Android Phone Fans |
- LG teases lineup for Mobile World Congress
- Vine seeking Android Developer, but app could be a while
- HTC offering $100 trade-in on One purchases
- HTC One vs iPhone 5 vs Nokia Lumia 920 vs Blackberry Z10 [Poll]
- HTC Sense 4 vs. HTC Sense 5
- Samples from HTC One’s “UltraPixel” camera [VIDEO]
- Ubuntu Touch for tablets officially announced, preview code for Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 coming Thursday [VIDEO]
- HTC One available starting Q2, including T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T
- Hands-on: HTC One with accessories [VIDEO]
- HTC officially announces the HTC One [VIDEO]
- We’re live at the HTC One event in New York City!
- WiFi-only Samsung Galaxy Camera revealed
- NVIDIA introduces Tegra 4i, the first Tegra processor with integrated LTE
- [Update] HTC One shown off in last minute leak
| LG teases lineup for Mobile World Congress Posted: 19 Feb 2013 12:44 PM PST
The emphasis on the V in “view” may be a reference to a new member of the Optimus Vu family. We don’t have as good a guess for the F in “freedom.” Another attempt at a tablet, perhaps? We thought LG may have given up all of their secrets ahead of the show, but it looks like we will be guessing a little while longer. We’ll get our first look at LG’s new lineup come Monday morning. [via LG] |
| Vine seeking Android Developer, but app could be a while Posted: 19 Feb 2013 12:29 PM PST
Twitter-owned Vine, the latest craze in instant video sharing, launched earlier this year with no Android app in sight. While it’s hard to imagine why users of Google’s OS had to miss out in the first place, it now sounds like the startup will begin Android development in earnest. In a job posting earlier today, Vine listed six openings, including Lead Android Engineer. Currently, Vine’s engineering team consists of only three members, which may explain why we only saw an iOS version of the app at launch. Rounding out their squad, the company would add six new employees to work with software design and engineering. The downside is that Vine is only now seeking the new staff members, meaning an Android app likely won’t come to fruition until after the hiring process is complete and the team has had time to put out a proper build. In the meantime, work is ongoing on the company’s New York City office space. [via TechCrunch] |
| HTC offering $100 trade-in on One purchases Posted: 19 Feb 2013 10:59 AM PST
HTC is so convinced that their new One is the phone to have that they are offering a special offer to those upgrading from their current smartphone. Register early and when the One launches, HTC will send a prepaid Visa to those purchasing. Just send your old phone in to HTC along with proof of purchase of the One and you will receive $100 or the trade-in value, depending on which is greater. Head over to the HTC One signup page at the company’s official site for more details or to enter your name for this limited time offer. It only requires an email address, and you make no commitment to actually pick up the new handset (though, it’s worth considering). [via Android and Me] |
| HTC One vs iPhone 5 vs Nokia Lumia 920 vs Blackberry Z10 [Poll] Posted: 19 Feb 2013 10:49 AM PST So HTC has announced the HTC One at its New York City event, and as excited as you are you’re probably wondering how it stacks up to some of the flagship phones from other OEMs. The HTC One is positioned at the very top of the Taiwanese manufacturer’s totem pole for 2013, but is it worthy to be compared to the likes of Apple’s iPhone 5, LG’s Nexus 4 and Blackberry’s Z10?
HTC One and Sense 5.0The star of today’s particular show — the HTC One — looks to be HTC’s best device yet. It may not be the biggest and it may not be the thinnest, but it does pack a very considerable punch. The bit of specs we do care about stand out like one of the most beautiful-looking sore thumb we’ve seen yet. When you combine the likes of a 4.7 inch 1080p HD display with a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB of RAM, HTC’s custom UltraPixel 1080p HD video camera and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera (see samples here) you’re sure to come up with a tasty pot of sauce. Going further, having at least 32GB of internal storage, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, a 2,300mAh battery and more won’t hurt its case at all. With the HTC One, HTC has employed a new construction process called “zero gap.” It uses an all-metal body that is tightly nit and makes for a very sleek and thin device. There’s also BoomSound with Beats, HTC’s front-facing stereo speaker solution that should deliver some of the best smartphone audio we’ve seen to date. Get Chris Chavez’s take on the HTC One in our hands-on. The New SenseThe hardware seems par for the course when it comes to the highest of high-end Android smartphones, but software is a tad more important — after all, it’s the one thing OEMs must get right when looking to differentiate their products from that of their competitors. HTC’ decided to employ Android 4.1 out of the starting gate, though we imagine some upgrades to more recent versions of Android are in store at some point down the line.
Sitting on top of that is the absolute latest version of HTC Sense, which is version 5.0 to be exact. As we’ve come to expect from major version jumps, HTC has tweaked its stylistic approach to Android with what appears to be a much smoother experience that is easier on the eyes. It seems like we say that every time HTC decides to go in a new direction with its user interface, but considering how far HTC has had to come from the train-wreck that was HTC Sense 3, it’s no surprise there’s still this much room for improvement. Changes have been made to make the lock-screen more clean and visually appealing, while being just as useful as any with its quick launch features. New icons are littered through the UI for nearly every app there is, from the browser to phone and messaging. The icons feel less “bubbly” and more like elegant-looking stickers that are easy on the eyes. Many base applications, such as the launcher, dialer and contacts app have been upgraded to tone down on the gradients and focus on clean curves and a more pointed color scheme. HTC has fully embraced the idea of swiping that Google introduced with Jelly Bean, and most of the user interface has been designed to wrap around Google’s style guideline in a much broader sense. Chris Chavez even says HTC’s skin might have become the most friendly when it comes to sticking with Google’s vision. Simply put, HTC Sense looks better, and from what our own Chris Chavez tells us from his hands-on time with the device it definitely feels a lot better, too. See how HTC Sense 5 compares to the previous version in our comparison post. New FeaturesOne of the biggest features is HTC BlinkFeed, a new home-screen pane that is accessible via a swipe to the far left. BlinkFeed will aggregate content from over 1,400 sources, including your social networks and tons of news sources on the internet, with its ultimate goal being to deliver the news, media and updates you care about the most in a very beautiful way. Don’t forget HTC Zoe, a new camera experience that will take your images and video and jumble them up into a nice dynamic presentation. Zoe will use the phone’s “UltraPixel” camera to automatically piece your media together with professional transitions and effects, and will theme it with a certain style and music that you prefer. There’s also HTC Sense TV, a new feature that will allow you to use your phone as an interactive TV guide and remote control. Because an infrared transmitter is built into the power button, you can control most modern televisions as you would any remote, and the software will utilize information from the cloud to make it easy to see what’s on and ready for your viewing pleasure. The CompetitionOf course, HTC doesn’t live in this world alone. It currently has the world’s ear for top Android smartphone, but it has competition in other areas of the smartphone world. Apple is always threatening with its iPhone line, Nokia’s marriage to Microsoft has created a viable alternative for those who still have love for Windows in their hearts, and RIM — or Blackberry, as they’ll do business as from now on — is looking to roar back in a major way. Let’s take a look at just a few of the options HTC is up against.
iPhone 5This is Apple’s bread and butter, of course. It was the first iPhone that broke out of the 3.5-inch mold, but its 4-inch display wasn’t a huge departure from the norm. Apple has never been a company to dwell on insane specs, but instead does its bidding with exceptional build quality, a very tight and no-frills operating system, and supreme optimization. Of course, iOS6 didn’t make it to the forefront without a bit of controversy. Apple ditched Google maps for its own mapping solution, and the change had users running back to iOS5 quicker than they could fully enjoy the rest of the upgrade. Google eventually came out with a standalone maps app for those folks, though, so no harm no foul. Our sister site iSource has all you need for the latest iOS and Apple news, so be sure to save a nice, warm spot in your bookmarks folder for it if you have any interest in the Cupertino tech giant’s wares. Nokia Lumia 920While Nokia’s Lumia 920 hasn’t exactly sold like a bucket of hotcakes, it’s done pretty well up against other competition in the Windows-adorned range. It certainly is a looker of a phone, with its 4.5 inch 1280×768 IPS display, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, an 8.7 megapixel HD camera and more. Nokia’s pristine reputation for good build quality shines through this phone like no other (though some of the color options might be a bit of an eye-sore for some of you). Of course, running on all of that circuitry goodness is Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8. Microsoft’s software is like a mixed compromise between iOS and Android, in that you get an unskinned, untouched helping of what Microsoft wants you to have, but at the same time it’s open to any OEM willing to craft a device to the Redmond company’s specification. It makes for a very nice mix of fluidity, functionality and choice for the end-user. Be sure to read all about Windows Phone over at WinSource.com. Blackberry Z10And then there’s Blackberry’s pride and joy for 2013 — the Blackberry Z10. This device is quite ordinary on the hardware front, sporting a 4.2-inch LCD display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of internal storage, an 8 megapixel camera, and more. Blackberry 10 is the real star of the show here, though, as Blackberry has redesigned it from the ground up. Things like the Blackberry Hub, some unique enterprise security features, Blackberry Messenger, the new SwiftKey-powered keyboard and more all play an important role in trying to restore the Blackberry name to a high throne it once enjoyed. Read more about Blackberry 10 in an earlier post here. Are you buying the HTC One?So there it is — the HTC One has been laid out on the table for all to see. The only question now is whether or not HTC has impressed you. Will you be headed to your nearest carrier (see the list of availability here) for this one, or will you wait for something more? Be sure to let us know with a vote in the poll below, and discuss your decision further with some healthy commentary in the comments section! |
| Posted: 19 Feb 2013 10:20 AM PST The announcement of the HTC One comes as more than just a nice new piece of hardware. The software on the phone has also seen a major update from previous versions of HTC Sense. Features such as BlinkFeed, the introduction of Zoes, and a new gallery experience set Sense 5 apart from Sense 4. Let’s take a quick look at what is new and different. User Interface
Immediately noticeable is a shift in appearance from Sense 4 (leftmost in images here). HTC has really honed in on the Holo experience of Android 4+, taking cues from Google’s design standards to present an OS that appears both familiar and fresh. As is becoming typical of custom UIs, the base of the experience stays fairly close to stock, with widgets and added features providing the value.
The visual changes also come with the ability to swipe left and right between tabs in your phonebook, applications, and more, just the way Google intended it. This further unifies Sense’s new direction within the existing Android Jelly Bean framework. Music Player and Gallery
The HTC One features Beats Audio and BoomSound stereo speakers, so a redesign of the old Sense 4 music player was a must. The new player again borrows from the simplicity of Google’s Holo theme while providing a bonus with features like lyrics mode. The phone’s media gallery has also seen a revamp, transforming “the traditional photo gallery of still images into a motion gallery of memories.” This includes new HTC Zoes, three-second animations that combine still imagery with video, capturing these moments in high definitions and automatically compiling “integrated highlight films.” HTC BlinkFeed
HTC Sense long relied on a set of social media and newsfeed-type widgets to set it apart form the pack, toning down on this a bit in Sense 4. Sense 5, however, updates the typical social feed widget in a novel way, though here it is hard to consider it a widget at all. Swiping all the way to the left pulls up BlinkFeed, providing access to your social feeds and over 1,400 news feeds all in one place, neatly organized and with a sleek design. Performance and MoreDuring initial testing, we found Sense 5 to feel plenty snappy in comparison so Sense 4 on the HTC Droid DNA. The two devices don’t match up identically in the specs department, but it’s a close enough match to get a basic idea of how the two version function head-to-head. There is plenty more to explore and discover in Sense 5, including HTC Sense TV, which provides an interactive TV guide and smartphone-based remote software to control your television or set-top box. We’ll have a more detailed look at Sense 5 as soon as we get a chance to further dissect the new HTC One and provide a full review.       |
| Samples from HTC One’s “UltraPixel” camera [VIDEO] Posted: 19 Feb 2013 09:24 AM PST Wondering how nice that “UltraPixel” camera sitting on the back of the HTC One looks? Welp, today’s your lucky day. Chris Chavez took some brief video at the event in full 1080p HD video recording, and in HDR mode. The conditions of the venue didn’t make for the most wonderful test in the world, but it’s all we can do while the phone remains tethered to those dastard tables. There was a bit of pre-loaded footage HTC put up on the device for us to check out, though, and we’ve got that for you as well. The video below was taken with Zoe’s HDR recording mode, and as you can see it produced pretty nice results. Be sure to give the play buttons above and below a nice workout, and check out some stills from the camera straight ahead!          |
| Posted: 19 Feb 2013 08:39 AM PST With all the craziness going on in New York City right now you’d think there is nothing else happening. Well, I’m glad to say that there is more happening. Remember that countdown timer Canonical posted yesterday? Well, it wasn’t exactly for an HTC tablet (as cool as that would have been) but the company — which makes the Linux distribution Ubuntu — has some exciting news regardless. Ubuntu for Tablets has been introduced, and it’s an implementation that has been built from the ground up with multi-tasking in mind. The biggest feature to drive that point home is SideStage. With it, you’ll be able to pull up the phone interface of an app from the right edge of your display so you can use it while doing something else. For instance, I could be Skyping with my friend on the left, and have a smaller pane offset to the right for checking Twitter. SideStage can come in as an overlay or as an adjustable split-screen item, not unlike the implementation you’ll find on Samsung’s Galaxy Note devices or on Windows 8 Pro. What’s even cooler is that the tablet app in SideStage can automatically flipped over to the phone part, and the user interface will change accordingly (assuming there’s a phone interface for that particular app baked in). In the video above, Canonical shows how you can converge the various aspects of your computing life with one seamless experience. Dock your phone with your tablet, and you’ll be whisked into the tablet interface while your phone apps continue running off to the side in Side Stage. From there, if you were to connect a keyboard and mouse to the tablet you can use the full Ubuntu experience as you would on traditional desktops and laptops. Then, take your remote and turn your television on for that same Ubuntu experience on the big screen.
So why is this so important to Android? Well, those of you who own the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 will be able to see how this works for yourself once Canonical brings out working preview code for those devices this Thursday. It’s a nerd’s wet-dream come true, and we can’t wait to see how this all pans out. Watch the video above, and read on for full press details.
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| HTC One available starting Q2, including T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T Posted: 19 Feb 2013 07:47 AM PST
The HTC One is just a few minutes old, and we already know which carriers around the globe will be carrying it. Here in the United States, where it’s never a sure bet that everyone will get a certain phone, T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T have all been confirmed as major carrier partners (with Cincinnati Bell being the odd regional carrier). That notably leaves Verizon out, so you Big Red fans will have to wait and see if HTC is cooking up something special for them. Those in Canada will be able to get it through Rogers, Bell, TELUS and Virgin Mobile. As for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, you can pretty much expect this to hit every major carrier you can imagine, and even if you can’t find it through your favorite companies you’ll be able to purchase one unlocked before too long. Find the full list straight ahead.
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| Hands-on: HTC One with accessories [VIDEO] Posted: 19 Feb 2013 07:31 AM PST And there it is in all its glory, folks. We’re live at the HTC One event in New York City, and we’ve gotten a quick eyes-on with the device ahead of some more intimate hands-on love. You can see the device in two colors — white and black — with a multitude of accessories to go along with it. There’s a very stylish-looking desktop dock, a flip cover, and a case. On the software side of things is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and Sense 5 with HTC’s new BlinkFeed, a live home-screen that will update you on your friends and family through various social networks like Twitter and Facebook. As mouth-watering as it is, we’re sure this quick glimpse won’t fully satiate your appetite right now. Be sure to watch our full hands-on video above, and stay on the lookout for more great HTC One coverage from Phandroid.          |
| HTC officially announces the HTC One [VIDEO] Posted: 19 Feb 2013 07:30 AM PST HTC has just announced its HTC One smartphone, a 4.7 inch 1080p HD Super LCD 3 device that is outfitted with Qualcomm’s very powerful 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 chipset, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 13 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording, a 2 megapixel front camera, a 2,300mAh battery, NFC, front-facing stereo speakers that HTC is calling BoomSound, Android 4.1.2 (4.2.2 is already in the works) with HTC Sense 5 and more. On the hardware front, HTC took a lot of time and care to design the One with a process it’s calling “zero gap.” It’s an all-metal construction that cuts down on every corner possible, allowing HTC to fit a lot of great stuff into a very slim, sleek and light package.
With HTC Sense 5, the company is introducing BlinkFeed, an RSS-style look into your social life and interests. You simply swipe all the way to the left of your home-screen and BlinkFeed occupies its own pane. It’s not a widget, per-se: think of the iOS search screen or Samsung’s Page Buddies. It’s really cool stuff, and it’s there if you need it (but not in the way if you don’t). Everything — from your latest photos, to your mom’s Facebook status, and even your favorite stories from Phandroid — will occupy BlinkFeed as the HTC One learns what is important to you and will deliver that content in a very nice way. More than 1,400 news sources will be included, and over 10,000 articles per day will be at your fingertips. HTC’s also debuting some new innovations in the camera department, and its new camera suite is called Zoe. Using the footage and images taken with the 13MP “UltraPixel” camera sensor, Zoe can take your photos and video and automatically combine them into a dynamic presentation with professional-looking cuts, transitions and effects, and set to very nice background audio. You can specify certain themes for Zoe to use to give your creation a certain mood. Alongside all of that, HTC has improved the camera experience with better panoramic photos, object removal, multi-axis optical image stabilization, and more. Finally, enter HTC Sense TV — a new feature that will allow you to use your phone as an interactive TV guide and remote control. Because an infrared transmitter is built into the power button, you can control most modern televisions as you would any remote, and the software will utilize information from the cloud to make it easy to see what’s on and ready for your viewing pleasure. The device looks quite tasty and HTC put on quite the presentation to unveil it, but we’re more worried about getting our hands-on time with this than anything else. Stay tuned for further updates, and be sure to stick with us for our hands-on video. Read on for full press details.
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| We’re live at the HTC One event in New York City! Posted: 19 Feb 2013 06:41 AM PST
We’ve arrived, folks, and the excitement is making our head spin! HTC is about to overwhelm the tech world with some announcements that should set the tone for the Taiwanese company’s 2013 line-up, including the HTC One and a possible Ubuntu-based tablet! We’ve got Chris Chavez in New York City ready to deliver all the live coverage we can handle so grab yourself a nice glass of apple cider and sit back with us as we take it all in. |
| WiFi-only Samsung Galaxy Camera revealed Posted: 19 Feb 2013 06:13 AM PST Samsung has finally revealed its WiFi-only version of the Samsung Galaxy Camera, the Android-based point-and-shoot that wrapped a pretty big sensor into a pretty decent Android device. The device was only available in 4G form, which meant you had to get it by way of carriers like AT&T, but with today’s fresh release we should be able to get it via retailers like Best Buy and Amazon before too long.
Like tablets, we expect the WiFi-only version of this camera to be a tad cheaper than what’s available with cellular radios, but there’s no way to confirm what Samsung will do in terms of pricing just yet. Aside from those radios, though, this is the same device that our own Rob Jackson got down and dirty with in his preview of the thing. The camera runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and the star of the show is obviously that 23mm wide angle lens that lets light into a pretty decent sensor. The lens accommodates up to 21x zoom, and while it won’t be able to best the quality of a DSLR it’s still pretty nice for point and shoot standards. Inside is a 1.4Ghz quad-core processor, WiFi N, Bluetooth 4.0, 8GB of internal storage with the ability to expand that using a microSD card slot, and more. We’ll be looking out for information regarding the device’s landing date at retailers, so keep an eye on Phandroid.com for all the latest.             [via Samsung] |
| NVIDIA introduces Tegra 4i, the first Tegra processor with integrated LTE Posted: 19 Feb 2013 06:00 AM PST Our friends at NVIDIA have just announced the Tegra 4i, a new chipset that will finally solve NVIDIA’s little LTE problem. Formerly known as Project Grey, Tegra 4i will mark the first ever NVIDIA chipset to come with LTE integrated by default. It’ll utilize NVIDIA’s own-built i500 modem for the task, a chip that will support 100mbps LTE out of the box but can be software-upgraded to support 150mbps LTE when and if necessary. Tegra 4i is a 28nm quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 R4 chipset (with a fifth low-power companion core) that will be coupled with a 60-core NVIDIA GPU.
The chipset can reach speeds of up to 2.3GHz, and NVIDIA says the chip will be nearly half as big as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800, so it should be quite friendly for OEMs to work with when designing the innards of tomorrow’s hardware. NVIDIA is calling it the fastest single-chip configuration out, and that’s true, though we doubt that matters much to the typical user in the grand scheme of things. Tegra 4 “Wayne” is still NVIDIA’s big powerhouse chipset with its 1.9GHz 4+1 quad-core chipset based on ARM Cortex-A15. Its GPU is 72 core, and has been designated as the perfect SoC for the unofficial “superphone” category, as well as for high-end tablets. To showcase Tegra 4i, NVIDIA is also announcing Phoenix, a reference platform for OEMs who want to design Tegra 4i smartphones and get them to market quicker. Phoenix isn’t something us mere mortals will appreciate in-hand, but we will eventually appreciate it in the consumer space as it will help OEMs deliver great smartphones sooner than we can toss our wallets at our displays.
Phoenix will house a 5-inch 1080p display and all the bells and whistles you typically find in today’s smartphones. The company will be in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress showing its new toys off, and you can bet we’ll be making a stop by its booth to see for ourselves.Be sure to read more juicy bits by reading on for full press details.
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| [Update] HTC One shown off in last minute leak Posted: 19 Feb 2013 04:49 AM PST We’re just a couple of hours away from HTC’s big event in New York City where we expect the Taiwanese company to announce its latest flagship, the HTC One. We’ve heard so much about the device leading up to this point, and even HTC itself has been teasing us with a few meatless bones here and there.
Welp, the latest leaks are in and here’s what we can expect to see once HTC takes the stage later this morning. Above is a new leak that shows the same black variant that was leaked before, but we also get a glimpse of a new silver version that we haven’t yet seen. The leak also shows the back of the device in its final form. According to these images there won’t be any rear-facing speakers, but if you don’t remember HTC is including stereo speakers on the face of this thing — very nice, if I say so myself. [via Nowhereelse] |
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