The HTC Hero will be available in South Africa from 7 October 2009.

Announcing the launch of HTC’s third Android device Quinton Leigh, Managing Director of Leaf International Communications said, “[t]he HTC Hero is a blend of form and function, taking the Android operating system functionality to a league of its own.”

The highly anticipated Hero features seven customisable home screens or “scenes”, a five megapixel auto focus camera and a 3.2" HVGA display. The handset also includes all the bells and whistles you would look for in a smartphone with GPS, digital compass, gravity-sensor and an HTC rarity, a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack.

The Hero is also the first HTC device to feature HTC Sense. The feature supposedly enables users to more easily customise their device and communicate in a people-centric fashion. As far as we understand it, HTC Sense is about ensuring that you never have to dig very deep for the apps you use most often, by enabling things like pushing content to you home screen.

According to Leigh, “The HTC Hero is the world’s first Android-based phone with a customised user interface that allows for a level of customisation never before experienced on a mobile phone. With the new HTC Hero, you are not getting a phone, but rather, you are choosing a phone which gets YOU!”

[Update: The Hero carries a recommended retail price of R6788]