G1 News

In an expected and welcome move, HTC has stepped up the Android ante by releasing their latest handset to an expectant crowd in London this morning.

The new HTC Hero takes visual cues from the HTC Touch Diamond 2, sporting a more demure ‘chin’ than the T-Mobile G1 and a new interface based on Google’s ‘Android’ operating system called ‘HTC Sense’.

Focused on people rather than features, the Sense interface allows you to view loads of your most used widgets directly on the home screen placing messages, contacts, Facebook updates and even Twitter feeds within easy reach.

With a 3.2″ touchscreen, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, GPS with a digital compass and a 3.5mm headset jack, the HTC Hero has the technical specs to turn heads. With 512MB of memory, the SD card slot lets you boost your memory to up to 16GB, whilst a trackball supplements navigating the touch screen, and compensates for the lack of a physical keyboard.

Get a glance on what it looks like, and can do, on this video.

The ease of switching between menus, clean and simple user interface and arresting looks on the HTC Hero show that some competitors know how that software is equally as important as hardware in challenging the iPhone.

With a July release on T-Mobile and Orange (the network’s first Android handset), the important thing for the HTC Hero to do is persuade those not yet swayed by the iPhone’s luxurious charms that impressive form and function is now more affordable…if you are prepared to wait a little while.