Hands-on with the HTC Hero

HTC has unveiled its first non-operator exclusive, non-Google branded Android phone, the Hero. But it is their brand new UI, HTC Sense, that is likely to prove the more revolutionary product.

HTC Sense brings together most of the innovations and ideas that we’ve seen in TouchFLO on HTC’s Windows Mobile devices – think people-centric communications and Footprints, the nifty geotagging app – but succeeds where that so often failed because, for the first time, it doesn’t need to be shoehorned into an existing user interface.

Sense is the UI. And it’s really rather good. Based around widgets it’s able to present real time information to you without needing to open any apps (although, you will of course have access to the Android Market for those). But here’s the key: it’s almost infinitely customisable.

The whole Sense system is built around what we normally call the home screen, but here you can have as many ‘home’ screens as you want. Not just one for work and one for personal use as we’ve seen elsewhere, but you can create one for gaming, or one for multimedia, or one for when you are on holiday. You can customise the UI for however you use the phone.

Throw in a bunch of neat tricks and effects and you have the makings of something very exciting indeed.

As for the Hero itself, well, it looks pretty sleek – even with the chin that seems to be a part of every HTC Android phone – and the build quality seems very good, including Teflon casing and fingerprint-resistant screen coating.

With so much going on on the device there is a concern about the speed. I tried a couple and they weren’t as quick or smooth as you would want. To be fair, the didn’t have the final firmware, and it wasn’t really ideal testing conditions. We’ll see how it works out. Same with the battery, which at 1340mAh seems a little lighter than we might have expected.

The Hero goes on sale in July SIM-free, and will also be available on contract from Orange and as the G1 Touch from T-Mobile.

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