After introducing the first NFC-enabled battery case for the Samsung Galaxy S III back in September, Powerskin is back with a set of new skins for a handful of different phones. Like the case for the Galaxy S III, these cases not only add NFC support to your phone, but they also extend the battery life too. A winning combination for some, and soon Powerskin will have cases ready for the HTC One X+, the Samsung Galaxy Express, and the HTC Windows Phone 8X.
Let’s start right off with the skin for the HTC One X+, shall we? It comes equipped with a 1,500mAh battery that Powerskin says should double your battery life. Of course, it’s also an NFC-enabled skin, so you get that added bonus. The case for the HTC One X+ is available starting today (it’s up on Powerskin’s website right this minute) and will set you back $79.99. It also works with the original One X, so if that happens to be your phone of choice, you might want to give this case a look.
Next up we’ve got the case for the Galaxy Express. It’s the same idea as the case for the HTC One X+, only this one comes packing a 2,000mAh battery, which Powerskin says should extend talk time by 70%. It costs the same as the HTC One X+ case – $79.99 – and will be available starting November 20.
Finally we have the case for the HTC Windows Phone 8X, which features a 1,500mAh batter that should extend total talk time by 60%. Like the others, this case sports a price tag of $79.99, although it doesn’t seem to have a solid release date quite yet – Powerskin says that it’ll be available “around November 28.” Will you be picking up one of these for your shiny new handset?
HTC and Verizon have sent media invites for a mysterious event in New York City on November 13. Of course, given that Verizon is involved, it would make sense if this was for the announcement of the HTC Droid DNA, also known as the HTC DLX (“deluxe”), which is 5″ Android device which would compete with the Galaxy Note 2 from Samsung. The HTC Droid DNA is currently rumored to be available in December.
It could also be about the HTC 8X, a slim Windows Phone from HTC that should make its debuts on Verizon’s network sometime this month. So — what do you think this event is about? What we know is that we’ll be there to cover it, so stay tuned and come back to Ubergizmo on November 13.
Between Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and a few other odds and ends, this fall has been jam-packed with splashy press announcements leading up to the holiday shopping season. Looks like we’re not done just yet: Verizon and HTC announced they’ll be holding a press event in New York City on November 13th. Now, the $64,000 question is: what OS will be on display? Will it be the Android-powered Droid DNA that just passed through the FCC? And here’s another question: does “our latest collaboration” imply an exclusivity agreement? Or what if this is just a coming-out party for HTC’s 8X Windows Phone flagship? It’s not a far-fetched idea: we already know it’s coming to Verizon, but the exact pricing and on-sale date have yet to be revealed. Then again, the 8X has already been shown off at a press event or two, and we’re not sure a Verizon-branded variant would merit such a high-profile news conference. We’ll find out next week, where several of us Engadget editors will be reporting live.
AT&T has finally unveiled its pricing and launch dates for their range of Windows Phone 8 devices. Nokia’s Lumia 920 will be available for a cool $99.99 on November 9, with pre-orders starting on November 7. Nokia’s Lumia 820 will also launch on November 9 and will be priced at $49.99 with pre-orders starting on November 7. HTC’s Windows Phone 8X starts at $99.99 for the 8GB version and $199.99 for the 16GB. The 8X will be available sometime “before Thanksgiving.”
AT&T also revealed an exclusive version of the Windows Phone 8X in Limelight (yellow) as well as California Blue, and they’re the only carrier to offer this device in such colors. These exclusive colors will only be available for the 8GB version of the phone. AT&T also says they will include a free wireless charging plate with each purchase of Lumia 920 for a limited time.
Nokia’s Lumia 920 is the company’s new flagship handset, and it features 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ ClearBlack display with a 1280×768 resolution, and it’s protected by Gorilla Glass 2. It features a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz with 1GB of RAM. The 920′s younger brother, the Lumia 820, features the same processor and RAM specs, but has a slightly smaller 4.3-inch display.
HTC’s Windows Phone 8X has a 4.3-inch display with a 1280×720 resolution. The device also features and Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz and 1GB of RAM. Other than the exclusive AT&T colors, the 8X comes in Graphite Black and Flame Red. AT&T has not announced the release date for the 8X, nor when you can pre-order one, although the carrier says the phone will be out before Thanksgiving.
AT&T is finally spilling the beans on how much its Windows Phone 8 handsets will set you back if you plump for a two-year deal. Nokia’s Lumia 920 costs $99.99, $50 less than previously speculated, and will come with a free wireless charging plate. If your wallet can’t (or won’t) stretch that far, then you can snag a Lumia 820 for just $49.99, the same price as last generation’s flagship. If you’ve had your eye turned by HTC’s much-lauded Windows Phone 8X, then you can select an 8GB limited edition version in blue or limelight (yellow) for $99.99, or a 16GB device for $199.99. Both of the Nokia handsets will be available to pre-order from the 7th (tomorrow) and available on the 9th (Friday), while the 8X should be rolling around “before Thanksgiving.” Now that ‘Ma Bell has tipped her hand, it’s now down to Verizon, which is expected to make its riposte on Thursday.
Verizon has announced that it will be releasing the Nokia Lumia 822 and the HTC8X Windows Phone smartphones by Thanksgiving, giving Black Friday shoppers a chance to nab them for Christmas. Both these phones run Windows Phone 8, and complement Verizon’s previously only-available Windows Phone, the HTC Trophy. You can grab the 8X for $199.99, and the Lumia 822 for $99.99 after rebate.
According to the announcement, the HTC 8X will be available in blue, red, and black, priced at $199.99 with a two-year contract. Meanwhile, the Nokia Lumia 822 will be available in white and gray models priced at $99.99 with a two-year contract after a $50 rebate. The Lumia 822 is exclusively available from Verizon.
The HTC 8X has a 4.3-inch display and features a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, as well as an 8-megapixel rear camera. We got our hands on this smartphone back in October; you can check out the review here. The Nokia Lumia 822 is similar, with a 4.3-inch display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of internal storage, and an 8-megapixel camera.
Windows Phone 8 brings with it an interface that resembles the newly-released Windows 8 operating system. You’ll find Live Tiles on the home screen, which you can use to organize your phone by pinning items, such as bookmarks, in an easy-to-access location. Users who nab one of these phones will also get the Data Sense app, which monitors data usage, as well as 7GB of SkyDrive space.
Nokia has been alone on the vanguard of worthwhile Windows Phone hardware for a while now. But that’s no longer the case. Here’s HTC’s 8X. And it’s got enough firepower to go toe-to-toe with anything on Android or iOS. More »
Today is the big day for the folks at Microsoft and their brand new Windows Phone 8. What we have today is the brand new Windows Phone X8 by HTC, better known as the HTC 8X. With the combination of Windows Phone 8 supporting much better hardware, and HTC bringing their A-game the HTC 8X is a much better, faster, and more personal and improved Windows Phone experience. Read on for our full thoughts.
Now there’s a lot to get here with the 8X from HTC, but we’ll be digging into the impressive new hardware they’ve brought to the table with this flagship WP8 device, as well as everything that makes it fly. The 8X from HTC is the best from them, and from Microsoft so lets take a peek.
Hardware
The Windows Phone X8 by HTC has a clumsy name, but very classy hardware. Combining this awesome new hardware with the latest from Windows, this just might save HTC. Nokia might not like it, but this has been confirmed as the “signature handset” for Windows Phone 8 — and the hardware is a huge part of that. HTC’s really stepped up their game.
The 8X is crafted in a polycarbonate shell that neatly wraps around and meets the 4.3-inch HD display for a squared-off and simple design — just like Windows Phone 8. The bland design and finish of old is replaced by an edgy, sleek, smooth, yet matte design this is elegant and stylish. A big part of Windows Phone 8 is the support for higher resolution bigger displays, and faster multi-core processors. Today we have both with the 8X.
The HTC 8X comes with a 4.3-inch 1280x720p HD SLCD2 display that looks great. It’s bright, vivid, crisp, colorful, and has exceptional viewing angles and colors. The HD resolution fits right in with WP8 and those personalized live tiles. The optical lamination and rounded Corning Gorilla glass is strong, durable, and smooth and curves right into the polycarbonate shell for a seamless design. The hardware really is the star of the show here.
Without preaching too much about the hardware (as we’re big fans) HTC’s added a Qualcomm 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and a mid-sized 1,800 mAh battery. Sadly they’ve opted not to offer removable storage via micro-SD support, something that’s been improved in Windows Phone 8. You’ll get HSPA+ support, 4G LTE where available, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, Beats Audio, and micro-USB all in a device that measures 132x66x10mm in size. It might be 10.12 mm thick but you’d never ever tell by holding this device in hand with the curved and elegant edges. It’s extremely lightweight with the polycarbonate casing being just 130 grams.
The 8X has a lot to live up to with the HTC One X running Android, the iPhone 5, and competitors in Windows Phone such as Samsung and Nokia — and the 8X does just that. As you can see above we have the simple black model, but HTC will offer blue, yellow, red, and more for a personalized love affair. To wrap things up on the hardware the design and button placement is all exception, and very comfortable with daily use. However the power button up top is flush with the device and hard to locate at times — not to mention is a bit squishy and occasionally takes more than one try. Then the squared off edges cause the bottom micro-USB port to have a few sharp edges, and can be bothersome based on how you hold your smartphone.
This is the “signature handset” of Windows Phone, and it certainly fits the bill. HTC’s envisioned and designed an elegant home for Windows Phone 8 to stay — and showcase to the world.
Software
The HTC 8X is one of the first smartphones to grace the world running on the new and improved Windows Phone 8. While it might be hard to notice at first glance, this is an entirely new Windows Phone and a step up from Mango. Everything is faster, better, HD, and more personal. This is the most personal and most customizable Windows Phone yet. There’s tons to talk about with Windows Phone 8 as far as software, so here’s a few bullet points regarding what’s new. Windows Phone 8 now has a re-imagined and more personal start screen. Their live tiles are as friendly as ever, and highly customizable. WP8 supports higher resolution displays, multi-core processors, a better camera app, native screenshots, lockscreen notifications and shortcuts, Kid’s Corner, enhanced sync and backup, and much more.
To get a better feel about Windows Phone 8 and what’s new, you’ll want to check out our in-depth Windows Phone 8 Review. For now, we’ll just rundown a few things here specifically for the HTC 8X and what we enjoyed with Windows Phone 8. Based on more than just Windows 8′s kernel this is Windows 8 in a way, for mobile. Everything is extremely smooth, fluid, and efficient. Boot times are quick, memory management is awesome, and this device flies thanks to the 1.5 GHz dual-core processor support.
Below is an in-depth video showing you many of the new things mentioned above with Windows Phone 8. You’ll see the impressive new personalized experience with live tiles and sizes, lockscreen shortcuts and notifications, kid’s corner to save you from your children, and more. Everything is faster, smoother, easier, and funner with Windows Phone 8. You’ll be flowing through tiles in no time.
The People app now has an improved “What’s new” stream where you can get updates and status details from all your friends and contacts. Now with support for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. What makes this even more unique and personal is groups. With groups you can set certain friends or family members you wish to see what’s new and status updates from. This will cut out the clutter as I’m sure you don’t need to know what everyone in your entire contact list posts to Facebook — but the option is there.
Without getting too in-depth here the video above should give you an excellent idea of what to expect from not only Windows Phone, but Windows Phone 8. I’m sure many are looking at this option for the first time, as are there some die-hard Windows fans that can’t wait to upgrade. As far as competing with iOS and Android, this is only just the beginning of Windows Phone, but we’re starting to see their direction with 8. The start screen is the focal point of their streamlined, yet personalized experience. Managing to do both at once is a real task. With iOS your iPhone will look just like those around you, and with Android all the widgets are awesome, but they have custom skins, tons of different OS versions floating around (fragmentation) and more. While I’m not here to say which is better, Windows Phone 8 feels very similar, smooth, and streamlined — yet offers more personalization than anything available today.
With the App Store approaching 700k apps for iOS, over 650,000 for Android, and about 125,000 for Windows Phone the options are still limited, but certainly headed in the right direction. Now that Windows Phone 8 supports HD resolution displays, dual-core processors and more, we expect app and game developers to really step up their game. Whether or not they will remains to be seen however. This is only the beginning folks. The beginning of a driven Microsoft team, so stay tuned!
Performance
With WP8 performance has been seriously improved. As you saw from my various videos above the user interface is extremely crisp and fluid in its actions. From resizing tiles, opening apps and games, changing theme colors device-wide and more everything is snappy. This is in part to the new, improved, and efficient Windows Phone 8 — but you can’t forget that dual-core processor is under the hood either. While benchmarks aren’t as popular as say, our Android friends with quad-cores, here’s a few just for good measure. AnTuTu has made its way to WP and we scored nearly 12,000 here. Once more start using AnTuTu we can really measure performance. Then for fun we ran a quick test of WP Bench, and you can see those results below for an idea of just how fast Windows Phone 8 and this dual-core really is.
There really should be no debate here. This is one of the best, fastest, smoothest, and quickest Windows Phone experiences yet. Combining new hardware with the latest software, you’ll surely love what it has to offer.
Camera
Now with HTC’s camera we have the first WP device with their dedicated ImageChip for enhanced photos. Using an 8 megapixel backside illuminated sensor (BSI) for better low light, while offering an f/2.0 lens for superior performance the camera does an excellent job with today’s smartphone camera standards. We have 1080p video recording that is exceptional, although there’s still the occasional motion-blur here. Windows Phone 8 now allows for simple pinch-to-zoom in camera and video, and you can simply tap the screen to snap a photo (and focus) as well as quickly tap to start recording 1080p video.
The dedicated two-stage camera button is a nice touch, but is almost pointless when you can just tap the screen to take a quick photo. However, it does allow you to press and hold to skip unlocking the phone and head right into the camera app to snap a quick shot and never miss the perfect moment. Here’s a gallery of images testing the 8 megapixel camera and ImageChip, as well as a 1080p video clip.
Offering a 2.1 megapixel front facing camera with the 8X, HTC has one of the best cameras for video chat using Skype and more. Offering the widest angle lens on any smartphone, in landscape mode the HTC 8X can fit 4 people in-frame using the front facing camera. Get ready to share and enjoy some family moments together on Skype with ease.
Phone & Battery
As a phone the HTC 8X is comfortable to hold, easy to use, sounds great with Beats Audio, and is just the right size for a new smartphone user. We don’t have a tiny small display, or a massive 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II screen size. It’s the perfect size for most, and will be a joy for first time smartphone buyers. The speakerphone is one of the loudest, and crispest sounding speakers we’ve used to date. A lot of that is thanks to Beats Audio, but music still inevitably has that tin-can sound to it.
Battery life has always been a strong suite for Windows Phone, and the same holds true with WP8. The changes under the hood to the Windows 8 kernel, software stack, and efficiency allows for all-day battery life. You’d think those increases would be balanced out by HD screens and dual-core processors, but they are not. Qualcomm’s 1.5 GHz S4 is their latest offering that is highly efficient. Without being able to properly test 4G LTE radios on our international 8X we can’t comment there, but I’ve achieved far better battery life than expected with an 1,800 mAh battery. Expect a solid 14-15 hours with average usage from push notifications for emails, browsing the web, the occasional game, and more. I’ve managed a good 4-5 hours of actual “screen-on” time during the day, and still had enough to make it through an entire work day without reaching for a charger.
Competition
As far as competition goes HTC also has their lower end Windows Phone 8S that still will be plenty for most, but will come at a lower price point due to a slower CPU, less RAM, and a smaller 4-inch screen. It still has the aesthetics we love, and of course Windows Phone 8. Then Nokia — who we can’t forget — will be on the other side of the battle with their impressive Lumia 920 and its slightly larger 4.5-inch HD display. Without mentioning Android or iPhone the Windows Phone 8 platform has a lot to look forward to in terms of competition. Then the Samsung ATIV S with its massive 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display will surely shake things up.
For those looking for an all around package in this new Windows Phone 8 ecosystem the 8X by HTC is an optimal choice. We’ll reserve full judgement for once we’ve had our hands on the rest of the pack.
Wrap-Up
With the 8X from HTC the Windows Phone platform has a new leader, being called the “signature handset” of Windows Phone 8 — and it delivers just the qualities that Microsoft was looking for. This embodies their OS’ style and design. It’s elegant, sleek, and powerful! Without a doubt the all new Windows Phone 8X by HTC is one of, if not the absolute best WP device we’ve tested to date. Offering the newest OS with it’s sleek new personalized features, an impressive HD display, powerful dual-core performance and more this phone is everything we’ve been waiting for in the world of Windows Phone.
Like mentioned above, HTC faces some stiff competition from the other manufacturers in the game, but with this new device they’ve certainly set the tone for their product line. Windows offers phone users a truly easy to use smartphone experience. Now that they’ve polished up their interface and added more features, Windows Phone finally has the hardware and software requirements to compete with the big players in mobile. We can’t wait to see what else HTC brings to the table, and this is certainly a great start for the new realm of Windows Phone 8. Get the new Windows Phone 8X by HTC from AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon coming in November.
It feels like forever since Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8 back in June, but the mobile OS is finally here and with it comes the inaugural volley of compatible handsets. The first one to cross our desks is the global, unlocked version of HTC’s Windows Phone 8X, a device we first saw in September. Unlike other current flagships, this phone breaks the bigger-is-better trend by providing a full set of high-end specs in a relatively compact package — combining a 4.3-inch 720p Super LCD 2 display, Qualcomm dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and NFC in a sleek and colorful package. Does the 8X have what it takes to carry the Windows Phone 8 torch? Is this a bona fide flagship despite its reduced footprint? Has HTC designed a better handset than its existing Android superphone, the One X? Find out in our review after the break.
Today T-Mobile announced their holiday lineup of new devices, and it includes a plethora of different phones from different manufacturers. T-Mobile named off devices such as the Nokia Lumia 810, the HTC Windows Phone 8X, the Google Nexus 4 from LG, and the Samsung Galaxy Note II. These devices and more will be available from T-Mobile during the holiday season.
On top of this, the carrier will also be bringing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, LG Optimus L9, and Google’s Nexus 7. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Lumia 810, Windows Phone 8X, and the Nexus 4 will be available at T-Mobile starting November 14. The Nexus 7 will be coming November 5, and the Optimus L9 will available on October 31.
The Galaxy Note II has been available on T-Mobile for a few days now, but the carrier is putting it in with their holiday lineup, and the same thing goes for Samsung’s flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III. Both of these devices will be at the forefront of T-Mobile’s offerings along with the aforementioned devices.
Prices for devices start as low as $79.99 for the Optimus L9, and go as high as $369.99 for the Galaxy Note II. T-Mobile is actually selling the Note II $70 higher than other carriers, who are charging only $299 for the 5.5-inch phablet-style smartphone. If you’re in the market for a new device this holiday season, you may want to look into treating yourself with a brand new smartphone.
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HTC and Verizon have sent media invites for a mysterious event in New York City on November 13. Of course, given that Verizon is involved, it would make sense if this was for the announcement of the 
