There’s a conspiracy theory appearing in print this week summoning up the suggestion that Apple purposefully creates products that become obsolete over time. The very idea that such an article exists – here in 2013, no less – but that it only targets one single company as such makes it clear: someone didn’t do their […]
In the year 2013, we think it’s safe to say a great majority of people walking around carry a cellphone around with them. Cellphones allow us to stay in communication with people we may not be around at the time, as well as to pass the time through various games and applications. But one Florida gas station attendant’s cellphone did more than just allow him to communicate with others. It downright saved his life. (more…)
Cellphone Saves Gas Station Clerk’s Life By Stopping A Bullet Fired At Him original content from Ubergizmo. 
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When the Sense 5.5 update hits your HTC One, good news: you’ll be able to snag an additional 25GB of Google Drive storage. Sweet.
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While HTC might not exactly be in the best place financially at the moment, it seems that they are still thinking about their Android customers and have announced that select HTC Android devices will be eligible for free 25GB-50GB Google Drive storage for the next two years, after which these users will have to pay to continue the subscription or be unable to add new files. For starters owners of the HTC One Max can look forward to 50GB of Google Drive storage, while select HTC Android smartphones from 2013 will be eligible for 25GB storage once HTC Sense 5+ becomes available, although it should be noted that the HTC One Developer Edition will be excluded from this promotion due to its unlocked bootloader (although we’re not sure why this should matter).
In any case for those wondering if your HTC device is eligible for the free storage, all you’d have to do is launch the preloaded Google Drive app on your HTC device. You should see a “Redeem” button and if you do, you have to press it and follow the on-screen instructions to redeem your free storage. This offer will be valid until January the 1st 2016, so don’t worry HTC users as you will have plenty of time to redeem it. The 2-year period will begin the moment you redeem the offer, so if you were to redeem it on the 1st of January 2016, it will be valid until 2018, and etc. More information on this offer can be found at Google’s website.
Select HTC Devices To Receive Free 25-50GB Google Drive Storage For 2 Years original content from Ubergizmo. 
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We all know that the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update has been making its rounds in the US thanks to select US mobile carriers such as T-Mobile, but how about folks living across the pond? Well, it seems that folks living in Europe are now able to enjoy the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update, as well as Sense 5.5 to boot. At this point in time, not everyone in Europe will be on the receiving end of this particular update, but just unlocked Nordic handsets, in addition to those that have been sold in Russia and select parts of Eastern Europe.
This particular update is not light in nature at all. No sir, it comes in at a rather hefty 675MB, so it is highly advisable to leave your smartphone charged while you are downloading it, in addition to keeping your smartphone hooked up to a Wi-Fi network. The update is downloadable directly from a phone, without the need to connect it to a computer or notebook. Once the update is applied, the HTC One in your hands ought to run on software version 3.62.401.1. Apart from Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, another improvement would be the inclusion of HTC Sense 5.5, which happens to be the most recent user interface overlay from HTC.
HTC One In Europe Gets Android 4.3 Update With Sense 5.5 original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Yesterday, Reuters reported that HTC has stopped “at least one” of its smartphone production lines in Taiwan, out of the four it has in the country. The production line shutdown was said to account for at least a fifth of the total manufacturing capacity. According to the report, HTC would begin outsourcing production so as to reduce the pressure on its cash flow as it struggles to move more units of its devices in the market. The company today issued a formal denial. In a statement, a company spokesperson said that HTC is not shutting down and has no plans of shutting down its factory assets.
The report about the shutdown mentioned a reporter who had travelled to an HTC factory at the company’s former headquarters in Taoyuan. The reporter apparently saw loading docks shuttered as well as a sign on the lobby door which read “Lobby is temporarily closed for use. Thank you for your cooperation.” So going by this account, it may seem that production at the facility may have halted. When asked about that one facility in particular, HTC CMO Ben Ho didn’t give any major details, but said that like other manufacturers HTC does “volume planning” to optimize its lines, production and manufacturing facilities. Despite the fact that HTC’s recent products have been very well received, HTC One is a prime example, the company continues to struggle in the competitive market. Just this month, HTC posted its first quarterly loss, but its chairwoman Cher Wang doesn’t think that the financial situation is the company’s biggest challenge in the coming quarter. She dubbed marketing as the biggest challenge that the company will have to take head on in the near future.
HTC Says Its Not Shutting Down Any Production Lines original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Sometimes companies do stupid things to market their products. A silly commercial here. A ridiculous junket there
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Smartphone maker Samsung is one of the largest and most successful manufacturers in the smartphone and tablet industry. Being the largest and most successful doesn’t mean that Samsung is immune to using some dirty tactics in its marketing campaigns. In April of 2013, Samsung was investigated by the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission after allegations that […]
Given that both HTC and Samsung are rivals in terms of the Android smartphone market, it is not surprising that both companies have taken swings at one another and while we can appreciate clever ads, smearing your rivals is a different story. Earlier this year Taiwan’s FTC was investigating Samsung over reports of the South Korean tech company launching smear campaigns that targeted HTC. Well the verdict is in and bad news for Samsung is that the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission has decided that Samsung is guilty and that they were found to be “in violation of fair trade rules”.
The punishment is a fine of NT$10 million which is about $340,421 when converted, a rather hefty fine but still substantially less than $1 billion in damages they were ordered to pay Apple, which has since been heavily contested. The marketing companies involved in Samsung’s smear campaign were also fined for their participation and were fined NT$3 million ($102,130) and NT$50,000 ($1,702) respectively. We’re not sure if Samsung plans to contest this ruling since by not doing so, it would make them look guilty, but for now this is the price that Samsung and their hired marketing agencies will have to pay.
Samsung Fined NT$10 Million Over Smear Campaign Against HTC original content from Ubergizmo. 
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HTC pulled back the veil of secrecy surrounding its supersized HTC One Max last week, which we learned the device would feature a 5.9-inch Full HD 1080p display, a 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, 16GB or 32GB of internal storage along with a microSD card slot to expand storage and one of the more surprising additions is its fingerprint scanner located at the rear of the device. HTC certainly put a lot into its HTC One Max, although we still don’t know what U.S. carrier will be carrying the supersized smartphone. Thanks to the FCC, we now do. (more…)
HTC One Max Passes Through FCC With Sprint LTE Bands original content from Ubergizmo. 
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