September 4, 2009, 8:59 am
Sprint will be the first U.S. carrier to offer HTC’s “Hero” Android smartphone, complete with the “Sense” UI and a low $180 pricetag. Meanwhile, Google is responding to criticism from Android developers by adding promotional mechanisms to Android Market, and eWEEK looks inside the Android-based T-Mobile MyTouch 3G.
Sprint, which took a pass on Android due to its belief that the Google-backed open source phone stack was not yet sufficiently baked, is now apparently satisfied with the upcoming “Donut” (Android 1.6) release, and will sell the Hero in the U.S. starting Oct. 11. The phone will sell at Sprint stores and Best Buy for a low $180, with a two-year contract and $150 in rebates. Sprint already offers the BlackBerry Tour 9630 smartphone, as well as the Linux-based Palm Pre, the latter in an exclusive deal that will last the remainder of the year…
