This October, Sprint will be getting its first Android handset in the form of HTC’s Hero, making the Hero the first CDMA Android phone offered in the United States. This version of the Hero is a little different from the original in terms of how the device is shaped. It looks a lot more like the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G than it does like the original Hero (that little curve at the bottom is gone). It will, however, still run the Sense UI, and according to CNET, the device will feature pinch to zoom. Yes, that’s right: Android is getting multitouch.
Some had been claiming that Android wouldn’t have multitouch until the 2.0 version of the operating system. This could mean one of two things. One: Android 2.0 is coming out on or before October 11th. Two: Google is pushing out multitouch support before the 2.0 release hits Android users.
The other interesting part of this news is that now Sprint will have two cool handsets to offer customers. Before it was just the Palm Pre, but now this Android-powered beauty can be seen as a direct competitor. This may be a bit near-sighted, but I’m going to be reading the early success of this version of the Hero as some sort of measure of Palm’s overall chances in the smartphone game.
Speaking of early adopters, the handset itself will be $179 after a mail-in rebate and with a two year contract. Keep in mind that Sprint’s plans for phones are far more reasonable than their competition’s. You can get a plan with unlimited data and unlimited SMS and MMS for about $70 a month.
