HTC’s new lineup of devices this year has many people looking twice. The all-aluminum build of the flagship One is certainly their best designed smartphone, while the One mini attracts the entry-level market with decent specs.
Over the past several months there’s been rumours that HTC will also come to market with a phablet – potentially called the HTC One Max. According to a post on ePrice, the HTC One Max may make an official announcement at IFA in Germany this September, but to tide us over they’ve posted the first round of leaked images.
Specs-wise, the HTC One Max shows a lot of improvements over HTC One, starting with the 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, which is paired with 2GB of RAM.
The upcoming mobile phone also features a full HD resolution on its large screen, along with an UltraPixel photo snapper on the back, and a 2.1MP front camera for making video calls.
HTC One Max is also rumored to feature 16GB of internal memory, most probably paired with a microSD memory card slot in this model, which is China-specific (the international model should feature more internal storage and no microSD card support).
Apparently, this flavor of the smartphone will also feature dual-SIM capabilities, along with a detachable back cover, so as to offer access to the microSD and SIM slots.
The handset will also include a 3300 mAh battery inside, and might even land on the market with support for a stylus, though no confirmation on this has been provided as of now.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Google’s Sundar Pichai while at D11 has made it clear that there indeed will be an HTC One running stock android 4.2.2 which will be launched and made available on June 26th via the Google Play store. For the US market this phone will come unlocked to GSM networks and will cost US $ 599 (approximately Rs. 34,000) vs the Samsung Galaxy S4 which is priced at US $ 649.
For global connectivity the Stock Android HTC One will offer quadband LTE (700/850/AWS/1900), triband HSPA+ (850/1900/2100) and the usual quadband GSM / EDGE. The Hardware will still be integrated with Beats audio and will retain the “two button on either side of the HTC logo” layout. The app list black bar will also be there along with the button press schemes. For the main buttons short press of Home for Home, long press for Google Now and double tap for Recent Apps.
Earlier reports of a larger HTC One have just been strengthened, thanks to a leaked spec sheet under distribution at HTC. The larger phone will not only have a larger display but a newer more impressive Quad Core 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 800 chipset (MSM8974).
Along with the new things will be features borrowed from the HTC One, including BoomSound, Blinkfeed, 16 GB Storage, 2 GB RAM and the oh-so-popular UltraPixel camera with OIS. Moreover the HTC T6 is rumored to have a dedicated pen / stylus input as well as a biometric fingerprint scanner around the back. MicroSD card expandability is also on the table but goes against all HTC norms.
The list also shows that the hardware will come with Android Key Lime Pie, however with the next revision being 4.3 (Jelly Bean ), either that information is inaccurate, or this HTC T6 is a far far away from being launched.
HTC has been having some success with their newest flagship smartphone – the HTC One. Amidst falling revenues and several key executives departing, an unknown HTC executive spoke to the Wall Street Journal and calmed the naysayers, declaring that the sales of the all-aluminum Android hit “around 5 million” since launching a month ago.
The HTC rep noted that sales would have been higher if there wasn’t supply issues, namely the camera components. “Orders are pretty good so far and are still more than what we can supply. This is partly due to the shortage of components. When the issue is resolved next month, we will have a better idea if it’s doing really well or not.”
The HTC One is going head-to-head with other popular smarptphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4 (just passed 10 million in sales in one month), Nokia Lumia 920, Apple iPhone 5, Sony Xperia Z, LG Optimus G and the Nexus 4.
HTC has seen several executives depart in the past week. HTC confirmed to Engadget that;
HTC can confirm that Lennard Hoornik has left HTC to pursue other interests. We appreciate his contributions to our South Asia efforts over the past year and wish him all the best. HTC’s CFO, Chialin Chang will provide interim leadership in this strategic region while we work to find a permanent solution.”
Also according to reports Head of Global Digital Service Elizabeth Griffin will also be leaving HTC later this week to join Nintendo. Looks like HTC’s “executive worries” are just beginning.
HTC is headed towards turbulent times it appears as more Key Execs depart HTC to pursue other interests. Asia CEO Lennard Hoornik, has also left the company, the news was later confirmed by HTC. This news comes after yesterdays report of VP of Global Communications and Chief Product Officer quitting. According to CNET, the CEO of HTC Asia Lennard Hoornik has also relieved his post, with regional CFO Chia-Lin Chang taking the reins until a formal replacement is named. Hoornik, who joined HTC from Sony Ericsson, also took care of India operations and was one of the key introducers at major launches around the Asia region.
The news also claims, that Lennard Hoornik was absent for over two months before the confirmation of his departure, considering that news, he was either let go, or chose to go on his own.
HTC confirmed to Engadget that;
HTC can confirm that Lennard Hoornik has left HTC to pursue other interests. We appreciate his contributions to our South Asia efforts over the past year and wish him all the best. HTC’s CFO, Chialin Chang will provide interim leadership in this strategic region while we work to find a permanent solution.”
Also according to reports Head of Global Digital Service Elizabeth Griffin will also be leaving HTC later this week to join Nintendo. Looks like HTC’s “executive worries” are just beginning.
HTC is facing the major financial crunch, and the outlook of the ever prosperous handset maker may not be so prosperous after all. Jason Gordon, HTC’s vice president of global communications, revealed on Twitter that he ended almost 7 year long tenure with the handset maker last Friday, but didn’t divulge why he left or what his future plans include.
Now, according to The Verge and multiple online resources Chief Product Officer Kouji Kodera has also resigned which takes behind several other executives, that have decided to leave HTC and take their business elsewhere.
HTC’s CEO Peter Chou had blamed poor marketing for holding the company back in 2012, due to which Chief Marketing Officer Ben Ho’s said to be moving the outfit’s planning and strategy back to its Taipei HQ. This could be a major reason for all the power shift in the company.
HTC has enjoyed a lot of fame due to their Windows Phone series last year and the “One” this year. But, due to lack of deliveries, and slow downs due to production quality HTC has alost a major chunk of their market share to korean manufacturer Samsung.
HTC has been flirting with Android phones from the beginning of the Ecosystem, But they only recently picked up pace thanks to the HTC One Series. The new HTC One, also referred to as the M7 is a beginning of a whole new design philosophy for the company. Does the HTC One feature all that is required to be the king of the robotic Jungle? Lets Find out.
Build Quality and Design
[pullquote_left]Ecstatic Expression on your Face![/pullquote_left]From the moment you handle the HTC One for the first time, you get this ecstatic expression on your face, you are wow’d by the design and simply amazed by the display. A shiver passes through your hands as you feel the Unibody design fit inside you hand almost perfectly as if it was designed for it.
The HTC One is cast from a single shell unibody Aluminum block, that curves at the back but is flat in the front. The two network bands that run across the back add network strength and aesthetic value to the complete mixture. Also embedded in the back is a subtle HTC logo.
The build, although very tough and robust, feels very damage friendly. The front has Gorilla Glass 2 , but does not have a lay on the table design, in other words if you lay the phone on the screen, the glass will touch the surface that you lay the phone on. The phone seems so metallic in-fact, that every time you hold it, you worry about it getting dented, if you nick it against a door or a table edge. The fear quickly goes away as you start to use the phone and realize how tough, and scratch resistant the back of the phone is.
The Design strategy infuses the technology they learnt in making the HTC Windows Phone 8 and a mix of their research and experience with metals in the past with their Desire series. The HTC One is a perfect balance, of build quality, design, aesthetic and that wonderful Awe factor it causes in you everytime you pick it up.
[pullquote_left]right fuse of external and internal[/pullquote_left]HTC has packed the HTC One with just the right amount of specs. Even when a product can never be ahead of technology, the HTC One is a right fuse of external and internal technology. Powered by a 2300 mAh non – replaceable battery, the HTC One carries a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Chipset with a wonderfully snappy QuadCore 1.7 GHz CPU. The Graphics are provided by a Adreno 320 GP which remains superior in terms of Mobile Graphics rendering. This intense capability is supported by 2GB of RAM and 32 or 64 GB of storage.
The Back features an Ultrapixel Camera which has a larger pixel size, making it sufficient at just 4 MP, and the front features a 2.1 MP snapper, both capture full HD video. The main camera is also assisted by an LED flash.
The Gorgeous front features a 4.7 inch 1920 x 1080p IPS LCD 3 display with an intense 469 ppi making is one of the highest pixel density phones in the market.
UltraPixel Camera on the HTC ONE
Ultrapixel is a word that does not exist in the dictionary, or at least that was the case before the HTC One. The camera comprises of a larger sensor and a larger size of the pixels that combine together to form the sensor. The camera combined with the software on the inside of the HTC One the is able to capture extremely high detail in an image. The large sensor and pixel size also opens up the sensor to low light subjects, allowing for better image quality in dim lighting conditions.
The images come out extremely sharp to about a 8×12 inch size, post which you will see degradation of the images.
We found that the Video Captured by the HTC One is wonderfully vivid and captured without any stutter, rolling shutter was at a minimum and almost no aliasing was seen in the video. The Autofocus keeps jumping in and out during video especially if you are close to your subject, this can be painfully bothersome while recording or even while playing back. This is however fixed by turning off Continuos AF during video capture at the cost of loss of focus.
The HTC Zoe feature within the camera is a wonderful add on, not only does it create beautiful timelines and videos demonstrating your photo groups it also allows you to modify pictures, remove photo bombers, and a lot more. This truly enables a social sharer to stay on top of his game adding just a right amount of usefulness.
We did a comparison of the cameras of the top smartphones, and HTC One performed excellently well in low light and landscape capture.
Here is where we begin to applaud HTC again, whether the BlinkFeed UI is useful or not, HTC with their new ONE has attempted to totally change the norm. While most companies just upgrade the UI, HTC revamps it time and again. They changed it with Sense 4.0 and now they changed it again with the new BlinkFeed on Sense 5.0.
[pullquote_right]practicality and ingenuity[/pullquote_right]A lot of previous owners will complain at the removal of features of the past HTC Sense UI. But, the new experience is a great mix of practicality and ingenuity. Blinkfeed on the HTC One is nothing more than an aggregator, it collects your favorite news streams, your Social Networks and even your connections to display them in a beautiful, seamless, Flipboard-esque interface which will also remind you of the Windows Phone UI.
App Drawer
Weather Widget
Phone Dialer
BlinkFeed
Keyboard
LockScreen
The information is clean and laid out quickly and beautifully, almost making you go back to it again and again. The other features of HTC Sense are also found in the UI, the Music App, Car Mode, Flashlight App, big chunky widgets and the oh so famous Weather / Flip clock widget are all there.
The HTC TV app is not currently available in India, and currently cannot be manually configured. The Power button does have an IR blaster inbuilt so it does function as a remote, but the functionality will be added at a later time. You should possibly be able download 3rd party apps to enable this feature soon.
The HTC One has a gorgeous 1920 x 1080p display, and honestly it looks absolutely stunning, even outdoors. The LCD3 technology with an IPS panel and extremely high pixel density set it apart for the mix. The Screen floats right on top with the touch panel, thanks to the fused display technology borrowed from LG, touching the HTC One feels like touching the elements of the display.
[pullquote_right]eliminates muffling[/pullquote_right]Watching Videos, playing games and other forms of media is fantastic thanks to HTC BoomSound, a wonderful thought of putting the Stereo Speakers in a forward facing manner, makes the audio extremely accurate and clear. It also eliminates muffling due to accidental finger touches and is easily heard especially while playing games.
The HTC One also contains a FM radio which does require a headset to be connected for reception. Audio from the included earphones is absolutely great and in the history of in box earphones, these have to be one of the better ones if not the best. Beats audio is available throughout the array of hardware that you can connect to the Smartphone.
Performance and Battery
The HTC One came out on top in terms of performance tests. The hardware is quite capable of handling all the tasks that you can throw at it with wonderful accuracy and flair. The chipset can handle, multitasking, heavy gaming and performance tasks with ease and still have power to calculate under formulas.
Benchmarks for the early developer build beat all scores of the market at the time. For reference the latest build of the HTC One scores a fantastic 12030 on Quadrant, without tweaks of any kind.
The phone does heat up a lot with extended use, which is normal for any smartphone, but the extended use of metals is what makes it uncomfortable to hold or even pocket.
Battery on the HTC One is wonderfully managed by the interface, when not in use (aka; standby) the phone barely drains at all unlike other Android devices, the Blinkfeed can be configured to refresh manually to even improve battery life a tad bit more. Often times we found battery life to be good enough to go on into day two.
[tabgroup]
[tab title=”Battery Life with 3G ON” icon=”icon-headphones”]Talk time : 5 Hours Standby : 48 Hours Gaming : 3.5 Hours Online : 6 hours Music 8 hours[/tab]
[tab title=”Battery Life with 3G OFF” icon=”icon-headphones”]Talk time : 6 Hours Standby : 54 Hours Gaming : 3.5 Hours Online : 6 hours (wifi) Music 8.5 hours[/tab]
[/tabgroup]
Phone and Networks
HTC has always been able to handle networks and phone capabilities in their devices, same is the case for the HTC One. The networks remained strong throughout and audio whether incoming or outgoing was crisp as ever. In our days of testing the phone, we had but only a few dropped calls, which can easily be blamed on the lack of network coverage.
HTC has kept it usual features for phone capabilities, loud ringer in the pocket, flip to mute etc are all included making handling of phone calls an easy recipe.
Conclusion
The HTC One is not a perfect smartphone, no smartphone is. But the HTC One, comes as close as it can to delivering a perfect balance between many elements that make up todays smartphone. It is a flagship so it is priced high, but with that price it brings about a sense of achievement, a sense of ownership and pride. A mixed bag of feelings and emotions emerge when you hold and use the HTC One for the first time. Most people cannot stop themselves from passing a smile when they first handle this behemoth of a device. A great phone, a wonderful crisp display enabling a joyful multimedia device and a performance warehouse of the tech junkie. Sure it lacks a lot of software patches and gimmicks, but in entirety of usage it lacks almost nothing.
The HTC First will continue on the partnership that HTC and Facebook have shared in the past, enabling users to experience a little more Facebook on their android screen, as the device comes preloaded with Facebook Home. Launching on April 12th on an exclusive carrier deal with At&t in the US the HTC First is expected tot be available globally shortly after.
AT&T had been collaborating with Facebook on its Home experience, and invited HTC to assemble the phone, said Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility said at a Facebook’s press conference on Thursday.
On Thursday Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Home, a family of apps that would sit as a integrated layer on the Android operating system.
Zuckerberg said Home was not an operating system or a “forked” version of Android akin to Amazon’s Kindle, but a separate software layer that could act as a home screen for smartphones.
The mid-range HTC First will be available in black, white, red and pale blue, and sports a 4.3-inch display that matches with earlier reports. Facebook Home obviously serves to obscure the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean build that’s actually running the show, while one of Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon 400 chipsets (and not the MSM8960 that was previously reported) provides the horsepower from inside that smooth, curved chassis. The HTC First has a 720p display and LTE
[toggle title=”Press Release”]Facebook’s Newest Mobile Experience Available Exclusively on the Nation’s Fastest 4G LTE Network
DALLAS, BELLEVUE and MENLO PARK, April 4, 2013 – AT&T*, HTC and Facebook have teamed up to develop and launch the HTC First™, the first and only smartphone built to feature Facebook Home, which puts your friends at the heart of your phone. Facebook Home is the first mobile experience designed to give you your friends’ latest updates right on your home screen and messages that reach you no matter what you’re doing.
HTC First will be available for pre-order today for $99.99 with a two-year commitment and available exclusively in AT&T stores and online starting April 12. To pre-order, visit www.att.com/facebookhome.
The HTC First runs on AT&T 4G LTE, the nation’s fastest 4G LTE network.** In addition, independent mobile research firm RootMetrics® has published a special report on 4G LTE in the U.S. which notes that AT&T wireless customers in our 4G LTE markets that were tested by RootMetrics have access to the fastest mobile speeds on their smartphones. AT&T also has the nation’s largest 4G network, covering 288 million people.
“The HTC First will offer the best Facebook Home experience on mobile, right out of the box. That’s why we’re committed to this phone and making it exclusive in our stores,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility. “Because AT&T offers the fastest 4G LTE** in the nation, it’s the best network for Facebook Home. And the best device for Facebook Home is the HTC First.”
“HTC has a track record of providing beautiful hardware design, and of being first-to-market with smartphone innovations,” said Peter Chou, CEO, HTC Corporation. “The HTC First continues that track record, providing AT&T customers with a unique home experience that puts a user’s friends and family at the center of their mobile experience.”
“Home is a completely new experience for your phone,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s Founder and CEO. “With Home available right out of the box, you’re getting the best quality experience for connecting with your friends.”
Facebook Home brings your News Feed to the surface, immediately giving you the content you care about right on your home screen when you turn on your phone without having to open an app or access a mobile website. Just sign into your Facebook account and begin using Home – no need for download or configuration. Facebook Home connects you directly with your friends, whether it’s their real-time updates and newest photo uploads being streamed on your cover feed or the ability to chat with friends without jumping in and out of apps.
Facebook Home is built around your friends and puts them at the center of your phone:
· Cover feed: A constant, fresh stream of photos and updates from your newsfeed, cover feed is always present when you wake up your phone. It lets you stay up-to-date on your friends’ latest activities in real-time, all the time. You can swipe through to see more photos and updates, double tap to “like” a post and comment right from cover feed. To learn more about cover feed, check out this video.· Notifications: Notifications from apps and friends appear right on your home screen. It’s easier to see when you have a missed call, calendar reminder or new message. Open a notification with a double tap or clear them away to see your Cover Feed. To learn more about notifications, check out this video.
· Chat Heads: The mobile messenger lets you jump in and out of conversations while you do other things, like watch a video and browse the web. Reply right from chat heads, or move them around if you’re not ready to respond. Plus you can send and receive texts and Facebook messages from the same spot. To learn more about chat heads, check out this video.
· App Launcher: See your favorite apps and post right to Facebook from the same spot. You choose what’s on your app launcher-press and hold an app then drag it anywhere.
· Instagram: HTC First is the only phone that comes with Instagram pre-loaded.
HTC First will be available in four colors: black, white, red and pale blue. The hardware is thin, modern and seamless, with soft edges to draw your attention to the updates from friends and family on the 4.3-inch glass display. Inside, the smartphone runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) with the new Facebook Home experience and incorporates a Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 400 processor with dual-core CPU and 3G/4G world and multimode LTE so you can enjoy the richest content on AT&T’s blazing fast 4G LTE network.
For more information, or to pre-order HTC First, please visit www.att.com/facebookhome.[/toggle]
There is no Facebook phone. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook’s upcoming Android announcement is actually more of a home screen experience and not an actual device. That rumored HTC Myst? It’s just the first device to come from a partner, which, in this case is HTC.
The social network has been developing new software for mobile devices powered by Google’s Android operating system that displays content from users’ Facebook accounts on a smartphone’s home screen–the first screen visible when they turn on the device, people familiar with the situation said.
From the sounds of it, you’ll be thrown right into Facebook the moment the phone powers on. Reportedly, Facebook is working with other handset makers with hopes to bring the experience to additional devices.
Facebook will initially demonstrate the capability on smartphones from HTC, these people said, but has been working to reach similar arrangements with other device makers.
Facebook, which has said it has more than 650 million mobile users, is planning to make the app broadly available for all Android devices, these people said. Manufacturers must make some tweaks to the Android software to allow the Facebook app to take over the device’s home screen, they added.
Such changes by the manufacturer don’t violate the agreements those companies made with Google to preserve the consistency of the Android user experience, one of the people familiar with the matter said.
On Thursday, Facebook sent out invitations to a media event next week requesting recipients “come see our new home on Android.” Facebook and Google spokesmen declined to comment.
HTC declined to comment on its business relationship with Facebook. However, HTC noted that it previously launched the ChaCha phone, which had a button designated to posting photos directly to Facebook. That wasn’t really successful. HTC’s proprietary Sense interface for Android also included quite a bit of Facebook functionality in the past.
HTC’s making some sweeping changes to their marketing lately with a new announcement that they are dropping the “Quietly Brilliant” tagline in future product ads, according to WSJ.
“We have a lot of innovations but we haven’t been loud enough,” said Mr. Ho, a Singaporean who is HTC’s third marketing chief in less than two years. The new approach, he says, will be bolder.
One such example is HTC’s attack on the Samsung Galaxy S 4, referring to the device as “#thenextbigflop” on Twitter. Ho also said that HTC will be stepping up its advertising efforts by growing its digital marketing budget by 250 percent from 2012, while its traditional marketing budget will grow by 100 percent.
HTC will begin its “bolder strategy” with a new marketing campaign for the HTC One with themes like “bold,” “authentic,” and “playful.” Ho says “bold” will demonstrate that HTC wants to be more aggressive in their marketing speak. “Authentic” will reinforce focus on HTC’s innovation and “playful” will highlight new features that are based on consumer demand.
Ho confirmed the firm will up its worldwide marketing budget 250 per cent on last year, and also told the newspaper: “We have a lot of innovations but we haven’t been loud enough.
Ho stepped outside of the marketing conversation by confirming the delay of the HTC One is due to camera supply shortages.
“Our friends in the media have been asking why there has been a delay in shipments for the new HTC One, whether there is a component shortage. There is some shortage, because the phone’s camera was designed specifically for us, and production cannot be ramped up so quickly.”
HTC has just issued another official statement regarding the HTC One’s delayed launch.
“HTC has seen unprecedented demand for and interest in the new HTC One, and the care taken to design and build it is evidenced in early reviews. The new HTC One will roll out in the UK, Germany and Taiwan next week and across Europe, North America and most of Asia-Pacific before the end of April. We appreciate our customers’ patience, and believe that once they have the phone in their hands they will agree that it has been worth the wait.”
The company’s statement comes several days after reports that said the HTC One’s rollout would be delayed. A shortage of components like metal casings and camera parts slowed shipments of the HTC One, executives told the Wall Street Journal.
The HTC One has drawn early praise from tech reviewers, but the delay is another setback for a company that has struggled to keep up with competitors like Samsung. Last month, the company reported that revenue fell 44 percent from the previous year.
The HTC One boasts a 4.7-inch full HD 1080p display with 468 ppi. It runs a 1.7-GHz, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor and HTC Sense, a customized version of Android. The phone supports NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, and DLNA for wireless streaming to a TV or computer. It can also work as a remote control on supported devices. There’s a microUSB 2.0 port with a mobile high-def video link for USB or HDMI hookup. There’s also a new “UltraPixel” camera which HTC has been touting.
