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WILDCARD ENTRY: HTC Hero

Who’d have thought 12 months ago that our Gadget of the Year would be a mobile phone constructed by unglamorous smartphone stalwarts HTC, packing a then-untested operating system? The fact the OS, Android, came from Google might have given some inkling.

The web behemoth fired the starting pistol with a largely open-source system that could be adapted as manufacturers and users saw fit. HTC burst out of the blocks with the G1 and Magic, but really hit a Usain Bolt-like stride with the Hero. A mix of svelte good looks – the jutting “chin” on the bottom lends it an iconic air – and slickly intuitive usability, the Hero seems to do everything well, without fuss.

In a year of classic gadgets, this summed up all that was good in tech in 2009: digital social networks, which the Hero regularly updates you on; the transformation of the phone into an omni-competent browser/media player/comms device; the tactile triumph of the touchscreen; the emergence of cloud storage. That’s why it’s our Gadget of the Year.

- Read the HTC Hero review here

- Google Android one year on: See all the news, reviews and video since Android landed

- Living a day in 24 Android apps

- T3's Hot 100 Best apps