HTC Hero Android smartphone by end 2009 likely

T-Mobile’s third Android-based smartphone, the T-Mobile G3 also known as the HTC Hero, may be launched in late 2009, reports say.CodeAndroid has carried leaked powerpoint slides of the Android-based HTC Hero smartphone. It says that the HTC Hero looks like the HTC Magic in terms of the form factor.

But, unlike the HTC G1 and the HTC Magic, the HTC Hero will not feature a trackball.

The leaked photos of the handset show a touchscreen display with 5 hardware buttons below the display.

The phone is expected to sport a 3.5 mm headjack to make listening music a good experience. It has a design similar to that of the HTC Touch Diamond2.

The colour of the HTC Hero is expected to be refined grey. The phone will feature a QWERTY keyboard but it is yet to be seen if the handset encapsulates a slider.

The slides fail to tell if the trademark HTC-Android-chin will feature on the phone. Many believe that the chin has been photoshopped in the images available.

The Taiwan-based company plans to launch more Android handsets, from different manufacturers, in 2009.

Cole Brodman, CEO, T-Mobile was quoted as saying “We are looking to launch multiple Android-based devices in the second half of this year with three partners.”

We have no idea when the Hero HTC will be launched in India or what it will cost, though.