Hero + Title = purchase.

The wait continues.

Going to need a high-res screen to compete I feel, and I hope it doesn't only come in white. The Magic looks like a mutated shiny iPod and I for one don't appreciate tacky white plastic.

"North American Hero rollout is planned for later this year"

Why? Why in the world it takes additional 6 months every single time? And I'm guessing it will be offered through t-mobile which has (in my opinion) terrible 3G data coverage.

@BungleBear

The middle picture in the article isn't a white handset.

All the best things about a HTC phone without the main negative, Windows CE (or whatever they are calling it this week). Plus a version of Android that doesn't look like Gnome's deformed offspring. Baring horrible reviews I think this will be the phone I swap my iPhone for at the end of the the year.

The HTC Hero phone will be available in 7 different colour styles including black, white, yellow, pink, gold, red and turqouise, and will include the much anticipated custom HTC Android user interface 'Rosie'.

What a Sony P800-p910i could do, these so called Smartphones, haven't actually improved vastly over the years, have they?

It all seems to be centred around Facebook and fiddly apps which may while away a bit of time on the tube from home to work, but there's so much more to life than fiddling with an app or becoming fixated on facebook or what others are twittering on about.

But then, what hope is there if an ISP cannot cope with the amount of bandwidth it's customers are using for online gaming, or for just simply watching BBC iPlayer, then what chance is there or more importantly what costs are involved for Smartphone users who wish for the same?

Gripe over.

Does it come with a standard headphone jack or is it still the same old convert kit as the magic?

I think I'll hang on and get the samsung galaxy if they release in the UK some time soon.

... very tempting.

Why does HTC think mobile users are obsessed with the bloody weather!!! Even blended it into the home screen now - we Brits don't need it! -Permanently put the word SHITE up on it in a bold font and save on the data charges for continually updating and rotatting the weather icons from shite to mildly shite.

Bah!

except for the total lack of 3d party apps in any appreciable quantity. Oh, wait then...

The market is getting a little crowded nowadays. Which is brilliant.

Interesting part: the biggest WinMo phone maker has announced more Android phones that WinMo. Looks like Google pays more nowadays than MS ;)

"SO like an iPhone... "

repeat after me This is not like an IPhone locked OS with nazi style censorship

What good is openness if they don't open the developer's kit to more people??? Right now very few app vendors have WebOS development kits, and that's because of Palm's lack of sourcing them. Technically, the Pre could easily best the iPhone, AND be open source (and don't talk to ME about open source, I was one of the few to own a Motorola A780 Linux smartphone in the US - in 2003!). But the lack of 3d party apps is going to render it stillborne if Palm doesn't get their finger out...and Apple has a huge lead in apps. Palm doesn't even have an app store set up properly...

I thought the G1 came with a compass, long before the iPhone did. Isn't it Apple playing catchup, here?

who buys white? Ewww.

Dark Green, Burgundy, Black more than enough colour for anyone with taste.

Personally, I see so many people with 2 phones I start wondering why dual SIM isn't a default on especially the more expensive phones. I'm talking about an option where adding a second SIM means both of them can pick up incoming calls and you can choose what gets used for data and outgoing (hopefully with default).

Travelling with 2 phones just to keep the costs down is a pain in the rear end..

http://www.htc.com/www/product/hero/specification.html

3.5mm audio jack is standard!

"Hero also has a 15° curve running through its body"

It does? From the pictures, it looks like it's just bent over at the end.

I work on T-Mobile tech support and I cant wait to demo one of these. I'll be interested to see if HTC have listened to the multitude of complaints about the G1, like the horrendous batterylife, the fact that OS1.5 is noticeably slower than OS1, the fact that the battery gets very, VERY hot during charging and the ever missing 3.5mm headphone jack.

Be interested to see what that skin does to the functionality of the OS, or if they've enabled multi-touch on this one...

@Jerome 0

"Hero also has a 15° curve running through its body"

That's a curve running from the left side through to the right.

Apparently it's going to be an Orange exclusive in the UK - so that's T-Mobile with the G1, Vodafone with the G2 and Orange with the G3. I'm really looking forward to getting this - they've resolved all my issues with the previous versions by including a 5mp camera and, finally, a standard headphone socket - fantastic :)

<quote>

"Hero also has a 15° curve running through its body"

It does? From the pictures, it looks like it's just bent over at the end.

</quote>

No no no dear lad, bent over at the end is what happens to you when you sign up for an iPhone.

Isn't the article about an HTC Android based device? Just thought I'd point out the fact that the only people mentioning iPhone are the usual astroturfers and commentards that always say it's shit. I know iPhone is mentioned in the article, but gents, seriously it's getting boring reading the same rhetoric in every smartphone topic. Please, change the record.

On topic, the new HTC looks a hell of a lot better than the G1, which frankly isn't too difficult. HTC need to employ some decent industrial designers though.

What the hell is a 15 degree curve?

So the price for not having fingerprints on your screen is not covering the oleophobic surface with a screen protector and accepting that it'll get scratched.

Yeah, that makes sense. I think I'll stick to wiping the screen on my shirt when it get too smeared thanks.

G1 = T-Mobile, G2 = Vodafone, G3 = Orange ...

... so when the G4 comes out does that mean it'll be on Three? (Following the obvious trend)

(Discounted O2 because I thought they were an Apple orchard these days).

Bob

This isn't a new addition to compete with the 3G-S, all Android phones so far have had one. If anything the 3G-S got a digital compass to compete with Android...

Agree, would like to hear more thoughts and comments on the HTC Hero not the other handsets.

I'd have to say though, the looks alone wouldn't put me off. I'm more concerned about the functionality.

I'm not upto date with the Android OS and it's ability to handle additional apps. How are they distributed and installed? are they any good?

what the nay-sayers say ("nay," presumably), I'm chuffed that a potentially epically kick-arse smartphone is going to be available on a network other than Vodafone/O2/T-Mobile.

Thank you Orange for having a bit more of a gutsy attitude to new handsets!

@joe K 1:

It's where the tangent at the end of the curve is at 15 degrees to the tangent at the start of the curve.

Well I've had my HTC Magic for 6 weeks and love it. My previous was a Nokia N95 8Gb which, I did like but this is so much better. The android based phones are going to grow in popularity and functionality. This included a hardware based compass. I don't understand why these devices are continuosly compared with the iPhone!!

The Hero is another good step in the evolution of Android

Surely a Teflon (AKA Non-Stick) coating will mean the thing will be a complete bugger to keep hold of!

Looks like a decent phone, but "Hero" is a really, really crap name and what's with the insistence on the chin? Maybe they should have called it the Jay Leno

"except for the total lack of 3d party apps in any appreciable quantity"

I can't help but notice the word 'quantity'. Don't you mean 'quality'? No? Thought so...

Having tried the magic, I just couldn't get used to the keypad and lack of T9. It was hard to type on and a bit unresponsive. Will be good to see how this one copes. As you can get the Magic on Vodafone for £30pcm online, is a £40 tariff a bit too much?

Surely.... Apple added the compass to compete with HTC? It was in the G1.... which was out a long time before the 3gS.

Neither of which were the first phones with compasses.

The Nokia 5140 had one AAAAAAAGES ago.