Hans,<div><br></div><div>I have a Sprint HTC Hero and down here the 3G is something to be desired, but since almost everywhere I go has wifi, the lack of 3G has not been an issue. Last I was up in the phoenix area the phone absolutely rocked! The speed in everyday things was much faster, the 3G network loads websites faster than my 8MB cox connection at home. I was seriously impressed with my phone all over again.</div>
<div><br></div><div><br>Your requirements:</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br>
Required features:<br>
. bluetooth tethering<br>
. ability to turn off GPS if one is available<br>
. ssh out<br>
. bluetooth<br>
. connect to my own mail servers<br>
. root access<br>
. play ogg-vorbis<br>
. contact, etc. syncing w/ GNU/Linux<br>
<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>All of this is trivial if you have rooted your phone. I&#39;m still waiting for the Android 2.1 update to hit my phone officially, which should happen in the next few weeks. If not by the end of April I will root my phone, but with everything else going on right now I am trying to be patient with my phone and try the real rom first. Sprint supports tethering out of the box and I can surf and talk at the same time. I use the wifi tethering quite a bit when I use some laptops that do not have OSS drivers for their wifi in linux, I plug my phone in and go. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I use KDE for everything, very little Gnome stuff. The latest KDE 4.4.0+ has an akonadi-google plugin so now my kontact (kmail, kaddressbook, korganizer - calendar) all sync with Google which means my phone.</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Desired features:<br>
. tether and call at the same time<br></blockquote><div>YES </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. on phone internet connection and call at the same time<br></blockquote><div>YES </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. ssh in across cell network<br></blockquote><div>Must root phone for ssh, I have not needed it yet. </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. USB tethering<br></blockquote><div>YES </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. fully functional while charging<br></blockquote><div>YES </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. root access w/o jailbreaking<br></blockquote><div>NO </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. wifi<br></blockquote><div>YES </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. tetherable via wifi<br></blockquote><div>It did not occur to me to even try this... </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. phone to phone communication via bluetooth<br></blockquote><div>YES </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. phone to phone communication via wifi<br></blockquote><div>Not tried. </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. GPS<br></blockquote><div>AWESOME! </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. camera and video<br></blockquote><div>5MP is great and my kids look great in the videos. </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. external storage card, prefer sdmc<br></blockquote><div>Micro-SDHC and I use a 8GB card which so far is plenty. MUST BE AT LEAST Class 4. Seriously spend the money on a GOOD Class 6 because it makes a difference in general usage with the phone. </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
. can use external display ( monitor and/or TV )<br></blockquote><div>HTC has a special USB cord that allows this. It uses a standard mini-usb (micro? not sure) same on most external usb hard drives, but it looks proprietary. The cord HTC uses has a different shaped end to allow video and audio output. Regardless, a standard usb will plug in. I just about paniced when I opened the box and saw it was NOT a standard cord. A little google searching showing someone saying &#39;Dude, just plug a regular usb in it!&#39; so I did and it works fine.</div>
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