HTC Hero - Full Flash, Skype over 3G, custom Android UI, multitouch.

http://www.htc.com/www/

by nailer • 17 years ago

70 51 17 years ago

martey• 17 years ago

A better (more future-safe) link would be http://www.htc.com/www/product/hero/overview.html

Tichy2• 17 years ago

Thanks for the link, but my mind immediately goes to sleep upon seeing all the bla bla. I guess we'll have to wait for some talented bloggers to review it.

listic3• 17 years ago

Interesting, it says "HTC Magic" on the left navigation frame. HTC forgot to update its template?

froo• 17 years ago

I'd say it's more like they're also advertising their older series phones too, given the url for the page is not htc magic specific.

dmix• 17 years ago

The video demo gives a better overview then the press release: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kshGq8COSiM

GiraffeNecktie• 17 years ago

Why the little bend at the bottom? It doesn't seem very pocket friendly.

jonknee2• 17 years ago

I would assume for face contour. Does seem a bit odd, but overall it's pretty thin so should still be pocketable.

Tichy2• 17 years ago

Amusing - because I love my phone so much that I want to feel it all over my skin? ;-)

lunchbox• 17 years ago

Maybe the concavity reduces accidental keypresses when the phone's in one's pocket/bag.

sl956• 17 years ago

That's a way to protect the trackball if you lay the phone face down on a flat surface. On the G1, it is not that pocket unfriendly.

Andys2• 17 years ago

On my G1 it also protects the menu button (which also unlocks the phone from locked mode) from being pressed accidentally.

While you can configure an unlock touch gesture, I haven't bothered yet because I don't find that the menu button is being pressed accidentally in my pocket.

sp332• 17 years ago

The images seem to be over-accentuating the bend. You can see from http://www.htc.com/uploadedImages/Common/Shared_Image/Galler... , if you tilt your head a bit, most of the "bend" is just making the phone thinner. The front only sticks out ~4mm from the rest of the phone.

jsares• 17 years ago

I've got the G1 and I don't like the 'bend'. HTC should have made the scroll ball flush with the case if that's the reason behind it.

old-gregg• 17 years ago

Flash support?! Ughh... I was hoping that widespread proliferation of numerous (and varying) mobile platforms will kill this junk and accelerate HTML/JS/CSS progress.

scott_s3• 17 years ago

Hoping that the industry and community will adopt better technologies is fine, but did you seriously think they wouldn't adopt the format that YouTube uses? Further, do you really fault them for it?

calcnerd256• 17 years ago

Bordering on off-topic, isn't this why YouTube needs to support more output formats?

pantsd• 17 years ago

Does anyone know if this will be available in unlocked/developer version similar to the G1?

igorgue3• 17 years ago

It seems to be like it'll be sell unlocked from HTC.

jonknee2• 17 years ago

The bigger question is if it will be available in a locked version similar to the G1. They haven't announced carrier partners yet and HTC's direct devices are all unlocked.

igorgue3• 17 years ago

here is a demo from Adobe about flash, http://www.adobe.com/devnet/devices/articles/htchero.html actually it looks pretty cool to have flash in your browser, hulu?

callahad• 17 years ago

Argh, they got the clock wrong again. The video shows the time as 10:08, but the clock widget displays 10:23.

lallysingh• 17 years ago

No, no. It's just incredibly accurate fractional time-zone support! GPS-based for your exact longitude.

ajju• 17 years ago

Can't find any info on the price on Google. Any idea how much it'll cost? (in Europe, Asia OR North America)

nailer2• 17 years ago

Outright GBP 439, with a contact free from Orange UK (and probably the same from T-Mobile UK)

RK• 17 years ago

Here are couple early hands-ons:

http://gizmodo.com/5301955/htc-hero-android-phone-hands+on-w...

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/24/htc-hero-hands-on/

pieter3• 17 years ago

now you'll just need to find a provider who will actually allow you to use VoiP over 3G.

andyking• 17 years ago

The British network "3" (that's their name!) actively encourage it, selling dedicated Skype phones and running a fairly heavy ad campaign promoting "free calls forever": http://www.three.co.uk/Company/3G_Network/Skype

Calls made via Skype don't eat up your data plan and aren't charged by the minute - they're actually free. I have one and it works surprisingly well, even in patchy coverage where voice calls break up. Whether it really will be forever, I don't know...

pieter3• 17 years ago

Yes, but that only works with their supplied phones. You can still use Skype on other phones, but you'll have to pay the bandwidth cost of £5 / month for 1GB.

bodhi• 17 years ago

As far as I know, that's because the Skype call isn't actually routed over the data connection, it transfers the voice via the existing voice network and the other end is hooked into a Skype gateway.

[Citation Needed] but I don't have time to dig one up at work

nailer2• 17 years ago

T-Mobile UK already does with the G1.

Andys2• 17 years ago

Successfully using it here in Australia with Exetel. Plan costs $5/month with data at $15/1GB (billed per MB).

marcusestes• 17 years ago

Which US carrier will this be available for? Any guesses? It's T-mobile in the UK.

mieses• 17 years ago

Can the Sense interface be disabled if you want to use the default Andoid interface?

kingnothing• 17 years ago

I have the feeling that you could just delete all of the Sense widgets.

HTC Hero - Full Flash, Skype over 3G, custom Android UI, multitouch.

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