[Hero, G2 Touch General] quicksite:
I'm really itching to get some real live information from someone who has used a new Nexus One phone. I am going to my T-Mobile store in a day or two, and there are several specific things I want to see:

(1) yes, of course the screen. but i'd like some real data on battery performance, and I doubt anyone's got some good comparison data yet compared to Hero?

(2) Without SenseUI, what is its look & feel? I would like to see the live Wallpapers, but truly that is eye candy, and as visually oriented as I am, I want to use my phone and mini-computer, not stare at it.

(3) (this is out of sequence but does the HTC Nexus One (vs Google Nexus One) have Sense UI on it? if so, how do they differ?)

(4) MAIN THING FOR ME: I love my HTC Hero (Europe GSM version, yes, with the chin)... But, after just the very first day when I started using it, I recognized the annoyance of the hard keys being really hard to push, relatively, compared to hard keys on my last HTC device, which is almost 3 years old -- T-Mobile Wing. Those hard keys are contoured and flush. The Hero's keys LOOK sharp, but they also feel sharp. and not easy to depress.

COMPARED TO: what looks like soft touch keys on the Nexus One. They look great. And could be reason alone for me to sell my Hero and get the Nexus One. I don't care at all for the loss of CALL and END dedicated keys. I almost always use the onscreen touch controls for these functions. It seems like Google really did some serious usability improvements if in fact those 4 standard Android function keys are all flush touch keys: Back, Menu/Options, Home, Search.

(5) SECOND MAIN THING: The trackball. I just have to say, this has been the biggest disappointment of all for me with the Hero. I have seen zero advantage to it, and many disadvantages compared to the ease of use of the quad-directional pad on my T-Mobile Wing. Obviously Motorola agreed the trackball left a lot to be desired since they nixed it from both the DROID and the Cliq.

I had expected much greater sensitivity control from the trackball -- but it is so unwieldy, and 9 times out of 10 when I have my selection, it slips to an adjacent selection when I then want to "long-press" to get options, or even short press to activate selection. I have not yet rooted my Hero, so i have no idea yet what XDA devs have done the past few months to perhaps add advanced controls for the trackball. My expectation is to have sensitivity and speed control adjustments that are context sensitive for each and every app I use, but especially the keyboard. How often I am trying to reposition the cursor and, there it goes, to top or bottom, or anywhere except where I want it to go. Also, Ihave been really really surprised at how lacking the controls of the trackball are for selecting letters of a word.

SO, I want to feel in my hands how the Nexus One feels in this regard. Is it better, is it the same?

Anyone know?

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I'm secretly hoping people will say, for real, "yes, the Nexus One has the much faster processor, the higher-rez screen, the noise cancellation, the turn-by-turn application" and so on, "but it falls short compared to the Hero in these ways:.................................. "

But somehow I do not think that is going to be the case.

(Oddball final question: Has the hero gotten its ANdroid and SenseUI updates yet?)

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