One of at least two upcoming HTC smartphones running Google's Android OS, the Hero is a touchscreen smartphone. It lacks the trackball, opting for control via 5 hardware buttons and a virtual QWERTY keyboard. Sporting a 3.5 mm standard audio jack on its top, the Hero features a 3.2-inch HVGA screen with anti-smudge coating to reduce those unsightly fingerprints, quad-band GSM, 512 MB of internal storage, GPS, Bluetooth with A2DP support, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, a dedicated search button, a microSD slot and a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus.

Officially announced at a press event on June 24, 2009 in London, the Hero has one other notable feature: out-of-the-box support for Adobe Flash, which should emerge a good couple of months before Adobe's own mobile Flash solution is ready. Notably the Hero is also not a "Google Experience" phone, which means you won't find a Google logo and you will find a custom HTC interface on top of the Android OS called HTC Sense. The only drawback from this layer of abstraction is that firmware updates can't be downloaded over the air, although apps from the Android Market can still be grabbed that way.

The Hero launched in July 2009 in Europe as an exclusive to Orange, and it hit the UK in late July at £449 unlocked. If you'd prefer to spend less up front, you can get it on a contract through T-Mobile UK under the moniker T-Mobile G2 Touch. It can be had for free with a new 18-month contract with a minimum monthly service of £40.

An HTC Hero model with a slightly modified body (it lacks the prominent "chin" form of the European version) hit the United States on October 11th. It costs $179.99 on a contract with Sprint, and it's a Sprint exclusive in the region.

On December 11th, 2009, Sprint announced that the HTC Hero will be upgraded to the Android 2.0 software that's been making waves on the Motorola Droid sometime in the first half of 2010.

UPDATE 12/18/2009: It turns out this phone will be getting Android 2.1 in 2010, not just Android 2.0. Now that's a win!

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