HTC Reportedly Building New Mobile OS Specifically For China Market, In Partnership With Chinese Government

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HTC’s Hail Mary play might not take the form of another new smartphone: The Taiwanese company is reportedly working with Chinese government officials to build a mobile OS that includes “deep integration” with China-specific services like Weibo, aimed specifically at the Chinese market. The project could see the new mobile OS launch before year’s end, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.

The report said it wasn’t clear whether HTC’s China OS would be forked from or based upon Android in some way, and a source speaking to the paper said that in fact the company has changed plans throughout the year regarding whether it would be something completely new, or just a new user interface based atop Google’s mobile OS. Already HTC has some devices using the OS in active testing, and prototypes are in the hands of Chinese government officials.

Attempting to partner with a company to build a partially homegrown OS solution isn’t a new move for China. The Chinese government recently partnered with UK-based Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, to build a China-specific version of its own OS that likewise favored integrations with China-made apps and services. In general, the Chinese government has been actively trying to lessen reliance on foreign-made software. A white paper from China’s tech ministry released in March criticized its country’s over-reliance on the Google-made Android OS.

A strategic alliance with the Chinese government could help HTC secure some good lasting power even as it faces challenges in terms of worldwide market share and sales of its Android-based smartphones. It’s unlikely that its own China-specific OS will pose any major threat to the dominance of Android and iOS, especially in the short-term, but if China’s government is serious about putting lasting investment in home-grown alternatives that favor Chinese software and services, building significant market share early might not be a necessary component of its survival.

In other words, making yourself integral to a long-term China government plan for technological independence is probably a wise move for HTC in uncertain times, which isn’t to say it wouldn’t be better served by also improving its fortunes elsewhere in the world, too.

WSJ: HTC working on China-specific mobile OS

Cracking the Chinese mobile-nut is kind of a big deal if you’re in the business of selling phones. So, rumors that HTC could be looking to increase the bottom line with a China-specific mobile OS won’t see too many eyebrows heading north. The Wall Street Journal claims that Cher Wang herself is closely overseeing the project and is working directly with the state authorities to see it meets approval. This might suggest that the operating system would be entirely bespoke, rather than an Android fork, which would also provide HTC with a plan B, similar to Samsung’s efforts with Tizen. The OS is believed to be tightly integrated with China specific services (Weibo etc) and could see the light of day before the end of the year. So is it actually Hello To China?

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Source: The Wall Street Journal

Daily Roundup: HTC 8XT for Sprint, Windows 8.1 heads to manufacturers, Galaxy Gear, and more!

DNP The Daily RoundUp

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.

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Additional HTC One Max Specs Allegedly Leaked

Additional HTC One Max Specs Allegedly Leaked

New rumor regarding the HTC One Max phablet has come in. HTC’s first ever phablet is expected to be unveiled in the coming months, there have been conflicting reports about its launch date. Some believe that HTC will unveil the One Max next month, while others are of the view that the launch will take place around 2013′s holiday season. Much has already been said and speculated about the device, the latest rumor reveals alleged specs of the phablet.

As per all of the rumors we’ve heard up till now, the One Max is expected to have a 5.9 inch 1080p Super LCD3 display, a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB RAM and a 3,000 mAh battery. It is now being said that HTC One Max will come with Android 4.3 pre-installed on top of which the company will slap Sense 5.5 UI. The changes that Sense 5.5 UI is expected to bring have not been revealed as yet. HTC One Max is now rumored to have a 2.1 megapixel front camera and a rear UltraPixel camera. TD-LTE support for China has been rumored as well. The company hasn’t confirmed anything about this device, though it has hinted once or twice that it might indeed be close to launching its first phablet.

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  • Additional HTC One Max Specs Allegedly Leaked original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    HTC 8XT for Sprint: what’s different?

    HTC 8XT for Sprint: what's different?

    This summer, Sprint’s lineup of Windows Phone 8 devices increased from zero to two. The first to show up in stores was the HTC 8XT ($100 on contract), a modified version of the 8X designed for Sprint customers upgrading from old Windows Phones. Though in many ways it’s a chip off the ol’ block, there are enough differences in the hardware (and to a lesser extent, the software) that it has a personality all its own. So what exactly makes this particular handset sit apart from last year’s flagship? And does it enhance or take away from the original 8X user experience? Keep reading to find out.%Gallery-slideshow73406%

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    HTC to show its soft side with Hello Kitty edition Butterfly s

    HTC to launch Hello Kitty edition Butterfly s,

    The number of times Hello Kitty’s popped up on Engadget over the years is quite astonishing, and thanks to HTC, the cat leaves yet another paw print here. Earlier today, our Taiwanese brethren received an invitation (embedded after the break) for next Monday’s launch of the Butterfly s Hello Kitty limited edition. Interestingly and perhaps unsurprisingly, the cartoon character is seen wearing a uniform similar to that of EVA Air, a local airline that now operates five Hello Kitty edition planes.

    Later on, a Mobile01 forum user followed up with what appears to be a spy shot of said phone’s printed ad, as shown above. Here you can see the feline’s head — with her butterfly hair clip highlighted for obvious reasons — dominating the white back of the 5-inch phone. And with that cute wallpaper, we assume there will be other Hello Kitty features on the software side as well. All will be revealed next week, of course. Meanwhile, we’re secretly hoping HTC’s also planning on a One Max with a glowing arc reactor stuck on the back.

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    Source: Mobile01 (Chinese)

    HTC Reportedly Lagging Behind In LTE Market

    HTC Reportedly Lagging Behind In LTE Market

    Data compiled by Strategy Analytics reveals that HTC is continuing to lose its ground in the LTE segment of the smartphone market. Its market share has considerably dropped over the last couple of years, the company now stands behind Samsung, Apple, Sony and LG in this particular segment of the smartphone market. Digitimes claims in a new report that industry sources believe chances are slim for HTC to regain the market share it has gradually lost over the years.

    HTC once had a pretty strong position in this segment. In the first quarter of 2011, HTC was the top LTE smartphone vendor with 80 percent market share. As per the latest data compiled by Strategy Analytics, Samsung is now the top LTE smartphone vendor with 47 percent share. Apple trails in second with 23.5 percent of the market, followed by Sony with 6.5 percent and LG with 4 percent. Then comes HTC, whose smartphones now account for 3 percent of the entire LTE segment. Sources predict that competition in this segment is going to get tough over the coming months. They believe that vendors based in China, such as ZTE, Coolpad, Huawei etc are likely to flood the markets with cheap LTE smartphones using chipset solutions from Qualcomm as well as Marvell Technology and HiSilicon Technologies.

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  • HTC Reportedly Lagging Behind In LTE Market original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Blue HTC One Spotted

    Blue HTC One SpottedAre you feeling blue, or do you have a love for all things blue? Here is an example of something blue which you might want to empty or lighten your pockets for – a blue colored version of the HTC One has just been spotted. Sure, the HTC One has been around for quite some time already, and so too have a blue colored version of the HTC One been spotted before, with a press image of it revealed earlier this month to “confirm” its existence, but I guess you can say that things have gotten even more concrete this time around, where the press image shows off its existence with the front panel of a blue HTC One leaked by Taiwanese source ePrice.

    Of course, what you see above will be lacking a display that is connected to it, and there is one very good reason for that – this is a piece that is headed right from the assembly unit itself. While the detailed nitty gritty concerning the blue HTC One as well as its launch remain to be seen, it is interesting to note that no particular carrier branding has been spotted on this blue chassis, and chances are it could make its way towards global markets. If the Smurfs had a smartphone that they would use, then I guess this blue colored HTC One variant would do the trick for them.

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  • Blue HTC One Spotted original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Blue HTC One shell gets snapped in the non-flesh (updated)

    Blue HTC One shell gets snapped in the nonflesh

    Press renders? Pah. Now we’ve seen snaps of the forthcoming blue HTC One in some of its metallic glory. The shell, which was reportedly snapped by a worker who works for a factory contracted to make parts for HTC’s smartphones, seems to confirm that the company is cooking up an azure edition of its flagship handset. While we’re not sure if this will single-handedly restore HTC’s fortunes, at least there’s a built-in market for fans of Eiffel 65, ELO and the bad guys from Firefly.

    Update: Yet another HTC One in blue has been spotted out in the wild and the folks over at Mobile01 have got the pictures. We’ve tucked one after the break for you to take a look at, too.

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    Via: ePrice, TechKiddy

    Source: Sina Weibo, Mobile 01

    Refresh Roundup: week of August 19th, 2013

    Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

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