“The arrival of HTC Hero and the Android platform to Sprint’s network is an important milestone for our customers and the U.S. wireless industry,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product development for Sprint. “With the dependability and coverage of Sprint’s 3G network, HTC Hero users will appreciate a much better experience than is possible now with any other Android phone operating in the United States. They will enjoy the robust potential to personalize their wireless experience as well as the best value in wireless with a Simply Everything plan from Sprint.”

“Sprint and HTC are helping to drive openness and innovation in the mobile industry with the introduction of the Android-powered HTC Hero,” said Andy Rubin, vice president, mobile platforms at Google. “As the world’s first truly open mobile platform built with the Internet in mind, Android provides to consumers the same Internet services they have become accustomed to on their desktop PC. Offering access to thousands of applications, a suite of Google™ services, and unique personalization features, the HTC Hero offers a compelling mobile experience.”

The HTC Hero is also the first Sprint device to offer HTC Footprints, an application experience that enables the user to chronicle their special moments by capturing a digital postcard on their phone. Once captured, Footprints provides the ability to take notes and an audio clip of that favorite restaurant or special place while identifying its specific location. In addition to identifying each postcard with its specific GPS coordinates, Footprints also auto-names each postcard with its general location or area.

HTC Hero is a full-featured smartphone with Wi-Fi capability, a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with pinch-to-zoom capability and a fingerprint resistant coating, integrated GPS navigation, and trackball navigation. Additional features include:

• Stereo Bluetooth 2.0
• accelerometer, light sensor and home screen widgets for improved usability
• microSD slot (32GB capable, 2GB included)
• Sprint TV with live and on-demand programming
• NFL Mobile Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile
• easy access to social networking sites, including Facebook, Flickr and Twitter
• visual voice mail for quick and easy access to specific voice mail messages

[via engadget/clone-in-china]

]]> http://www.slashphone.com/rumor-htc-hero-cdma-comes-in-different-design-016652/feed 1 http://www.slashphone.com/slashgear-reviews-htc-hero-236448 http://www.slashphone.com/slashgear-reviews-htc-hero-236448#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:26:41 +0000 Kim Poh Liaw http://www.slashphone.com/?p=6448 Featuring the new HTC Sense UI for Android OS, HTC Hero seems to be the best Android Smartphone for now. Check out the full reviews on SlashGear by Chris.

Back in our initial unboxing and overview of the HTC Hero, we tongue-in-cheek suggested that it could be the best Android smartphone to date.  Having spent more time with it, that cavalier prediction is looking highly accurate.  Android’s flexibility is, arguably, one of its biggest stumbling blocks; out of the box there’s little to guide a new owner through the platform’s capabilities.  By introducing Sense, however, HTC have made the Hero instantly usable, and they’ve done so not with the bare minimum of app investment but with a range of programs that offer up-to-date functionality like social network integration. 

Best of all, HTC’s dedication to developing Sense and treating UI as a long-haul process rather than a short-term prettification exercise gives us hope that the few shortfalls and omissions we’re currently seeing in version one of the Hero will be addressed over time.  It’s reassuring to know that not only is the Hero a great smartphone but that it’s only likely to get better as HTC continue their tweaks.  It’s safe to say that, in the HTC Hero, Android has come of age

Other than the new Sense UI, the web browser on the HTC Hero supports flash animation. You will be able to view YouTube videos using Flash technology, and enable full screen viewing mode by simply double tapping the screen. Watch the unboxing video embeded below.

Orange is offering the HTC Hero for free to customers who take out a £39.15 per month, 24 month contract. The package includes 1200 any network call minutes, unlimited texts, as well as inclusive anytime internet browsing so users can make the most out of their mobile experience.

Francois Mahieu, Director of Devices, Orange UK said, “We’re really pleased to be launching our first Android handset in conjunction with HTC. The first of several Android devices you can expect from us this year, we believe the Hero is a great all round device which will allow consumers to get to grips with all the things they love about the internet, whilst on the move. We expect it to be extremely popular when it hits shelves this summer.”

[via Android Community]

In the hand, the Hero feels slimmer than the Magic, not least because of the bevelled edge. The HTC rep we talked to wasn’t sure whether the pre-production handset you see here has the Teflon back coating or not; it doesn’t feel especially different to a normal matte-finish panel.  The fingerprint-resistant screen is, as you’ll see in the shots, not particularly good at avoiding smudges in the first place, but like the iPhone 3GS it sheds them with a quick wipe.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Make it Mine

With HTC Hero, personalization reaches a level never before possible. Rather than burying important content under layers of menus, the HTC Hero lets you put it at glance view, with a selection of widgets that can be placed right on the home screen. The widgets themselves can be personalized with a variety of designs and sizes that best match your personality.

With Scenes, a new profile feature, HTC Hero becomes multiple phones in one. Create and switch between Scenes that reflect different moments in your life. Your Hero becomes a weekend phone that helps you relax with your choice of tunes, catch up with your favorite friends and capture some memories with HTC Footprints™. And when you go on a trip, your phone becomes your personal guide and gives you instant access to local time, weather and maps.

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 and emails to Facebook updates. HTC Hero makes staying close as simple as turning to your friend and saying hello. When you view people, you see the different ways to get in touch, you also see all your interactions like emails sent to your personal and work accounts. You can even check for social network updates and event notices as well as see the latest pictures your friends uploaded to popular photo sharing sites.

Discover the Unexpected

Many of the most memorable moments in your life are experienced, not explained. Even basic functions like the dialer will pleasantly surprise you on the HTC Hero. You can find a person by dialing their phone number or simply by dialing the first few letters of their name.

With HTC Hero, you can look at things through different perspectives. Your inbox is not just a list of emails, but a catalog of conversations, a collection of notes flagged as important, and a document library of all your emails with attachments. Your Album is not just the photos saved on your phone. It is also a gateway to online collections of you and your friends on Facebook or Flickr.

Search just about anything, anywhere on your HTC Hero. The dedicated Search button combs through tweets in Twitter™, locates people in your contact list, finds emails in your inbox, searches through appointments in the calendar and very nearly finds needles in haystacks.

“As the first Android device with Flash, the new HTC Hero represents a key milestone for Android and the Flash Platform. With close to 80 percent of all videos online delivered with Adobe Flash technology, consumers want to access rich Web content on-the-go.” said David Wadhwani, vice president and general manager, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “The collaboration with HTC offers people a more complete Flash based Web browsing experience today and presents an important step towards full Web browsing with Flash Player 10 on mobile phones in the future.”

Other than watching online flash video, you will be also able to play flash games directly from your phone. While the loading time isn’t fantastic according to the demo video below, you will get access to tons of flash games available on the web!

Check out a live demo here