This was the phone that started it all for HTC and Android. The HTC Hero for Sprint made its debut last year, and it showed what Android could be given enough customization, and that’s what HTC’s Sense UI did for Google. It was a blessing that finally made Android look polished enough to compete against the iPhone.

CNET writes, “The HTC Hero offers a highly customizable user interface thanks to HTC Sense. It also improves on past Android devices with Outlook e-mail, calendar, and contacts synchronization, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 5-megapixel camera. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G support are all onboard.”

However, “The smartphone can occasionally be sluggish. Flash content didn’t always work from the Web browser. Apps must still be downloaded to the phone’s internal memory. Media syncing software would nice, as would be a file manager.”

In conclusion, “While it could use a boost in the performance department, the HTC Hero is the most feature-packed Google Android device to date, bringing some notable improvements and a highly customizable interface.”