Bonnie Tyler once sang 'I need a hero' and we’re pretty sure she wasn't referring to a mobile phone but it’s how we’ve felt when it came to Android. Fortunately it seems that we weren’t the only ones pining for a better Android phone, HTC was too and yesterday it launched the HTC Hero -- a phone hero if ever we saw one.
Starting on the outside, the Hero’s 3.2-inch screen has an anti fingerprint coating which should result in a longer lasting and clearer display. The casing is made out of Teflon, so the surface should be quite durable and scratch resistant, and it felt very sturdy when we picked it up. You’ll gladly notice a 3.5mm headphone jack too that was missing on the HTC Magic.
Alongside the Hero’s external innovations, it has plenty going on inside including: AGPS, a digital compass, a gravity sensor, a 5-megapixel camera, an MP3 player, HSPDA, Wi-Fi and an new user interface called Sense. Sense is designed to make communicating with your friends and colleagues quicker. Whether you choose to communicate by Facebook, email, text or the ever reliable phone call, Sense will let you to access functions quickly and efficiently. We briefly tested it out and were impressed. Going forward Sense will feature on all new HTC Android handsets.
All in all the HTC Hero looks great and is a joy to use. T-mobile is launching the Hero under the confusing G1 Touch from July at £40 per month on an 18 month contract. Orange will also be launching it in July but under the Hero name at around £39.15 per month on a 24 month contract.