A couple of weeks back, the One (M8 EYE) quietly went on sale in China. Now, HTC unveiled the new One (M8 Eye) and Desire Eye smartphones in the Indian market at a press event in Mumbai.
According to the company, the One (M8 Eye) will go on sale tomorrow for Rs. 38,990, while Desire Eye will be released in late-November exclusively on Amazon India. The pricing of Desire Eye is a mystery at this moment.
HTC Desire EYE is the first of a kind phone designed to allow users to capture front and rear images in 13 mega pixels. Other specs mostly make it compete with several flagship smartphones out there, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset clocked at 2.3 GHz.
The HTC Desire Eye also boasts a 5.2-inch full HD 1920 x 1080p IPS LCD display, along with BoomSound speaker config. The cameras however, are the highlight of the Desire Eye, with a set of 13 MP cameras, and dual led flash on both sides, the rear camera is a f/2 aperture lens equipped module, whereas the front camera has a f/2.2 aperture lens setup.
The M8 Eye looks like the standard model in every respect except for the fact that the 4MP UltraPixel shooter has been replaced by Sony’s 13MP IMX214, the same sensor used on the HTC Butterfly 2 and the HTC Desire EYE. However, unlike the Desire EYE, the front-facing camera is still a 5MP sensor.
The new M8 will ship with the same ‘Eye Experience’ software as the HTC Desire Eye the company announced two weeks back. The HTC One (M8 EYE) also includes the new HTC EYE Experience features like Face Fusion, HTC Split Capture, and advanced face tracking features for conferencing.
After the release of all the big ticket devices from the big brands, Google has unveiled its home grown beasts. The company unveiled the long awaited and tremendously speced Nexus 6. With the launch of this phone, the Nexus brand has moved to the top of the food chain. Along with Nexus 6 came Google’s new tablet, the Nexus 9, which was developed by Google in collaboration with HTC. Now according to insider sources, the company will be bringing the Nexus 9 to India by the 2nd week of December.
Nexus 9 is a slim, sleek and sexy looking tablet. Its processing might is taken care by a 64-bit NVIDIA Tegra K1 Dual Denver processor clocked at 2.3GHz. It comes with 2GB RAM and is available in 16GB and 32GB storage variants. The device has an 8.9 inch IPS LCD display with 4:3 aspect ratio. It has a resolution of 2048×1536 and is covered in Gorrila Glass 3.
The specs on the camera of the device are also great. It comes with an 8MP rear camera with an aperture of f/2.4. For the selfie enthusiasts, the device offers a 1.6MP front camera but with an iris of f/2.4 you can expect some good selfies even in low light scenarios.
Nexus 9 is also a great device for the multimedia enthusiasts. While its big portable screen will be great for watching video content, the front facing HTC Boomsound will enhance the multimedia experience.
The device is one of the first devices to run the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop OS along with the Nexus 6. According to insider sources, it will arrive in India for a price of Rs.24,999 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi only model. This is one tablet we’d love to take for a spin.
Google and HTC have finally announced the new Nexus 9 tablet. Just like the rumors, it is a 8.9 inch tablet with a Nvidia Tegra K1 chip on the inside. The Nexus 9 is superbly well made, which became evident with a few minutes of hands on time wis had with the device.
It features a stainless steel frame and robust finish, a beautiful example of HTC’s craftsmanship and also their welcome back into the tablet world. You get a 16 and 32 GB variant along with a LTE based 32 Gb variant, along with 2 GB RAM in all units.
The camera at the rear will not do 4K video because it is just an 8 MP snapper, but its a wide lens and a great module and clicks great pictures. The aperture is f 2.4 and the sensor is a BSI sensor.
For power you get a 6700 mAh battery that should last you through the day and then some. The Tegra K1 chipset has 2 x 2.4 GHz cores on 64 bit architecture. The front has a 8.9 inch display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 px giving it a 4:3 aspect ratio.
It weighs only 425 gm for the Wifi only and 436 for the LTE variant, keeping it light and extremely portable. The tablet is easily held with one hand and the back panel feels great as well.
According to Forbes, both the LTE as well as the Wi-Fi version of the Nexus 9 will have expandable storage. It is one feature that Nexus fans have repeatedly requested for and Google has not delivered in the past. It will also be the first device to run on Android L.
Forbes has revealed some of the key features of the HTC built Nexus 9, and it would be nice to see the Taiwanese manufacturer bring this feature in this widely popular device. Sources have revealed that the Nexus 9 sports an an 8.9-inch 2048×1440 display, weigh 480 gm, have a 64-bit dual-core processor, an Nvidia Kepler GPU and a 8MP rear-facing camera and 3MP front-facing camera. The 16GB version is said to cost $399 and the 32GB LTE version will retail for $499. Both devices will have expandable memory.
There are also reports of HTC’s trademark BOOM sound to be featured on Google’s next tablet including the dual front facing features, something we saw on the One M8 and Desire EYE. Along with that, there are also reports of an an origami magnetic stand case that will be available with the tablet, that can bend in any shape and fold in multiple directions.
Since the original HTC built Nexus One, no devices of the Nexus product range came with expandable storage, we’ll find out more of this long awaited feature today. So stay tuned for more updates of this highly anticipated device.
As we reported earlier, the Nexus 9, codenamed the HTC Volantis, will launch today and it will be the first device to run Android L. Apple in an another big event is expected to launch new gen iPad and iMac, however, taking the lead Google is expected to launch the new Nexus device quietly, via a blog post.
Unlike Apple, Google will apparently eschew a big press event and will instead announce the new platform and the new devices via an official blog post. The company is apparently still fine tuning Android L and it doesn’t want to have a major event for a platform that still needs some refining before its release.
According to several reports that surfaced last week, the Nexus 9 will be available for pre-order on 17th October and available to purchase on the 3rd November. Although there’s no information on when Android L will be available for other Android devices, and the pre-order and purchasing dates are subject to last minute changes. The 16GB version will cost $399 and the 32GB LTE version will retail for $499. Both devices will have expandable memory.
Various reports have also hinted that the new Nexus 9 tablet will have an 8.9-inch 2048×1440 display, weigh 480 grams, have a 64-bit dual-core processor, an Nvidia Kepler GPU and a 8MP rear-facing camera and 3MP front-facing camera. HTC and Google have also opted for a “brushed aluminum” frame, instead of an all metal design, to keep costs down.
It is also said that some popular HTC features will come with the new tablet including HTC’s boomsound and the dual front facing speakers, both of which featured on the One M8 and Desire EYE.
However, there is no word on when the Nexus 6 is going to release. According to the previous leaks, the device will feature a QHD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (498 pixels per inch), a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, a 3,200mAh battery and Android L.
Today’s launch will put Google in direct competition with Apple as the iPhone 6 maker is widely expected to reveal its updated iPad on October 16th. Rumours have been circulating around that Apple’s event on Thursday will see the launch of a 9.7-inch ‘iPad Pro’ and possibly a refreshed version of the iPad Air. The larger tablet is likely to see the introduction of Touch ID and both will have the same A8 processor that powers the iPhone 6.
This year’s Nexus offering from Google is expected to be the Nexus 9 which is said to be built by HTC. It seems like the new Nexus tablet could get an official launch before Apple releases its new iPad.
According to a report published in an online portal called Bright Side of News, Google’s Nexus 9 manufactured by HTC will launch on 15th October, just a day before Apple is slated to launch newer iPads. It was earlier said that the Android L update and the new Nexus devices could be released for the public on November 1st, but the new reports say otherwise.
The report also states that one can buy the Google/HTC Nexus 9 from 3 November, the day when Nexus 9 is expected to be up for purchase through physical retail stores. Also, the new report added that Nexus 9 will cost $399 and its the mod highly anticipated tablet of the year, apart from iPad.
It is also said that unlike previous versions of Nexus devices, the new HTC-made Nexus 9 will not be sold exclusively though Play Store and that it “should be widely available on November 3rd.” Also, that the pre-orders will begin the day the device will be announced, i.e October 15.
If the rumors are to be believed, the Nexus 9 will arrive with some amazing specifications. The tablet is reportedly packing an 8.9-inch screen with 4:3 aspect ratio, while being underpinned by Nvidia’s 64-bit Tegra K1 processor paired with 3 GB of RAM. The rumor also added that the device will come with an 8 MP primary camera with OIS and a 3 MP selfie camera.
HTC sees India as a major market and consumers here have always shown appreciation for its devices. The gap between the international and Indian releases of the company’s premier products has shortened. Recently the company unveiled the Desire 820 in India after a few weeks of the international release. Now HTC is about to bring its latest stars to India.
The listings on import/export website Zauba shows the recently launched HTC One (E8 Eye) and HTC One (M8 Eye) will be making a footfall on Indian soil soon. The company had previously quietly launched the M8 Eye in the Chinese market, but it is apparent that the models will be up for purchase for Indian HTC enthusiasts as well.
The Eye Experience brings better camera capabilities to HTC devices.
It is said that the E8 Eye will be based on the HTC One (E8) and will differ in terms on the camera. It will have the superior HTC Eye experience in the camera department. In the recent Double Exposure event held by the company, it unveiled the Desire Eye with a 13 MP front camera which dwarfs all other selfie focused phones. It also unveiled the Go Pro like RE camera at the event. We got to spend a day with the new devices, and they do look impressive.
The E8 Eye is expected to be launched in the sub-Rs. 30000 segments and is expected to be priced around Rs. 27,000. Whereas the HTC One (M8 Eye) will be priced at around Rs. 40,000. The Eye experience will definitely enhance the feature-filled devices by HTC and if it released during this festive season, will earn a lot more customers for HTC.
HTC recently launched the HTC Desire Eye and the HTC RE camera, both are unique and one of a kind products in their respective categories. The Desire 816 is a flagship for HTC’s Desire lineup and is a power packed smartphone. The HTC RE is a first of a kind handheld camera-only device that aims to become everyone’s Go-Pro.
We spent an entire day with both the HTC Desire Eye and the HTC RE, and even though both were prototypes, and with early softwares, certain things left us impressed , while on the other hand many things left us slightly disappointed.
The HTC Desire Eye is a flagship for the better sense of the word, it has a Qualcomm 801 Snapdragon chipset along with 2GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage space. You can expand the storage by popping in a MicroSD card upto 128 GB, if that’s your style. HTC made the Desire Eye waterproof upto 1 meter for 30 mins thanks to its IP7 certification, so you wouldn’t mind jumping in the pool with the phone.
What puts the Eye in the Desire Eye is the set of 13 MP cameras, one for the rear and one for the front. This is the first time we have seen a big combination of cameras from a global manufacturer, not including the flipping camera phones from Oppo and Gionee.
HTC has also included dual LED flashes for the rear as well as the front cameras, helping you take the ultimate selfie in the night. Some of the pictures taken from the cameras are really impressive and truly showcase good final result, especially in well lit situations. Below is a shot of the NYC Post Office building shot from a moving bus.
The New York Post Office Building
The HTC Desire Eye, has a good set of cameras that are really quick, focus fast and the camera app is familiar. The interface has been made in a manner to simplify the shooting capability of the cameras of the phone. Tap and hold to lock the exposure and white balance, which makes it really easy to click pictures against the sun.
An image taken with locked AE and White Balance
The burst mode on the Desire Eye is also sharp, sharpest since HTC began doing burst, it gets most pictures in the burst in focus. But, those which end up out of focus are basically unusable. The burst mode is also impressive in extremely controlled setups, like the one below conducted in a studio with controlled lighting.
Sample of Burst
The images however, start to break up and get noisy when the light starts to go away. We saw this starting at twilight, and the image below still had man made lighting, even then you can see some noise in the image.
Low light sample
The HTC RE however, is a different beast all together. Specs wise you are not aiming for much with a 16MP sensor shoots 1080p 30fps HD videos, a 820 mAh battery is rated enough for 1,200 photos although it drained much faster when we were shooting video and especially slo-mo video.
Colors of the RE
The concept of the RE is good, a relatively budget, go pro style camera, that allows you to capture images and video on the go. However, just like the Go-Pro camera there needs to be an exact way of using the camera. But unlike the Go-Pro you don’t have an ecosystem built around the camera. Sure HTC launched the RE with a bunch of accessories and like a completely different product. So different, that they have a separate website, and have set it like a separate segment of business.
This may be the cash cow HTC was looking for, especially considering that their smartphone business is not running them into the fortune 500 list. The Re is not a perfect example of what they were trying to do, and no where near what we were expecting from the camera. The 16 MP camera, is good and stills will shock and awe you in low light, but because you have a wide angel lens that will capture pictures in a wide horizontal frame, and no real guide to where you are pointing. This will result in pictures with the subject’s head or legs cut off, really wide unnecessary objects in frame and a fisheye sort of result from the images.
Apart from the click button and the slow-mo button you don’t really have any control of the way the camera is shooting, and there is a light learning curve to how you would start recording video. The camera is slow to startup and click a picture, but we understand that was caused by pre-production hardware and software.
Essentially you are looking at shooting in the blind and hoping to capture. You do get a companion app, that allows you to do a lot more with the camera, execute time-lapse and set the frame using a live viewfinder shown over a WiFi-N connection established using Bluetooth 4.0.. But the question truly comes down to whether the camera is good enough to go through all the trouble. The quick answer is : No.
Why not simply use a Smartphone, most will ask, and we would agree. There are lots of things that make the RE – Re-markable, and all the RE jokes you can RE-Imagine to RE-start you RE-sting c-RE-ativity aside. (time to Re-st the lame ones)
Underwater Sample
For starters the RE is IPX7 rated, without a case or cover, so as long as your micro-SD port door is closed the camera can go under water for 1 M and stay there for upto 3 mins. There is an additional cover that will give you IPX8 rating, this you will need to buy separately.
The shape and design of the camera is really ergonomic, and easy to hold. The camera is a pistol grip style shooter and therefore sort of addictive, and since you don’t know what you are shooting you will be clicking multiple pictures of everything. That being said, since you are shooting in the blind, it may cause you to get easily frustrated and missing shots that you really wanted. And since you don’t know what you are clicking you don’t know the result till you connect with a smartphone.
Slow motion video is at 120 fps at 720p and is sort of not up to the mark in terms of clarity and sharpness, and loses large amounts of color, again this may mostly be because of the pre production nature of the camera.
Slow Mo Sample
The images are not there yet, not for a $ 200 camera that requires a smartphone to frame properly. Most $200 +$50 smartphones have excellent cameras now, granted they are comparatively difficult to hold, but definitely easier to use.
The RE is fun and a lot of people will buy one, but they might find themselves leaving it at home, unless HTC can build a excellent ecosystem around the cameras, a good one and fast. The video capability requires a lot of work and the camera should have shot 4k out of the box and especially with a extended battery grip it would have worked well. The accessories are great too, a hand grip, a bicycle mount, a helmet mount and more, incase you want to use tripods or similar mounts the RE has a 1/4″ thread for standard mount tripod screws.
Due to the sheer design of the camera, you cannot add a viewfinder to it, like you can on the Go Pro. The GoPro works and it works well, and HTC is basically truing to create an easier product to use, and they have the right concept. But this camera that looks like a plumbing spare or a smoking pipe or an asthma inhaler has a long way to go, a very long way especially since people don’t trust cameras easy.
This blind shooter is a good step and in the right direction and it looks sort of pretty, but it’s not Go-Pro and they have years of the right kind of experience. You can buy the new basic Hero for US $ 130, and the Hero 3 with excellent optics with 1080p video and 5MP burst images, that according to us is definitely better than that on the HTC RE.
At HTC’s Double Exposure event in New York, we saw the launch of the Desire EYE, a smartphone with a serious focus on the camera. Now, the company has silently put a listing for the HTC One (M8 EYE) on their chinese web store. The HTC One (M8 EYE) is essentially the same as the HTC One (M8) that launched earlier this year, but with one major hardware difference.
The M8 Eye appears to be the standard model in every respect except for the fact that the 4MP UltraPixel shooter has been replaced by Sony’s 13MP IMX214, the same sensor used on the HTC Butterfly 2 and the HTC Desire EYE. However, unlike the Desire EYE, the front-facing camera is still a 5MP sensor. The new M8 will ship with the same ‘Eye Experience’ software as the HTC Desire Eye the company announced earlier this week.
According to the official website, the HTC One (M8 EYE) includes the new HTC EYE Experience features like Face Fusion, HTC Split Capture, and advanced face tracking features for conferencing. The fact that this is a fairly silent launch from HTC seems to suggest that this may be a device exclusively for the Chinese market.
HTC at a live press event in New York launched the new Desire Eye. The phone is the first of a kind phone designed to allow users to capture front and rear images in 13 mega pixels. The latest flagship of the company is a follow up of HTC One M8, which has one of the favourite Android smartphone among the Android enthusiast.
The Desire lineup has been earlier considered as a mid- range budget smartphone, however, the new HTC Desire Eye competes with the likes of Moto X , iPhone 6, OnePlus One and LG G3. Heres a spec comparison of HTC Desire Eye with other flagships form the smartphone giants.
HTC has essentially held its ground as a Mobile Smartphone manufacturer in the past years. With the new Nexus Tablet, reportedly being made by HTC and the launch of this new RE camera, it seems like HTC is in for a change of events.
Green
Orange
Mounting Strap
The new HTC RE camera is a take on GO Pro style action cameras but HTC calls it the first camera that is designed to be held, and fits naturally and comfortably in the palm of your hand. It will come in various colors and sizes with various mounting options and accessories.
Specs wise the RE is pretty impressive too, A 16MP 1/2.3” CMOS sensor with an Ultra wide angle: 146° lens (f/2.8) captures 1080p, 30fps FHD video and 720p, 4x slow motion video and it also has a Time-lapse video recording mode.
Inbuilt is an HD microphone and speaker along with rating for durability – IP57 Dust & Water Resistant IPx7 (body), IPx8 (with cap). The camera houses a 820 mAh battery which is rated for 1,200 16MP photos; 1 hour 40 min of continuous FHD video recording. it comes with an 8GB card loaded and supports upto 128 GB cards offering good storage capacities.
The RE is fairly lightweight at only 65.5 grams, and measures just 96.7 x 26.5 mm, and for sensors you have a Grip sensors and a Gyroscope. The camera will work over Bluetooth 4.0 and Wifi N and will work with iOS 7 and above along with all KitKat equipped Android phones.
The best thing, it comes with a standard 1/4 inch tripod thread and separately bought battery charger that screw in to the bottom to add additional battery capacities.
The idea and the design will replace most bloggie-selfie cameras and especially for Video Loggers and Video bloggers this might become a handy accessory.
HTC at a live press event in New York launched the new HTC Desire Eye. The phone is the first of a kind phone designed to allow users to capture front and rear images in 13 mega pixels. Other specs mostly make it compete with several flagship smartphones out there, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset clocked at 2.3 GHz.
The HTC Desire Eye also boasts a 5.2-inch full HD 1920 x 1080p IPS LCD display, along with BoomSound speaker config. The cameras however, are the highlight of the Desire Eye, with a set of 13 MP cameras, and dual led flash on both sides, the rear camera is a f/2 aperture lens equipped module, whereas the front camera has a f/2.2 aperture lens setup.U
HTC has also added nifty features for the HTC Eye experience with face tracking, screen share, split capture, face fusion, live makeup, auto selfie, voice selfie, photo booth, crop me in.
The HTC Desire Eye is also IPX7 certified so it can take a 1 meter dip for about 30 mins. You get a 2400 mAh battery pack and nano sim card slots.
The Desire Eye is LTE enabled globally and will come with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of inbuilt storage, expandability will allow you to add upto 128 Gb via a MicroSD card.
Combined with the portable RE camera and the EYE software experience, HTC is essentially trying to capture the new age youth, those who have traditionally had a keen eye for taking pictures and most importantly “selfies”.
The design and built of the HTC Desire Eye, is essentially like the Desire 820 which was recently launched.
HTC has updated its Zoe offering and added the new EYE camera features to its new lineup of devices and a software update will enable this on previous gen “Compatible” devices. With the new Eye software, HTC plans to improve front camera experience, it enables face tracing even on video calls to get crisp focus on your face.
HTC has launched a new HTC M8 Eye, which is essentially the same hardware as the HTC One M8 with the new Eye update. Which will be shipped out to existing M8 devices within 15 days according to HTC.
Combining simultaneous photos and videos taken on the front and back cameras into one split-screen image or video, something similar to the FrontBack App/ Crop-Me-In lets you be the creep in your own pictures by cropping yourself into your images or basically making “photoshop” like quick edits on the go.
Voice Selfie removes the need for awkward hand contortions by enabling you to trigger the shutter release with a simple command. Simply “say cheese” as soon as you’ve struck the perfect pose or trigger the video recording with “action” or “rolling” commands. HTC says they will allow customizations on this soon.
New HTC EYE adds earlier experiences such as face fusion, and Live Makeup, where you can set the desired level of skin smoothing and preview the effect in real-time before the image is captured.
The new Zoe comes with a live video editing App, which will allow you to fuse in your pictures and video along with music to create fun films on the go. HTC called these highlight reels.
Zoe 1.0 brings flexibility to the community, enabling short, medium and long Zoes that can be made up of just a couple of still images. HTC has enabled the streams from RE to be featured in Zoe video highlights are automatically generated and ready to share. Stay tuned for updates.
HTC is launching a new flagship and not a lot of details are out for it. The event is called “Double Exposure” and the lifestream for it has been activated. The event is expected to go live in a few hours from now so we will get more info then. But speculations have been a plenty thanks to the name, we know it has something to do with cameras. Let see what this Taiwanese giant has in mind.
After a slew of rumours regarding Google’s Nexus 9 tablet, we now have an image to see what we can expect from this new device built by HTC. Famous leakster @Upleaks, which has a track record for getting its hands on products ahead of launch dates, tweeted a picture of what appears to be the next generation Nexus tablet yesterday.
Leaked image of the new Nexus tablet, which the leakster referred as T1, features the same model number shown in earlier leaks in the past months. The new device is expected to launch this m0nth, however there is no credibility to this rumor.
While it’s uncertain whether or not the product is legitimate, the photo is in line with earlier rumors about Nexus 9’s design and built. The device, which appears to be more square than other Android tablets we’ve seen, has the HTC logo at the bottom of the back casing.
It is said that Google is dropping the Nexus 8 which was expected to come after Asus built Nexus 7 in favour of Nexus 9, more likely because of its 9-inch screen. It is believed that the Nexus 9 could be the first device to get Google’s new mobile operating system Android L. Other features include a rear-camera with LED flash, a microUSB port and a possible NVIDIA Tegra K1 chip.
