I was in Hereford, UK today, walked into the Orange shop and they pulled out a Hero from stock. Surprisingly, the phone wasn't on display and I had to ask for him to go get one. Free on 40GBP/month plan was what I was told, 50GBP for 35/month, 90GBP for 30/month. Internet is included. The phone felt great, though I didn't have a chance to do much with it. I left Orange (heard bad things about them, didn't plan on getting it through them anyways, just wanted to see one in person) and went to the T-Mobile shop to ask if they had an update...I WAS TOLD IT WAS DELAYED UNTIL SEPTEMBER! Apparently there was a software issue that is preventing T-Mobile from releasing and the lady I spoke with believed Orange would have an optional recall or OTA update to fix the ones they had already sold, but might stop selling them for now (which could explain their hesitancy to display them in shop).
I'm pretty bummed out. Thinking about going to get a G1 as you can get them free on cheap contracts nowadays. That'll probably change and I'll end up waiting as long as it takes.
Atleast I'll have a chance to play with the Samsung Galaxy that releases on O2 next week (supposedly).
I don't know if the delay is due to the sluggishness some are reporting, or the missing Facebook widget that was previewed but not included in releases, or something else (if its even real), but HTC and the carriers better get it fixed quick before the press buzz over the phone falls away and we start looking forward to the next Android release.