The era of Android customization has begun with HTC’s Sense UI, a customized overlay for Android that adds HTC’s stunning graphical interface to the sturdy Android OS. The UI will run on the new Hero, a 3.2-inch touchscreen phone running at 528MHz with MicroSD slot.
More specs on the phone:
With its 3.2-inch HVGA display, the HTC Hero is optimized for Web, multimedia and other content, while maintaining a small size and weight that fits comfortably in your hand. It also boasts a broad variety of hardware features including AGPS, digital compass, gravity-sensor, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, a five mega-pixel autofocus camera and expandable MicroSD memory. HTC Hero also includes a dedicated Search button that goes beyond basic search, providing you with a more natural, contextual search experience that enables you to search through Twitter, locate people in your contact list, find emails in your inbox or search in any other area in Hero.
The new Android UI will have something called “Perspectives,” a new method for connecting email, contacts, and social media automatically. This version will also be the first to support Flash natively.
So here’s my assessment:
Sorry, Palm: this is the new hotness. The HTC Hero with Sense does everything WebOS can do but it uses Android, a platform that is already popular with the geekerati and has a great install base. There wasn’t much to see in these versions – a short hands-on appears below – but you’re looking at what promises to make Android the real killed feature-phone OS: customizability with an eye on processor intensive “data linking.”
The parts we saw of the OS promise contact linking, which will allow you to add social media aspects to contacts. Instead of a name and address you can add Flickr streams, Twitter info, and other goodies. The changeable UI based on activities – the weekend vs. weekday screens – promises fewer distractions during key points in your life (i.e. when going out with the kids you can hide your email). Most importantly, however, this is Android. It has a full app store.
Oh, and it has Flash.
As I’ve said, Android is the next WinMo. It’s the more powerful smartphone OS for business and casual users and because it is open it can be customized to your liking in seconds. OEMs will lap it up because it’s free. More in a bit.
HTC Sense™ DEBUTS on new HTC hero™
HTC Hero is the world’s first Android-based phone with a
customized user interfaceHTC Sense to be integrated across a portfolio of
phones beginning with HTC HeroLONDON – June 24, 2009 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile phones, today debuted HTC Sense™, an intuitive and seamless experience that will be introduced across a portfolio of phones beginning with the new HTC Hero™. With its distinct design and powerful capabilities fully integrated with HTC Sense, Hero introduces a unique blend of form and function that takes Android to new heights.
HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the centre, by making your phone work in a more simple and natural way. This experience revolves around three fundamental principles that were designed by quietly observing and listening to how people live and communicate.
‘HTC Hero introduces a more natural way for reaching out to people and accessing your important information, not by following the status quo of today’s phones, but by following how you communicate and live your life,’ said Peter Chou, Chief Executive Officer, HTC Corporation. ”HTC Sense is a distinct experience created to make HTC phones more simple for people to use, leaving them saying, “it just makes sense.”’
HTC Hero
HTC Hero continues HTC’s leadership in cutting-edge design that focuses on introducing a variety of distinct devices to represent your own individuality. Boasting bevelled edges and an angled bottom, the HTC Hero is contoured to fit comfortably in your hand and against your face while you’re on a call. The HTC Hero is built to last, beginning with an anti-fingerprint screen coating for improved smudge-resistance and a longer-lasting, clearer display. The white HTC Hero includes an industry-first, Teflon coating, resulting in an improved, durable white surface that is soft to the touch.
With its 3.2-inch HVGA display, the HTC Hero is optimized for Web, multimedia and other content, while maintaining a small size and weight that fits comfortably in your hand. It also boasts a broad variety of hardware features including AGPS, digital compass, gravity-sensor, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, a five mega-pixel autofocus camera and expandable MicroSD memory. HTC Hero also includes a dedicated Search button that goes beyond basic search, providing you with a more natural, contextual search experience that enables you to search through Twitter, locate people in your contact list, find emails in your inbox or search in any other area in Hero.HTC Sense
Built on a culture of innovation and a passion to enhance people’s lives, HTC shapes the mobile experience around the individual. Debuting on the HTC Hero and available on all new HTC devices moving forward, Sense delivers on three basic principles: Make it Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected.Make It Mine
Make It Mine is about feeling your HTC phone was created for and by you. To do this, HTC encourages you to dictate and organize how you want to access the people and content in your life in a way that fits best for you. For some, this means adding glance-view widgets that push content like twitter feeds, weather and other content to the surface while others may want quick access to business-focused information like email, calendar and world-times. HTC is also introducing a new profile feature called ‘Scenes’ that enables you to create different customized content profiles around specific functions or times in your life.Stay Close
Today, staying in touch with the people in your life means managing a variety of communication channels and applications ranging from phone calls, emails, texts, photos, status updates and more. HTC Sense takes a different approach by integrating these communication channels and applications into one single view, enabling you to stay closer to your important people. With HTC Sense, friends’ Facebook status updates and photos, along with their Flickr photos are included alongside their text messages, emails and call history in a single view.Discover the Unexpected
Many of the most memorable moments in your life are experienced, not explained. HTC Sense is focused on providing a variety of these simple yet innovative experiences on your HTC phone that will sometimes bring you moments of joy and delight. It can be something as basic as turning the phone over to silence a ring or as simple as improving the smart dialler for making calls quicker. HTC Sense also includes ‘Perspectives’, a new way for viewing your content such as email, photos, Twitter, music and more in different ways.Availability
The HTC Hero will be available to people across Europe in July and in Asia later in the summer. A distinct North American version will be available later in 2009.About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry and continues to pioneer industry-leading mobile experiences through design, usability and innovation that is sparked by how the mobile phone can improve how people live and communicate. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.# # #
The names of companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Its not just Android. I blogged yesterday about how Flash 10 should be coming to all smartphones bar the iPhone this October. http://tr.im/pzqs
Its nice that flash 10 will be included on mobiles its long over due
the screen shots look very sleek and impressive. I knew HTC would add their customized homescreen to Android.
Who would win in a big chin contest, Jay Leno, John Kerry or the HTC Hero?
yep what’s with the chin thing. Totally ruins the phone design
I have the G1 phone. I agree that the chin thing is strange to begin with, but I actually have gotten used to it and kind of like it. I know which end is up when I grab it in my pocket to silence a call. Also, if you drop it, the chin helps protect the screen because it would hit the edges and not the sensitive screen.
I do agree that it looks weird though :-/
@kylehase, i think the HTC Hero v.1 would’ve won that one!
good god that was one FUGLY design & phone. that said, they did get it out 1st & that does help them.
and this version doesn’t seem to have as bad a chin. in fact, speaking as an iPhone user & lover, i actually like the design so far of this phone.
and @Benjamin’s comment is correct & smart. the chin does save the screen (which 20% of iPhone breaks seem to suffer).
it’s still not as slick & well designed as the iPhone IMHO but this is a win for Android, Google, and HTC.
i love my iPhone (for personal & business use) but i can’t stand my service. this may even pull me away from iPhone.
competition is a good thing. maybe Apple’ll will open up the service providers sooner.
Hi John,
Everyday I hear about a new phone coming out these days. It looks really cool. Would love to check it out.
Thanks for an in depth post.
Mani Raj
Havoc Marketing
“The era of true Android customization has begun…” – Can’t wait to see T-Mobile’s stunning magenta overlay :)
Truly striking it will be
But does it have a *capacitive touchscreen*?
If it’s resistive, it’s no iPhone competitor.
All the Android phones since the G1 by HTC have had capacitive touchscreens.
An optional slide-out QWERTY would be nice for those of us who actually want to see what we’re typing.
I’m wondering how this would affect third party developers. Will apps from the Android Market use the default UI. If so this might result in a different user experience depending on which app you are using.
Or does it require to customize apps for custom UIs?
I don’t think that this is the right way to go as this might lead to the same thing as we know it from the past with having multiple platforms and interfaces. In my opinion the HTC customization more likely shows that the Android interface is far from being perfect at the moment, even if I think it’s much better than most other phones.
No, no… it’s like a shell. Like LiteStep, et al. Same platform, just a customized look and customized interactivity with the device. Sorta like buying an iPhone skin… it feels different, looks different, but its still an iPhone underneath. Maybe thats a bad example. More like a Springboard theme.
I’m sure there will be apps written to detect UI settings… make them look the same as the UI… but otherwise, you are dealing with the same apps… built and running on the same platform.
Don’t get too worried about custom UIs. My guess is that it will more closely resemble a custom theme… with some cool features.
Saying “I’m sure there will be apps written to detect UI settings” implies that app development for Android would get more expensive and you’re ok with that.
You would need different designs, different handsets to test your app. Sounds pretty much like the pain we know from J2ME in the past.
I really would like to see the Android platform as a competitor to the iPhone. But I agree with Richard (below) that this would be a disadvantage to the Android brand.
I have the same concerns. I am on the fence with android development. I personally find the G1 UI look/feel as ugly, so I welcome the device manufacturer enhancements.
However, if these new UI’s require developers to create custom skins, or use custom libraries/frameworks to stay consistent with the device look/feel, we haven’t really gained anything beyond what we had with J2ME/Java ME/Blackberry.
It’s not as bad as it could be. Android ui is specified in xml with a css-like system for specifying styles that inheeit from each other. A new theme is a new set of root styles, setting default attribute values for anything not specifically overridden.
If your app doesn’t override the base theme it should just work on the new theme.
What’s tricky is going to be when multiple screen sizes become the norm. Apps may not scale down nicely.
@Pretard
“Should” being the gotcha. While everything should be fine, it will require testing on each device type. That’s the challenge.
Why are all the tech blogs willingly accepting ads for Sara Palin? Is that really your demographic? I guess money is money to you, so screw the readers, huh?
it’s not like you paid for it
Boo hoo, don’t look at it. Go off topic much?
I have to agree with kylehane and iniguy…I hate the chin on these phones, its a dealbreaker for me.
Not for me with that chin I don’t think!
I’ve got my HTC Touch Pro and will just wait for the HTC Touch Pro 2 on Orange I think!
I think its gorgeous. But how on earth am I supposed to keep it in my pocket with that Jay Leno chin? I’ll be damned if this can fit into my jeans pocket…HTC, not every phone user wears a blazer to carry it around it…
What sort of apps would the gravity sensor be used for?
A grenade noise simulator?
No, that would use a G-Sensor to detect when it has hit the ground.
Surely the looping noise of it falling would work?
Mountain climbing?
It looks like a good phone, and I like the Android OS, but if the look and feel of the interface is changed on a model by model basis it’s going to be hard to maintain the Android brand. This may put Google at a disadvantage compared to Palm and Apple with there distinctive and well optimised offerings.
I would hate to see Android go the same way as Windows Mobile.
Android allows handset makers to customize the UI, which lets them differentiate their product offerings (from their competitors). And, the OS is free. Fairly brilliant if you think about it.
And, you can still run all the same apps underneath.
I’m hoping the UI is as easy as a Java Pluggable Look And Feel (PLAF), if so, that is sooo sweeet.
Can’t wait till it comes to the US.
Any word on what phone company will carry it?
Verizon had said they would be getting an Android phone this year.
I hear it’s going to be on TMobile and Orange first, in the UK. Which is awesome, as my contract is up for renewal on July 7th, and I’ll be able to get it for free in July if I stay on the same contract, which I’m more than happy to do.
Sweet.
Engadget says this device will NOT have an app store, and Networkworld says this UI will be coming to HTC’s Windows Mobile devices also.
http://www.android.com/market/
Google is also going to have an App Store sometime.
Right now the Apple app store is the primary reason the iPhone is so popular. It will be very interesting to see what will happen when the MS App store comes out.
Are you serious? No appstore?
pretty excellent, other than the chin. Very impressed with the Flash demo I saw on Adobe.com
Can it run multiple apps at once? Other than flash, that was the big advantage of the Pre over iPhone.
It’s sad how many people have no clue about Android and it’s possibilities. Of course it can run multiple apps at once.
It can absolutely run multiple background apps, and has since day 1. (Unlike the JesusPhone.)
Hi personally dont like the look of the phone, i have been a big nokia fan, until apple brought out there iphone. I am surprised that all these phone companies are now doing touch screen.
All i want is sunglasses that allows me to do all the things I do on my iphone.
Now there’s an idea that would cost alot of $$$$ from a phone develop centre.
The idea is not that hard to put into real life, just think about it. Really think (Bing is your friend)
I do not like the look and navigation.
Agreed that this is the new hotness. First time I’ve had phone-envy since I got my Pre. This is a propriety interface though, so it won’t get google support, and it won’t be going to any other manufacturer other than HTC (barring a licensing deal). So from a business perspective, I think the outlook for palm and WebOS is still very strong.
“.. and it won’t be going to any other manufacturer other than HTC…”
Not true! The awesome devs at xda-developers.com have already stripped it and made it available for other models.
I looks beautiful! I always loved the HTC hardware, but loathed the winmo interface. Guess, this will make me stop going to the Pre and stay with HTC! :) But are there as many apps as winmo for andriod?
There will be more apps – for at lest two reasons, 1) the Android has a large base of Java developers draw on. 2) the large number of Android phones coming out.
Large number of phones doesn’t guarantee success. Look at J2ME/Java ME. The manufacturers/carriers muck up the ecosystem.
Yes, look at the large number of J2ME apps available and phones running them, a big success. The past success will be leveraged by Android and the improved hardware/phones coming out. Since their will be a wide range of carriers with Android phones, how can that be a muck up. The only thing mucked-up is your logic.
i got a hunch this unit is going to be big. definitely preferred over the palm pre, but would quite possibly put a big dent in iphone 3gs sales. it offers everything iphone does, without going overboard with a couple of features like samsung omnia. it has that “good enough but really useful” appeal iphones have. And can obviously address the major issue of apps availability. aesthetically it all comes together in this one too.
And guess what? It can MMS! Wonder when the jPhone will FINALLY get this age-old feature??
It’s still a bit vague but the Android Market will be on the device. The only things missing is OTA update for upcoming Google patches..HTC has to provide the update. The Gmail app will also be missing.
Here is a better video to view the awesome ROM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ixkhFd4BHE
Amazon UK states release date as 15th July. Orange site, as usual is their staid self.
I wonder if this would be compatible with google wave when that comes out.
Looks pretty nice. I haven’t seen videos of someone typing on the hero yet. Until then, it’s a no.
That waz so COOL!!!
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Availability
The HTC Hero will be available to people across Europe in July and in Asia later in the summer. A distinct North American version will be available later in 2009.
I love this, A distinct N.A. Version … translation America gets a dumbed down piece of shit phone because our networks suck!
I am not surprised that HTC has developed a new UT for the android operating system. Most would agree that the interface for windows mobile is very good as well. The idea that third party UI’s are not uncommon and have been encouraged within the android market. @Home has made a pretty penny on third party interfaces and themes. I think this is a good idea and from my perspective I encourage it and look forward to all the new UI’s no matter where they are from.
Jerky contacts scroll! Noo.
Looks sweet though.
Still, the UI has to feel like butter, otherwise it doesn’t have a hope.
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For those wondering why the G1, Magic and Hero all have the ‘chin’ design, it’s for the very practical purpose of stopping the clickable trackball being knocked when the phone is face down against a surface, thereby preventing both damage and accidentally triggering a selection on screen.
And those of you who moan you couldn’t get it in your pocket, you must have trousers so tight you can see your undercarriage. I have a G1 which fits perfectly comfortably into my jeans pocket, the Hero is way thinner so it’s a total non issue.