HTC Hero Home Screens

I gave in to the temptation and bought the HTC Hero.  I can't wait till Sony Ericsson releases the xPeria X10.  If the X2 and X1 release is any indication,  the Philippines will be one of the last countries which will get its release.  For now,  I thought getting the 2009 phone of the year will satisfy my Gadget Desire.   The good news is that HTC Hero may not be the latest Android phone but it is just pure bliss to use it.

To illustrate how I have been using the phone,  I thought it would be good to capture the SCENES that I have currently set-up for my phone.  BTW - the phone does not have screen capture.  Well actually it does if you gain root access which for me is too much work - so I just took pictures and they turned out good enough for this post.

1.  Home Screen - Toggle widgets.   This is where I setup all the toggle switches for bluetooth,Wi-Fi, GPS, Mobile Internet, ring tone etc.  They need to be handy so I can quickly turn the services off when not needed to extend the phones' battery life.   With diligent management of the services,  I can run on one full charge for over 24 hours.

 

2.  Contacts Page - I've set up this screen for all activities related to my friends.  My favorite contacts widget takes up most of the screen.  Other widgets and short cuts include Netashare (which is what I use to feed from my Google Reader), Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.   The camera shortcut is handy in case I need to get a snapshot for my contacts.

 

3.  Organizer - This is the page for my calendar,  phonebook, browser, phone settings, and SMS.  This page has the widgets that I used from previous smart phones that I've used ( if you are curious they were Sony Ericsson and Nokia handsets ).

 

4.  Multi-Media - This is where I've setup the music player widget.  If I have a wi-fi connection I use Wiki-tunes which actually displays the lyrics of the song that you are playing.   This is also the place for handy programs like Shazam and fxCamera.   You can also create shortcuts for your favorite Music Playlist.  The Foursquare widget is out of place - I agree.

 

5.  E-mail - I love the e-mail widget.  YOu can actually flick up and down to go through e-mails in your inbox.  I have decided to use this phone to synch my work e-mail.  This means that I don't need to bring my blackberry with me all the time.

 

6.  Internet Shortcut - Love the internet shortcut widget.   This allows me to go to my favorite sites quickly.  The shortcut widget also comes in another style where you can preview the site but I thought that it just takes up too much screen area that I chose this style.

 

 

7.  Favorite Applications - This is the screen that I use for the programs that I use often.  You'll notice that I still don't have a lot.  But take note that I have had the phone for just a week - so I'm still browsing the Google marketplace for other fun applications to download.

 

 

8.  The Locked Screen - This screen actually functions like the iPhone.  However, instead of dragging your finger sideways to unlock the phone,  you drag it downwards.  When you are listening to music - the album art replaces your default wall paper.

 

 

HTC Sense ( the customized UI of HTC ) allows you to have more than one scene ( or collection of screens ).  However - with all of the things that I have shown in this blog,  I don't think I will need another scene because I have all that I need.   BTW --- if you can't wait for the other Android phones to come to the Philippines shores - I totally recommend getting the HTC hero.