Taiwan-based mobile phone maker HTC Corporation announced on Wednesday the release of its third mobile phone running under Google's Android operating system, the HTC Hero, and carriers followed shortly afterwards with their own announcements regarding the availability of the phone. One of them, T-Mobile UK, said that the Hero would come to its airwaves as G1 Touch, while Orange stated that it would release the handset in the near future.

Last week, before the T-Mobile myTouch 3G became official, some of the rumors around the Web pointed towards HTC Magic as the G1 Touch, yet it seems that T-Mobile will have the third HTC Android phone launched under this name. The announcement on the device comes through the carrier's twitter channel, which also points towards a mid-July release of the handset.

Hopefully, T-Mobile users and Android enthusiasts won't have to wait too long for the handheld to become available (myTouch 3G came to T-Mobile USA about two months after its release in Europe). According to the news, the G1 Touch on T-Mobile will come for free on a minimum of £40 per month Flext plan, which offers £225 of credit and unlimited Internet browsing.

According to the mobile phone carrier, one of the most attractive features the device comes with is the presence of a 7 panel wide home screen, offering users the possibility to employ a wide range of new HTC widgets. At the same time, the company also highlighted the presence of multi-touch zooming control, which should come quite handy on the device.

Another mobile phone carrier to launch the HTC Hero in the UK is Orange, which already announced that this was the first Android-powered handset it released in the country. At the same time, the operator stated that the phone would come in early July, exclusively in ‘Graphite’ color and for free with select price plans. The handheld will become available both on the company's website and at Orange shops in the country.