The HTC Hero, the new Android phone with the spiffy, non-standard UI, can be pre-ordered from Amazon UK right now, and unlocked at that. The price is a hefty £429.99 (unsubsidized), but the specs on this phone are pretty hot, among them a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus. The Hero also comes with a 2 GB microSD card.
The strange part about this is that it seems HTC are the people selling the handset directly. In the past, to get an unlocked handset, users had to go either do some tricks themselves, or wait a while for the unlocked phone to hit the market from some other vendor, as was the case with Google’s selling the developer version of the G1 (known as the HTC Dream in other parts of the world). But now it appears that HTC has taken both the unlocking and the vending into their own hands. A wise move, as this means they’ll be pocketing the money from consumers who just want the Hero with no strings attached.
(Original story via TalkAndroid)
