HTC has released a new smart phone which is also the first one to embody their intuitive UI, HTC Sense. The HTC Hero offers a great experience that’s made with these 3 principles in mind: “make it mine”, “stay close”, and “discover the unexpected”. With the HTC Hero, personalization options are almost limitless. You will have lots of widget selections that you can place on the home screen. Even these widgets can be personalized, as it has lots of designs and sizes, so for sure you will find the one that suits your personality. HTC Hero is also a great multimedia device, as it can playback videos, mp3s, and other media types, and comes with a decent camera and battery. It is presented in a stylish design as well, and runs on an Android OS. If you are looking for an unbiased review for the HTC Hero, then you came to the right place. Here you will find lots of information about the smart phone to help you decide if this is the right one for you or not.

Carriers: HTC	Retail Price: $449.99
Manufactured by: T-Mobile	Contact Price: $149.99

Pros: HTC Hero is sort of like a personalize phone. It has a fully customizable interface – HTC Sence and is built to last since it is made from high quality materials. Having a 3.5mm audio connector is a plus and a decent battery life.

Cons: HTC Hero is not a perfect device and it has some flaws. Performance wise, it is not at par with the latest smart phones in the market as HTC apps run slow. One more thing, the shutter on camera is slow.

We have seen the first and the second Android device from HTC, and this time we are putting the spotlight on the HTC Hero – the third Android smart phone from the brand that has taken design cues from its predecessors. It also shares some features found on the HTC Magic. It is now available in Asia for only S$898 and its main selling point is its fully customizable user interface – the HTC Sense, that works hand in hand with Google’s Android OS. It’s a good thing that I was able to get my hands on this HTC Hero, and I will share you my thoughts on this smart phone. I will tell you about its design, build, software, as well as performance. First things first, it seems that the brand enhance their smart phones’ design as it is evident on the HTC Hero. I got the white version and its LCD is presented in a matte metallic finish. It feels premium and I like the selection of materials used for the smart phone, like the Teflon material that is used to repel fingerprints. It may not be as slim as the other smart phones but it is still pocket friendly with dimensions of 112 x 56.2 x 14.4mm. It is lightweight too, weighing only 135g. When it has been leaked a few months ago, I thought that it won’t be huge but I guess I was wrong, because it looks very solid to me. Just below its screen you will see six shortcuts including the Call, Hang up keys, menu,and back. There is also a trackball that lights up when you receive a message or any notifications. On the left spine, you will find the Volume rocker. It also makes use of a mini USB connector for charging and synching purposes. Unlike other HTC handsets, you don’t need an optional adapter to connect your standard headset as it comes with a standard 3.5mm audio jack that is located on top of the smart phone. The Hero comes with a 3.2-inch HVGA display that is capable of rendering up to (320 x 480) pixels of resolution. It is smudge-resistant which is somewhat the same as with the iPhone 3GS. It boasts with HSPA speeds and supports quad-band GSM bands. It features Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity and built-in GPS for navigation. One thing diffent about this smart phone is that its Home screen, it is not the same as with the Vanilla Android. Why? There are seven pages instead of three giving you more space for your favourite shortcuts and new widgets. Since it is Android device, you can take advantage of lots of free apps and games over at Android Market. Most of these apps are not free in the Apple Store, which is why lots of users are jumping over the Android bandwagon. The HTC Sense really works well with Android OS, you can easily modify your contacts. However this smart phone does not support multitouch like the Apple iPhone. What’s new about this HTC smart phone is that it has pinch to zoom feature for the Webkit-based browser. I have tested it, and it worked perfectly for all the pages that I have loaded though it did not extend some apps like Google Maps. It also supports HTML browser with Flash. You can watch videos and play Flash games. I tried to play a Flash game online and it only works on sites or games with simple animations. If the site is too extensive, the loading time is unbearable. Like other Google smart phones, it comes integrated with lots of Google apps and services along with Gmail, calendar and contacts syncing tool, and a very own YouTube app. I like its camera too, though its shutter speed is very slow especially in shady areas. It is a 5MP variant with autofocus lens and it can take good pictures. The HTC Hero also has a 512MB of internal memory for storage, and it is a great thing that it has an expansion slot for microSDHC cards. Its expansion slot is located behind the battery cover, which is very inconvenient for me since I swap sim cards frequently. I am not sure if its just my review unit or not, but it seems that the HTC Hero runs inconsistently. There were times that it is very slow, but there were times that it is OK. I have experienced slow downs in some apps particularly the HTC Clock and when I tested the Peep Twitter client, it cripples which really annoyed me. There had been lots of complaints about its predecessor, HTC Magic especially the battery life and it is a good thing that the brand has decided to give it an upgrade. Now, the HTC Hero’s battery is more reliable and and has been greatly improved compared with the Magic. I did test its battery and it lasted 2 days on a single full charge. I used the smart phone for browsing the Web, Facebook and Twitter. I noticed that when I leave the Gmail autosync turned on, the battery life goes down. All of us buy smart phones for voice calls and that is why I am happy that I had no issues with the HTC Hero’s reception and voice quality. Overall, I give the HTC Hero a rating of 4/5. Its physical design and software is great though I don’t think that it’s worth an upgrade if you already have the HTC Magic. As of this writing, there’s no news or information about the global release, but it is already available in Asia now. The HTC Hero costs about S$30 more than the HTC Magic, so between the two better get the HTC Hero since offers new goodies and is compatible with standard . The HTC Hero is available in white and brown color ways but the Teflon coating is only for the white HTC Hero. What do you think? Would you buy the HTC Hero? If you also own the device, please leave us comments and provide your own review of the HTC Hero.