Hasta La Gadget!

Smartphone maker HTC is going through a tough time – and having something of an identity crisis that’s playing out as a rebranding exercise. That’s why it’s spent millions hiring Robert Downey Jr to spice things up with its Here’s To Change campaign. It’s also, apparently, got a few other attention-grabbing tricks up its sleeve. Such as the gizmo pictured above.

Part vapourware, part steampunk fantasy, pure marketing madness.

No it’s not a leftover prop from the latest Tim Burton flick. The Gramohorn II – for that is its ludicrous name – is HTC UK’s contribution to the struggling mobile maker’s internal cultural revolution.

What actually is it? It’s audio kit for the outré HTC One user: a passive speaker smartphone dock designed to grab the tiny timbres issuing from the phone’s front-facing speakers and flick them through its twin horns like a Pamplona bull dispatching a pair of overweight tourists.

Or actually that’s its secondary function, after the primary one of grabbing consumers’ eyeballs and rattling them in their sockets.

If it’s eyes on its logo HTC needs – actually it’s dollars in its coffers but the former tends to lead to the latter – then this mystical hardware unicorn is surely going to deliver. Not so much HTC as WTF?! But in the smartphone popularity contest where Samsung is the ruling Gladiator then anything is better than being invisible. So it’s out with ‘quietly brilliant’ and in with ‘WTF’ blared through a pair of oversized ear trumpets. Bravo HTC, bravo.

Say what you like about the Gramohorn II but one thing is for sure: it’s not quietly brilliant.

It’s not quiet, period.

HTC hasn’t come up with this chunk of craziness on its own. It engaged a young UK designer called Justin Wolter to do that for it – maker of the Gramohorn II’s uni-trumpeted predecessor (which was, er, for iPhones). Wolter came up with the dual-trumpet remix of his earlier design, sketched it out and then with a little judicious use of 3D printing, the Gramohorn II was born.

These days crazy is that easy.

Print on demand means there’s never going to be a warehouse full of unloved Gramohorn IIs. These bad boys are individually made to order. And at £999/$1,600 each (for a plaster-based resin Gramohorn II) – or a frankly insane £4,999/$8,000 for the milled steel version – buyers are being deliberately discouraged from actually getting their hands on the Gramohorn. In all likelihood because it’s going to murder your music by trampling tinnily all over it. Audiophiles avert your ears.

Even hipsters would balk at a price tag with that many bells on it.

Here’s what HTC has to say about its curious lovechild:

To kick-start our Here’s To Creativity campaign Justin has taken the concept of the HTC One’s front facing BoomSound™ stereo speakers and pushed it to the extreme. His design is the physical embodiment of BoomSound incorporated within a unique, dramatic and stylish sculpture.

And here’s what Wolter had to say, when asked whether anyone is actually going to use this as a speaker as, well, a speaker:

The design aims to function as both a functional consumer product as well contemporary art. As such, it hopes to capture and element of curiosity as well as prompt further thought / discussion. Based on key acoustic principles, the design does what it says, in successfully amplifying sound waves using resonance. The Bauhaus-ian mantra of ‘form follows function’ was always in mind during design development.

It also sounds as if the Gramohorn II will be the first in a series of designer eyeball-grabbers coming out of HTC’s UK office.

“HTC UK’s ‘Here’s To Creativity’ campaign is supporting young designers, writers and artists helping them to bring their ideas to life. More exciting creative projects to change the smartphone experience are happening soon,” noted Peter Frolund, General Manager UK, in a sadly understated statement. He should really have said: ‘YEAH! WOOT! LET’S DO THIS!’

This sort of grassroots craziness may not turn HTC’s tanker around but in a mainstream smartphone space that’s become slabbish and staid it sure is fun to see something a little nuts going on.

Here’s To Crazy indeed.

If you’re a fan of HTC smartphones, you’ll appreciate the leaked images that have hit the Internet today. The images are reportedly the HTC M8, which is expected to be the flagship HTC smartphone for 2014. Last year’s flagship HTC phone, the HTC One, went by the codename M7. The HTC M8 would presumably be […]

Michael Coombes and James Atkins have one thing in common and that is the fact that they were both former HTC executives who left the company earlier this year, and what they have done since they left is form a company called Kazam, a company which will manufacture smartphones of their own and will provide “stunning design, robust hardware, and intuitive technology, underpinned with improved customer service.” Pretty fancy words but not surprising, given that Coombes used to be the head of sales, while Atkins was the former marketing director for HTC UK.

The company has recently taken the wraps off five new handsets that will be part of the their Trooper and Thunder lineup of smartphones. The Trooper lineup will consist of five low-mid ranged models, with screen sizes ranging from 3.5” to 5.5”, while the Thunder lineup will feature two high-end smartphones with screen sizes ranging from 4.5” to 5”, with the 4.5” model featuring a quad-core processor, while the 5” model remains a mystery at this point in time. Based on the specs of all of Kazam’s models, we don’t expect them to come with a hefty price tag, meaning that these handsets should appeal to those shopping on a budget. Prices have yet to be revealed but for more information, hit up Kazam’s website for the details!

Former HTC Executives Launch Kazam Branded Smartphones Of Their Own original content from Ubergizmo.

HTC isn’t expected to launch another flagship Android smartphone in what’s left of this year. It launched the HTC One earlier this year, which was very well received. The launch was followed up with HTC One Mini a few months later. After that, we started hearing rumors of a HTC One-esque phablet being in the works. Sure enough, a few weeks ago, the HTC One Max was announced. The first rumor about what to expect from HTC next year, presumably, has come in. A device, codename M8, is said to be the first device to run HTC Sense 6.0.

Unfortunately, the source doesn’t offer any details about Sense 6.0, particularly about how it will be different from Sense 5.5. The little bit of information comes from serial leaked @evleaks, who tweeted about the HTC M8 earlier today. No details about the device have been offered, so its too soon to say right now if it will opt for a metal design like the current flagship and exactly what it will tout under the hood. HTC M8 is obviously not going to be the final moniker of the device, the company still has a lot of time to make a decision on that. Just to jog your memory though, the HTC One was codenamed the HTC M7.

HTC M8 Will Reportedly Be First Sense 6.0 Device original content from Ubergizmo.

Not only is HTC having recent financial difficulties, but it looks like they will be facing some legal difficulties too as Nokia has won a legal victory over HTC over in the UK where a judge has found that HTC had infringed upon one of Nokia’s European patents. The patent in question is for a “Modulator structure for a transmitter and a mobile station” and with this legal victory, Nokia is now pushing for a sales injunction against HTC and its offending devices, and will also be seeking damages for HTC’s unauthorized used of their patents. “Nokia will now seek an injunction against the import and sale of infringing HTC products in the UK as well as financial compensation.”

Naturally HTC will be appealing to the courts against this decision, but for now it looks like Nokia is in the lead. Nokia has had several legal contestations with other tech giants in the past, such as Apple, although the scale of their legal battle is probably nowhere as near or as “epic” as Apple and Samsung. It is unclear as to which are the products by HTC that have infringed upon Nokia’s patents, but unless they are the HTC One and the newly launched HTC One Max, we reckon HTC shouldn’t be affected too greatly. We will keep an eye out for further development and see how HTC’s appeal goes.

Nokia To Seek Injunction Against HTC In The UK Following Court’s Ruling original content from Ubergizmo.