HTC First finally Announced for AT&T in U.S.

We have seen some rumors regarding the First Facebook phone and all of them were quite true as HTC finally announced the new HTC First smartphone. This new phone is a fully Facebook integrated phone which has been officially unveiled today.This first Facebook-centered Android device will be exclusively available on AT&T in United States with the official sales will be starting on April 12 for an affordable price tag of $99.99 along with a 2-year contract. You can still have the chance to pre-Order one here.

The HTC First isn’t the first device with the idea of Facebook integration in a HTC smartphone, back in early 2011 Facebook and HTC’s partnership resulted in the making of HTC Chacha and the HTC Salsa. Both phones have a special Facebook integration with a specific Facebook button. But this smartphone namely HTC First came with the New Home Launcher for Facebook, making much more richer Facebook integration than it’s earlier counter parts.

Beside the new Facebook launcher The HTC First runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with a medium sized that is 4.3 inch HD display having a resolution of 1280 x 720p. The device is supported with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM. There is a 5 megapixel rare camera that can shoot HD videos. The phone will support AT&T LTE network.
If we see the specifications of the HTC First device, it surely stands among the Mid-range affordable device. However the most important feature is the integration of newly announced Facebook Home Launcher into its Android Operating System. Which makes it unique from other smartphones. Facebook also mentions that the HTC First will have some deeper integration for system notifications than the other devices having Facebook Home, which is expected to be launched at 12th of April. One more feature that distinguish this phone is the integration of Instagram app alongside Facebook. That surely will be a great news for Instgramers.

There are some images of the first ever Facebook Home launcher phone. The HTC First,

Nexus 5 by HTC - a Suman Chatterjee Mockup

After the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Nexus 5 is the most rendered phone in 2013, I’ll give you that much. Each and every designer is having a go, putting brands like LG, HTC, Sony, Samsung or others attached to the Nexus 5 project. Today Suman Chatterjee gives this idea a spin and created the new Nexus by HTC.

The result is a 4.9 inch Full HD smartphone with a Snapdragon 800 quad core 2.3 GHz processor and Android Key Lime Pie as the OS. Nexus 5 has 3 GB of RAM, 32/64 GB of storage, a 16 megapixel camera with autofocus and a 3 megapixel front camera. We’ve also got a Li-Polymer battery, that’s removable and offers a 2800 mAh capacity.

The design seems greatly inspired by the HTC, although the two capacity buttons are replaced by 2 virtual ones and there’s an interesting app selection in the middle of the screen. The display also seems to have even smaller bezels than on the HTC One…

[Thanks Suman Chatterjee]

HTC 606w UltraPixel Camera looks like HTC One Sibling

The upcoming HTC smartphone has been leaked, which comes in the mid-range smartphone segment, and again comes with with Android Operating System. Sources revealed that the company is working on a new phone, will integrate with UltraPixel camera and 4.3 inch screen. Amazingly! that smartphone will run on Android and will be revealed soon in 2013.

Rumors have been rolling out that HTC might be looking to launch HTC 606w device in China soon. The smartphone appears to be younger brother of HTC One, in the terms of design and features. On the front of HTC 606w, there is a pair of dual stereo speakers, similar to the Boom sound speakers found on the HTC One. The device is similar to the HTC One with the front-facing camera. The smartphone will be mid-range not a high-end product.

The HTC 606w will run on Android v4.1 Android Operating System but will not come with latest Android v4.2 OS. The device will powered by quad-core processor. It has 11.4 cm(4.5-inch) display and coupled with 1GB RAM. The camera specification includes 8MP rear camera and 1.6 MP front-facing shooter for video calling.

In terms of Connectivity, the device has certain options like 3G, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth, GPS feature. The phone will also support 16GB in-built storage with memory expansion of 64GB. Although, there is no word on the MicroSD card slot for expansion. The phone will be loaded with 2000 mAh capacity.

Specification and Features of HTC 606w smartphone :

HTC 606w will run on Android v4.1 Jelly Bean Operating System.

The Dual SIM smartphone has 11.4 cm(4.5 inch) with 720p HD display with a screen resolution of 960 x 540.

The device will be powered by quad-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz speed along with Adreno 305 graphics chip.

The camera has UltraPixel Camera capture the image either through the front or back. The Back camera has 8MP resolution and 1.6 MP front-facing shooter.

As far as memory concerned, it includes 1GB RAM, 16GB in-built storage extended up to 64GB. The company has not mentioned the micro SD card slot for expansion.

The connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth v4.0, GPS+GLONASS connection.

606w smartphone will be loaded with 2000 mAh battery capacity.

HTC 606w smartphone is expected to ship in China first in next few weeks.

Htc

The rumors have seen cessation, HTC’s much awaited HTC One smartphone has been officially launched few hours ago. HTC One is going to available within 80 countries from next month with the help of 185 Telecomm operators. There are many rumors came before the real device actually arrives and when it came, it was not much different from the expected one. GooPhone has already presented it’s clone named as GooPhone One, so you can yourself judge that how much awaited HTC One was.

In the past few years, HTC has made it’s own position in the market by launching innovative devices with excellent quality and became user’s favorite. As we go through it’s new flagship smartphone that is HTC One’s features, than we found that it runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and features Sense 5.0. Further the 11.9-cm (4.7-inch) smartphone sports a Super LCD 3 display with 1080p resolution. It is powered with 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor plus 2GB RAM. If we talk about memory than it features 32GB/64GB of internal storage, but microSD support is not provided here. In connectivity front, it supports NFC. For capturing images, it provides you a 4 megapixel rear camera but what is important to know here is that the camera supports HTC Ultrapixel technology plus 2.1 MP of front facing camera. Right now you can get this smartphone in Silver as well as black colors only.

Ultrapixel Technology

HTC One features this amazing technology which set it apart from all the Hi- Tech smartphones of the current times. It means that the phone has a custom camera, with f/2.0 aperture lens and a new sensor technology that allows users to captures images with 300 percent more light than traditional smartphone camera sensors. Now you can yourself imagine the type of images this camera is going to shoot, forget the pixels. Moreover, it’s cameras support multi-axis optical image stabilisation just like Nokia Lumia 920. Company has claimed that it will shoot images with 4MP but, what is more important is pixel size not the pixel count and HTC One is providing you the brilliant quality pictures and videos.

Specs Sheet of HTC One

Runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Operating System

Features 11.9 cm Super LCD 3 display

Powered by 1.7Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad core processor

Packs in with 2GB RAM. 32GB of internal storage.

Equipped with 23,00 mAh battery

Features 4MP camera with Ultrapixel technology and 2.1MP of front facing camera for video callin etc.

AvailabilityThe company has decided to sell the device in both HSPA and LTE versions across the globe depending on the network availability. In India also, this device is expected to get launch by the end of March via Reliance communications (exact date is still not confirmed yet).

HTC One Mobiles Republic Powers BlinkFeed

HTC One Mobiles Republic Powers BlinkFeed

You might have heard the name Mobiles Republic a few times before, thanks to their News Republic, Appy Geek and Appy Gamer Android apps. They’re one of the biggest mobile news syndicators with over 1,500 licensed sources – including ourselves! What you might not know however, is that they’re the people behind HTC’s BlinkFeed, which is one of the headlining features of the HTC One (our review is coming real soon!). You might already know what BlinkFeed is and what it does but, we’ll let HTC quickly fill you in

Essentially, it’s the news you care about, right there at your fingertips. It’s a great feature of the One and if you just have to know what’s going on at every waking moment, then you’ll love BlinkFeed. You go ahead and set-up your customized feed in the settings and then you’ll get your own news selection on your homescreen whenever you need it:

You can read the whole article without having to head on over to the source page as well, like this post of ours here:

BlinkFeed might be the RSS reader you think it is but, that’s a good thing, it makes it quick and easy to get the news you care about without having to go into individual apps. There’s a vast amount of sources on offer so you don’t have to keep jumping from app to app. You can lump in the more serious news with your gaming and tech news, to make sure that you get your fix wherever and whenever.

If you don’t have an HTC One, you can still get our stories in the Appy Geek app, which just recently got a sizable update with some tweaks and it takes better advantage of tablets like the Nexus 7.

New Best HTC One accessories

The HTC One is a very nicely put together piece of kit. It's one of those phones you really don’t want to drop.

The brushed-aluminium shell is tough, but it likes to ding, dent and scratch more than most, so investing in a proper case is no bad idea. But why stop there? The HTC One is a popular handset and has all sorts of great accessories you can pick up for it.

Cases

HTC One Double Dip hard shell and flip cover

These are some of our favourite phone cases for the HTC One. Put together by HTC itself for the handset, rather than detracting from its good looks, they add to it.

Both cases have a split red and black colour scheme which looks the bee's knees. With the hard shell, the whole phone, including screen, is protected. The flip cover keeps the screen safe in your pocket and then folds back, turning the handset into a stand when you want it. Price: Double Dip Hard Shell £17.99,Double Dip Flip Case: £24.99

Otterbox HTC One Commuter and Defender cases

Otterbox is known for making ultra-tough phone cases, so you can carry your smartphone about even in the most extreme of situations. Its flagship product, the Defender, has been saving handsets from drops for several years now.

With the HTC One, things shouldn’t be any different. It combines screen protection with a silicone inner layer and a hard outer layer to keep the whole handset wrapped up as safe as you could want it. The Commuter is for those who want a bit of added security, but not all the extra bulk that the Defender case brings. It still features all the inner and outer layer protection as well as a screen cover, but just isn’t quite as hardy. Price: Commuter £29.95, Defender £34.95

Speck cases

Speck has a wide range of accessories for the HTC One: the Gemshell, Smartflex view, Candyshell and Candyshell grip. They break down rather simply, each falling into their own distinct case category.

The Gemshell is see-through, so you can still enjoy the looks of your HTC One. The Smartflex view features a stand and the Candyshell is just a case. The Candyshell grip is easier to hold. Price: Candyshell £29, Gemshell £25, Smartflex £30

Incipio cases

Incipio has a choice of cases for the HTC One. Some are the same shape but use different materials; the DualPro and DualPro CF, for example. The latter uses carbon fibre.

The highlight of the Incipio range is the Feather, which is incredibly thin and does little to add weight to the phone. Just don’t expect it to keep the front of the phone that protected. Price: DualPro £22, Feather £17

Headphones

HTC stereo and HTC Bluetooth stereo headphones

HTC’s own offering matches the brushed-aluminium looks of the HTC One. The stereo headphones feature soft earbuds and a clever flat anti-tangle cable with three-button volume control.

The HTC Bluetooth stereo headphones are slightly different. The have a cable attached to a small box, roughly the size of an iPod shuffle. That box features audio controls and is designed to bring superior Bluetooth 3.0 quality sound without the need for a straight line to your handset. Price: HTC Bluetooth headphones £44, Wired headset £29

Bang and Olufsen BeoPlay H6

Keeping up the brushed aluminium theme is the BeoPlay H6. They carry the usual price premium of B&O products, but look just as good as your HTC One.

The light tan leather with brushed-aluminium inserts on each headphone match really well with the light silver HTC One. The dark metal version matches the darker HTC One nicely as well. Price: £329

Atomic Floyd Superdarts

The Atomic Floyd Superdarts are some of our favourite in-ear headphones. They sound fantastic and have a bomb-proof build quality that means we have no qualms leaving them sitting in our pocket or in a handbag.

The sound you get from the Superdarts is both bass and treble heavy, emphasised even further by the included Beats audio technology with the HTC One. The result is audio that is perfectly suited to noisy train journeys but not necessarily great for using at home. Price: £199

Docks

Bose SoundLink

The Bose SoundLink Bluetooth wireless speaker is small and compact, designed to be transported around and used whenever you fancy beefing up the audio from your smartphone.

We especially like the choice of leather and Nylon covers you can fit to the SoundLink. Despite its 70s transistor radio design not quite matching the modern edge of the HTC One, it definitely carries the same style kudos. Price: £299

Pure Sensia 200D

Pure’s Sensia 200D is designed with audio streaming in mind. It uses the Pure Connect app on Android to receive wireless audio, which is completely lossless - much like Apple's AirPlay technology. Also included is a USB port on the back which will charge your HTC One.

The front of the Sensia 200D features a large 5.7-inch screen from which you can control all its other functions, including radio and the Pure Music store. Again, it's the stylish exterior that invokes compatibility with the sleek lines of the HTC One. Price: £180

HTC One Comes to T-Mobile April 24

T-Mobile has finally revealed the launch date for HTC One on its network: April 24. Answering questions from several Twitter users about the HTC One, T-mobile simply replied it will be launching the LTE version of the device on April 24.

HTC's Android flagship sports a unibody aluminum chassis, a 4.7-inch, full HD display, a 4-megapixel camera with an "UltraPixel" image sensor, a 1.7GHz quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM.
And if you trust this report from TmoNews, the One will also support Wi-Fi calling on T-Mobile's network.
SEE ALSO: Why HTC Is Betting on 'UltraPixels' for Its New Flagship Phone
Coupled with T-Mobile's recent dramatic change in strategy, in which the company got rid of cellphone contracts altogether, the HTC One could be an alluring proposition for many customers. And, if you're in the opposing camp, T-Mobile also recently started selling the iPhone 5 as well.
Are you excited to see the HTC One in T-Mobile's roster? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Image courtesy of HT

HTC One - Camera Review

When a smartphone shouts about its camera as being something special it turns a lot of heads. We've already seen and reviewed the HTC One and love it as a smartphone. It's an ace device. But what of its "Ultrapixel" camera - is it really as "ultra" as it proclaims? We've spent a week living with the HTC One and used it as a camera - with some of the obvious smartphone content-sharing features of course - to see whether it switched us on or off.

'Ultrapixel': HTC's megapixel marketing

Megapixel is a term used to describe one million pixels. Ultrapixel - the way HTC describes the One's camera - is a marketing term; a brand name with the goal of attempting to upsell the megapixel.

Any claim that the One has a 4-ultrapixel camera means, in reality, that is has a 4-megapixel camera. Nothing more. But the crucial difference is that those "pixels" are each larger than most smartphone competitor models - often twice as large - because there are less of them on the same size surface area. That makes the One more effective at capturing light which is useful for a couple of key things: reducing noise - that mottled, colour-flecked nastiness that you sometimes see in images - and potentially increasing dynamic range for a better black-to-white range.

Low resolution

The concept is theoretically sound and we were expecting great things. But the problem is the camera has a mere 4-megapixels of resolution. That's about a third the output offered by most compact cameras, or half the number compared to, say, the iPhone 5 and plenty of similar smartphone competitors. These higher-resolution models have their own issues, of course, by having more resolution than is really necessary to the detriment of quality.

But has HTC forgotten that resolution plays a key function? Think about the logic of standard definition versus high definition - click on BBC One, then BBC One HD and admire all the news readers' crowsfeet in extra detail - and it speaks for itself.

Greater resolution opens up potential for greater detail. Of course there are all kinds of things that get in the way of reproducing full resolution - lens sharpness, low-pass filter diffusion, bayer array colour calculations, signal amplification, individual companies' processing methods and that sharpness is, in part, perceptive and based on processing methods. These points combined can ultimately make for a less than perfect result, increase image noise and heighten processing artefacts.

Still, resolution is crucial. You wouldn't go out and buy a one-megapixel camera because it's not really useful for much. And here's the next thing to think about: the HTC One's 16:9 camera sensor offers up the full four megapixels of resolution only in that "widescreen" format, just like a movie still. Many photographers will shoot at a 3:2 ratio and, in doing so, will sacrifice yet more resolution - it's cut to 3-megapixels, or a further 25 per cent loss - and introduce an effective shift in focal length too.

To explain that last point: the HTC One has a 28mm medium-wide lens without an optical zoom. By cutting away the outer edges of a shot in either the "regular (3:2)" or square (1:1) crops the impression you'll get is that less fits into the frame - you won't be able to fit as much into the shot without stepping back, which gives an equivalent longer focal length.

Sometimes you will want to zoom in on further away subjects so that they fill the frame yet more, but without an optical zoom it's not really possible to do so. Technology dictates - at least at present - that an optical zoom on a smartphone would be too sizeable and expensive. It just wouldn't really work. The answer? Digital zoom.

But when we think about what digital zoom is, it becomes apparent why you won't really want to use it. All the HTC One can do is crop into the sensor size. Imaging you had a sheet of paper with an photograph on, but only wanted to have your best mate's face from the centre of that shot in the frame. Get out those imaginary scissors and cut it down to size - that's great, sorted, but now you have a much smaller sheet of paper. Stretching it back up to the original size would mean each dot that makes up that image is also stretched considerably - by up to four times its original size - and that makes everything look soft and lacking in detail.

This is exactly what the HTC One does. When zooming in by 4x - to provide a greater-than-112mm focal length equivalent - images are upscaled poorly and really aren't nice to look at. It's a predictable outcome given the sensor dimensions and resolution - and one that any given manufacturer will have to deal with.

But here's the thing, other companies have also thought outside the box before. The Nokia 808 PureView, for example, has a 41-megapixel sensor with "pixels" the same size as those in an iPhone 4S because the sensor is physically so much larger than in any other smartphone. Here digital zoom is used but provides an effective zoom solution without being disruptive to image quality - there's no need to upscale as resulting images still have a usable output size.

But the 808 failed. It just wasn't commercially successful, ran on an out-of-date operating system and its camera - despite having the best sensor we've seen in a smartphone - had plenty of room for improvement when it came to the software and processing side of things.

What we think HTC ought to have opted in for is a half-way solution - it has used a physically larger sensor size with double the resolution but still in keeping with its larger-than-competitors' "pixel" size ethos would have ticked plenty of boxes. But with physical sensor size comes physical device size, and the HTC One, unlike the Nokia 808 PureView, is a trim, delicate slice of smartphone.

As a camera replacement

Using the HTC One as a camera doesn't feel much like a camera. Without wanting to sound too "duuh" it's obviously a smartphone - that's the way it's been designed and that's the right way to approach such a device.

But if HTC had included a physical exterior shutter button we think holding the device steady would have been made easier - as it stands the overall thinness of the product doesn't lend itself well to keeping a decent grip with one hand, and you sure wouldn't want to drop this pricey kit.

READ: HTC One review

The touchscreen - which can be used to position the focus point and, in doing so, the metering - is incredibly responsive and the large size makes for a glorious preview which, in many respects, walks all over standalone compact cameras. This is how the camera menus are controlled, however, so you'll need one hand to hold the product and the other to tap the screen for focus, shutter and other more detailed controls. But the layout and depth of controls don't lend well to dedicated camera use.

Controls aside, among the biggest problems we had with the One is that it tends to expose for highlights which can cause silhouetted shots in all kinds of situations and the flash isn't anywhere near bright enough to counter that in daylight. It's a problem that can be addressed partially by the +/-2EV exposure compensation - if, that is, it wasn't buried in the unnamed "…" menu and required scrolling down to it on each visit.

The fact such controls - including ISO sensitivity, white balance, sharpness and more - are included is a great thing, but then full manual controls are omitted. Not necessarily the clincher in buying a camera or a smartphone by any means, but aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual controls would each have their own clear uses, even if they were dressed up into more consumer-accessible "portrait", "sport/fast action" and other scene mode options.

There are notable benefits to using a device such as the One which has a speedy processor at its core. The One can snap away shots at a rapid rate, with the likes of Best Shot's auto-select method or Zoe's three second mini-movie capture (which can be used to extract stills from later) each being of great use for casual capture. We like.

Above all else it's about the pictures. The One's resulting images are okay at best - among plenty of problems there are some high points too.

It's the improvement to signal-to-noise ratio that the sensor's larger pixels brings to the table and so, at higher ISO settings, the One's shots are cleaner than near rivals such as the iPhone 5. That's without a doubt.

But the One does its damnedest to avoid using the high ISO settings most of the time. Instead it'll happily snap - sometimes unhappily for the resulting images - at 1/20th second at, say, ISO 200 instead of 1/40th second at ISO 400, for example. We can see why, it's because the lower ISO settings are so much more preferable. Rise to ISO 300 and above and image noise in shadow areas is clearly visible.

Then it's back to the resolution conundrum again: scale a competitor's shots down to 3 or 4 megapixels rather than 12 megapixels and it helps "hide" some imperfections. Snap a four-figure ISO shot with the HTC One and it'll definitely show up less image noise compared to its major rivals - but there's not enough detail to substantiate its worth as a "better" image. In short: the benefits are marginal because resolution isn't high enough.

Even at the lower sensitivities we found ISO 100 shots to present some sloppy processing: jagged edges in blown-out highlights, processing artefacts comparable to a compact camera of a greater resolution, colour fringes - those overlapping purple edges you may have seen in images at full size before - and a lack of biting sharpness from the lens combine a series of negatives that can't be ignored. As we've mentioned before it's exposure that's the One's most obvious downfall, plus the exterior lens often comes in contact with the hand which means it gets greasy and dirtied all the time and further softens images - you'll need to keep it clean and clear for the best results.

On the HTC's 4.7-inch screen any imperfections - exposure aside - are not as distinguishable as at full size on a computer monitor, and herein lies an argument that rests in HTC's favour: most users will just use images at small scale, often just on the smartphone itself, where larger resolutions aren't going to have much of an impact. Indeed a lot of users may not care less whether their smartphone camera is high resolution, they might not even know - so long as it can shoot in low-light conditions and deliver good enough results. The One does have that point wrapped up, or at least it does for its 4.7-inch display.

There are other fun elements within the interface too: the inclusion of filters means Instagram-like exposures can be made in black and white, negative, pop-colour, vignette and all manner of other options. Not great for everything, but impactful nonetheless, and post-shooting adjustments and edits can be made too.

Close-up or "macro" shooting is also very impressive. Slip the camera right up to a subject and it has no problem snapping in focus from just a couple of centimetres away. That's a benefit of a small sensor and lens combination right there.

The One major benefit

Okay, so there's more than one benefit to using the One as a camera, but that play on words was too much to miss out on. The thing that makes the HTC One camera great is its connectivity.

It almost goes without saying that a smartphone is most people's hub to the world; their portal to sharing and consuming news, pictures and the like. So when it comes to outing pictures from the One to the internet there are plenty of options. Mail it, Facebook it, tweet it - the world is your oyster. It's immediate, it's easy and it's this kind of feature that cameras are slowly trying to compete with. Try as they might, none is capable - short of the Samsung Galaxy Camera - of competing with that immediate and easy sharing capability.

READ: Samsung Galaxy Camera review

We've already touched upon Zoe too which, despite its girly name is short for zoetrope - a device which produces the illusion of motion from a series of still frames. The One is obviously far more advanced than such ageing tech, but Zoe and its associated galleries have a big impact on the way pictures can be stored and viewed. The mini-movie Zoe clips play back in a flick-book-like fashion in the gallery section for added impact, and the ability to open and edit photographs all from the phone is something most cameras aren't anywhere near to doing as yet.

Battery life, too, lasts for plenty of time. There's no popping spare batteries in either - it's simple USB-to-device pairing and, bosh, you're ready to go.

It's all this smartphone wizardry that sets the One apart from a camera and that's something that can't be overlooked. But then other smartphones offer the majority of such benefits too.

Verdict

The HTC One is a great device on the whole that we're very fond of, but try to think of it as a dedicated camera and is it better than one? No, not at all.

Poorly measured exposure, so-so quality, limited resolution and a digital zoom you'll want to avoid are just some of the shortcomings. And while high ISO shots might well outshine their smartphone peers in terms of revealing less image noise, the limits of the One's resolution do, to some degree, knock itself out with one "ultra" blow which counters much of that low-noise benefit.

Marketing is a clever tool, but in this instance it's hype. The HTC One's camera isn't as ultra as its name suggests by any means. What makes it cool is the ability to apply filters, share direct from the device wherever you are, use Zoe and burst shooting, arrange galleries, and shoot for a long time. It's the smartphone's connectivity elements that make the camera viable - and while it's far from a camera-beater we suspect many owners will be happy with what it can do.

Great smartphone? Yes, about as good as they get. Great camera? 'Fraid not.

HTC M8 With Windows Phone 8

This week HTC unveiled the HTC One smartphone, previously known as the M7, an Android Jelly Bean handset with high end features and a great design. Now Michael Retovona proposes a new HTC design, the M8 device, pictured below and packing Windows Phone 8.

The designer claims that he likes the Lumia and the iPhone 5 look, so he admits that the HTC One is a bit inspired by those. So, he went out and created the equivalent of the HTC One in the Windows Phone universe: HTC M8. Michael worked one hour and a half on this render in Photoshop alone and using vectors.

There are some changes from the HTC One, like the fact that we have speakers at the lower back, not only at the front top and bottom. Also, below the screen there are Windows Phone buttons and the front camera has been moved from the side to the center. There are 3 capacitive buttons instead of 3 and other than that the handset may keep its 4.7 inch Full HD screen and maybe even the 4 MP Ultrapixel camera. Fancy this phone?

Nexus 5 by HTC - a Suman Chatterjee Mockup

After the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Nexus 5 is the most rendered phone in 2013, I’ll give you that much. Each and every designer is having a go, putting brands like LG, HTC, Sony, Samsung or others attached to the Nexus 5 project. Today Suman Chatterjee gives this idea a spin and created the new Nexus by HTC.

The result is a 4.9 inch Full HD smartphone with a Snapdragon 800 quad core 2.3 GHz processor and Android Key Lime Pie as the OS. Nexus 5 has 3 GB of RAM, 32/64 GB of storage, a 16 megapixel camera with autofocus and a 3 megapixel front camera. We’ve also got a Li-Polymer battery, that’s removable and offers a 2800 mAh capacity.

The design seems greatly inspired by the HTC, although the two capacity buttons are replaced by 2 virtual ones and there’s an interesting app selection in the middle of the screen. The display also seems to have even smaller bezels than on the HTC One…

[Thanks Suman Chatterjee]

HTC 606w UltraPixel Camera looks like HTC One Sibling

The upcoming HTC smartphone has been leaked, which comes in the mid-range smartphone segment, and again comes with with Android Operating System. Sources revealed that the company is working on a new phone, will integrate with UltraPixel camera and 4.3 inch screen. Amazingly! that smartphone will run on Android and will be revealed soon in 2013.

Rumors have been rolling out that HTC might be looking to launch HTC 606w device in China soon. The smartphone appears to be younger brother of HTC One, in the terms of design and features. On the front of HTC 606w, there is a pair of dual stereo speakers, similar to the Boom sound speakers found on the HTC One. The device is similar to the HTC One with the front-facing camera. The smartphone will be mid-range not a high-end product.

The HTC 606w will run on Android v4.1 Android Operating System but will not come with latest Android v4.2 OS. The device will powered by quad-core processor. It has 11.4 cm(4.5-inch) display and coupled with 1GB RAM. The camera specification includes 8MP rear camera and 1.6 MP front-facing shooter for video calling.

In terms of Connectivity, the device has certain options like 3G, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth, GPS feature. The phone will also support 16GB in-built storage with memory expansion of 64GB. Although, there is no word on the MicroSD card slot for expansion. The phone will be loaded with 2000 mAh capacity.

Specification and Features of HTC 606w smartphone :
HTC 606w will run on Android v4.1 Jelly Bean Operating System.
The Dual SIM smartphone has 11.4 cm(4.5 inch) with 720p HD display with a screen resolution of 960 x 540.
The device will be powered by quad-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz speed along with Adreno 305 graphics chip.
The camera has UltraPixel Camera capture the image either through the front or back. The Back camera has 8MP resolution and 1.6 MP front-facing shooter.
As far as memory concerned, it includes 1GB RAM, 16GB in-built storage extended up to 64GB. The company has not mentioned the micro SD card slot for expansion.
The connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth v4.0, GPS+GLONASS connection.
606w smartphone will be loaded with 2000 mAh battery capacity.
HTC 606w smartphone is expected to ship in China first in next few weeks.

HTC new smartphone -‘HTC One’ get launched Finale 2013

The rumors have seen cessation, HTC’s much awaited HTC One smartphone has been officially launched few hours ago. HTC One is going to available within 80 countries from next month with the help of 185 Telecomm operators. There are many rumors came before the real device actually arrives and when it came, it was not much different from the expected one. GooPhone has already presented it’s clone named as GooPhone One, so you can yourself judge that how much awaited HTC One was.

In the past few years, HTC has made it’s own position in the market by launching innovative devices with excellent quality and became user’s favorite. As we go through it’s new flagship smartphone that is HTC One’s features, than we found that it runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and features Sense 5.0. Further the 11.9-cm (4.7-inch) smartphone sports a Super LCD 3 display with 1080p resolution. It is powered with 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor plus 2GB RAM. If we talk about memory than it features 32GB/64GB of internal storage, but microSD support is not provided here. In connectivity front, it supports NFC. For capturing images, it provides you a 4 megapixel rear camera but what is important to know here is that the camera supports HTC Ultrapixel technology plus 2.1 MP of front facing camera. Right now you can get this smartphone in Silver as well as black colors only.

Ultrapixel Technology

HTC One features this amazing technology which set it apart from all the Hi- Tech smartphones of the current times. It means that the phone has a custom camera, with f/2.0 aperture lens and a new sensor technology that allows users to captures images with 300 percent more light than traditional smartphone camera sensors. Now you can yourself imagine the type of images this camera is going to shoot, forget the pixels. Moreover, it’s cameras support multi-axis optical image stabilisation just like Nokia Lumia 920. Company has claimed that it will shoot images with 4MP but, what is more important is pixel size not the pixel count and HTC One is providing you the brilliant quality pictures and videos.

Specs Sheet of HTC One

Runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Operating System

Features 11.9 cm Super LCD 3 display

Powered by 1.7Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad core processor

Packs in with 2GB RAM. 32GB of internal storage.

Equipped with 23,00 mAh battery

Features 4MP camera with Ultrapixel technology and 2.1MP of front facing camera for video callin etc.

AvailabilityThe company has decided to sell the device in both HSPA and LTE versions across the globe depending on the network availability. In India also, this device is expected to get launch by the end of March via Reliance communications (exact date is still not confirmed yet).

FTC Settlement: HTC Must Patch Security Vulnerabilities

HTC America has been ordered to develop and release software patches to address widespread security vulnerabilities that have potentially affected millions of HTC devices as part of a settlement deal announced by the Federal Trade Commission Friday.
As included in the terms of the settlement, the phone manufacturer will be subject to independent security assessments every other year for the next 20 years. HTC is additionally required to start a program that will address security risks during the hardware development process.
HTC said in a statement that it has addressed several of the security flaws noted by the FTC in its complaint and is working on fixes for those that remain unaddressed.
"Privacy and security are important, and we are committed to improving practices that help safeguard our customers' devices and data," said HTC spokesperson Sally Julien in a statement about the settlement. "Working with our carrier partners, we have addressed the identified security vulnerabilities on the majority of devices in the US released after December 2010. We're working to rollout the remaining software updates now and recommend customers download them once available."
The FTC's decision can be interpreted as a signal to other phone manufacturers that the commission expects them to pay careful attention to consumer security and patch flaws as close to immediately upon their discovery as possible.

SEE ALSO: FTC Says You Should Be Able to Block Smartphone Tracking

Several issues were at the heart of the FTC's complaint against HTC: Permission re-delegation, the use of unsecured manufacturer-provided application markets and vulnerabilities in communication mechanisms used by HTC phones.
Permission re-delegation occurs when a user grants one application access to certain information, then another application uses that first application's approval to access data without the user's direct consent. The FTC found that HTC failed to address this problem in custom-built preinstalled applications on several devices, giving third-party apps the ability to record audio, access geolocation data and send text messages without users' permission.
The FTC also found that HTC included on its devices a pre-installed custom app store that allowed users to download apps outside of the Android Market/Google Play ecosystem. The custom HTC app, however, "failed to include appropriate permission check code to protect this pre-installed application from exploitation," per the FTC. Thus, third-party apps downloaded via HTC's custom app could sneak other software onto users' phones unbeknownst to the user.
Two "insecure communications mechanisms," as the FTC calls them, are also involved with the settlement: HTC Loggers and Carrier IQ.
HTC Loggers, discovered by researchers in October of 2011, was a security flaw that allowed third-party app developers to intercept users' sensitive data transmissions, including text messages, financial account passwords or geolocation data, from users' phones without their knowledge or consent. HTC quickly admitted the flaw and got to work on a fix.
Carrier IQ, meanwhile, was software embedded on some HTC phones at the behest of wireless providers, who used it to monitor potential problems on their networks. However, researchers discovered in December of 2011 that data picked up by Carrier IQ could be intercepted by third-party apps and that vulnerabilities in Carrier IQ could be manipulated to cause a phone to send text messages without users' permission. Several unofficial solutions for blocking or removing it from customers' phones were discovered soon after Carrier IQ came to light.

HTC One S - T-Mobile 2013

HTC has finally launched its first Android smartphone to ship with Ice Cream Sandwich—and it's a winner. The HTC One S packs a next-generation dual-core processor, a vibrant screen, an unusually capable camera, and fast HSPA+ 42 data speeds, all into one of the slimmest and lightest designs we've seen. Despite a few minor issues, the HTC One S is our favorite new smartphone on T-Mobile and a clear Editors' Choice.

Design and Call Quality

Slim and light, the HTC One S measures 5.15 by 2.56 by 0.35 inches (HWD), with a thinner 0.31-inch portion in the center, and weighs roughly 4.2 ounces. HTC doesn't provide an official weight figure, but the One S is slightly lighter than the 4.9-ounce iPhone 4S we had on hand. HTC's high-end handsets typically feel expensive, and the One S is no exception, with its rounded, gray aluminum body. This one goes several steps further, though. First, it's almost impossibly slim, thanks to its unibody design—the Verizon Motorola Droid RAZR is slimmer still at 0.28 inches, but the difference is largely academic given how good the One S looks. The gradient anodized finish also lends an extra dose of class, not to mention durability. A prominent volume rocker sits on the left side panel, while the top edge houses the Power button and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

The 4.3-inch, 960-by-540-pixel, Super AMOLED glass capacitive screen looks beautiful at first glance, with vibrant color, a bright backlight, wide viewing angles, and deep blacks. It's also very responsive; typing on the on-screen QWERTY keyboard is an absolute joy. HTC's own keyboard layout is present, and you can switch on Swype if you prefer that. There's only one issue with the screen: It's a PenTile display. That means the arrangement of subpixels results in mild stippling that many people don't mind (including me), but others find irritating. Mainly, it surfaces in fuzzier-than-typical text, and on dark gray backgrounds; you can really see it when it's next to a phone without a PenTile display. Suffice to say it's worth a look in person to see what you think.

The HTC One S is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band HSPA+ 42 (900/1700/2100 MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. Download speeds generally landed in the 4 to 7 Mbps range—good, but not the best we've seen for HSPA+ 42. Ping times were often just over a second—though a few results were normal, at under 100 milliseconds—and upload speeds struggled to break 1Mbps, with most landing in the 500 to 700Kbps range. T-Mobile says our otherwise production review unit isn't provisioned yet for HSPA+ 42, and that by the time consumers get them next week, they'll all be operating at full speed.

Call quality is excellent for a T-Mobile phone. In my tests, voices sounded clear and crisp, if slightly thin, in the earpiece, with a surprising amount of gain considering there's precious little room for a speaker. Transmissions through the mic were clear and well defined, although a good amount of street noise made its way in. Calls sounded perfectly clear through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars), but voice dialing didn't work at all over Bluetooth, which is a bizarre omission in a 2012 phone. The speakerphone sounds tinny at maximum volume, and isn't loud enough for outdoor use. There's a 1650mAh battery that we're in the process of testing. We'll post the results as soon as they're available.

Hardware, OS, and Apps

The dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8260A Snapdragon S4 processor is undeniably powerful, benchmarking considerably faster than the Samsung Galaxy S II ($229.99, 4.5 stars) by roughly 20 percent, and the HTC Amaze 4G ($149.99, 4 stars) by about 30 percent—and both of those are dual-core phones.

We can credit at least some of this speed to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) as well. HTC seems to have struck a nice balance between Android 4.0's various UI refinements, and its own, lighter-than-before HTC Sense 4.0 UI layer and widgets. In testing, the phone felt quite responsive, and raced through day-to-day tasks without so much as a hiccup. Frame rate tests stayed consistently just above 60 frames per second in several benchmarks, making this a superb phone for gaming.

While HTC devoted the bulk of its customization work to the camera and music apps (more on those below), there are some other nice touches throughout. Email conversations are threaded, and a sliding Recently Used Apps view lets you switch tasks with a finger swipe and tap. There are HTC's trademark clock and weather widgets, the latter of which now shows a spinning globe for tracking world time and weather. A beautiful Car Mode pops up a landscape display with large icons for navigation, music, Internet radio, and phone calls, and customized one-level-down interfaces for easier access while you're behind the wheel. You can't change up the main icons, though; it would have been nice to pop in a shortcut toiOnRoad Augmented Driving (free, 3.5 stars), but that's nitpicking.

Otherwise, there are over 400,000 third-party apps in Google Play, most of which should run just fine on the One S, given its up-to-date OS and relatively common screen resolution. You also get free voice-enabled GPS navigation standard. There's a good amount of pesky T-Mobile bloatware you can't remove like Game Base, My T-Mobile, T-Mobile Name ID, and T-Mobile Mall.

Browsing is very fast, although you can see the PenTile display issues on Web pages with small fonts, and Flash-encoded pages I tried didn't work. HTC's own SmartSync app is smart enough to learn your email checking habits, and then reduces push and polling accordingly to conserve battery power.