HTC's recently announced third Android phone, the HTC Hero, has found a telecom carrier in Sprint. The device will sell for $180 after a $100 mail-in rebate, and with a two-year contract, in Sprint stores starting Oct. 11.
It will be the first Android phone on the Sprint network. So far, only T-Mobile in the U.S. offered phones running the Google-designed Android mobile operating system.
HTC had introduced the Hero in June though at that time the company did not reveal the telecom carrier for the device. The Hero has a 3.2-inch touch screen display, GPS, digital compass, a 5-megapixel auto focus camera and expandable MicroSD memory. It also features an anti-fingerprint coating on the screen for smudge resistance and a Teflon coating on the exterior. The HTC Hero will be the first Android device to support Adobe's Flash standard.
The phone has been given a minor face lift for its American debut. Instead of sporting a 'chin' that we have seen on recent HTC phones such as the T-Mobile G1, the Hero has a sleek, flat compact design that should please consumers.
The Hero's user interface will be reminiscent of the Palm Pre webOS as it tries to organize the phone around contacts and other user information. The HTC Hero will also allow users to add widgets such as Twitter feeds, weather, email and calendar to the home screen in a bid to customize the phone.
The device is a coup for Sprint, which also has the Palm Pre exclusively available on its network. For mobile phone buyers who want an alternative to the iPhone, Sprint is fast emerging as the better choice in terms of the range of smartphones that it has, compared to Verizon or T-Mobile.
See Also:
- Hands On With HTC G2 Android Phone
- HTC T-Mobile myTouch 3G
- Second HTC Android Phone Peeks Out
- HTC, Vodafone Show World's Second Googlephone
Photo: HTC Hero/HTC
