Hero - 2/2 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

Adobe Flash (Full Version) Working On The Evo And Other HTC Devices Without Android 2.2

Posted by John Thompson in Applications, Apps/Games, Development, Devices By Manufacturer, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News

One of the members at xda-developers has managed to compile an APK for Android 2.0 and 2.1, giving users full Flash support on their device!

Achieved by using a plugin on Android 2.x currently used to enable Flash Lite, the APK that’s been created will remove the Lite version of Flash, replacing it with the full version used on Android 2.2.

Android 2.2 has a new feature called com.google.android.feature.GOOGLE_PLUGIN. And Flash usesit to embed itself inside browser. So browser in 2.1 does not see plugin.

BUT!There's another thing inside - a permission called android.webkit.permission.PLUGIN. It is already used by Flash Lite on HTC devices.

Jun

"UnrEVOked" - A Painless EVO 4G Rooting Method, Coming Tomorrow. Creator Says EVO Vulnerable To Hackers Unless Rooted

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News, Sprint

Well, this is fun. Minutes after I completed and published my post further detailing how to root your EVO, I catch a teaser for ‘unrevoked’ - a ‘painless’ EVO rooting method that’s to be released tomorrow. Unrevoked is the work of Matt Mastracci, who gave us our first sneak peak at a rooted EVO, and one of the developers who contributed to the hack.

As Matt details here, there are several critical security flaws present in the custom Sprint software included on the EVO, and these flaws were the driving force behind releasing an easy ‘anyone can do it’ rooting method for the EVO.

May

Official Sprint HTC Hero Upgrade to Android 2.1 Is Now Available

Posted by Ian Douglas in Hero (Sprint, HeroC), News, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

Today, HTC announced on Twitter that an Android 2.1 upgrade is available for the HTC Hero for Sprint users.

The upgrade can be downloaded from the following URL, and is a 118MB Windows .exe executable:

http://www.htc.com/us/support/hero-sprint/downloads/

What’s Included in the Download?

HTC’s notes include the following details:

The software upgrade posted below provides several key enhancements for your HTC Hero:

Upgraded OS to Android 2.1 Eclair

Includes enhancements to Sense UI

Includes enhanced corporate email support

Includes a veriety of minor bug fixes.

Insert Standard Disclaimer Here

You’ll find the usual disclaimers on the download page, along with a warning that upgrading will completely wipe your phone:

This software update will delete all information from your device.

May

The Latest Official Word From Sprint: Android 2.1 Delayed For Both Samsung Moment And HTC Hero, Update Still Coming In Q2 2010

Posted by John Thompson in Devices By Manufacturer, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, Moment, News, Samsung, Sprint

As we reported yesterday, Sprint has once again pushed back the scheduled Android 2.1 update for the HTC Hero to an unknown future date, destroying expectations of the May 7th release.

Another official confirmation of this was given today in a Sprint statement by another Sprint admin, which notified customers that the delay also affects the Samsung Moment. The official statement on the Sprint forums said

Hello Community Members,

We wanted to let you know that Sprint continues to work closely with Samsung and HTC to deliver the highly anticipated Android 2.1 upgrade for Samsung Moment and HTC Hero.

We are on track for the upgrade to be available in Q2.

Apr

Android 2.1 Update For The European HTC Hero Delayed. Again. To June. Of 2011 (OK, Not That Last Part)

Posted by John Thompson in Devices By Manufacturer, Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News

Earlier today, TechRadar broke the unfortunate news that HTC Hero owners in Europe will have to wait even longer to get their hands on Android 2.1 than was expected. Despite originally being expected within the next week or so, it has been confirmed by HTC that the update has been delayed yet again, this time until June. In a statement HTC said:

"HTC will be providing a free update to Éclair for European HTC Hero variants. Starting in June, anyone owning an HTC Hero will receive an initial preparatory update, shortly followed by the full Éclair update.

For the full update, we would recommend using a free Wi-Fi hotspot or an unlimited data plan, otherwise standard data charges may apply."

There is still a glimmer of hope for users outside of Europe, as the statement mentioned only ‘European variants’, so those of you across the pond may see still see it sooner rather than later, although at this point I wouldn’t bet on it.

Apr

BREAKING: Sprint HTC Hero Android 2.1 ROM Leaks - Final Release Imminent?

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News

We just got word that a Sprint HTC Hero test ROM marked RUU_Hero_C_Sprint_2.20.651.1_signed_test leaked to the public at the xda-developers forum by damageless. Yet again, Android Police is the first Android blog to report it, as far as we know.

More details to come as we try to figure out what the deal is with this ROM.

Here is a link to the latest RUU from Sprint.
You cannot simply extract it. This still has root since it is a test release. I recommend just doing an adb pull of your system directory after you flash it. Don't do this when the final one comes out or else you might be stuck without root.

Mar

Android Usage Skyrockets Across The Board In February 2010 - Apple, RIM, Palm, Nokia Fall

Posted by Android Police Team in CLIQ / DEXT (Morrison), Dream, Droid (Sholes), G1 (Dream), G2 (Vision), Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, Magic, Motorola, myTouch 3G (Magic), News

AdMob, one of the world's largest mobile advertisement networks, posted a report (PDF) yesterday citing various mobile related statistics for the period of February 2009 to February 2010.

We've looked through all the boring stuff and pulled out the interesting highlights (you all like highlights, don't you?).

The Highlights

Here are the highlights that we've cherry picked out of it for you (the data is year-over-year where applicable):

AdMob currently serves over 15,000 mobile websites and applications and has received 14.1 billion (!) requests worldwide in the last year
The number of smartphones went up 13% from 35% to 48%
Smartphone traffic overall went up 193% (data transferred, number of requests)
Non-smartphone phones share went down 23% from 58% to 35% (yup, soon everyone is going to have an PreiDroidberry of sorts)
Android was the fastest growing operating system, up 22% from 2% to 24% (!!!)
The top 5 Android devices by traffic were:
- Motorola Droid
- HTC Dream (G1)
- HTC Hero
- HTC Magic (MyTouch 3G)
- Motorola CLIQ
Among the number of requests from smartphones, all non-Android devices posted a decline while all Android ones were up (except for the G1, which was the first generation Android and doesn't really count).

Mar

Sprint HTC Hero Android 2.1 Update Delayed Again, New Tentative Release Date Is Now April 9th

Posted by Android Police Team in Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News, Sprint

Rumors have been flying for the past few months that Sprint and HTC would update the Hero to the long awaited Android 2.1 Eclair today - March 26th, 2010.

These rumors have been shattered today by conversations with multiple Sprint customer service reps and a posting of an internal memo by Phandroid announcing the new update date - April 9th, 2010.

While the memo lists the 4/9/10 update as "maintenance", according to an alleged Sprint employee rkendle53 from the xda forums Sprint calls all updates "maintenance", even major ones. We are skeptical but hopeful at the same time - this 2.1 update is long overdue.

Nov

Sprint And HTC Release The First HTC Hero Firmware Update 1.56: Fixes Major Bugs, Adds Small Tweaks

Posted by Android Police Team in Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News, Sprint

This post and all its comments were migrated from Artem's personal blog beerpla.net when Android Police launched. If you would like to visit the original post there, please click here.

Only 2 days after I posted the list of problems with my HTC Hero (The Not So Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: My List Of 20+ Problems With HTC Hero) Sprint and HTC released the first firmware update.

The Update

To update your Hero, go to Settings->About phone->System updates->Firmware update.

The update took about 10 minutes to install, weighed 3.7MB or so, and rebooted the phone twice - once to install and once to reboot after the installation, so make sure you don't need to make any important phone calls during that time.

Nov

The Not So Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: My List Of 20+ Problems With HTC Hero

Posted by Android Police Team in Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, Sprint

Last Updated: April 16th, 2010

This post and all its comments were migrated from Artem's personal blog beerpla.net when Android Police launched. If you would like to visit the original post there, please click here.

Alright, I was really excited to get the HTC Hero. REALLY. I had extremely high hopes for the Hero (those are long gone) and Android (which I still do - I even began developing for it) but the Hero has so many ridiculous bugs that I am *this* close to bringing it down to the Pre level (I'm not going to dare though - Pre still leads in the "I Want To Smash This Phone Into A Wall" category).