Smartphones and Cell Phones

Matthew Miller

HTC announces the Hero with HTC Sense and Adobe Flash Player 10

By Matthew Miller | June 24, 2009, 5:27am PDT

Summary: HTC held a big event in London today to announce the new HTC Hero Google Android device running with their new HTC Sense user interface. The Hero is a sleek looking Google Android device that appears similar to the HTC Magic with a slimmer form factor that still incorporates that distinctive “chin”. The HTC Sense UI integrates methods of communication to improve the end user experience and is a UI that will be incorporated across HTC devices in the future. HTC and Adobe also announced that Flash Player 10 will be integrated in the Hero.

HTC held a big event in London today to announce the new HTC Hero Google Android device running with their new HTC Sense user interface. The Hero is a sleek looking Google Android device that appears similar to the HTC Magic with a slimmer form factor that still incorporates that distinctive “chin”. The HTC Sense UI integrates methods of communication to improve the end user experience and is a UI that will be incorporated across HTC devices in the future. HTC and Adobe also announced that Flash Player 10 will be integrated in the Hero.

The HTC Hero has specifications like a 3.2 inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen display, anti-fingerprint coating (similar to the new iPhone 3GS), 5 megapixel autofocus camera, 3.5mm headset jack (thank you HTC), digital compass, accelerometer, and microSD card slot. Search is also well integrated into the Hero device.

HTC Sense was created with three main principles: Make it Mine, Stay Close, and Discover. As detailed in the press release HTC uses widgets, scenes, integrated communication applications, and hardware design features to create HTC Sense. It looks to me like this is definitely something that has to be seen in person to fully understand. There are reports on site in London and I’ll try to find some hands-on articles to link to as the news develops.

The HTC Hero will be available to people across all major European carriers in July and in Asia later this summer. A distinct North American version will be available later in 2009.

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Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.

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YAY!!

trance2tec Updated - 24th Jun 2009

Been running the Hero Android ROM on my G1 now for a couple weeks.

It's REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKTDSfbcbBU

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Now THAT demonstrates the true power of Android

Michael Kelly 24th Jun 2009

Customizations.

I was going to give this a pass at first, thinking it wasn't worth the extra money to upgrade from a G1. Watching that video makes me reconsider.

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I agree....

storm14k 24th Jun 2009

I don't think the nay sayers truly understood what the release of Android really meant. Now watch as the other players try to one up HTC. Though I like it I have been saying it since it launched. June 24th would probably be the day people start forgetting about the Palm Pre.

I do wish they would start putting physical keyboards on these things.

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Physical keyboard

Michael Kelly 24th Jun 2009

That is the one con I give the Hero over my G1. And it's a big one.

I've been trying to use the G1 onscreen keyboard, but whenever I get frustrated with it the temptation to open the real keyboard becomes too great. Maybe between now and this release I'll try to stick with the soft keyboard more and see if I can get it to grow on me.

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Different soft keyboard...

storm14k 24th Jun 2009

I have been trying to do the same as you. I fear the physical keyboard is going south. I get frustrated as well and pop it open. However the Hero has a different keyboard and I believe there is a way to hack the HTC keyboard onto the G1. It looks like people say its better for what thats worth. I don't think I will ever get the current G1 softboard to grow on me. Maybe if the screen were larger...

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HTC keyboard is better

trance2tec 24th Jun 2009

Many of the G1 Rom's have the upgraded HTC keyboard and it's certainly better.

I won't be looking to upgrade to the Hero as you can run the entire Hero interface on the G1 and still retain the physical keyboard. Flash and everything works. There are a couple minor bugs but most of those have been worked out recently by the amazing developers doing the ports.

If you don't wish to do any "hacks" - you can download from the market "BetterKeyboard" which is a great replacement as well.

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Goodbye iPhone

trance2tec 24th Jun 2009

the iPhone isn't even on the same playing field with this upgraded version of the Android OS.

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You're right...

ShazAmerica 24th Jun 2009

the iPhone is years ahead of it.

I love these people that look at a promo video and make assertions
like the one above.

I'm sure some people saw a promo of Vista and thought that was on a
different playing field from Mac OS X too!

There are so many things that must be tested on any smart phone to
know if it will stand the test of time or be a joy to use day in and day
out. That's the difference between someone who uses a Storm and an
iPhone. Anyone that has used both side by side knows the difference
between a well thought out, refined interface, and a quick copycat.

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That would make sense if....

storm14k 24th Jun 2009

...this were something totally new. However this is built on an OS that has already been out in the field under test. Its just HTC's take on the UI. Its already obvious that navigation wise Android is ahead with the notification system, smart back button, smart multi-tasking, desktop widgets, customizable desktop etc. All the IPhone had was the sugar of the UI and now even that is no longer a talking point.

The Storm is a poor comparison. That was never really designed for a touch interface. They just took their latest BB OS and stuck it on a large touch enabled screen. Android has been far more than a copycat from the get go.

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I've used it.

trance2tec Updated - 24th Jun 2009

Except that I've used the Hero interface.

It's readily available as a port that can run on the G1. Swing over to xda-developers if you are curious.

It's KILLER good. Facebook is integrated into your contacts which is a feature I really like. It's far and away the best interface available on a mobile phone.

Plus the Android market is growing rapidly everyday.

Here is what I'm running if you are curious:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=522076

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Is this rooted?

Michael Kelly 24th Jun 2009

If so I'd give it a try.

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Yes

trance2tec 26th Jun 2009

Hero requires rooting and running the latest radio + spl.

READ READ READ before trying to apply any of these, especially the new radio/spl- if you miss a step you WILL brick/ruin your phone.

If you follow precisely, it'll be fine. Well worth it as well.

With the newer ROM's you also get full exchange support and htc keyboard which are a couple of biggies for me.

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HTC knows how to be competitive and stay at the top

Maarek 24th Jun 2009

HTC knows that using Android will sell phones. Expect this price tag to be under $200.

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RE:

NamelessFor Now 24th Jun 2009

If this phone is under $200 I will buy it without hesitation, but it needs to happen soon. I have a SE phone that I've had for years, no web, no email...no sanity. I'm very close to just buying the iPhone 3GS...I almost went last night.

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RE: HTC announces the Hero with HTC Sense and Adobe Flash Player 10

Maarek 24th Jun 2009

So far android phones have been $199 (G1). The HTC Magic is offered as a Free phone from Vodafone in the UK w/ contract. The HTC Lancaster is estimated to be $149 w/ 2yr contract. So this phone would be about the same as the G1's original release price.

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... and multi-touch.

Theli 24th Jun 2009

Apart from being the first Android phone with Flash, it's also the first one with official multi-touch support. Note the pinch-zoom gestures used in the video.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/devices/articles/htchero.html

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Yup

trance2tec 24th Jun 2009

The Hero ROM I'm running on my G1 supports Multi-touch and it works VERY well on the browser.

I've used the multi-touch hacks on previous versions of Android/Browser and it's not near as good, although still workable.

But personally I prefer the simple double tap/pan/zoom.

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How good is appointment handling on Android?

NonZealot 24th Jun 2009

My sister was trying to decide between the Magic and the iPhone and ended up going with the iPhone because she didn't like the calendar app on the Magic and when I told her to research downloadable calendars, she reported that there weren't many and that this was actually a fairly common complaint. Okay, I'm too lazy to verify her story but I'm sure one of the Android fans here could give us a quick summary. happy

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I downloaded an Outlook/Google Calendar sync program

Michael Kelly 24th Jun 2009

I mostly enter appointments in Outlook and have the program set to sync every 30 minutes. And you can set how often the phone syncs with Google within the phone. All appointments and the fields within port over very well. I get reminders as I would in Outlook (I haven't figured out how to customize the sounds per appointment, but that's not that important to me).

I'm not that dependent on it so I may not be the best source. But it works well enough for me.

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I have no issue

trance2tec 26th Jun 2009

Right now I use my G1 with exchange, and it supports it wonderfully.

You can also FREELY run google apps on it, which offers push email/contacts/calendar.

I quite like calendar actually, I use it daily and haven't noticed any bottlenecks or issues or anything that would make me wish I had something different, works great.

Also, another benefit to the G1 over the iPhone is the slick notification bar/window shade- which is awesome for calendar notifications as well.

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RE: HTC announces the Hero with HTC Sense and Adobe Flash Player 10

rustic11 24th Jun 2009

This is Flash Lite 3.1.x. It is definitely not Flash 10.
See original quote in HTC article "said John Wang, chief marketing officer, HTC Corporation. "We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with Adobe and to bringing Flash Player 10 support to our phones in the future."

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RE: HTC announces the Hero with HTC Sense and Adobe Flash Player 10

michagol23 25th Jun 2009

I have the Hero build running on my G1 and it is Flash Lite as the last person said, I cannot fully access all Flash 9 or any Flash 10 on my browser....but having flash is awesome....take that IPhone

Another person said he wont upgrade till everything works right on a G1...Google it, i have a fully functional "ROSIE HERO" UI ported to my G1 with all widgets, flash, Touch Flo and all the good hero stuff, no lag no force closes....Let me tell you everything is rosie in the land of hero's

goodbye palm pre, goodbye iphone, this is the device to look out for

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well

trance2tec 26th Jun 2009

There were a lot of issues with compatibility, the facebook integration on contacts wasn't working, etc.

Now with Swapper running and the latest builds (this last few days), it's supposedly running really solid with minimal issues.

Hero BLOWS AWAY the iPhone in damn near every aspect.