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Meet the HTC Hero

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htc_hero_bw.jpg


Features

- 3.2 inch (320 x 480), Multi-touch screen with anti-fingerprint coating
- Qualcomm 528MHz, 512MB/288MB ROM/RAM
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- 5MP camera
- Teflon coating (White)
- GSM/EDGE, WiFi, GPS, Compass, G-sensor
- MicroSD
- Updated Android OS, supports Flash​

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Videos



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Media coverage

Yahoo! TECH said:
All in all, the Hero looks like one of HTC's hottest handsets yet, and it certainly makes for the most exciting Android phone so far.

...you won't be able to load Sense onto the Android-powered T-Mobile G1 or myTouch 3G- well, not officially, anyway.

Intomobile said:
All in all, it feels like a great device and will give competing manufacturers a run for their money.

Engadget said:
...we're cautiously optimistic that HTC has a winner with its new Hero

Slashgear said:
In use, HTC’s new Sense UI is reminiscent of TouchFLO 3D

Gizmodo said:
Software performance was very snappy, though the interface takes a while to figure out at first. Screen input on the multitouch capacitive screen is accurate and quick, but the software doesn't seem quite as buttery smooth

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Press Release

LONDON – June 24, 2009 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile phones, today debuted HTC Sense™, an intuitive and seamless experience that will be introduced across a portfolio of phones beginning with the new HTC Hero™. With its distinct design and powerful capabilities fully integrated with HTC Sense, Hero introduces a unique blend of form and function that takes Android to new heights.

HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the centre, by making your phone work in a more simple and natural way. This experience revolves around three fundamental principles that were designed by quietly observing and listening to how people live and communicate.

‘HTC Hero introduces a more natural way for reaching out to people and accessing your important information, not by following the status quo of today’s phones, but by following how you communicate and live your life,’ said Peter Chou, Chief Executive Officer, HTC Corporation. ”HTC Sense is a distinct experience created to make HTC phones more simple for people to use, leaving them saying, “it just makes sense.”’

HTC Hero

HTC Hero continues HTC’s leadership in cutting-edge design that focuses on introducing a variety of distinct devices to represent your own individuality. Boasting bevelled edges and an angled bottom, the HTC Hero is contoured to fit comfortably in your hand and against your face while you’re on a call. The HTC Hero is built to last, beginning with an anti-fingerprint screen coating for improved smudge-resistance and a longer-lasting, clearer display. The white HTC Hero includes an industry-first, Teflon coating, resulting in an improved, durable white surface that is soft to the touch.

With its 3.2-inch HVGA display, the HTC Hero is optimized for Web, multimedia and other content, while maintaining a small size and weight that fits comfortably in your hand. It also boasts a broad variety of hardware features including AGPS, digital compass, gravity-sensor, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, a five mega-pixel autofocus camera and expandable MicroSD memory. HTC Hero also includes a dedicated Search button that goes beyond basic search, providing you with a more natural, contextual search experience that enables you to search through Twitter, locate people in your contact list, find emails in your inbox or search in any other area in Hero.

HTC Sense

Built on a culture of innovation and a passion to enhance people’s lives, HTC shapes the mobile experience around the individual. Debuting on the HTC Hero and available on all new HTC devices moving forward, Sense delivers on three basic principles: Make it Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected.

Make It Mine

Make It Mine is about feeling your HTC phone was created for and by you. To do this, HTC encourages you to dictate and organize how you want to access the people and content in your life in a way that fits best for you. For some, this means adding glance-view widgets that push content like twitter feeds, weather and other content to the surface while others may want quick access to business-focused information like email, calendar and world-times. HTC is also introducing a new profile feature called ‘Scenes’ that enables you to create different customized content profiles around specific functions or times in your life.

Stay Close

Today, staying in touch with the people in your life means managing a variety of communication channels and applications ranging from phone calls, emails, texts, photos, status updates and more. HTC Sense takes a different approach by integrating these communication channels and applications into one single view, enabling you to stay closer to your important people. With HTC Sense, friends’ Facebook status updates and photos, along with their Flickr photos are included alongside their text messages, emails and call history in a single view.

Discover the Unexpected

Many of the most memorable moments in your life are experienced, not explained. HTC Sense is focused on providing a variety of these simple yet innovative experiences on your HTC phone that will sometimes bring you moments of joy and delight. It can be something as basic as turning the phone over to silence a ring or as simple as improving the smart dialler for making calls quicker. HTC Sense also includes ‘Perspectives’, a new way for viewing your content such as email, photos, Twitter, music and more in different ways.

Availability

The HTC Hero will be available to people across Europe in July and in Asia later in the summer. A distinct North American version will be available later in 2009.
 

santouras

Member
+ decent camera
+ headphone jack, finally HTC getting the message
+ adobe flash

- no camera flash
- pretty pathetic onboard memory

definitely a step in the right direction
 

Lhadatt

Member
Is that a trackball?

HTC, lose the trackballs. They break too easily. This is the reason I'm not buying the HTC Snap/Dash 2.
 

Label

The Amiga Brotherhood
Opus Angelorum said:
Features

- 3.2 inch (320 x 480), Multi-touch screen with anti-fingerprint coating
- Qualcomm 528MHz, 512MB/288MB ROM/RAM
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- 5MP camera
- Teflon coating (White)
- GSM/EDGE, WiFi, GPS, Compass, G-sensor
- MicroSD
- Updated Android OS, supports Flash


I know this is not the thread for it but.. Any chance these will be patchable for use on the G1? :D
 

kaskade

Member
Now I'm wondering if I should get the mytouch. I know people get roms for android builds so can't you technically get all of those features?
 

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
Label said:
I know this is not the thread for it but.. Any chance these will be patchable for use on the G1? :D
There are ROMS floating out there, but because the G1 has half the RAM performance isn't as svelte.
 
OS looks nice, not that different from Windows Mobile on HTC devices though. The design of the phone however.... it looks like they wanted to keep the weird Mobile G1 look somehow, and even though it looks better, it's still really weird.
 

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
rezuth said:
Are you saying that the connection made the browser lag when zooming etc?
The stutter is probably related to Android's push-to-zoom, which seems like it has a frame rate cap on the animation.
 

Xavien

Member
This looks good and all but where is my QWERTY hardware keyboard HTC? :(

I don't really want to buy the G1 because of how outdated it is, compared to the Hero and Magic.
 
I really like the Sense clean up. All the new stuff HTC did to Android is beautiful and impressive. It's also a beautiful phone, which the silver going on vs the pink plastic renders from months ago, but they had to fuglify it. That chin is major. How the hell is that going to look in your pocket?

Opus Angelorum said:
According to HTC it stops you pressing the phone against the face, which is more comfortable.

I read that it's for when it falls, protecting the screen, as well as allowing a big trackball. Neither of these justifications actually justify it in my mind.

This is my favorite Android device so far, minus the chin that ruins it.
 

dude

dude
I like it! I don't even mind the chin.
I just wish it had a physical keyboard, not a deal breaker though.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
ColR100 said:
From watching that I'd say it's a matter of time before flash comes to the iPhone as well........with the statement "this is a stepping stone to getting flash working on devices like this."

Not a fan of the name though for this phone. :lol

Flash isn't going to hit the iPhone anytime soon. Adobe made a point of leaving it out of their announcement when they said the 10 Beta would hit Android, WebOS, Windows Mobile, and Symbian.

I do think Flash will probably be made available for the Magic, but possibly not the G1 due to RAM differences. HTC Sense? That's almost definitely going to be exclusive to the Hero and future HTC Android devices.

Phone looks great. Catching up on all the news right now, but anything about where and when this'll be released? The best I could find is "possibly July for Europe", which isn't very specific.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
DemonSwordsman said:
Its a world phone. And even has video calling

Does that mean it can be used with US 3G? Which carriers? I don't know the specific frequencies off the top of my head, and Google isn't very helpful at the moment.
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
Anti fingerprint coating? My HTC Touch Pro is jealous already
Yeah it should be, on the Touch Pro 2.

Seriously, this phone isn't anything special, not even a QWERTY pad. So it has nothing on your touch pro.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Mr. Durden said:
Yeah it should be, on the Touch Pro 2.

Seriously, this phone isn't anything special, not even a QWERTY pad. So it has nothing on your touch pro.

PHONE FIGHT!!

Android > WinMo

Sense > TouchFlo

Flash > [Nothing]

I don't know if the Touch Pro 1 or 2 have multitouch, either, or 3.5mm jacks. Or, as you mentioned, Teflon. Touch Pro 1's screen is also 0.4" smaller.

:p

Camera's better, too.
 
Eh. Sprint gave me the best bargain in terms of monthly plans and I wasn't too enamored with the Pre.

Is HTC making another CDMA phone any time soon?
 
Andrex said:
PHONE FIGHT!!

Android > WinMo

Sense > TouchFlo

Flash > [Nothing]

I don't know if the Touch Pro 1 or 2 have multitouch, either, or 3.5mm jacks. Or, as you mentioned, Teflon. Touch Pro 1's screen is also 0.4" smaller.

:p

Camera's better, too.
Android = Winmo (both aren't all that special)
Qwerty >>> No Qwerty
Normal looking phone > Weird looking phone
3.6 inch screen > 3.2 inch screen
Yeah...
 

gimmmick

Member
Label said:
I know this is not the thread for it but.. Any chance these will be patchable for use on the G1? :D

Wasn't the multi touch feature disabled (on the g1) in the first place because of the apple patient?

I too hope this is all patchable with android 2.0 (donut) with the g1. I still have no reason to upgrade my g1 since the keyboard alone is the reason I'll still be with this phone if HTC is going the route of on screen keyboards.
 

gimmmick

Member
Mr. Durden said:
Android = Winmo (both aren't all that special)

:lol

I like the phone, but with similar specs to every HTC phone, I don't think anyone that is already a G1 user will be upgrading to it. I love the design though.
 

Evander

"industry expert"
Where is my CDMA Android phone?

I want to be able to have a google phone without paying hundreds of dollars extra per year
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Mr. Durden said:
Android = Winmo (both aren't all that special)

:lol

Mr. Durden said:
Qwerty >>> No Qwerty
Normal looking phone > Weird looking phone

Preferences.

Mr. Durden said:
3.6 inch screen > 3.2 inch screen
Yeah...

Yeah... you have one point, and I'll give you resolution too. But the other five I listed went unaddressed.
 
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