HTC Hero running Android and Sense UI leaks from HTC's own website (updated, official, video)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jun 24th 2009 8:17AM
posted Jun 24th 2009 8:17AM
Inside you'll find Qualcomm's MSM7200A proc running Android at 528MHz, 512MB/288MB ROM/RAM, 3.2-inch TFT-LCD with 320 x 480 pixel rez, 900/2100MHz HSPA and Quad-band GSM, trackball, GPS, 802.11b/g WiFi, 3.5mm audio jack, G-sensor, compass, and 5 megapixel auto-focus cam with microSD expansion. It's all there baby. The White version of the device has an industry-first Teflon coating (right, just like your pans) to keep things clean and grime free. Multi-touch and anti-fingerprint coating too. Hero arrives in Europe in July with T-Mobile and Orange, Asia later in the summer, and North America even later in 2009. Stay tuned for a full hands-on, but for now, enjoy the press shots in the gallery below and the new video after the break!
Other HTC Hero coverage
Read - Adobe demos Flash on the Hero
Read - Hero hands-on and impressions
Read - Product page
Read - Official PR
HTC can't keep any secrets.
neither can victoria
The Bush administration could.
T qoute Shawn Conery "That'sh Shexy"
too much Fugly for me.
I want
This secret sucks when North America always gets cool stuff later...
And the irony is Android is American Made.
I guess that's what you get when the economy including phones are tied to subsidy.
Secret I can't figure out is what music they use in this video. Anyone know the artist/song?
@ EI8HT
+1
My PPC-6700 was the worst phone ever. Don't think I could trust another HTC product.
HTC's quality has gone up since the 6700. I had one, and I loved what it did, but the performance and durability was so awful. Two generations of devices since then (for me anyway), the quality is much much higher on the Touch Pro I have now.
But wasn't the PPC-6700 UTStarcom and not HTC?
my 6700 was great when I upgraded my WiMo to 6 and had the HTC additions on it. Battery was better and the phone actually became useful. As far as hardware it was solid, the only annoying thing was the blue back lighting on the keyboard.
Sorry to hear you don't like HTC. I am a true fan.
It was made by HTC, and also sold as the HTC Apache. Not sure what UT Starcomm's role was, tho I did see their name plastered on it.
I had 3 of them, and they all would turn themselves on spontaneously throughout the day. The phone would be sitting on a table, and would just suddenly turn on. As a result, the battery was always dead.
I tried every setting available, turning off everything I could, and still it would turn on by itself repeatedly. Spoke to tech support, who couldn't figure it out either. Then I read up on it, and found out this was a common problem with the phone.
Worst phone EVER.
Sprint, however, was awesome. The phone finally died 6 weeks before my contract expired. I called Sprint, and told them their service was great, but the phone stunk, and they had never stood behind it, despite my many complaints. The service rep said, "what did you pay for it?" I said "about $400." He said, "OK, I just put a $400 credit on your account, because I see you complained repeatedly, and you shouldn't have to do that." I was floored. But he really had put the credit on my account. Then, cause I had the insurance, they replaced the phone. When I told them I didn't want another PPC-6700, they let me choose what I wanted. Got the Centro, which works great.
I had intended to leave Sprint, but after being treated like that, I've stayed with them.
I'll wait for xda to further polish the build, then flash it to my G1. Root FTW!
Actually it's interesting that you bring this up. I'm guessing it's technically illegal to flash the Sense UI onto another Android device because it is owned by HTC. But Android is also open source, so shouldn't it be allowed?
I don't know much about Android's policies and such, so I probably sound like an idiot. But it just got me thinking.
Yes Andoid as an OS and Kernal is open source but I guess these companies need to be able to have some Intellectual Property if they are going to spend time and money producing this.
HTC have always pretended XDA wasn't doing anything wrong as I guess that site takes some of the support burden. This though might well change as they become a bigger player and focus switches from hardware to software. 'Why buy the latest phone when you can just flash the latest rom onto your 2 year old phone' for example - a situation I can't see going on for much longer.
HTC does care much what XDA does since as soon as you flash a non-supported ROM you are on your own.
From being a regular viewer of XDA's site, I'm thinking some HTC employees follow it too and maybe even post. XDA is like a great cheap R&D department.
@poke:
We're flashing Windows Mobile 6.5 and TouchFlo 3D 2 (from the Touch Pro 2) and it's not even -available- yet. I'm sure people will be flashing this ROM on to G1s, if at all possible. (Hardware differences will probably keep it from being a direct flash, however, but they'll likely be able to strip the Sense UI and stick it atop a normal Android build)
There is always a way to reverse the SPL and ROM back to the original so I am sure if you have an issue you can return it (to the carrier especially as they would have no clue what so ever).
My point I am making is that how long can the XDA situation go on for (long live xda by the way)? It is a great site and I am always updating my phone. Nearly didn't get the Touch Diamond 2 as I already had a Touch Diamond and could flash the latest rom with the latest TouchFlo (modified for VGA instead of WVGA). How is this any good for HTC in the long run? Great for us but no so for them. Only got a Touch Diamond 2 as it was given to me free by T-Mobile for upgrading my 12 month contract.
On a side note I read that the Sense UI will be across the HTC range - Not sure if this means ditching TouchFlo for Sense on WinMo phones or just adding some of the widgety feature found on sense to TouchFlo.
@hashbrown hunter, i hate to break it to you but every single android phone on the market to date have ALL been made by HTC
tmobile g1 (HTC Dream)
tmobile myTouch 3G (HTC Magic)
Now they're showing the world what they can do when given the go ahead to do what the hell they want with the GUI and i looks AMAZING (much better then the touch sense 3D that they use on win mo imho)
So why would HTC care if a HTC custom build of Android is ported to a HTC device?
@ Gandalf
You forgot about the Samsung Galaxy and all the rumored/announced android phones.
3.5mm audio jack on the spec page.
http://www.htc.com/www/product/hero/specification.html
Seems like HTC took down the page.
My cache...
http://www.umpcportal.com/gallery/v/varlocal/HTCHero+Specs_001.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=2
Revolutionary!!!
The only word i can think of about this design is "ew"
Even though im not a fan of Samsungs tactic of pushing out phone after phone, rebadging it and putting one extra feature in it, they DO have better designs than HTC have had of late.
I love Android, i use it on my HTC Touch Cruise, but i wont be upgrading to a REAL Android device until they release something that actually looks good.
I would trade my Palm Pre for this......oh wait I have a 30 day grace period.....be right back...
I would trade my iPhone 3G for it (or palm pre).
I swear, HTC designs keep getting worse and worse. And HTC is becoming the Dell of the Touchscreen phone industry, by that I mean they have too many models.
Yes, too many models. Unlike Nokia, Samsung, LG or SE...
by that u mean samsung right they are releasing like 5 phones a week r u kidding
samsung has more than 180 model while htc has like what 14
samsung is taking over
im a total samsung bigfoot fanboy
Yeah, Samsung definitely owns that model and has for some time.
I meant to say "title" instead of "model" but I'm sure in the time it took me to notice my mistake, they've whipped up at least two models.
Haha best coverup ever.
Took the Diamond 2, bigger resolution screen, bigger battery, 3.5 mm audio jack, added a compass, replaced the zoom bar with a trackball, different external design and Android.
Sounds great!
Finally a comment I agree with!
What's not to like?
-The design? Perhaps it doesn't look like an Apple product, but decent enough
-Android instead of WM, but still blended with HTC's awesome UI elements
-Android instead of WM..
-Did I mention Android instead of WM?
I don't know if I prefer 3G S over this, but a big improvement over G1 and HTC Magic (which, Engadget IS available in Europe ;)
Last I checked, the diamond2 had a screen with a resolution of 800x480, so they decreased the resolution of the screen for this phone.
Except the TD2 has a 480 X 800 screen, but apart from that its a minor spec boost with the battery & compass.
But that chin makes it awkward and almost very hard to carry around in day to day use. what is wrong with all these chin madness??
by the way beside the UI which probably will be ported to G1 with reasonable speed at only a few millimeters thiker i think G1 is a better value because of that nice keypad.
But that chin makes it awkward and almost very hard to carry around in day to day use. what is wrong with all these chin madness??
by the way beside the UI which probably will be ported to G1 with reasonable speed at only a few millimeters thiker i think G1 is a better value because of that nice keypad.
@ A1e:
The chin has absolutely no effect whatsoever on how easy it is to get in and out of your pocket. You have clearly never used or even held the device (or the G1) in your hands. Look at the pictures, the chin sticks out about 4-5mm from the face of the phone. This is not an issue, just an ill-founded, childish gripe.
Totally with you on the move to Android over WM. Finally the OS won't be holding HTC back! This can only mean great things for competition with Palm/Apple and thus all us consumers.
@A1e It's clear you've never used the G1. The chin is extremely pronounced in pictures. In reality? It's hardly noticeable.
@Scott how is WinMo holding them back?
From what I can see from this they are doing the same thing as they did with WinMo - Skin the UI to essentially hide most of the original UI and differentiate (keyword).
The only advantage a manufacture like HTC can have over the likes of Samsung, Acer, Motarola, etc is the Interface design, widgets, etc. Why buy HTC with vanilla WinMo or Android if the others do the same.
Looks sexy as hell to me. I've never owned an HTC phone and have limited time with Android, but it sounds like a winner.
@A41@Bakari
I actually think the chin is pretty brilliant... That way the screen is tilted instead of directly touching your pocket. This would definately help with unwanted clicks while walking or brushing against things
@Poke:
It will be better for us since everyone will try to make a great UI, thus making a lot of UI variety and making phones awesome.
i would agree with B3astofthe3ast
this is phone just another prove that the equation htc+android=ugly
but i knew that htc would sexy android up and it did i can wait for the build
i will probably buy the samsung bigfoot if its real this would look great with it
i saw the web site it was flash this rocks
I just don't understand why any of these manufactures can't see the real benifit for the costumers of Apples strategy of only releasing ONE device once in a while?? As a former Nokia fan i thought and still think they piss on the costumers by releasing these tons of updates all the time... Even the most loyal HTC fans can't keep up! Adderz are right about Samsung, but I think it's a major flaw in the industry.... Hope Palm keep going down the nice road they have started with the Pre... Looks like they finally saw the perspective of making fewer devices and making them killer-devices....
With one device in the arsenal, you cannot rule the mobile phone market
I can certainly agree that manufacturers (and consumers) can definitely benefit from making fewer devices because at their current rate, a lot of the models are separated by few differences and seem largely uninspired. However, one model a year for all companies or even a sizeable amount of them is ridiculous, to me. I can see how it could sound appealing because they would focus in crafting the "perfect" device from year to year however, this excludes many segments of the market. If Nokia, per se, were to design one device a year, think of all the consumers it would exclude. They have users that NEED their high end N97-like devices (with high end prices), but they're also known for the more inexpensive 1110-type devices.
Fewer devices would make for better, more thoughtfully designed devices, but one would just kill consumer choice which we all so dearly love.
Maybe because Nokia sells hundreds of millions of phones every year and Apple like a couple of million?
Of course.... I think we are talking about the same thing... I didn't think ONE from Nokia would be perfect, but for example is their new 5800 Xpress Music already been updated... A cheaper version is shown and the rumors about a new and even better is also on the Engadget pages.... Just think it sucks to be a front-runner Nokia/HTC fan, if your devices are constantly outdated.....
Dennis...what you're saying doesn't make ANY sense and is one of the reason I get perplexed at Apple zealots. I too went through this with the iPod Touch when I bought the first gen only for Apple to release an new one a week later. Now I wasn't mad at Apple...if they have new technology release it...release it as soon as possible! My grievance was with Amazon, who for their part apologised as they DID know an update was coming and didn't tell anyone and actually knew that new one was cheaper too. They refunded all my money and made a note on their site.
But I would never begrudge a tech company for innovating. Why should they hold back technology? To stroke my ego? That's what Apple fans want and accept. They don't mind Apple HIDING the things their device can do so they don't feel left out! It's crazy. I was furious I had to pay extra for a bluetooth device that was ALREADY inside the Touch. Gimping stuff via software (the hardware WAS already used for Nike+) is just not on. My last Apple purchase for sure.
I don't want companies holding back stuff they have to make a particular group feel special for longer...devices are not made to raise your smug factor.
Pretty decent specs!! now lets see how the UI is like??
Hey - if it heats up like the Pre you literally CAN fry an egg on it!
>>> "...The White version of the device has an industry-first Teflon coating (right,
>>> just like your pans) to keep things clean and grime free..."
Damn good designers!
can't believe they actually put a 3.5 headphone jack. are they learning? adapting? EVOLVING?
they might actually give us a product we might buy in a few years! holy crap
was also wondering where the hell the trackball/dpad went in the other video... glad to see your return old friend
good that they are learning and have all basic features which need to be there.... soon we will get perfect phone .... :D
really amazing interface -- I wanna get one now but that's a dilemma of Palm OS or Android...
I looked at the specs and the only good things seems to be the custom build Android software. The hardware is in fact worse than the Samsung i7500.
You would think that after 3 tries HTC would finally get this android thing right but NO they still fail!!!! i mean how hard can it be to make a perfect phone!?!?!?! samsung i7500 FTW : ) !!!
The Samsung I7500 has more internal storage so looks as if I'm going for that instead. Remember you can't install apps onto external storage on Android so it is a big benefit.
Google really needs to fix that. This and the Samsung you mentioned are so much interesting to me now that they have Android than anything those companies have ever released with WM.
The i7500 seems great but it only has 128mb of ram and is running the same processor. If this thing is like the MyTouch it will probably come with a 4gb flash card if not 8. And you can hack it so that you can store apps on the flash card.
And what happened to OGG Vorbis support? It isn't listed.
My question is, with it running Android, does the phone have a chin?
TouchFlo looks cool, assuming they've skinned Android with it.. if not I think they're just screwing with us and the new "phone" is just a new set of headphones.
It has the biggest chin of them all.
http://phandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/htc-hero2.jpg
Is there an Android mandated for a chin? It is aesthetically unpleasing and I don't see how it adds any functionality. WTF?!
holy cow! that chin makes Leno's chin look svelte
From what I recall there were three reasons why the HTC Android phones all have chins.
1. It helps protect the screen from scratches if it's lying face down.
2. To make the Android line of phones visually distinct (ie. different from their WinMo offering).
3. Acoustics and comfort. Your face isn't flat, so neither is the phone.
I can't say whether these reasons are relevant to you or not, but those are the reasons.
Is this thing multi-touch..I could not find it on the spec sheet
Why cannot HTC give us a multi touch device? Is it that hard? Apple did it freakin 3 years ago..is HTC that outdated?
After 2 Android devices all they could come up with was a "thing" that partly resembles Jay Leno's Face
Because Apple has trademarks up the ass on Multi-Touch
There is no multi-touch API for Android. The Android devs have always said if someone writes a decent API for multi-touch, they might include it, but it's not a priority for them to make one right now. Apple has a patent on specific things related to multi-touch, not the entire concept of multi-touch.
This is something that interests me. So is it the case that no one else can make true multi-touch devices because Apple have a patent? What specifically does Apple have control over? What specific things related to multi-touch? I NEED ANSWERS!?
No but seriously - the multi-touch is a big deal to me as I use it all the time with the music apps so that and most games would be useless without it but surely Apple can't "own" everything!?
Microsoft have their Surface One (or whatever it's called) and I've seen some amazing stuff on-line with people playing a piano keyboard on a wide-screen display but I still don't understand the whole "it's Apple's way or no way"
Feel free to enlighten me!
@rez
As I understand it, apple has patents on several algorithms that control how multi-touch UI's respond.
The two I'm pretty sure of specifically are: flick scroll that is locked to one dimension( If you flick mostly down, the phone guesses that you wanted to flick down and doesn't move to the side at all) and the list edge bounce( when you get to the end of a list it goes past the end and than bounces back)
There are a couple others but I don't know what.
hey rezaudio
Josh wrote a great article last year on the specific things about multi-touch that Apple has a patent on. If I knew the name of the article I'd link you. Anyone?
Anyways, it's not what you'd expect. They own things like 'locked' scrolling but not 'pinching'
YES, it's multitouch. Looks like HTC added double-tap zoom, and the pinch zoom gestures to their UI.
And, Adobe Flash also. See them all in action in this Flash demo: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/devices/articles/htchero.html
I have an iPhone.. multi-touch is over-hyped. It's only good for zooming (which I would prefer using a zoom bar instead) and gaming. Gaming on touch screens suck. Give me a d-pad.
I am looking at buying an iPhone. What are the multi-touch features available in the iPhone? I know that there is the pinching stuff for photos, but is there anything else? Typing is single touch, Clicking on icons is single touch, moving between images again single touch. Is there something I am missing?
The article was related to the iPhone vs. Pre threats that were being thrown around a few months ago. It's an interesting piece and includes video of some touch UI patents Apple holds.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/28/apple-vs-palm-the-in-depth-analysis/
Guys, it looks like the Hero already has multitouch on it from that Adobe Flash demo video. Pinch to zoom in action. I have had that on my rooted G1 for a while, and honestly, I prefer clicking on the little magnifying glasses to zoom. But that's just me i guess. At least this will shutup the iFanboys though... who am I kidding, they will always be flooding the Pre and Android discussions ;)
Downrank Nathan, what a dumbass. Another iTroll that thinks Apple invented multi-touch again.
it looks good. i wonder how's the usability of android
Site taken down already
I picked up a HTC Magic (on Vodaphone, UK) a few weeks ago so this announcement is a bit of an annoyance.
Sounds like they are using the exact same cpu platform, which is shared between the G1 and the Magic but I would have liked the 5 Megapixel Camera and 3.5mm jack. This is really just a Magic with those 2 gripes fixed and what the Magic should have had from the start.
The software will get ported back to Magic / G1 fairly swiftly, although I'm a little concerned HTC may have got a little hack happy after all these years writing band-aids for Windows Mobile... Have to see how the final performance of this UI works out.
Overall I'm not convinced this is enough of an upgrade to the HTC Magic to tempt me. They need to actually upgrade things like the cpu platform, screen resolution, internal memory (seriously, flash memory is cheap as chips... why are you putting in less than a £4 flash drive?) and battery life.
Its practically the "magic" for other operators. Why VGA OLED display?
...Carrier exclusivity annoys me...
Should read - Why NO OLED VGA display?
@UberAdept: Here are a few reasons...
Why not a higher resolution?
1) 160ppi is enough to render 10px fonts (the smallest size font it's sensible to use) just 1.5mm high, which is smaller than it's practical to read, so any more is overkill
2) all current Android apps are written for 320x480 screens so many would break
3) higher resolution screens have lower aperture ratios - the switch that controls the pixel, which is a fixed size, becomes proportionally larger compared to the pixel itself. The switch blocks light, so less light is allowed through, the screen is dimmer, you get a lower contrast ratio and more power is wasted.
4) higher resolutions mean lower graphics performance, particularly with that Qualcomm chip's GPU.
Why not OLED?
1) While OLEDs could use less power on paper, it's a lie: when displaying real content they use more power.
2) In real world conditions, OLED contrast ratios are not really any better than LCD
3) OLEDs are 100% emissive - they are inherently useless when used outdoors
4) LCDs are getting better and minimising the real differences in viewing angle
5) OLEDs are much more expensive
6) OLEDs have shorter lifetimes
7) OLEDs shift in colour over time, as the blue dies fade faster than the red or green
8) Badgers
So, where is HTC Lancaster? that device could have been a dream come true for me if only it had a higher resolution screen and wifi and possibly 3.5mm headphone jack.
is this too much to ask in this day and age?
Browser with flash!
Is this HTC? Omg I want that on my G2 ;)
Should be no problem for the xda-devvers right :D
No this isn't HTC sorry.
It's gone.
http://www.umpcportal.com/gallery/v/varlocal/HTCHero+Specs_001.jpg.html
Wow that looks crap.. I mean the specs are nice but the exterior? WTF HTC? On one hand guys make phones like the TD2 and TP2 and then come out with this?
Doesn't look great in the pics, I agree. Feels better in the hand, though and the UI is much better than TouchFlo on WinMo in practice.
Yeah if anything the Sense UI looks fantastic and really shows you can customize Android to the point beyond recognition. Seriously without that app menu it would not even look like Android.
I like the longer ear phone spec. I wish my iPhone had such so you could actually hear sometimes.
Hu? What, are you like a hundred years old and have some issues with your ears? :)
No, no offence, just joking, but I actually don't have any problems with hearing ppl. with the iPhone.