HTC Hero is the new Android mobile phone from HTC and was shown at the press event in London in June. As prices aren’t known yet, this device certainly has an interesting style, similar to the first Android phone, the G1. It will be launched in July in Europe, continuing the release in Asia and then USA by the end of 2009. Available in 7 colours and with a lotus-effect to secure these, it will feature the newly devloped HTC Sence, which will replace HTC’s TouchFlo.

HTC Sense is a milestone for HTC and aims to distinguish between their products and those of competing companies. Watching the video (below), I’m quite sure they will achieve this. I bought a HTC Diamond 2 recently and the TouchFlow3D user interface is really snappy, which proved HTC’s capability of hiding an ugly operating system (Windows Mobile) and adding helpful features. Therefore I think that the new interface will work quite smoothly and especially Facebook and Twitter widgets look promising. HTC also announced that all upcoming devices will work with HTC Sense. While it’s unlikely that a new Windows Mobile device will be released soon, as Touch Pro 2 and Diamond 2 just joined HTC’s family, HTC promised it will implement it’s new user interface on Windows Mobile phones. If not, I’m sure new ROMs will be available anyways. The big question I find unanswered: How will Microsoft react and how will HTC implement its new interface and widgets into Windows Mobile?

Update:

The guys at Phonedog got a first look at the HTC Hero and posted a few videos well worth watching, if you’re interested in this device and/or software. The videos are also available at MobileTechAddicts, where Chris lists the videos ready to be watched.