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....