Yesterday was a big day for Nokia and Windows Mobile, but today is Android’s day. Shortly after the T-Mobile Pulse was officially unveiled for Europe, here comes the announcement of HTC Hero for Sprint.

As reported two days ago, Sprint’s CDMA HTC Hero looks totally different from the GSM version of the handset that can already be bought in Europe.

The Hero will be available from Sprint starting October 11, coming as the carrier’s first Android smartphone.

The best part: Sprint will sell the smartphone for $179.99 (excluding taxes), with a 2-yr agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate plus $50 instant savings. Much cheaper than the HTC Touch Pro2 (which is priced at $350 on contract).

Here are the highlights of Sprint’s HTC Hero:

• EV-DO rev A connectivity
• 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen display with 320 x 480 pixels
• Accelerometer and light sensor
• Home screen widgets
• Integrated Google services: Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube
• GPS with Sprint Navigation
• HTC Footprints
• Digital Compass
• Stereo Bluetooth 2.0
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Sprint TV with live and on-demand programming
• Quick access to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr
• Visual voice mail
• 5MP camera
• MicroSD card slot – 2GB card included
• 1,500 mAh battery for up to 4 hours of talk-time

All in all, the HTC Hero is a really nice smartphone that will probably be very successful among Sprint’s customers – especially since it’s the first Android device that they can buy.