HTC Hero: The best Android Phone?

Android phones haven’t exactly taken off yet, but that could change thanks to the HTC Hero, a new Sprint-exclusive coming out Oct. 11 that’s “powerful, but different,” writes Walt Mossberg. HTC has tinkered with Android, layering its own “HTC Sense” software over it. Thanks to the added features and big widgets, the Hero goes “beyond the vanilla Android experience supplied to everyone by Google.”

The Sense for example features “Scenes,” collections of customized scenes and apps that change the phone’s look and feel. It also has the best camera around, boasting a whopping five megapixels. There are downsides: the hardware “isn’t especially beautiful,” the screen is smaller than the iPhone’s, and the battery life isn’t great. But overall it’s “the best Android phone I’ve tested, and a worthy competitor to the iPhone, the BlackBerry and the Pre.”