wish my Sprint Epic running Android would sync with Evolution or Kontact. Seems like it would be natural, but nobody is talking about it?

[lsutiger]

@Isutiger

Did you ever get a response to updating the ROM from a linux desktop, or even off the phone itself?

No I have not :(

[Red_Steve]

I own a HTC Desire GSM. It's easy to mount in exact the same way. Seems like all devices running at least stock android are capable of this (rooted my phone and slapped Cyanogenmod 6 on it)

[lsutiger]

I own a HTC Desire GSM. It's easy to mount in exact the same way. Seems like all devices running at least stock android are capable of this (rooted my phone and slapped Cyanogenmod 6 on it)

Were you able to root it without Windows?

[Red_Steve]

Did it with fastboot and ADB (tools of the Android SDK) by tutorial over at xda-developers.

[Stan_1936]

Just got the HTC Hero from my local cell provider. Along with a 2 year contract... Every time I sign one of those I hear "Dirty Deeds" by AC/DC in my head. But I digress.

This phone is pretty sweet, plenty of apps, most are the same that you can get on the iPhone.

Here's the best part. It mounts in in Ubuntu. Just hook the phone up with the provided USB Cable, open up the notification window in the phone. You do this by holding the status bar at the top of the screen and slide it down to the bottom. Then you will notice a menu item which says USB Connection. Touch it, then choose "Mount" to mount this as a device.

Ubuntu recognizes the device, and you have access to the directory structure to move music, ringtones, pictures, and apps. The Owners manual is actually included as a PDF on the phone.

It does come with an app for Windows called HTC Sync, but the idea here is not have to use Windows for anything.

The actual operation of Android on the phone is amazing. The menu screens are completely customizable, with Widgets. The layout reminds me a bit of XDE. It is not pressure sensitive like other HTC phones, which makes using the menu a breeze.

I'm not doing a review, just trying to let the community know that it works GREAT with Ubuntu. However, if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them before you have to commit to a contract.

Borrring!

I thought you meant that you could dual boot:
1. Android
OR
2. Ubuntu

You got my hopes up.

[jmkemp]

Did it with fastboot and ADB (tools of the Android SDK) by tutorial over at xda-developers.

Would that be http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=741824 or was it another tutorial.

Either way it suggests that I ought to be able to do an ordinary upgrade of my phone ROM to the latest android build (from 1.5 where the phone is stuck - the price I paid for being on the bleeding edge of Android).

All I need to do now is find the time to work out how to do the update and what packages I need to install.

[treesurf]

I rooted my Hero using this tutorial: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=645253

It was pretty easy, and I didn't actually have to use my computer at all to do it, although it's probably easier to download the files and custom ROM of your choice using your computer and then put them on the phone's SD card.

I'm currently running the FroydVillain 1.5.0 ROM and I'm quite happy with it, it's like I have a whole new phone again.