With the introduction of third Linux-based smartphone - Hero - the Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC is fast making its singular mark as one of the foremost manufacturers of Android devices.

The HTC Hero - which looks like G1 but has a greatly-modernized profile, sans a physical keyboard - will be available on T-Mobile and Orange in Europe in July; in Asia by late summer; and in North America by the year-end.

Some of the notable features of HTC Hero, based on a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor, include - a 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen; 288 MB RAM; quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 7.2 Mbps HSPA/WCDMA radios. Equipped with Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, a digital compass and "gravity sensor," the Hero has a 5 megapixel camera and a MicroSD slot.

In addition, the Hero incorporates two of the highly-in-demand features lacking in HTC's Android handsets - a 3.5mm headphone jack to do away with the need for a headphone adaptor, and the multi-touch and fingerprint-proof 3.2" HVGA touch display (320 x 480).

HTC has also layered its own UI - known as Sense - over and above the Google-backed Android, so as to facilitate the addition of gesture controls, widget support, and quick-launch icons for use in web-specific applications like e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter. Moreover, Hero gives users the ability to use Adobe's Flash technology for a better web-browsing experience!