Hero ROM Update

I updated the Rom on my Hero today. I didn’t want to root my phone yet so waited for the official Orange update from HTC. I prepared my Hero by deactivating my Copilot installation and backing up all my settings, calendar, etc using MyBackup. I used the free version of MyBackup which works for 30 days and stores all settings on the SD card.

One concern I had was how the paid apps would be handled. I have two paid apps, Copilot Satellite Navigation and BeyondPod but I wanted to be sure that I wouldn’t have any issues reinstalling these two applications. I know from the Windows Mobile version of Copilot that’s its better to deactivate Copilot before updating the phones ROM and then reactivating afterwards.

The update went smoothly and took much less time than the estimated 10 minutes that HTC quote. I used a Windows 7 machine running the candidate release. I had read about people having problems performing the update with Windows 7 but I didn't have any issues althougth I ensured that I ran the update as Administrator.

Fortunatly reinstalling the applications after the update was easier than I imagined so long as you use the same Google Account as you used before the update. If you do this then when you go to the Android Market Place all your previous downloads can be found under ‘My downloads’ so you don’t even have to search for them again. I then selected each in turn and installed them. In the case of BeyondPod you also have to download BeyondPod Unlock Key which is the part you pay for. Wtih Copilot, the first time I ran the application it asked me to activate which I performed over wifi from the device and a few second later it was activated. BeyondPod was very simple because all the settings and podcasts must be stored on the SD and appeared once the program was reinstalled.

Hero 3.5mm Jack Socket

I thought I'd broken the 3.5 mm Jack Socket last night. When I plugged in my headphones the sound stilled played though the speaker and the headphones icon was missing from the Status Bar. I tried another set of headphones in the hope that the headphones had broken and not the phone but no luck either. As a last resort I rebooted the phone and this fixed the problem so it appears that the headphone socket includes a software switch with a bug in the code. Hopefully the new firmware will fix this issue too.

Coding with Performance in Mind

The link to the following post makes interesting reading whether you are an Android game developer or otherwise:

http://www.rbgrn.net/content/54-getting-started-android-game-development#comment-758

Hero Update

There appears to be an update to the Hero:

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/09/08/htc-hero-firmware-rescue-mission-arrives-plucks-device-from-mur/

Personally I've never had an issue with the speed of the device but I did previously have a Windows Mobile device which really crawled at times. I have read that the speed of the SD card can make a difference where the slower cards produce a lag.

And they've fixed the clock because I found it annoying putting the clock back so it could flip forwards even though you only left the screen two seconds earlier.