Hasta La Gadget!

Booze and Hello Kitty. Sooner or later the two had to collide. Now when you sit back and realize just how much money you have spent on Hello Kitty swag, you can drink some Hello Kitty beer and drown your sorrows.

Just released in Taiwan, Hello Kitty beer is fruity, full of alcohol and has the famous cartoon character with the bow on her head right on the can. Hello Kitty beer won’t get you drunk fast though. These beers are only half the alcohol content of regular beer.

The fruit flavors include lemon-lime, passion fruit and banana. Kind of creepy if you ask me? Just who are they targeting with that packaging? If you are in Taiwan, give it a try and let us know how it tastes.

[Fox News via That’s Nerdalicious via io9]

The latest development on the recent HTC saga reveals that Thomas Chien, the arrested ex-VP of Product Design, was possibly lured by the Chengdu municipal government to set up a phone company in China. According to Taiwan’s Next Magazine (pictured above by sister publication Apple Daily), Chien flew to Chengdu several times in the first half of this year, which got HTC suspicious since it doesn’t have any direct business there.

The alleged offer was that if Chien left HTC with some of the technology plus some money, then the municipal government would — through another company it set up — take care of the remaining costs for opening the factory, production and marketing. Previous reports say while still at HTC, the ex-exec had e-mailed some confidential Sense 6.0 files to external contacts, but there’s no confirmation on whether those people are linked to the Chengdu government.

Filed under: Misc, Mobile, HTC

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Via: Reuters

Source: Apple Daily (Chinese), UDN (Chinese), ET Today (Chinese)

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.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: Mobile01 (Chinese)

Just when you thought HTC’s going all the way with its BoomSound feature, the company stopped short with its Desire 500, a mid-range model that’s just been announced for the younger Taiwanese audience (think: university students). As you can see above, the new device takes design cues from the One S for its front side (but with plastic instead of metal), and from the One SV on the back. Despite the lack of front stereo speakers, this phone still packs the same 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 SoC featured on the Desire 600 range. Similarly, you’ll still find NFC, microSD expansion (on top of just 4GB of built-in storage) plus Sense 5 UI with BlinkFeed and Video Highlights here — the latter works alongside the same pair of cameras: an 8-megapixel f/2.0 main camera, plus a 1.6-megapixel front imager.

What’s slightly disappointing, perhaps, is the low 800 x 480 resolution on the 4.3-inch display, and we’re even more baffled by the relatively high suggested retail price of NT$11,900 or about US$400. Hopefully it’s just a way to persuade more people to get the subsidized Desire 500 from Taiwan Mobile, HTC’s exclusive local partner for this phone come August 1st. Stay tuned while our colleagues in Taiwan grab some hands-on photos.

Update: Our brethren over at Engadget Chinese has just posted their hands-on. Enjoy!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: HTC

According to an invitation we received earlier today, HTC and Taiwanese carrier Chunghwa Telecom will be holding a joint event on June 19th to launch two devices locally: the already announced 4.5-inch, BoomSound-enabled Desire 600, along with a new Butterfly S. While no specs are mentioned here for the latter phone, our usually reliable friends over at ePrice received a tip last month on what to expect: the new phone is believed to still pack a 5-inch display, but its camera will be replaced by an UltraPixel version (which is currently only featured on the One), plus its body will be slightly thicker to make way for a larger battery. And unsurprisingly, the new Taiwanese Butterfly is expected to still have a microSD card slot.

HTC’s VP of North Asia Jack Tong also told ePrice recently that if there is a demand, he will speed up the process of bringing an LTE-enabled second-gen Butterfly to Hong Kong — a city that never officially got hold of the original Butterfly. The exec believes that judging by HTC’s recent market performance in Taiwan, it’s possible to realize a dual-flagship strategy in other regions for the remainder of the year. Anyhow, our brethren over at Engadget Chinese will be at the launch event in Yilan, Taiwan next week, so stay tuned for our coverage.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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