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HTC has begun rolling out its Android 4.2.2 update for the HTC One, with owners in Europe, Taiwan, and other locations receiving the much-anticipated firmware upgrade. The software, which takes Android to 4.2.2 but also makes significant changes to HTC’s own Sense interface, in particular addresses one of our lingering issues with the One: the ugly triple-dot “Menu” softkey which robs users of all-important screen real-estate.
That, happily, is gone, replaced with the option to trigger the context menu with a long-press of the touch-sensitive Home key, HTCSource reports. As that would usually summon Google Now, that has been remapped to the more common swipe-up from Home, as Google uses on the Nexus 4.
The menu option isn’t the only space-stealing change to the UI. HTC has shifted the “Power Saving” mode checkbox from the drop-down notification pane, freeing up more space for alerts, and there are new quick-settings toggles for easily controlling wireless and other features.
Other changes include the addition of lockscreen widgets and Daydream mode, which puts photo slideshows, news headlines, or other content on the One’s lockscreen when it’s not in use.
HTC BlinkFeed can now pull in Instagram photos, and HTC has also enhanced its Zoe camera feature. There are six new Highlight video themes to choose from – though still not the option to create your own – with a carousel of icons to flip between them, rather than the previous drop-down menu.
A much-needed tweak to the camera is how the One presents its Zoe media clusters. Previously, as we complained about in the past, you’d get all twenty of the stills along with the 3.6s video clip showing up in the gallery and, as a result, synchronizing online with services like Dropbox and Google+ Instant Upload. Now, though, you see just one photo and the video clip; the rest of the stills can be optionally pulled out of the video footage, but they’re not saved separately as standard.
Software update 2.24.709.1 for the HTC One is rolling out progressively now; it’s a 465.24MB update, so best to download it over WiFi rather than your cellular data connection.
HTC One Android 4.2.2 update fixing Zoe flood, Menu key, more is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 05
Last week we got our hands on the HTC One Google Play edition and shared our first impressions. Today we dig a little deeper into how this superphone differs from its Sense 5-equipped siblings, with a focus on benchmarks, battery life and camera performance. As you’ll recall, Samsung introduced a Galaxy S 4 running stock Android at Google I/O and HTC quickly followed suit by announcing an unskinned version of its own flagship, the One. The handset, which went on sale in the Play store on June 26th for $599 unsubsidized, is based on AT&T’s 32GB model and features identical specs. As such, it also comes with the same limitations. So, what’s the HTC One like with stock Android? Is it better than the devices running Sense 5? What do you give up and, most importantly, is it worth spending the premium for this Google Play edition? Find out after the break.
Gallery: HTC One Google Play edition
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Google
Jul 05
HTC has just put out unaudited results for its Q2, with profits down 83% on last year. The Taiwanese phone maker, which is battling for oxygen in the fiercely competitive Android OEM smartphone space dominated by South Korea’s Samsung, said its total revenues for the quarter reached NT$70.7 billion ($2.35 billion). Profits came in at NT$1.25 billion ($41.63 million), below analyst expectations, with earnings per share after tax standing at NT$1.50.
HTC’s Q2 profits were higher than the NT$85 million it made in the previous quarter but down from NT$7.40 billion it made a year earlier. The WSJ reports that the average expected net profit of seven analysts it polled for HTC’s Q2 was NT$2.0 billion, making for another sizeable miss for HTC.
The latest results put a dampener on some more positives signs last month. HTC’s sales in May surged 48.03% — its best uplift all year — but monthly revenues for June took a considerable dive, down 23.88% month-on-month and 26.43% year-on-year. That’s a worrying sign for the company which has been banking on its flagship HTC One handset keeping the tills ringing as it works to expand its portfolio, reconfigure its senior management team and reboot its marketing strategy.
The problem HTC faces is extremely fierce competition in the smartphone space, with rivals like Samsung wielding a huge portfolio of devices at multiple price-points taking more and more share of the market. HTC has announced a smaller, more affordable version of the HTC One — the HTC One Mini — which it will be hoping can grab share from the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini but the One Mini has yet to hit shelves. Trying to turn around a phone business with just one star handset up for grabs is a huge ask.
A Google Play edition of the HTC One is due to go on sale next week, albeit alongside a Google Play edition of Samsung’s Galaxy S4.
Jul 05
HTC saw Q2 2013 profits dive more than 83-percent year-on-year, with net income a mere NT$1.25bn ($42m) after awful June sales saw its fledgling turnaround stumble. The unaudited results make for miserable reading in comparison to Q2 2012′s figures, which were themselves dire in comparison to the year previous.
Back in the same period a year ago, HTC made NT$7.4 in net profit. That, at the time, was seen as a poor showing, given it was a 57-percent loss over Q2 in 2011.
This time around, HTC took NT$70.7bn in the three month period, though saw sales dip. The company had been enjoying a mild turnaround of sorts, with revenues in April and May 2013 each rising, month-on-month, by over 23- and 48-percent respectively.
However, that upward trend buckled in June, with revenues slipping down once more courtesy of an almost 24-percent drop versus May. That, unsurprisingly, is being largely credited to Samsung’s Galaxy S 4, 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.
HTC Q2 2013 slumps: June sales crash sees profit fall 83% YoY is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 03
A set of photos has appeared depicting a miniature version of the hero device created by HTC to lead their smart device family through 2013. This device has been code-named HTC One Mini until the company makes it official, here appearing in black where previous rumors and information leaks had only shown the machine in its original silver metal iteration. This device will likely be unveiled by HTC by the end of this summer.
What you’re seeing here is a palm-sized HTC device made to be the smaller version of the HTC One. This version has been suggested – multiple times, from several sources – to be carrying a 4.2-inch 720p display, that bringing its sharpness up to 342 PPI – well under the original’s industry-leading 468 PPI.
The HTC One Mini has also been suggested to work with a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor along with 2GB of RAM, the processor not quite ringing up to the Snapdragon 600′s quad-core power, but staying ahead of last year’s Snapdragon S4 model present in several HTC One models (HTC One S, HTC One X USA-edition).
This device will likely bring the same HTC BoomSound front-facing speaker set and UltraPixel camera technology as the original, and will be delivered with Android 4.2.2 or higher with the newest version of HTC’s own user interface Sense.
UPDATE: It would appear that the images shared of this machine posted to the original source, SmartNews, have now been taken down at the request of local PR. This source also mentioned – before it’s takedown – that the device would be delivered by the end of the third quarter of this year.
HTC One Mini leaked in black, aimed at Q3 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 02
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