Hasta La Gadget!

For many smartphone users, a quality keyboard is the only feature that truly matters. These passionate devotees will proudly live and die with their thumbs blazing, and for of all RIM’s recent troubles, it’s currently floating on a life preserver: a compelling handset with a portrait QWERTY keyboard doesn’t exist for Android. The HTC Status ($50 on contract) attempts to succeed where others have failed, and — if it’s any good — could entice many BlackBerry-toting teens that want a new handheld fixation. They rarely bother with email, as text messages and Facebook reign supreme for communication. To that end, the Status promotes itself as the perfect phone for Facebook users, but is the integration truly useful, or simply a chintzy add-on? More so, can HTC successfully marry Gingerbread with an upright keyboard? Join us after the break to learn whether we “Like” the HTC Status.

Continue reading HTC Status review

HTC Status review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The HTC Status (formerly known as the ChaChaCha, the ChaCha, and “the Facebook phone that’s not a Facebook phone”) is inching ever closer to its AT&T debut. It’s already been pictured, sashayed its way through the FCC, and now it’s been revealed for all the world to see, appropriately enough, on Facebook. As we were already aware this social networking-focused, QWERTY candybar has had its CPU bumped up to 800MHz, but otherwise it’s the same Sense and Gingerbread packing device we saw back in February. Unfortunately, all we can tell you is that the Status will land on AT&T shelves at some point — price and availability are still as much of a mystery as ever. There’s some refresher PR after the break.

Continue reading HTC Status for AT&T announced on Facebook, risks being tagged in embarrassing pics

HTC Status for AT&T announced on Facebook, risks being tagged in embarrassing pics originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s this we spy in the dusty depths of a Telstra software update page? A little sentence that displays some crowd-pleasing logic in bringing Android 2.3 to the hoary old Desire. HTC originally told us the handset had insufficient memory to run Gingerbread, and so would be excluded from the update. Then it did a 180-flip and said the Desire would be getting Gingerbread after all, but with the sacrifice of some memory-hogging apps. But now Aussie Telstra has opted for arguably the smartest alternative: prepare a special update that kicks HTC’s Sense UI out of the pub instead, freeing up plenty of room for Gingerbread while also pleasing punters who like to drink their Android neat. If it can work Down Under in August, other operators around the world ought to be able to make it work too. And if they don’t, there’s always the option of a spicy home-brewed beverage instead.

[Thanks, Alejandro]

Telstra will scrap Sense UI to make room for Gingerbread on the HTC Desire originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 07:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well what do we have here? It looks like this might be the rumored HTC Kingdom that recently visited the FCC — basically a CDMA and WiMAX-capable Sensation. Considering that the leaked video is titled “HTC EVO 4G+ preview”, and that the handset pictured is cosmetically identical to the EVO 3D except for the camera pod, we’re inclined to believe that this might just be destined for Sprint — although that WiBRO setting means this particular unit is destined for the Korean market. The twin 5 megapixel cameras have been replaced with a single 8 megapixel shooter housed in a similar sized pod, and the 2D / 3D mode slider next to the shutter key now switches between photos and video. Let’s just hope we’re not dealing with a discarded prototype or an Asia-only model, and that the phone’s guts are just as juicy and delicious as its 3D sibling — complete with qHD display and dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor.

[Thanks, Edwin]

Is this the HTC EVO 4G+ (Kingdom)? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Peter Chou is sharing HTC’s graces at Uplinq 2011 with the announcement of OpenSense SDK, where the company hopes to recruit developers willing to create apps specifically for Sense 3.0. With help from the HTCdev community, software designers will receive tools to create a seamless experience between their applications and HTC’s user environment (while also rendering their apps incompatible with non-HTC handsets). Beneath the skin, developers will be provided access to proprietary APIs that support 3D displays and tablet pens — which could make quite the gaming session. There’s currently no release date for the SDK, but the company is already taking names for a summer launch. So, if you’re comfortable helping HTC build this barrier around Android’s “open” mantra, we imagine there’s some rather slick apps waiting to be given life. Jump the break for the accompanying PR.

[Thanks, Jonny and Eric]

Continue reading HTC announces OpenSense SDK and HTCdev, offers paradise inside its walled garden

HTC announces OpenSense SDK and HTCdev, offers paradise inside its walled garden originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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