The Eris is basically a mini Hero. It’s slightly thinner and clad in all black and but the Sense UI is in place and all of the things that made the Hero great – responsive OS, apps, and social networking connectivity – are here. One thing lacking, however, is the “latest” version of Android with its superior navigation application and multi-touch.

I asked some HTC folks about what was going on and they informed me that HTC is sticking with Sense UI and that some of the tweaks they did to pre-2.0 Android didn’t mesh well with the latest version. The result is, as I’ve mentioned before, a new “branch” of the OS.

To be sure HTC can’t sit on the sidelines with this for long, but it’s abundantly clear that the issue of non-centralized OS development is rearing its head here. This is Anrdoids blessing and its curse and I think the real problems will occur when handset manufacturers try to hide Android behind their own proprietary masks, much in the way TiVo and Kindle use Linux on the inside but make not mention of it.

It’s a question of when, not if, HTC will go 2.0. But for now they’re sitting things out and perfecting their UI going forward.

Update: We just heard back from HTC, and it appears that the Eris does in fact have multitouch in certain areas. They (being HTC) added multitouch capabilities through their own coding using android 1.x, so as a result the code isn’t available to 3rd party developers. But for the record, the Eris does have multitouch in the photo album and a few other places.

I love the Hero, even in the form that the phone took in Sprint’s able hands. While the comparisons to another Sprint phone will be rampant, I’m here to tell you that this isn’t the Palm Pre and that this phone is my favorite phone, other than the phone that starts with “i” and rhymes with iPhone. The Hero, in this incarnation, is a perfect mix of form and function.

First, for an earlier look at the Hero drop over here for my original review.

The old Hero, the same as the new Hero

When we looked at the Hero a few months ago it was very similar in size and shape to the T-Mobile MyTouch. The first thing you’ll notice about this version is that the chin is gone, replaced by a jowl. The jowl bumps out delicately, tipped in a white trackball, and the buttons have been integrated into the phone’s metallic base.

The phone has a 5-megapixel camera and runs on Sprint’s 3G network. There is no SIM card slot – don’t ask if it will run on AT&T or T-Mobile – and it has a MicroSD card for expansion.

Sprint is famous for stuffing all sorts of extraneous stuff onto their phone decks and this phone is no different. The kit includes an NFL widget, exclusive to Sprint, along with Sprint’s Navigator and NASCAR apps. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on your position on extraneous junk programs, Sprint TV is missing from the front page along with Sprint’s media store. Instead you have the Amazon MP3 store.

The phone runs on Sprint’s high-speed network; browsing was pleasant and email a breeze. A certain subset of users will also notice that the traditional rooting and tethering systems are disabled on this phone.

As for the old Hero lag, I’m proud to report that this phone is now a monster. The screens, even with a few hearty widgets like Twitter and email, are snappy and all of the apps respond with an intensity thus far reserved in bellboys at major luxury hotels. Even the touchscreen is responsive and bright. The keyboard, however, takes a little getting used to if you’ve been using the iPhone or another Android model. In short, however, this is a nice phone.

The camera and camcorder are fairly standard but the autofocus is quite nice. I did have a problem with the model I received. The focus was fairly poor and it seemed that there was some sort of film over the lens. This was, however, an early model and could have suffered a factory defect.

Battery life has been a mixed bag but with email and messaging running I’ve seen about a day per charge.

The rest is just gravy. The Hero’s social networking integration is its most important feature and the speed with which the Hero links Facebook and Twitter profiles is impressive. Unlike the Pre, which chokes on anything more than a few hundred contacts, my entire 300+ contact library was sucked in from Google and easily connected with the attendant Facebook contacts.

The Hero is the future of feature cellphones. It is well-built, runs a free and customized operating system, and it does everything the average user could need. It’s not the perfect smartphone – like the iPhone it doesn’t quite play well with corporate Interwebs in its current incarnation – but that will change. Android, too, is the future of feature phones, something Microsoft and Nokia will ignore at their peril. Your Mom’s next phone, even if she doesn’t know what she’s getting, will probably be an Android phone. The OS is that versatile.

Bottom Line
The Hero is Android perfected and it is an excellent phone. I would recommend it over the Palm Pre and, dare I say it, something like the iPhone 3G. $180 isn’t too much to pay for the best Android phone on the market.

This means that only die-hard Windows Mobile fans will use the quality phone. No matter how good the hardware is on the Touch Pro 2, there isn’t any reason why someone should spend an extra $150 on it over the Android-power myTouch 3G. Hopefully Verizon doesn’t make the same mistake when the Touch Pro 2 launches in a few weeks on its network.

What do we have here? The new hotness? mhmm. The HTC Touch Pro 2 is still a while away from being launched but somehow it was placed in front of a camera lens. Overall, it looks great with a clever eatching of the world on the backplate, a 3.5mm jack on the bottom, and a sleek design when it’s closed. Hopefully the keyboard works as well as it looks. According to the tipster, Verizon will probably have the phone sometime in early September.

Huzzah! Verizon knows what’s up. The prices of its smartphones have been slashed, cut, and discounted down to iPhone 3G levels. Every single smartphone – expect for the new BlackBerry Tour and Samsung Saga – can be had for $99 or less on-contract. This means that the HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro, and Samsung Omnia are now only $99 straight up. It’s like Verizon is talking right to those feed up with AT&T’s shenanigans.

There was one question that constantly popped up after Apple dropped the price of the iPhone 3G down to $99: Why would anyone buy a different phone? The answer of course has to do with the monthly service plan and that AT&T is notoriously a terrible wireless provider, but the question is sort of valid. The iPhone 3G is a heck of a phone for $99.

Before this price cut, the iPhone 3G ruled the $99 price point and it may still, but at least it now has competition. Both of the HTC smartphones from VZW are solid Winmo devices. The Samsung Omnia has a killer display and a 5.0MP camera. To be honest, the BlackBerry Storm isn’t half bad after the latest update. (I use one daily)

Hopefully the $99 price point isn’t just for these somewhat older phones and VZW introduces new smartphones at the same price.

HTC has a long history of naming its devices after a strong noun. There was previously the Excalibur, Cavalier, Blackstone, Apache, Prophet, and more recently, the Hero. Well, get ready for five more devices that follow the same naming scheme after the jump.

We’ve got the Vigor, Dawn, Interlude, Imagio and Tattoo coming sometime soon. There isn’t any other info about these devices so don’t ask. We don’t know what OS they will run, when they will be released or if any of them will look better than the sexy Hero. All we know is the names and that’s enough for a post on a slow Monday morning.