You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Here it is: the fourth and final piece of the Ubuntu puzzle. We’ve seen the OS on smartphones, on TVs and of course on desktops, but the tablet version has spent a little longer in its dressing room.
On Friday, a report surfaced on 9to5Google that Google was making serious plans to open permanent retail locations, and it’s been followed up today by the Wall Street Journal indicating the same thing.
For a company whose launch event revolved around a singular device, HTC had a lot on its plate when unveiling the One. After all, the occasion was as much to showcase software as it was hardware. Not to fret — we’ve bundled all the relevant stories in one place so you can relive the event proper, what it’s like to use the One and our conversation with HTC chief Peter Chou. Hop past the break and you’ll have a primer on what to expect on store shelves in roughly a month’s time.
All of a sudden, I’m excited about HTC again. After a dire 2012 and a dreary line-up the twelve months before that, the HTC One is a blast of fresh air and has a real “return to form” feel for the company. I was lucky enough to spend some extended time with the One ahead of today’s launch, and came away impressed with HTC’s attention to detail and concerned that it would struggle to communicate its message. Rather than follow the trend of more megapixels, HTC opted out and went for a photography system that, it claims, is far more relevant to how people actually use their smartphones.
First the good news. The One feels excellent in the hand, and while people have commented that – in the leaked shots at least – it bears a resemblance to the iPhone 5, in the metal it’s very different. It’s one of the sturdiest, most premium-feeling Android devices we can recall, and that effort will hopefully pay dividends when it comes to distinguishing itself against other phones in-store.
“It takes us back to the days of the HTC Hero”
It takes us back to the days of the HTC Hero, which was an incredibly exciting device, one that encapsulated the idea that Android was tremendously liberating in some way. That Google pushed out this platform which gave manufacturers great breadth of freedom to innovate on top of it. Android at the time looked relatively basic, and things like HTC Sense weren’t just reskins for the sake of differentiation but a completely new environment in which to operate.
Since then, of course, Google hasn’t been standing still. Most of the key elements that HTC introduced with Sense – the social networking integration, for instance – got gradually integrated into the core OS, and over time HTC’s software felt more like visual change for the sake of it. New UIs aren’t a bad thing in and of themselves – one of Android’s strengths is its flexibility, after all – but when they delay firmware updates then users unsurprisingly sour on them.
HTC One overview:
HTC has moved to address that, building in support for incremental updates into Sense 5, and giving its engineers the ability to tweak preloaded apps like BlinkFeed and the Zoe photography system without having to wait for a full ROM to be carrier tested and distributed. Meanwhile, the apps themselves are the most compelling we’ve seen on an HTC device for some time: BlinkFeed, and its “snackable” approach to news and social consumption does make some sense considering how people use their phones today, while Zoe – though initially confusing – gets more fun the longer you interact with it.
HTC could still shoot itself in the foot, if it doesn’t make good on its promise to develop what its shown us in fledgling status today. I’ve criticized the company in the past for introducing with solid ideas but then failing to capitalize on them – OnLive gaming, for instance, or Sense Online – and so while Sense 5 is a welcome revamp, only time will tell whether HTC has the sticking power to give it the refinement it deserves and the longevity users demand.
That’s not the big problem, though; that has a Samsung logo. The Korean company’s marketing spend around the Galaxy S III has been vast, and shows little sign of abating as the much-rumored Galaxy S4 approaches. No matter how good last year’s HTC One X and One X+ might have been – and we were pretty impressed at the time – they were simply buried by the Galaxy hype, to the point where the smartphone market became in effect a two-horse race: do you go iPhone or do you go Galaxy S III?
“Marketing and promotion is HTC’s weak link”
HTC undoubtedly recognises that marketing and promotion is its weak link; unfortunately, the knowledge you have a problem doesn’t put any more cash in the war-chest, and HTC simply can’t afford to match Samsung’s huge campaigns. That’s bad enough when you have devices, like the One X, which directly compete on specifications with rivals, but it’s a potential kiss of death when, in the case of the HTC One, you’re having to explain complex and confusing decisions you’ve made, such as UltraPixels and the whole Zoe system.
Specifications may “be dead” as we’re regularly told, but consumers still play spec-sheet bingo in stores, comparing the raw numbers of one to the numbers of another. Will they spend the time to figure out why HTC’s 4-megapixels might, in fact, be better than the 8- or 13-megapixels of another device? Or will HTC’s phone simply earn a spot at the bottom of the table?
The only way to compete on that front is education: teaching customer services reps how to teach would-be buyers why they should care about one thing and not just take numbers at face value. That’s not something HTC’s “Quietly Brilliant’ marketing strategy of old has proved particularly good at, and there’re expensive lessons to give, when few sales people will ever be criticized for recommending Apple or Samsung.
If all things were equal, the HTC One would be an inescapable contender in 2013. The hardware is incredible, the software a promising return to old form, and for once there’s a sense that a manufacturer has stopped to consider what users actually do, not what might sound best in “mine is bigger” advertising. Equality is a pipe-dream, though, and the HTC One will have to fight tooth and nail – and HTC make the very most of its limited marketing budget – if it wants to raise its head above the rest of the smartphone noise.
It’s all about the HTC One today as the company re-introduces themselves as a one-shot hero show – and with one hero comes accessories galore, of course. Here we’ve got a set of accessories that start with a folding case that’ll allow you to go all HTC Thunderbolt on your new model, moves on to dual-color covers, a 6,000 mAh battery bar, and creeps on in with a brand new car kit. You’ll be rolling out with style with your new HDMI kit, multiple choices for colors on all deliverables, and access to the whole lot by the time the actual phone reaches your pocket.
The kickstand case you’re seeing here takes on a form not unlike what we saw with the HTC One “EVO” device we experienced earlier last year – have a peek at our HTC EVO 4G LTE New Orleans ImageChip Tour post for more information on that HTC kickstand-lover. The fold-over case you see here employs red and black on its insides, leading us to believe that a Verizon version of the HTC One might be on the way – DROID perhaps.
The rather sunflower-like swivel stand you’re seeing here is made specifically for the HTC One and – for now – will only be available for this device. With the HTC DoubleCharge you’ll get such a massive amount of battery life (in a big rectangular box) that you’ll be able to charge your HTC One twice over. No more stranded in nowhereland with no uptime for you!
Some of the items we’ve seen before that were shown off again: the HTC Car StereoClip, Beats Earbuds, and the HTC Media Link HD for HDMI projection excellence. Then there’s the two-tone case you’ll see bringing on a rather bright strip of red to your HTC One experience. We’re expecting a whole lot more in the way of bright and odd color combinations here soon.
Finally, have a peek at the timeline below for more information on the HTC One through a fabulous list of hands-on experiences and announcements.
Is this theOne? That’s pretty much the question we put to HTC’s Peter Chou, whose company has had a tough time battling other mobile giants with its original One series. The CEO was kind enough to have a little chat with us after the One launch — although his responses were often vague. We covered topics from what went wrong last year, how the new flagship device will bring the company back in the game, and where does HTC see itself from the perspective of consumers. Read on for the highlights as well as the full video clip after the break.
Looking back at the good old days since the original One series launch, Chou once again acknowledged the fact that his company didn’t do so well with marketing. “We had a few great devices, a lot of innovation, but we just need to let people know all of these HTC innovations. So today we are introducing the HTC One and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” said Chou. The CEO is also confident that his new flagship device has what it takes to deter consumers from the competition. “HTC will be offering consumers a great phone with great experience, these qualities are non-compromised. We are very confident that consumers will appreciate these innovations, experience and quality.”
“We just need to let people know all of these HTC innovations.”
In the face of the likes of Samsung and many Chinese manufacturers, Chou believes that HTC’s ability to work very closely with partners is a key to success — something that the company’s been very proud of since its OEM days. On the same subject, Chou also hinted at the changes that happened inside HTC not so long ago to help it stay in the game. “We are driving changes inside the company, pushing the innovation and pushing the execution.”
As any executive would do at a launch event, Chou went on to pimp the highlights of the One: BlinkFeed (live feed of ambient information), BoomSound (dual front-facing loudspeaker) and Zoe (multimedia gallery and editor on steroids). Again, the exec emphasized the importance of great experience, especially with Zoe where the user doesn’t need to do much, and yet they still get this “awesome emotion and personality” with the movies they share with people. “We think that this is a great way of providing new experience to smartphone users,” Chou added.
“The megapixel myth is the wrong way to go.”
We went on to ask how HTC will handle the tricky task of convincing consumers into the low-res (4-megapixel) but more sensitive and efficient UltraPixel camera, to which we were given a familiar response. “The megapixel myth is the wrong way to go, so what really matters is to give you much better image quality with great innovative, exciting experience. So that’s where we’re focusing on.”
Interestingly, the One doesn’t come with a microSD slot (as featured on the Japanese and Asian Butterfly variants) and Qi wireless charging (as featured on the Verizon versions of some HTC flagships), but Chou wasn’t too keen on addressing these drawbacks, and neither was he up for talking about the seemingly smaller battery size when compared to some of the competition. “Our differentiation is very, very clear,” Chou said. Of course, we shall see about that when we eventually get to review the One.
Sharif Sakr and Mat Smith contributed to this interview.
This week we’ve had the opportunity to have a look at the new HTC One with not only a collection of hands-on experiences, but with processor benchmarking as well. Using the standard Quadrant Benchmark test here we’re finding that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor is blowing up the charts, destroying the previous high-mark in the basic readout by more than double – those tiny towers on the left are what’s left of the original HTC One X, the ASUS Transformer Prim TF201 (with a Tegra 3 processor), and some lesser beings. Even compared with the Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core SoC running on the Google Nexus 4 only reaches nearly 5000 as a final score in Quadrant – the HTC One reaches 12,417!
Comparing the individual markers inside the total you’ll find a CPU score of 37,304, Memory at 10,922, and I/O at a staggering 10,566. Those are massive scores, on all accounts. The Nexus 4 comes in at CPU: 10,687, Mem: 7,612, and I/O: 4,340 if you’d like to know. With the HTC One’s combination of four Krait 300 CPU cores at 1.7GHz, an Adreno 320 GPU, and a performance boost well over the Snapdragon S4 Pro, this will very likely be the most impressive smartphone processor-wise you’ll have ever experienced.
We’ve also had a look at Sunspider working with the standard web browser on the device. Here we get a lovely 1195.2ms as a final result, this compared with the HTC One X+ (1215.4ms) and the Samsung Galaxy S III (1082.2ms) shows that web browsing is pretty much the same as it’s been over the past year. Then again – as above – this is not final software and anything could happen before the HTC One is released inside March, 2013. It should also be noted that the speed of the rendering on the HTC One (as well as the others here) were done at different times and under different conditions – so take it all with a bit of straw.
Also have a peek at our timeline below filled with hands-on experiences with the HTC One, complete with details from each of this device’s new features. With the HTC One, the company may well be entering a new age. One in which a single device really, truly is the hero – could it possibly be?
Did you hear about the HTC One’s fancy new “UltraPixel Camera”? HTC touts the camera as an end to the “megapixel wars.” UltraPixels! Revolution! And, yes, the technology sounds very promising, but, uh, wait a second, what is an UltraPixel anyway? More »
You may have noticed a conspicuous absence in the US carrier plans for the HTC One. Your eyes didn’t deceive: once again, Verizon is sitting out the primary launch of an HTC flagship. Just why isn’t clear. When asked, Big Red told us it doesn’t comment on its device strategy; an HTC spokesperson pointed to the Droid DNA, saying that there was nothing more to announce at present. As such, it’s tough to know whether or not Verizon will have another specially-built phone as a consolation prize. While it’s hard to complain too vociferously when the carrier already has a 1080p HTC smartphone, those who want the device maker’s latest will have to turn to one of the three other major networks in the near future.
So, after months of leaks and speculation, HTC has finally revealed the HTC One. To say it’s an important device for HTC is an understatement given the rough seas the company spent nearly all of last year navigating, but the people here seem confident that they’ve worked up a winner. Just after the event wrapped I managed to get some extended hands-on time with the One, and the thing left some strong first impressions (not all of them good).
I’ve already alluded to just how nice the One feels in my hand, but I feel that it’s worth repeating — HTC has done a bang-up job in terms of industrial design. It feels remarkably solid without being unwieldy thanks to its tapered unibody aluminum frame and its relatively modest 4.7-inch display. What’s more, the near-total absence of gaps in the body helps solidify the One’s position as a premium smartphone. Giving HTC points for design prowess is nothing new though. The company has proven time and again that it knows how to make handsome hardware. Anything less at this point would be a step backward, and one that HTC can ill afford.
Sadly, for a device that puts a lot of emphasis on the camera, there’s no physical shutter button. A minor omission sure, and one that HTC has justified by saying that it had done away with excess design flourishes, but one I strongly disagree with. Speaking of omissions, the One only sports two softkeys — a home button and a back button. HTC’s Jeff Gordon told TechCrunch that people just didn’t use the other recent apps button very often (for the record, you can now bring up a grid of running apps by double-tapping the home key).
The 4.7-inch 1080p Super LCD3 panel was impressive in terms of clarity and color reproduction, and as you’d expect it’s damned near impossible to pick out any individual pixels. Brightness seemed more than adequate in this dark warehouse on the west side, but the Droid DNA’s display couldn’t crank up as high as those seen on other devices — I’m waiting to spend some time with the One in daylight before I pass judgment.
As far as the camera goes, it’s difficult to discern just how good the images captured by HTC’s Ultrapixel sensor without dumping them onto a computer for further inspection, but early results seemed promising. The lighting around here (as you could probably tell by some of the stills I took) is downright atrocious, but the One was able to capture some pretty sharp images without much grain getting in the way. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a review unit and really putting this camera through its paces.
Perhaps one of the weirdest things seen on the One is the camera’s Zoe feature — the idea is that users will take three-second video clips and share them with friends and family. Sound familiar? HTC’s Gordon told TechCrunch that Zoe was in development long before Twitter’s Vine hit the scene, but it’s hard not to draw parallels between the two. Switching into Zoe mode took a single tap, and recording was a snap (neat touch:it actually starts recording 0.6 seconds before you press the button) but I’m just not sure why HTC needed this to exist. Couple that with the fact that HTC will only store Zoes online for 180 days and you’ve got all the makings for a non-starter of a feature.
And then there’s the software. Sense 5 is a drastic departure from HTC’s older UIs, and in some ways it’s awfully spartan in comparison. There’s lots of space to be found here (the app launcher only had three columns on these demo units), and the components under the hood help ensure that swiping through apps, scrolling down webpages, and bouncing in and out of BlinkFeed is seamless.
Ah, BlinkFeed — its inclusion is one of those curious decisions that seems like it could go either way. HTC’s rationale was that people use their smartphones primarily to devour content, and BlinkFeed was designed to keep as few hurdles between the two as possible. After swiping though the activity stream, I could see the value in having this customizable firehose (especially after taking the time to customize those content sources), but I wonder how many people walking through a big-box store mulling over another two-year contract will see what I did. Hiding the more standard Android homescreens is a gutsy move, but we’ll soon see how it all plays out.
What remains to be seen is simply whether or not the One can effectively put up a fight against devices like the iPhone 5 and Samsung’s fast-approaching Galaxy S IV. Goodness knows that HTC could really use a big win, and the HTC One certainly pushes plenty of the right buttons. It’s too early to say if it manages to push enough of those buttons, but from what I’ve seen, One seems like a device that’s poised to make a real splash come March.
After months of rumors and leaks, the HTC was finally unveiled today at a press event in New York City this morning. HTC put a lot of thought and work into their next smartphone which they’re considering to be a device that is busting at the seams with premium quality.
The HTC One is the first device manufactured by HTC to use a matte aluminum finish, and it definitely gives the device the sense of premium the company was going for. The device feels great in the hand and is light, but it can slip easily around your hand due to the matte aluminum finish. The sides of the device have a white thin plastic as well as a portion of the back that offers a nice break in the all aluminum phone. The plastic outline also helps in catching onto your hand so the phone doesn’t completely fall out of your hands. Aside from the occasional slipping, the HTC One doesn’t feel like most phones would as the brushed aluminum really feels slick in your hand.
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After months of rumors and leaks, the HTC was finally unveiled today at a press event in New York City this morning. HTC put a lot of thought and work into their next smartphone which they’re considering to be a device that is busting at the seams with premium quality.
