Is Russell Holly a seer of the future, or did he just manage to get lucky? That's the question we're currently kicking around at Engadget. You see, when he first revealed that a Galaxy S 4 would be introduced at Google I/O with stock Android, we quickly dismissed it as something that'd never happen in a million years. Then it came true the very next day. Now, Holly is back with another mighty tall claim: "HTC is considering a stock Android variant of the One for release in the US." In fairness, rumors of such a phone began to circulate last week, but were quenched just as quickly by HTC. Contrary to the denial, however, Holly claims that multiple sources have informed him of an HTC One that's in the works with stock Android 4.2.2. It's tough to make heads or tails of Holly's report, especially since he follows the assertion that HTC is "considering" such a phone with a claim that it'll be announced within the next two weeks. Naturally, we're taking this with more than the usual dose of skepticism, but like Fox Mulder, we want to believe.

[Image credit: Pencilshade / deviantART]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: Phandroid

Source: Geek

After a series of rumors about the HTC First not selling too well in the States, we've now heard that the customized Facebook / Android handset won't be coming to the UK. Mobile News initially reported that UK pre-orders will be cancelled and we've just confirmed this with our own sources, who said that it was Facebook itself who made the decision, rather than HTC or either of the European carrier partners (EE and Orange). We've reached out to HTC and EE for confirmation and will update if we get a response.

Update: We've just heard back from EE, who confirmed the rumor and attributed Facebook's decision to "customer feedback" that resulted in a need to improve the Facebook Home interface before spreading it to further markets:

"Following customer feedback, Facebook has decided to focus on adding new customization features to Facebook Home over the coming months. While they are working to make a better Facebook Home experience, they have recommended holding off launching the HTC First in the UK, and so we will shortly be contacting those who registered their interest with us to let them know of this decision. Rest assured, we remain committed to bringing our customers the latest mobile experiences, and we will continue to build on our strong relationship with Facebook so as to offer customers new opportunities in the future."

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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While taking a look around HTC China's online store after the Desire 600 (aka Desire 606w in China) announcement, we also stumbled upon this Desire 608t that was first outed by TENAA in late April. With the exception of the One SV-like design and the TD-SCDMA radio for China Mobile, this model is otherwise identical to its 606w sibling, especially with the Sense 5-enhanced Android 4.1, BoomSound front stereo speakers, dual SIM and even the CN¥2,499 ($410) unsubsidized price tag. Other specs include: 4.5-inch 960 x 540 Super LCD 2, 1.2GHz quad-core chip by Qualcomm, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage (with up to 64GB expansion via microSD), 8-megapixel imager (with f/2.0 aperture and 720p video capture), 1.6-megapixel front camera, 1,860mAh battery and NFC. Interestingly, the 608t is also listed with Zoe camera feature, yet the 606w isn't, so hopefully it's just a mistake for the latter instead of the former.

Gallery: HTC Desire 608t press shots

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: HTC eShop (Chinese)

It didn't take long for HTC to go official with the Desire 600. Interestingly, it picks up on several of the new Sense 5 features revealed alongside the HTC One, including its fingertip-baiting BlinkFeed for social network and news updates. BoomSound and the ability to craft video highlights from your photos and clips also make the transition, although apparently not the burst-capture Zoe mode. Hardware-wise, there's a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 quad-core processor, with a 4.5-inch Super LCD2 display (at 960 x 540 resolution), an 8-megapixel primary camera capable of up to 720p video capture and a front-facing 1.6-megapixel shooter. The Desire 600 picks up the same dual front-facing speaker setup of the One, although rather than a global appearance, it's currently headed to Russia, Ukraine and the Middle-East for now, landing early this June in white and black options. However, we've already spotted a China-bound version for China Unicom's WCDMA network, the Desire 606w, and if we're honest, we'd probably be happier to see the rumored M4 make an official showing. Now, where's that Desire 200?

Gallery: HTC Desire 600 press shots

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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HTC's Desire line of mid-range Android smartphones have typically used the alphabet to denote different models, but the company is now switching to numerals. At least according to a Taiwanese certification page, we can expect a Desire 200. Some leaked benchmark results also indicate that a Desire 600 will head to market.

We don't know much about the Desire 200 apart from its name. It's listed as the HTC 102e on the certification page, and there's plenty of speculation that this handset is the G2 we heard about earlier this year. It's a different story for the Desire 600: the benchmark results indicate this device sports a 960 x 540 (qHD) display with an unspecified 1.2GHz chip. The benchmark sheet also reveals this is a dual-SIM model destined for Europe. That's it for now, but more details are sure to follow shortly.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: Pocketnow

Source: GFXBench, VR-Zone

Turbulent times at HTC, it seems. Earlier today, we reported a pair of high-profile exits from the company -- one rumored and one confirmed -- and now we're looking at another. According to CNET, the CEO of HTC Asia Lennard Hoornik has also abandoned his post, with regional CFO Chia-Lin Chang taking the reins until a formal replacement is named. Hoornik, who joined HTC from Sony Ericsson, allegedly left the Taiwanese handset maker after a two-month period of absence. Did he jump, or was he pushed? And, are these exec departures linked in any way or mere coincidence? We've reached out to HTC for confirmation and comment, so let's hope there's someone still working there to answer us.

Update: We have received the following confirmation from HTC:

"HTC can confirm that Lennard Hoornik has left HTC to pursue other interests. We appreciate his contributions to our South Asia efforts over the past year and wish him all the best. HTC's CFO, Chialin Chang will provide interim leadership in this strategic region while we work to find a permanent solution."

Update 2: According to a source of ours, Head of Global Digital Service Elizabeth Griffin will also be leaving HTC later this week to join Nintendo.

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Mobile, HTC

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Via: The Verge

Source: CNET

No, not that One. Or that other One. It's definitely not this One either. Rather, we're talking about this One -- you know, the HTC flagship kind -- and the folks at AT&T have a unit ready for you to win. This particular model is of the 32GB persuasion, and it's currently up for grabs. It's not unlocked to all carriers and doesn't come with free service, so we have to limit this contest to our US readers. Two entries are all yours, and you can snag a third for the price of answering a simple question about BlinkFeed. So head below to the Rafflecopter widget and enter! Good luck.

Filed under: HD, Mobile, Alt, HTC, AT&T

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HTC seems to be encountering a bit of executive brain drain. Jason Gordon, the firm's vice president of global communications, revealed on Twitter that he ended his nearly seven-year-long stint with the handset maker last Friday, but didn't divulge why he left or what his future plans include. Now, The Verge is reporting that Chief Product Officer Kouji Kodera has also flown the coop, following a handful of other execs. According to the outlet's sources, Chief Marketing Officer Ben Ho could be partly responsible for the changes since he's said to be moving the outfit's planning and strategy back to its Taipei HQ. With Peter Chou pinning poor marketing as what held the company back in 2012, it's certainly possible things are being reeled back to home base -- not unlike Nokia's own centralization in recent years. We've reached out to HTC to confirm Kodera's exit and just what the departures mean for the organization as a whole.

Update: HTC confirmed the departures of Jason Gordon and Kouji Kodera.

Filed under: Mobile, HTC

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Via: The Verge

Source: Jason Gordon (Twitter)

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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By most accounts, the HTC One is the most compelling Android smartphone on the market today, but only three of the major US carriers are wise enough to sell it. Up until this point, we've put the AT&T and Sprint models through their paces, and now we have an opportunity to round out the trio with T-Mobile's version. Given the carrier's recent shift to an unsubsidized pricing model -- which brings lower monthly fees in exchange for purchasing your phone outright -- you may be in for some sticker shock with the HTC One, which runs $580, but you can also pay $100 down with installments of $20 per month over the course of two years.

If you're currently on the fence about whether the HTC One is right for your needs, you'll definitely want to check out our full review, which features an in-depth look at the phone's design, camera and the many novel features that you'll find with HTC's custom software environment, Sense 5. Here, we'll explore the subtle nuances of T-Mobile's version, with plenty of benchmarks, impressions about the voice quality and battery life, an overview of the bundled apps and a comparison to the One's closest competitors on T-Mo. There's plenty to cover, so join us after the break as we explore everything that you need to know about the HTC One for T-Mobile.

Gallery: HTC One for T-Mobile review

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Google, T-Mobile

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These days, the presence of a microSD slot on new handsets is arguably more important than the amount of storage on the inside. One such slot found its way onto the Chinese variants of HTC's One, and now Japanese network KDDI has unveiled its model -- the HTC J One (aka HTL22) -- also with expandable memory on the spec sheet (up to 64GB cards supported). An accompanying promo video has informed us of some new camera modes as well, including a best shot feature like Nokia's Smart Group Shot or BlackBerry's Time Shift, the ability to edit out background photobombers, and creating slow-mo highlights within video clips. We'd hope to see a camera software update bringing these features to US Ones in the future, but for now, check out what you're missing in the video below.

Correction: We originally reported that some of the camera modes shown off in the HTC J One promo video below were new, but commentors have pointed out that these features already exist within the gallery / Zoe UI. The video gives the impression that these features were moved to the camera UI, alongside HDR and panorama (like on the GS4), but that's not the case. A few eyes also spotted there's some extra detail on the back panel below the camera. Fear not -- we're digging.

Update: We've come to the conclusion that the black oblong under the main camera -- similar to the one found on KDDI's J Butterfly variant -- is for IR communications (read: it's different from the power-key emitter). Oh, and that logo under the flash signifies FeliCa NFC-based payment support.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, HTC

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Source: KDDI

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!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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After months of supply issues and courtroom wrangling, HTC might have finally put its hardware woes behind it. The company's North Asian president, Jack Tong, let slip that production capacity for the HTC One will double this month and continue to increase in June to meet "strong demand." Tong also casually dropped into conversation that the J Butterfly saw its own sales double in Japan when it became free on contract -- so perhaps those second-quarter financial results won't make for such depressing reading.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: ZDNet, Android Beat

Source: Focus Taiwan

For every Engadget editor who's gotten to test an HTC One (that'd be five of us so far), there are two more waiting to take it for a spin. Well, you can cross Mr. Fingas off the list, at least: he's been playing with the One on Canada's Rogers network, snapping photos in the lowest-lit places Ottawa has to offer. James Trew, meanwhile, is excited to finally use Goal Zero's Sherpa 50 solar charger, mostly because it means England is finally getting some decent weather.

Filed under: Misc, HTC

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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!

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

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If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought hints of changes to the Droid RAZR lineup, a peek at Sense with Android 4.2 and the arrival of the Lumia 520 to Canada. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of May 6th, 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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When it first announced Home, Facebook said that it would support the HTC One and Galaxy S 4 as soon as they arrived. But unless you were into sideloading, any attempt to actually run it on either of those two handsets was greeted with a "not supported" message -- at least until now. Though the app version hasn't changed and there's no mention of support for new handsets, the HTC One now appears to be officially supported, and after bypassing a warning (see the image above), you can now download and run it unofficially on the GS4 as well. That requires the main Facebook app to be up-to-date, however, and we noticed that Home (which has a tiny download size) leans on its much bigger brother for most of the heavy lifting -- updating Facebook actually changes features in the Home app.

Android Central noted that it also worked in that way for other previously unsupported devices it tried, namely the Sony Xperia ZL and HTC One X. However, we still couldn't even download the app on the Nexus 4 or LG Optimus G, although it worked just fine via a sideload -- producing the same warning and allowing us to "use home anyway." That jibes with what Facebook told us yesterday -- namely, that it would change permissions so that sideloaders would get all the updates and not be saddled forever with version 1.0.

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Samsung, HTC, Facebook

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Via: Android Central

Source: Facebook Home (Play)

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!

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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The launch of NASA's PhoneSat mission last year was loaded with promise: finally, proof that mobile technology could power nanosatellites and stick it to The Man. The photos have returned, and... well, Lockheed won't be scrapping its big satellites just yet. While we're impressed that the Nexus Ones onboard the three PhoneSats delivered images from orbit through amateur radio waves, the transmission artifacts are more like those from 15-year-old online videos than what we see on the ground today. Don't think that the effort was in vain, however -- far from it. While the inaugural PhoneSats have burned up in reentry, as expected, future iterations should build on the experience and make a better case for small-scale spacecraft.

Filed under: Transportation, Science, HTC

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Via: The Verge

Source: NASA (1), (2), PhoneSat

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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HTC has already gone the trade-in route to offer folks a discount on its new One smartphone, but it's now giving it another go this weekend with an expanded promo in the US and Canada. This new one is open to anyone that buys an HTC One between today and Sunday, May 5th (the previous promotion required folks to pre-register), and it now offers up to $375 for smartphones that you trade in. Unless you're looking to unload your brand new smartphone in a hurry, though, you may want to check around for the going rates first. The slightly better option is for folks who've been sticking with an aging phone; as before, HTC is guaranteeing at least $100 for your trade-in, so you may well get more from it than you would on the open market (assuming you want to buy a One, of course). Those interested can find all the fine print and check the value of their phone at the source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: HTC

We've wondered what HTC would do after a Dutch court banned it from using HDR Microphones in its oft-delayed One handset, and now we know. It looks like the company has now nixed references to the Nokia-developed component on its website, raising the possibility that the handsets currently being manufactured have HTC's "improved" microphones rather than the original STMicroelectronics unit on board. None of this should affect phones that are already on the market, but we've reached out to HTC to find out what this means for future One owners and will let you know more when we do.

[Thanks, Ted]

Update: HTC has reiterated its position (after the break) saying that the company is entitled to use its remaining supplies of STM's HDR Microphones until they run out.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Nokia

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Via: XDA-Developers

Source: HTC

HTC's financial results released today don't contain much good news -- take a quick look at the unaudited figures we reported last month. But despite its worst ever quarterly profit earlier this year, it's banking on a substantial turnaround over the next few months. During an earnings call today referencing its audited results, HTC said that its outlook for Q2 2013 includes a revenue jump to around $2.4 billion -- a huge increase from $1.45 billion registered in Q1. HTC CEO Peter Chou said that the company was fine "in terms of cash flow," and that it would continue to support both Android and Windows Phone hardware in the near future. How about those recent supply woes? "We are working as hard as possible to meet the demand everywhere." The company, however, wasn't giving away any handset sales figures, something that the competition does enjoy flourishing.

When asked whether he was concerned with its recent hardware being copied, Chou was frank: " In this industry, everything can be copied. I think there's no point [in] thinking you can prevent this... but whether they would get this original quality -- I think the most important [thing] is that you are first."

Richard Lai contributed to this article.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: HTC

Remember the M4? We've seen glances of a spec sheet, but now we get to see how it's going to look. Courtesy of @evleaks, we can now tell it's looking good. After the critically-acclaimed One, the company looks to be sharing its style tips around -- at a glance the M4 appears almost identical to the HTC flagship, although the camera flash has been relocated to the center of the device and there's a few less micro-drilled speaker holes. Running over the leaked specs, you can expect a smaller 4.3-inch screen at 720p resolution and possibly a cheaper build to the unibody beauty that leads HTC's smartphone family.

There's likely to be a dual-core processor, LTE-capable radio and 16GB of storage too. There's better news, with the UltraPixels-packing 4-megapixel camera sensor rumored to make its way into the middleweight phone, although initial leaks pointed to a 13-megapixel sensor. The phone is said to be appearing later this quarter, but we're still waiting on official word (and that all-important price) before we get too excited. But hey, it worked for Samsung.

Update: We've made a couple of comparison images of this rumored M4 with the 4.7-inch One. Check them out after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: Phone Arena

Samsung isn't the only one with tales to weave about its latest smartphone. HTC's released a video detailing the manufacturing process behind its metallic beauty, the One. It's a quick tale, under two minutes long, and was actually part of HTC's big reveal in London and New York a few months back, although it's recently been given a re-edit and uploaded. The company keeps the focus on hardware construction and it's taken diamond cutters, "zero-gap construction", electro-chemical etching and, well, plenty more engineering to get the job done. Industrial manufacturing and chamfered edge fans should make the leap beyond the break for the full video.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: Gizmodo

Source: HTC America (YouTube)