The update.zip is probably your ROM contents.
XDA is very active. Most ROM developers post there.

I'm using MoDaCo Custom ROM r5. Find it more stable thatn VillainROM.

Decided to stop playing with custom ROMs for awhile. My Hero's now running on stock 2.1 after I unrooted, removed the custom AmonRA recovery image and got the official OTA 2.1 update.

I have no reception problems with official 2.1 ROM. I have tested the Hero with my other phones (N86, N82, W995), and there's no discernable difference between their receptions.

GSM works great for all, but 3G sometimes has 1 or 2 bars. I think this has more to do with Maxis than the phone.

I used to flash custom ROMs. But they all had disadvantages.
- Poor battery life
- Bloatware I didn't need (e.g. Wavesecure, 3D Gallery)
- APNs not configured for our region
- Did not work with HTC drivers (especially unofficial Froyo ports)

In the end I removed the AmonRA custom recovery, flashed original 1.5 ROM and updated to HTC Asia android 2.1-update. No root or anything. For customization I just replaced the Sense Home app with LauncherPro.

Battery life is great now. I still have 50% even after 2 days of use. My APNs are now all properly automatically configured and I can debug properly using Eclipse.

I don't like taking the time to remove via adb. Plus the official ROM has Touch Chinese input with handwriting recognition. A lot of the popular ROMs are based on European updates and exclude it.

Happy for you. But I always encountered.

My problem with the unofficial Froyo ports is that it does not work with HTC drivers, so I can't debug properly in Eclipse.

Don't need to flash custom ROM to install Titanium backup. I just use UniversalRoot.

This post has been edited by Andrew Lim: Oct 7 2010, 10:20 PM

What colour? Mine is the white Teflon Hero and I really like it. HTC makes so few white colour devices.

I recommend installing Launcher Pro which I find is slightly faster when scrolling and launching the program list than the default Sense home application.

Suggestion: Create a GMail account then export all your SIM contacts into Google Contacts. After that inside the Persons application, press the Menu button and choose to only display Google Contacts. Otherwise you can see duplicates of SIM contacts along with your Google Contacts.

Android takes some getting used to and after 6 months I'm still learning new stuff.

I just use Google Maps lol

Yes, I think you can use those instructions. Basically rooting the Hero involves 2 steps - gaining root access to install a custom recovery image, and then using the custom recovery image to flash a ROM.

I'm using stock HTC Asia Android 2.1. I used to flash a lot of custom ROMs (MoDaCo, VillainROM), but in the end I prefer the stock ROM.

Get a custom ROM if you want Froyo, because HTC probably will never officially provide a Froyo ROM for the Hero.

The reason why I went for the official HTC Asia 2.1 update is because
1) Works well with my Eclipse application debugging; All the 2.2 Froyo ports for Hero don't have Sense and may not work well with HTC drivers
2) Battery life seems better
3) Comes with APNs configured properly with local telcos

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Added on October 28, 2010, 11:46 amCan you connect to websites/Facebook?

This post has been edited by Andrew Lim: Oct 28 2010, 11:46 AM

Try using Edge instead of 3G and see if that works first.

Sounds like a problem with the service. Strangely I'm using the 2 weeks pass without any issue, except late at night when the service doesn't seem to work.

Holy smokes. My HTC Hero just got prompted to download a new update - 3.34.707.3

I'm using official 2.1 firmware btw. Downloading the update now.

This post has been edited by Andrew Lim: Mar 23 2011, 09:49 PM

Sorry to revive a 3 year old thread, but I still have my HTC Hero. It served me well for about 1 year. Can't believe I paid RM1,999 for this phone, but the HTC Sense was really novel at that time when Android was still growing. I flashed several ROMs but in the end I reverted back to the stock HTC Sense ROM.

Here's a picture of it still working: