Hasta La Gadget!

On October 17, HTC rolled out the J Butterfly smartphone, a behemoth of a handset with a stunning 5-inch display and excellent hardware to round it out. That handset was a Japan-only release, with the device making its way to the United States as the Droid DNA. Now users in China will be able to get their hands on the Butterfly in a couple weeks. It also looks like the handset will be launched internationally as the HTC Butterfly with 3G connectivity.

The Butterfly X920e is very similar to the J Butterfly, and is slated for release with China Unicom (WCDMA). The handset will be available sans contract for the unsubsidized price of ¥4,799, which is approximately $700 USD. The handset will be available in brown, red, and white. The Buttefly features a 5-inch HD LCD 3 1080p display, a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor and 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage space, and a 2020mAh battery.

In addition to the Butterfly, HTC will also be launching two Windows Phone 8 handsets: the 8X and the 8S. Both handset are headed to China Unicom (WCDMA), China Telecom (CDMA2000) and China Mobile (TD-SCDMA), giving users two more carrier options over the Butterfly. For now, there’s no word on how much the two smartphones will cost.

The announcement concentrated on the Butterfly, which is no doubt the big name out of the three handsets that were announced. Few details were mentioned concerning the two Windows Phone devices, but assuming they share the same specs as their Western counterparts, the 8X will feature a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 720p display and a Snapdragon S4 processor, while the 8S handset will feature a 4-inch Super LCD with Gorilla Glass, as well as a Snapdragon S4.

HTC Butterfly X920e heading for China this month; 3G Butterfly goes global is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The HTC 8X is probably the most readily available Windows Phone 8 smartphone in the USA, and so far, it did not seem to suffer from any shortage. This smartphone is available on the T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon networks in various colors: Red, Yellow, Blue and Black. These are the Windows Theme colors and so far, the public seems to be excited by the idea of getting a brightly colored handset.

On the market, The HTC 8X main competitor is the Nokia Lumia 920, which is similarly priced at AT&T. If you absolutely want to be on T-Mobile or Verizon, then the fight falls back to the lower-end Nokia 8xx models as the 920 is an AT&T exclusive for the time being.

The HTC 8X’s main advantage over the Nokia Lumia 920 is the slightly smaller size (if you like that) and the much lighter weight, which is for many (but not all) an undeniable advantage that cannot be ignored. However, the Lumia 920 has great advantages of its own, including the low-light camera and exclusive Nokia software. Which one is best for you? (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nokia Lumia 920 Review, Droid DNA Review,

HTC‘s fortunes could be improving as the holiday season approaches, with newly released financial figures for November indicating the hint of a turnaround amid high-profile devices such as the DROID DNA. HTC took NT$21.2bn (US$730m) last month [pdf link], up from NT$17.2bn in October, and just edging ahead of the NT$21.1bn revenues seen in September. However, the company isn’t out of the woods just yet.

Although November revenues headed in the right direction, they’re still short of what HTC made in July and August: NT$25bn and NT$24bn respectively. Total unaudited consolidated revenue from January to November 2012 is NT$267.5bn (US$9.2bn).

Since the downward spiral, of course, HTC has released a number of attention-grabbing devices. On the Windows Phone side, the company has been quick out of the gate with the 8X – launched on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon – while over on the Android side of the fence, the DROID DNA has become one of the must-have devices on Verizon, thanks to its impressive 5-inch, 1080p resolution display.

What remains to be seen is whether HTC can continue that momentum into the new year, though whispers of a second powerhouse, the HTC M7, could make Mobile World Congress in February particularly interesting. HTC has also settled its differences with Apple, which may well reassure investors now that courtroom battles will take less of the firm’s focus.

[Thanks Carl!]

HTC sees turnaround November after DROID DNA and WP8 8X is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In the middle of November, Apple and HTC formed a settlement that ended a two-year legal struggle over patents. Samsung followed up by filing a request in court for access to the settlement details, which it was granted a few days later. Now the general public gets to see a redacted version of the settlement, which reveals few precious details.

As you can see in the sample above, the agreement document has been heavily redacted, with very few details left visible. It was Samsung that made the redacted agreement available, submitting it to the public for reasons we can only speculate about. The few things it does reveal are scattered among 140 pages.

What we do know is this. Apple and HTC have settled on a non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable license for specific patents from both companies. There are provisions that exclude nine HTC patents and various Apple patents, as well as an arbitration process in place for any product Apple decides HTC has cloned. Specific devices and other such details are all hidden.

Perhaps most amusingly, the redacted document leaves visible the fact that both Apple and HTC agreed to remain silent on the issue. This, of course, follows on the heals of the seemingly never-ending patent wars various companies are engaged in, particularly Apple and Samsung, who have been at each other’s proverbial throats. The two companies are currently engaged in a lawsuit over patents scheduled for trial in 2014.

[via AllThingsD]

Apple and HTC settlement agreement surfaces, is heavily redacted is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Financially speaking, HTC hasn’t had the best track record this year. Even after promising to focus on hero devices in 2012, the company has had to deal with rough quarter after rough quarter. It seems that HTC is already working to make 2013 a bit brighter though — recent report from Focus Taiwan points out that the company is currently slaving away on its next flagship smartphone, tentatively named the “M7.”

There’s very little known about the device at this point, but a little digging from the folks at HTC Source seems to have unearthed an early spec sheet. If true, the M7 could ship with a 5-inch display running at 1080p, an aluminum unibody chassis, a 13-megapixel camera, and (most importantly) a Qualcomm APQ8064 quad-core processor.

On some level it seems like HTC is rushing into things — after all, the Taiwanese company just launched a pair of 1080p display-toting phones in Japan and the United States within the past two months, though it doesn’t seem like either of them will land in Europe any time soon. Then again there’s not a whole lot of time for players in the wireless industry to sit around and catch their proverbial breath. Rivals LG and Samsung are both widely expected to launch followups to their own respective flagship phones (complete with 1080p displays as well) within the first half of 2013. The eventual announcement may not be the most welcome news for customers who have just taken the plunge on another device, but hey — that’s just the nature of the beast.

If this thing really is in the works, then I imagine it won’t be too long before it makes its grand entrance — HTC usually shows off some impressive new hardware (the One series, anyone?) at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and that’s less than three months away. Couple that with some analyst chatter about a March 2013 launch and the company’s track record with employees’ loose lips, and we have all the makings of a potential leakfest sooner rather than later.