Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

After much leaking and speculation, HTC has finally given up the goods on the new Android phone, the Hero.  Those details offer some nifty peeks at their new interface, which appropriately enough, is called “Sense.”  Did I mention it is the first Android phone with Flash?  Yeah.  Nice.

Granted, some of the hardware is a little bit more impressive on the Hero than what we had with the Dream or the Magic, but the real catch is the software.  Sense not only has a new widget interface, but even more impressive is the fact that it brings Android up to speed with some of the features on the oh so touted iPhone and Palm Pre.  For example, you’ve got system-wide search and social network integration built in including Flickr and Facebook.

The phone itself comes with a 3.2-inch HVGA screen, which is coated with an anti-print Teflon treatment (there’s a bonus in and of itself!).  Inside is Qualcomm’s MSM7200A processor running Android at 528MHz, 512MB/288MB ROM/RAM.  Also included is a generous five megapixel camera, AGPS, a gravity sensor, a digital compass, a dedicated search button (to go with that system-wide search), and even a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

As for the Flash, it is going to come with Flash Lite 3.1.  So, it will be able to deal with anything written with ActionScript 2.0 and be able to cope nicely with interactive content and streaming online video and audio.  Now, since Adobe says about 80% of all online videos are delivered in Flash, this is kind of important.  And yet, the iPhone still doesn’t support Flash.  Wonder what they are waiting for?  If you’d like to see a demo of the Hero working with Flash, you can check it out here.

As for availability, we won’t be seeing the Hero in the States until “later this year,” although Europe can expect it in July, and Asia later this summer. 

Read: [Product Page]