Category: HTC

HTC One Mini Set To Be Launched Tomorrow

Tomorrow is sure looking like the day HTC will officially declare the existence of the much leaked HTC One Mini. On Twitter, HTC UK wrote that “We have a ‘little’ bit of news tomorrow” and showed off a corner of what looks to be the HTC One Mini and its aluminum body and plastic bezel.

We have a ‘little’ bit of news tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/UKXV59wXbs

— HTC UK (@HTC_UK) July 17, 2013

Specs of the HTC One Mini have are rumoured to sport a 4.3-inch display (1280×720 resolution), 1.4Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 4MP Ultrapixel camera, and a 1.6MP wide-angle front-facing camera. Of course, all this will be confirmed in a few short hours.

HTC will also reportedly debut a 6-inch version of its HTC One in September. Dubbed the HTC One Max, the Android handset could arrive at the same time as Samsung’s expected Galaxy Note 3 and several other near-tablet-sized phones from Sony and LG. In addition to the large displays, all of these are expected to use the same chip inside.

Rumoured specifications indicate that the HTC One Max will have a 6-inch 1080p Super LCD 3 display, 2 GB of memory, either 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage and a 3200 mAh battery. A 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 800 chip will power the Max.

July 18, 2013
HTC One Mini Shows Up On Chinese Certification Website

HTC are expected to announce the new HTC One Mini some time this month. Yesterday HTC started teasing the new One Mini, and now the device has turned up in the Chinese TENAA certification database.

The HTC One Mini ‘601e’ is listed with Android software and HSDPA/HSUPA data connectivity, and as expected looks an awful lot like a 4.3-inch HTC One — note the metallic back and trademark front-facing speakers. The volume rocker appears a little different to the HTC One in this image, as two separate buttons rather than a rocker. And the Mini’s LED flash has been relocated to above the camera lens.

Despite having a different name, the HTC One Mini in China and the rest of the world will differ by just one single aspect, support for TD-SCDMA network. Apart from that, we’ll be seeing the same 4.3″ HD (1280 x 720) display, 1 GB of RAM, 1.4 GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 SoC, 4MP UltraPixel camera, HTC BoomSound, 1700 mAh rated battery and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with the latest Sense 5 UI.

With certifications and teasers out of the way, the official announcement can’t be too far away. There’s no info on when exactly that might happen, though.

[Via]

July 17, 2013
Rumour : 6″ Full-HD HTC One Max Set For September Launch

HTC is prepping a couple extensions to their popular One device. Leaked images of the HTC One Mini have arrived online a few times. The HTC One Mini should be launching within the next couple weeks and sports a 4.3-inch 720p LCD display, 1.4Ghz dual-core processor, 16GB Internal Memory, 1GB RAM, 4-megapixel “Ultrapixel” camera, run Android OS 4.2 Jelly Bean and many of the new features such as Beats Audio, Zoe Share, BoomSound.

In addition, HTC has long been rumoured to compete against rival manufacturers with a phablet. Mobile Geeks cited individuals who claim to have knowledge of the company’s plans.

HTC will reportedly debut a 6-inch version of its HTC One in September. Dubbed the HTC One Max, the Android handset could arrive at the same time as Samsung’s expected Galaxy Note 3 and several other near-tablet-sized phones from Sony and LG. In addition to the large displays, all of these are expected to use the same chip inside.

Rumoured specifications indicate that the HTC One Max will have a 6-inch 1080p Super LCD 3 display, 2 GB of memory, either 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage and a 3200 mAh battery. A 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 800 chip will power the Max.

No rumoured price points of the HTC One Max have surfaced, yet.

[Via]

July 16, 2013
MoDaCo.SWITCH ROM For HTC One Lets You Switch Between Sense And Stock Android With One Touch

Have an HTC One with Sense 5.0 but want the goodness of stock Android as well? The best of both worlds? Well, MoDaCo has a solution for you.

MoDaCo.SWITCH is a ROM that allows the user to easily switch from Sense and Stock Android with the tap of a button. Not only that, the data is maintained between the two UI experiences, so there’s no extra work on your part to keep data up to date with both.

As you’d probably guess–you’ll need to be rooted and all that good stuff to be able to install MoDaCo.SWITCH, but it installs just like any other ROM via a custom recovery.

Basically, the apps and information you have stored in one ROM are available on the other. This is possible because the underlying systems between these two ROMs are so similar. The HTC One GPe ROM features a lot of the Sense frameworks, so despite the visual and feature difference these ROMs are pretty similar.

An app on the handset labeled as “Switch” will bring up the option to choose between the Stock (HTC Sense) ROM and the Google Play edition (AOSP) ROM. Basically tapping either ROM will reboot the phone and allow you to quickly switch.

MoDaCo.Switch can be installed via Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) or ClockworkMod Recovery (CWM), two of the most popular recoveries in the usual way.

Further details coming with this video include how the ROM will be based on the 2.24 European HTC One (Android 4.2.2) and the Google Play edition ROMs. Perhaps key here, it was said that MoDaCo.SWITCH is “coming soon.”

[youtube id=”vOZFIGcIJ5s” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[Via]

July 13, 2013
HTC Butterfly S Hands on

HTC yesterday at a showcase event held in Thailand showed off the new HTC Butterfly S. A revamp of the HTC Butterfly, the new Butterfly S builds along the same design strategy but adding features from HTC’s popular HTC ONE.

Curved to fit in the hand the new Butterfly S has been splashed with a metallic finish making it resemble a “car paint job”. The color options for the handset are also not limited to two like last year, this year they include a white, a metal grey and a glossy red.

The HTC Butterfly S is packed with a lot of exciting elements including a 3200 mAh battery, a Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600 chipset with a Quad-core 1.9 GHz Krait 300 CPU and the Adreno 320 GPU. The front has a beautiful IPS LCD 3 display of a 5 inch size and a full HD 1920 x1080p resolution and a layer of Gorilla Glass 3. The design and the materials used in the construction of the HTC Butterfly S show to a great extent what the thought process of the company is when they are building a handset. The HTC Butterfly S is not only functional but looks really good.

The new HTC Sense 5.0 on top of Android 4.2.2 improves on the Blinkfeed experience as well as the Camera features, including enhanced ZOE file management amang many other improvements.

The HTC Butterfly S caters to a niche, an audience which liked the original Butterfly but wants more. Hopefully it reaches India in all three colors with a price tag in the OH-So-Affordable under 40k price bracket, here is hoping anyway! Check out the images below and stay tuned for Video.

HTC Butterfly S

HTC Butterfly S

July 11, 2013
HTC Butterfly Now Receiving Android 4.2.2 And Sense 5.0

After rolling out the Android 4.2.2 update for HTC One last week, the company is giving the same treatment to its older cousin HTC Butterfly.

The update will install the Android 4.2.2 operating system, the HTC Sense 5.0 user interface, the BlinkFeed live-streaming home screen and the Video Highlights slide show function for the camera, the company said in an e-mailed statement.

“We are grateful for the support of Taiwanese consumers, and Taiwan is the world’s leading market to receive the new Sense 5.0 software update for the HTC Butterfly,” Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia, said in the statement.

Known as the world’s first smartphone with a 5-inch full-HD display, the HTC Butterfly sports a quad-core processor from Qualcomm Inc. and an 8-megapixel camera. It is called the Droid DNA in the United States and the HTC J Butterfly in Japan.

To build on the success of the large-screen phone, HTC released on a refreshed model on June 28 called the Butterfly S, which comes with the same 5-inch 1080p display, a faster 1.9GHz quad-core processor and a larger battery capacity of 3,200 mAh.

The update will bring to the phone the Quick Settings feature, a customizable lock screen (that’s limited to widgets), battery percentage in the status bar and the Jelly Bean Daydreams feature. BlinkFeed has also been improved, it will now also pull feeds from Instagram.

July 9, 2013
HTC Posts $41.6m Profit In Q2 2013

Taiwan smartphone maker HTC said on Friday that despite launching the flagship One smartphone — HTC’s Q2 2013 profit is down a whopping 83 percent on Q2 2012.

The result comes as the firm struggles to turn things around with its high-end HTC One smartphone and heavier marketing strategy.

Unaudited net profit in the second quarter came in at Tw$1.25 billion ($41.67-million), compared with Tw$7.4 billion a year ago but up sharply from the Tw$85 million in January-March, the company said.

Revenue fell 22 percent to Tw$70.7 billion year-on-year but surged 65 percent from quarter to quarter and was line with its own forecast of Tw$70.0 billion.

The company showed its first sign of comeback in May, when it recorded revenue of NT$29 billion ($970 million) and, though sales for June dropped 24 percent to NT$22 billion ($732 million), the company is at least continuing to be profitable.

That, unsurprisingly, is being largely credited to Samsung’s Galaxy S4, which reached the market after the HTC One but with a considerably larger marketing budget.

HTC is yet to comment on the numbers, nor indeed how the company sees its performance changing over the next quarter. Fast incoming is the HTC One Mini, if the rumor-mill is to be believed, which will supposedly bring features like the UltraPixel camera and unibody casing design to a cheaper price point, courtesy of a smaller display.

[Via]

July 5, 2013
HTC One S Will Not Get Android 4.2 Or Sense 5 Update

The lightweight aluminum construction, distinct design, blazing performance and somewhat affordable price combined to make a mid-range device that was in many ways more desirable and accessible than the One X, the HTC One S didn’t reach the level of success that HTC expected.

Both the HTC One S and One X began their lives with the same Android 4.0.3 software running Sense 4.0. But, as flagship products tend to, the One X got more love from the Taiwanese manufacturer, while the middle child played second fiddle, receiving sporadic updates that finally petered out.

While the HTC One S was updated to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean beginning in February, the company has decided that it will not be updated to Android 4.2 like its One X counterpart.

We can confirm that the HTC One S will not receive further Android OS updates and will remain on the current version of Android and HTC Sense. We realize this news will be met with disappointment by some, but our customers should feel confident that we have designed the HTC One S to be optimized with our amazing camera and audio experiences.

Yes, HTC, this will be met with disappointment. There is no reason whatsoever the One S should be cast aside while the One X should continue to thrive.

Not only is the HTC One S still a solid handset in its own right, but we can also imagine that the device will receive further updates going forward via custom ROMs from the developer community. After all, if the HTC G1 can rock Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in any facet, you can bet that the HTC One S will be in good hands.

Any HTC One S owners looking to flash a custom ROM going forward or are you happy with it as it is?

July 3, 2013
HTC One Google Edition ROM Now Available For Rooted Devices

If you’re an HTC One owner and are not entirely enthused by the Sense 5.0 experience, especially since it runs atop older Jelly Bean software, you’re in luck.

A flashable version of the HTC One Google Edition is now available to download, and it appears to mimic the experience that U.S. buyers will have when their phones begin arriving on July 9th. The ROM was built from a system dump uploaded by Android Central’s Jerry Hildenbrand and has been altered slightly to be compatible with all HTC One models, but is otherwise unchanged.

The new HTC One Google Edition ROM will work with the GSM version of the HTC One, and it will give your handset the same experience you would get on the Google Play edition of the HTC One.

Notable improvements include lockscreen widgets and Photosphere, along with an improved stock camera app. You’ll have to already have an unlocked bootloader and/or S-OFF, and a custom recovery, along with the know-how to install it.

If you’re interested, head to XDA-Developers and get downloading.

Meanwhile, the team at Sammobile claim to have an early 4.3 build for the Samsung Galaxy S4. They claim that this is from a Google Play Edition variant of the S4, and the build is completely functional when tested on other Galaxy S4?s, but there’s no way to verify the validity of the claim. Since Google has not yet announced Android 4.3, and it doesn’t seem that there are any significant changes to the OS, this could well be a very clever fake with an edited build.prop to say 4.3.

June 29, 2013
HTC Butterfly S Officially Announced, Features Ultra-Pixel Camera

Last week we saw some leaked photos of the new HTC Butterfly S, the handset has now been announced in Taiwan and we have all the specifications on new Android smartphone.

You should rejoice as the Butterfly S packs a massive 3,200 mAh battery, a big upgrade over its predecessor which had a 2020 mAh battery.

Image Courtesy : Engadget

The new HTC Butterfly S comes with a Snapdragon 600 quad core processor clocked at 1.9GHz. It has a 5 inch full HD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Other specifications on the HTC Butterfly S include 16GB of built in storage and a HTC Ultrapixel camera, the device also comes with HTC Boom Sound speakers.

The device runs on Android 4.2 with HTC Sense 5.0, and hence has the HTC Zoe feature. Blinkfeed is likely to be brought to the device as well.

In terms of the connectivity, the phone comes with quad-band HSPA , Wi-Fi a/ac/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, Infrared and GPS.

The HTC Butterfly S is a little chunky, weighing in at 160 grams and measuring 10.6 mm in thickness, but that’s what you get when you dramatically increase the battery size.

The HTC Butterfly S will go on sale in Taiwan in July it will also launch in Europe and Asia later this summer, although we do not have any details on an exact launch date.

We hope HTC price the phone better than last time.

[Via]

June 19, 2013
HTC Desire 200 Officially Launched With 1GHz CPU, Beats Audio

HTC has just officially announced its latest budget offering, the HTC Desire 200.

We heard yesterday about an upcoming new budget Android smartphone from HTC that was leaked before it had been announced and even starred in a hands on video. The confirmed specifications of the handset include a 3.5-inch LCD display with a resolution of 320 x 480.

Under the hood of the HTC Desire 200 is a single core Qualcomm S1 processor running at 1GHz and paired with 512MB of RAM, and the official specs of the handset lists Android but doesn’t state which version but the device leaked yesterday had Android Ice Cream Sandwich on board.

There is only 4GB of on board storage but luckily there is the option of expanding this by up to 32GB via microSD card, and on the back HTC has fitted a 5-megapixel camera with a VGA unit around the front of the device.

The removable 1,230 mAh battery is promised to provide users up to 7.5 hours of 3G talk time or 812 hours of standby. Connectivity comes in the form of Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, microUSB, and 3G HSDPA.

Pricing and availability of the HTC Desire 200 are unknown at this point, but it’s just a matter of time until major retailers and carriers are ready to share this info.

June 18, 2013
First HTC Butterfly S Images Leak, Show Design And BoomSound Speakers

HTC is scaling its lauded One flagship down and up – we already saw the One mini, now thanks to some spy shots we’re getting a closer look at the HTC Butterfly S, an update on the company’s first 1080p phone with One hardware.

According to the source of the leak, the HTC Butterfly S still features a 5-inch 1080p screen, and the rear speaker has been deprecated by the new front-facers. It’s speculated that the internals have been upgraded too, and that the Butterfly S will be powered by a Snapdragon 600 chip. (We can see HTC’s latest Sense 5 UI on-screen.)

The biggest change we can see here, at least compared to the first Butterfly, is the move to give the handset a pair of front-facing speakers, like the BoomSound HTC first introduced on the HTC One. Another One trait – the two button arrangement has been replaced by standard three capacitive buttons.

The camera is expected to use the One’s UltraPixel technology too, but there’s nothing in the pictures to tell us if this is a sure thing.

We expect to hear the official word on the HTC Butterfly S from HTC on June 19, when the Taiwanese company is holding a special media event, so hold tight.

[Via]

June 14, 2013
HTC One Mini Specs Leaked Along With New Image

Photos of the HTC One Mini popped up just last week. Now there’s a new image to go along with some hardware specifications for HTC’s upcoming 4.3-inch phone.

Bloomberg is confirming what we already knew. According to “two people familiar with the matter,” HTC will release a smaller version of their popular HTC One flagship phone. The report indicates that the One mini will have a 4.3-inch display and “will probably have a less-powerful Qualcomm Inc. processor and lower-resolution screen than the flagship.”

When the images of the HTC One mini leaked online a couple weeks ago the resolution was confirmed to be 720p with a dual-core processor, 16GB internal storage, 2GB of RAM and the trademarked 4MP UltraPixel camera. No insight into what version of Android, probably 4.2 Jelly Bean. Bloomberg’s sources, “who asked not to be identified because details aren’t public,” stated the smaller version of the flagship One “will go on sale by August.” The price is expected to be around $550 (€400).

The HTC One Mini will go head-to-head with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 mini.

Engadget too received some more info about the HTC One Mini, plus the image above. They note that the display is in fact 4.3-inches, comes with a 1.4GHz dual-core processor and has the similar aluminum unibody that the original HTC One features, but the front of the device has been outfitted with plastic. The One Mini comes with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Sense, BlinkFeed, Zoe share, Beats Audio, but lacks the IR blaster.

[Via, Via]

June 13, 2013
HTC One Mini Leaked shots emerge : 4.3 inch 720p and Ultrapixel camera

The HTC One Mini has been doing rounds through the rumor pages for many days now, the M4 codename device has finally shown off its aluminum accents in black color at Estonian site forte.delfi.ee. Equipped with a downsized 4.3 inch 720p display and Dual core processor the HTC One Mini retains the Blinkfeed UI, the Ultrapixel camera and the 2 GB RAM. The Ultrapixel camera is still 4 MP and the storage is a moderate 16 GB.

HTC has seen huge success with the HTC One where the company recently crossed the 5 Million sales mark for the handset. Even with delayed deliveries people have really appreciated the HTC One, and the next logical step for the company seems to be, to follow in Samsung’s footsteps and launch Mini versions of its flagship. This way the HTC One mini will give the feel of the full fledged device including the great camera and Beats audio, along with build quality and features (read:blinkfeed) for a considerably cheaper price.

The website claims that the phone will be available in August for €400, but it seems too late for our liking. Now if we could get some more information on the HTC One with a 5.9 inch screen.

[via] [source]

June 5, 2013
HTC COO Departs After Reporting Highest Revenue In 11 Months

HTC reported that sales of their flagship HTC One hit ‘around 5 million.’ This is certainly great news for CEO Peter Chou as he previously declared that he would resign if the One was not a success. For now the all-aluminum Android is pressing forward. Earlier today the company their strongest month of revenues in almost a year. Unaudited revenues ending May 31st hit $967 million, but still down 3.3%.

That’s the good news. Unfortunately another exec has departed the company. Bloomberg is reporting that Matthew Costello, Chief Operating Officer, has decided to part ways after a 3-year stint. No other details were given, but “Costello will stay on as an executive adviser after moving to Europe.” His role will be absorbed by Fred Liu, currently president of engineering and operations, and will now oversee “operations, quality, sales operations and services.”

This marks the seventh HTC executive to fly the coop since the beginning of the year. According to The Verge, the May departure of Asia CEO Lennard Hoornik and Kouji Kodera, chief product officer, were the latest in a slew of employee losses, including Jason Gordon, vice president of global communications; Rebecca Rowland, global retail marketing manager; John Starkweather, director of digital marketing, and Eric Lin, product strategy manager.

In an interview last week with AllThingsD, Jason Mackenzie, HTC’s president of global sales, sought to put the departures into context and suggested that the media was blowing them out of proportion.

“HTC has been around for 15 years now, so it’s still a relatively young company, and still a company where it feels like a family. It feels like a mom and pop organization because many of the founders are all still there. And so it’s tough when we lose one employee; we’re like that,” he said. “But the news around this ‘mass exodus’ has really been overblown. We’re a big company today and we’ve lost a few people. Some were planned and some were not. But it’s not masses of people.”

Another interesting point in the report notes that HTC will be forming a new quality assurance division that will “handle product lifecycle matters” and “product reliability.” This division will be run by Georges Boulloy and will most likely hone in on improving device launch time.

[Mobile Syrup, The Verge]

June 5, 2013