Pictures taken with the HTC Hero

Talk about déjà vu… Sure, the HTC Hero features a 5 megapixel camera, but compared to the 3 megapixel camera on other HTC devices, it’s just more of the same!

But I’m not complaining – “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” :)

Like the T-Mobile G1, the Magic, and the Touch Pro, the resulting pictures (slide show) are quite nice. Low-light performance is decent, and so is exposure, but colors are a bit muted, and I was expecting more detail from the increased resolution.

Like the Touch Pro2 and the iPhone 3GS, the Hero camera supports touch-to-focus, but I’d still prefer a dedicated two-stage camera button. The macro is very good, requiring no user intervention, but there is no flash.

Video recording is extremely disappointing for a modern 5 megapixel camera. Resolution is limited to 352×288 pixels (CIF), and frame rate to about 15 fps. This is particularly unfortunate since the Hero provides initial auto-focus like the iPhone 3GS and Nokia N900.

Here’s a sample video (download original):