New HTC Hero/Android 'Donut' Preview

May 19 2009, 10:20am CDT | by Robert Evans

Yesterday we got news that an Android dev named Haykuro managed to get a hold of a ROM of the new version of Android for the HTC Hero. Now, thanks to another developer, we've got a video of the leaked build that shows us the widget functionality we can expect out of the upcoming Hero and probably G1.2 as well.

You can find the video here. It gives us a pretty good look at how the the latest version of Android will perform, at least on the Hero. I have to say, I am highly impressed. For one thing, the new widgets look great. They're all well-designed and you can tell at a glance exactly what information they have for you.

The new Android UI starts off as very bare-bones, but by filling your home screen up with widgets you turn it into a glittering utopia of pretty gadgets. Just from this video, we can see an excellent-looking Twitter feed, a bookmark section, a great little weather tool, a scrolling contact list with contact photos, and a music player.

With all of those on, the UI gets pretty filled up, but never crowded. Just like in the current Android build, you can slide left or right to give yourself more space, and access the rest of your programs. Honestly, it looks to me like Android's gotten even easier to use. It really is a great little touch screen UI, and HTC is taking advantage of Android's strengths with this new 'donut' build.

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Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
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