HTC Hero Review

Introduction
In the beginning there was G1: the frontline trooper, the mean machine, the expendable GI. Elsewhere, in the HTC discourse, it was hope and vision. Well, it seems the dreamer's Dream is coming true and someone there is really proud with what they've done. HTC Hero is perhaps the most advanced Android to date. And the OS is probably the closest the competition has ever come to the iPhone's touchscreen revelation. The bold lines of the HTC Hero are just a hint at its superior hardware and when it comes to homescreen kit and widgets, it definitely has an edge even over the iPhone.



HTC and their Hero are finally bringing the fledgling new Andorid OS up to speed and up to par. Not that a Hero is badly needed to save the day for either HTC or the Android OS, but inspiration is always welcome. Having made their name in Windows Mobile, HTC probably most appreciate the creative break from the Microsoft mobile OS that's become a habit (and a curse) for them. It would be too much to call it a plan B, but after all business is propelled by competition - even if it's household.

Designwise, the HTC Hero brings even more style to the Android family. Breaking with the full QWERTY heritage but keeping the trademark angled chin, the Hero continues the tradition of slim full-touch phones much along the lines of HTC Magic that we also recently reviewed.
But today's story is a Hero's tale, and you can bet we've got one here to inspect. Let's kick it off with a rundown of the key specs and the main letdowns that we've found so far.

Key features
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
Heavily customized (in both graphics and performance) Android OS v1.5 (Sense UI)
3.2" capacitive touchscreen of HVGA resolution
Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528 MHz CPU, 288 MB RAM
5 megapixel autofocus camera with video recording
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
Trackball navigation
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
Digital compass for automatic navigation of maps
Multi-touch zooming in gallery and web browser
Standard miniUSB port for charging and data
Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
microSD card slot with support for up to 8GB cards (2GB one included)
Standard 3.5mm audio jack
Direct access to the official Android repository
Web browser comes with full Flash support
Smart dialing
Tethering support right out-of-the-box

Main disadvantages
No video-call camera
No FM radio
No camera flash, dedicated shutter key or lens cover
Camera features are a bit outdated
CIF@15fps video recording (352 x 288 pixels) is below par
No TV-out port
No voice dialing
Flash video playback is laggy
Somewhat limited 3rd party software availability
No DivX or XviD video support or a third-party application to play that
Poor MP4 playback performance - barely watchable in video resolution above QVGA
No Bluetooth file transfers (not without rooting)
No proper file manager (not without rooting)

The HTC Hero is hitting the shelves in two main colors - white and brown. The white is said to have the supposed advantage of some sort of super duper Teflon coating. No, it won't cook more healthy food for you but should keep away dirt and fingerprints alike.
The brown variety purportedly doesn't have this kind of coating, but we can't really comment on that having not seen both paintjobs. No matter what color you choose however, the frame around the display is finished in very classy brushed aluminum.