With the explosion in popularity of the Twitter messaging service, it was only a matter of time before a handset maker came up with a mobile phone optimised so that users can follow their favourite feeds, known as tweets.

So hats off to HTC, the Taiwanese smartphone firm, for unleashing the Hero, a handset that enables you to see tweets on the phone’s home screen as they arrive, without having to launch any software. If you are so inclined, you can keep tabs on whatever your friends are doing — and keep up with celebrity chatter and company news — without having to touch your phone.

In addition to having the latest tweets automatically appear on the 3.2in touchscreen, you can monitor whatever else you are interested in by using software widgets that run on the Google Android operating system. For example, you can follow the Wimbledon scores, see Flickr photos as they’re uploaded by friends, or monitor the relentless arrival of e-mails — without waiting for individual applications to open and close. Not even the iPhone can match this marvellous multitasking.

“When you hang a painting on the wall at home, you don’t need to press a button to actually see it. So why should you have to do so with a mobile phone to view your information?” says John Wang, HTC’s chief marketing officer.

Another innovation is that the various means of communicating with friends and colleagues are pulled together into one screen. Rather than deciding whether to open, say, a Facebook or e-mail application, the Hero’s address book shows all of that person’s online accounts and what they are doing at that moment (assuming they choose to share this). You can then keep tabs on their Facebook status and updates, tweet them, or even opt to phone them.

This is a similar approach to that of the new Palm Pre, which arguably does a better job but has no UK launch date yet, and to some degree the Nokia N97. HTC has, however, unleashed the latent power of the Google-backed software that sits underneath. The firm says the new features will be included on all future Android handsets.

As for the Hero handset itself, it houses considerable gadget firepower (see right for details), though for all of its technical virtues, it is design that shifts phones more than anything else. In that regard, this handset is a big step up from HTC’s original G1 model, which never really caught on. The Hero’s matt finish and bizarrely angled mouthpiece lip won’t appeal to everyone, and the screen feels a bit small compared with, say, the iPhone’s 3.5in screen.

Nonetheless, the beautiful mind of Android has finally found a sexy body in which to reside.

The spec

The Hero has a standard 3.5mm headphone socket on its top edge and supports stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) for playing music wirelessly on compatible devices

The 5Mp camera packs in autofocus and digital zoom. Images are stored on micro-SD memory cards and it comes with a 2GB card supplied

The 3.2in screen automatically reorientates depending on whether it is held in portrait or landscape view. There are three ways to navigate menus: flicking the screen with a fingertip, using the tiny trackball or pressing the various buttons

Like its predecessors, the HTC has GPS and a digital compass — useful for confirming in which direction you are facing when looking at a map

The HTC Hero is available from July on the Orange and T-Mobile networks (T-NMobile has renamed it the G1 Touch). The handset is free on a £39.15 pay-monthly contract over two years from Orange or £40 a month from T-Mobile for 18 months

Explore Personal Tech

• InGear