Hasta La Gadget!

We are more often than not told to “go for gold” in whatever that we do, and when it comes to the word “gold”, it does bring about a fair number of expressions such as “a golden opportunity”, or “good as gold”, or even “the Golden Rule”. Well, gold is something that has stirred up the greed in mankind ever since it was discovered, and it will continue to do so. O2, a mobile provider in the UK, is feeling generous enough to give away an 18-carat gold HTC One to a lucky customer. Basically, this is a marketing move to sell even more HTC Ones, as each HTC One that is sold at O2 stores between today and Sunday will be accompanied by a golden ticket that will carry a code. This code can be entered online in order for you to stand a chance to win that elusive HTC One that comes covered in 18 carat gold.

There are only five in the entire country (the UK), and the street price for this 18 carat gold HTC One happens to cost more than £2,000, which by far and large would make it the most exclusive and expensive phone that has rolled out by HTC to date. Of course, we will not take into consideration those custom design jobs that see a smartphone blinged out with diamonds and other precious gems. Apart from a gold HTC One, the lucky winner will also pick up tickets to the MOBO tour at The O2 this coming November 14th.

O2 To Offer HTC One Covered Gold In Sweepstakes original content from Ubergizmo.

HTC announced a new device Monday morning: a giant smartphone with a 6-inch screen.

The Taiwanese manufacturer has confirmed that it will release HTC Sense 5.5 for HTC One. This announcement comes after HTC’s worst kept secret, the HTC One Max, was finally announced today. The phablet will come with Sense 5.5 installed out of the box, its younger and relatively smaller sibling will receive the update in the near future. A few screenshots of HTC Sense 5.5 were leaked last week, today we got a good glimpse of it with the official images of the One Max.

The folks at HTC have confirmed to Pocketlint that Sense 5.5 will be released for HTC One, but they’ve not confirmed exactly when this release will take place. HTC One is currently undergoing a round of updates. Android 4.3 update for the device is gradually being rolled out, U.S. carrier branded models only started receiving it last week. Sense 5.5 will be brought over to the One in a future software update. A number of improvements have been made in Sense 5.5. Blinkfeed has been enhanced and users finally have the option to turn Blinkfeed off and revert to a standard issue home screen with shortcuts, widgets etc. Users can now also source content from RSS feeds into Blinkfeed and they can mark something if they wish to read it later. Changes have been made to the gallery as well, it now uses a carousel for navigation. It certainly enhances and refines the user experience, and is likely to make those on Sense 5.0 wish that the update be released soon.

HTC Sense 5.5 For HTC One Confirmed original content from Ubergizmo.

HTC has revealed its latest smartphone, the 5.9-inch big-screen sibling of the HTC One flagship device. The new HTC One Max is well into phablet territory at nearly 6 inches, but retains the slick aluminum case design of its smaller predecessor, as well as the somewhat dodgy Ultrapixel camera. But its full 1080p screen packs an impressive 349 ppi, and it has a fingerprint sensor on the back with some interesting tricks up its sleeve.

HTC’s fingerprint scanner is programmable for up to three separate fingers, which can instantly launch up to three separate apps without requiring unlocking or a trip to the home screen. That’s a twist on Apple’s iPhone 5s, which uses its built-in fingerprint scanner in place of a passcode, and for authorizing purchases made through the iTunes and App Stores.

The One Max fingerprint sensor can also unlock the phone, and is located on the back of the device just beneath the camera lens. That seems a somewhat awkward placement for it, judging from my experience with the LG G2′s weird back panel sleep/wake button and volume rocker, but given the HTC phone’s nearly edge-to-edge display and lack of a home button, there was really very few other places it could land.

Another key improvement for the HTC One Max is that it has expandable memory – there’s either 16GB or 32GB built-in, but you can take off the rear cover and put in a micro SD card for up to 64GB more, which is a considerable advantage. Other specs include a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor (same as the One) and an IR blaster. It’s set to launch in Europe and Asia in October, and then it’ll make its way to the U.S. shortly after that, likely in early November.

HTC’s strategy with smartphone releases is evidently to take its core One device and tweak it to suit the tastes of multiple consumers; the One Max offers a big-screen experience, with the flash addition of the fingerprint scanner but with a slightly worse-off camera since it lacks optical image stabilization. The expandable memory is an interesting change, and could reflect an attempt by HTC to iterate based on customer feedback it has received from previous launches, but all told I’d still suspect the One Max has a hard time doing much to reverse HTC’s recent misfortunes.

There’s little left to say about the HTC One Max – it’s a device that’s been leaked more than almost any other smartphone this year. But here in the days before the actual final reveal, we can move down the list with every little bit and piece we’ve been tipped to know. This begins with […]