Well, if you still harbored any doubts that HTC was working on a slightly-tweaked version of its flagship One X smartphone, some new images courtesy of Pocket-Lint should help put them to rest.

The new front and back shots provide the best look yet at the device-in-progress, and they confirm what many have already claimed — it looks nearly identical to the original One X.

Of course, its largely unchanged appearance is only part of the equation — it was always what was inside that polycarbonate shell that was worth another look. In case you hadn’t been following the One X+ odyssey, the device is said to feature a 1.7GHz quad-core processor (which may or may not be a Tegra 3, depending on who you believe), 1GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and Beats Audio support, and will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean right out of the gate.

It’s hardly the first time the One X+ has been captured on film — it recently popped up in what appears to be a sales catalog for U.K. carrier O2, and the person (or people?) behind the infamous @evleaks Twitter account posted a sketchy picture of the device complete with a T-Mobile logo. That coupled with the device’s appearance (with a codename, naturally) in another leaked T-Mobile USA document could mean that the carrier’s svelte One S may have soon have some company.

What really gets me here is that HTC very clearly promised last year that it would pare down its smartphone selection in favor for a smaller number of devices in 2012. The company’s been doing a great job of it so far (the One family has been very good to HTC), but I can’t help but worry that pushing out mildly-updated versions of existing hardware could put HTC back on its original, lousy track. Here’s hoping HTC can keep that compulsion under control — the last thing we all need is a rehash of last year’s Sensation situation .

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The Windows Phone 8S isn’t necessarily the most impressive of HTC’s latest line-up, being baby brother to the 4.3-inch 8X and all. It’s design, on the other hand, looks and feels great. HTC has a knack for using an unibody design and the right materials to make an excellent feeling phone, and the 8S is certainly at the right size for almost anyone to use it with one hand.

The 4-inch WVGA display is relatively crappy. But I’m quite fond of the color flavors this little bad boy comes in: black/white, grey/yellow, red/orange, and blue/purple. The grey/yellow combo and blue/purple in particular really catch the eye, and I see this phone gaining some serious popularity among teens.

In terms of usability, HTC’s making it quite difficult to get our hands on these things. I did notice, though, that Windows Phone 8 is as snappy as I’d expected running on the devices, even with the phone’s 1GHz SoC. I expect that may change once you load more content onto the device, yet you can’t have much content– there’s only 4GB of internal storage.

The camera on the 8S is pretty behind the times, especially considering the dedicated imaging chip on the 8X. Impressive as it is that the camera lies flush against the backside of the phone, it’s only a 5-megapixel shooter with 720p video capture, and that is clear in photos. There is no front-facing camera.

The 8S is also more bulky than big brother, supposedly to fit in all those components with less overall real estate. It’s also lacking the same dedicated amplifier that can be found in the 8X, making it the same mediocre Beats Audio that we’ve seen from HTC for quite a while.

It’s a fine phone, but nothing I’d write home about.

Click to view slideshow.

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Since launching its first product in 2008, Beats has gone from an obscure niche headphone brand to a multi-million dollar business with plenty of star power (Dr. Dre, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, etc.) catapulting the brand into the mainstream spawning several celebrity and musician endorsed rival brands. Now it’s going after an older crowd with the Executive over-the-ear headphones, which I’ve been testing for the last few days.

Originally partnered with Monster, the company has since detached itself from the audio manufacturer, had the majority of the company acquired (51 percent) by HTC, acquired music service MOG, and then regained 25 percent of HTC’s shares back this past July. It’s also had its brand name attached to HP laptops and HTC smartphones.

While the company has tapped into the youth of this country, it hasn’t quite gained traction with the folks whose annual incomes are, well, significantly higher than a 17-year-old’s. It’s unclear why Beats is going in this particular direction given that the “b” brand can be seen just about everywhere you look.

Maybe it has something to do with Monster now marketing its own line of headphones geared towards an older demo. Or the fact that the Beats brand commands over 60 percent of the over $100 headphone market in the U.S. I guess a $1 billion industry is worth protecting.

“If you look at the category right now, almost all the competing products are made of plastic. We’re bringing craftsmanship and premium materials, such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel, and hand-stitched leather,” Luke Wood, president and COO of Beats, told me. “Beats has fans of every age, but we wanted to build the Executive for the business traveller who doesn’t necessarily feel comfortable wearing bright green headphones on the plane.”

Other than looks and what I assume are subtle changes to the audio components under the hood, the Executives appear to be built on the same platform as the original Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, including the use of regular AAA batteries to power the active noise-cancelling functionality. And just like the originals, the Executives won’t work when those batteries die. Pretty annoying in my opinion for a $300 pair of headphones but maybe I’ve grown accustomed to all my doodads having rechargeable batteries.

The Executives are said to last upwards of 25 hours per set of batteries. So far I’ve logged several thousand miles (SFO>JFK>ICN) and roughly 15 hours with the included batteries. The noise-cancellation function can be muted by depressing the “b” icon on the right earcup. Batteries are deposited into the left earcup by popping off the cover, which is tethered by a string and kept in place with magnets. A nice touch overall and they definitely feel premium.

When asked why the core feature still relies on standard batteries, Wood had this to say: “Our research of this particular use case shows the consumer preference is split in regards to rechargeable and disposable batteries. Keeping the demographic in mind for this product, there is anxiety around forgetting to charge your batteries and getting on the plane for a business trip to find they’re dead and there’s no time or place to charge. Many people would rather just bring a spare set of batteries than risk being stranded on a flight with no sound. With that said, as our products continue to evolve we will consider the technology that makes the most sense as well as sustainability issues.”

Regardless of whether I think that a $300 pair of headphones should function sans batteries, the Executives are really comfortable (it’s worth noting that I wear glasses and find it annoying to wear over-the-ears) and offer a less bass-y sound than previous models. Even with the noise cancellation or because of it, you really have to crank up the volume to hear your tunes. The low end seems a bit muddled and when cranked up all the way up it just sounds a bit fuzzy. Albeit ever so slightly.

They’ll be available in mid-October and come with a carrying case, cleaning cloth, two adapters and two sets of audio cables, including one for use with your phone.

Since the dissolution of its partnership with Monster on July 1, Wood says the Executives are “an example of what’s to come” from the now free-standing company.

Click to view slideshow.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

HTC and Cricket Wireless have just announced that the carrier will offer the HTC One V, the little brother in HTC’s new One series, starting September 2.

Cricket has yet to carry an HTC phone. However, HTC has long planned that this phone would be more of a pre-paid offering, with T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular carrying the phone on-contract and Virgin and MetroPCS offering the One V as a pre-paid option. Now, obviously, Cricket Wireless has joined the ranks.

The One V is the smallest in HTC’s One line, but it happens to be my favorite.

It has a 3.7-inch LCD display, a 1GHz processor and runs Sense 4. It also has a cute little chin down at the bottom of its unibody design.

It’s also worth noting that Beats Audio integration (a staple of HTC’s phones) should pair nicely with Cricket’s Muve Music subscriber base, which has unlimited downloads of their favorite music.

The phone is going for $199 at Virgin Mobile, so you can likely expect the same price at Cricket, though the press release did not disclose pricing information.

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HTC’s Droid Incredible 4G LTE hasn’t been a very well-kept secret (then again, what HTC phone is?), but Verizon has just confirmed what many of us suspected — their latest HTC handset will hit store shelves on July 5.

If you’ve been itching for an upgrade and just can’t wait for a Galaxy S III, expect to shell out $149 (after a mail-in rebate, sadly) for the new Sense-powered slab.

But is it worth the price? The device’s name isn’t very inspired, but at least the Ice Cream Sandwich-powered DI4GLTE has a solid spec sheet to back things up. In case you’ve forgotten already, it sports a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset, 1GB of RAM, a 4-inch qHD Super LCD display, and Beats Audio support. Flipping the thing over reveals the same 8-megapixel rear shooter as seen in its distant cousins the One S and One X, though Verizon’s release makes no mention of HTC’s wonderful ImageSense functionality.

Sadly, instead of embracing the wonderful design language of the One series, Verizon and HTC have the device in their usual black and red trim. The end result is a device that doesn’t look terribly different from the handsets that came before it, though it’s certainly not a bad thing unless you’re a petulant design snob like me. Thankfully, the strangely high price ($299) Verizon quoted when the device appeared on a DROID teaser page was just a mistake, but any would-be upgraders would be smart to wait for a bit and weigh their options more thoroughly.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Evo.

It’s one of the few HTC/Sprint product lines to make a splash in the mobile ocean, and after a brief stay at U.S. customs, the latest iteration should do the same.

The Evo 4G LTE is the most powerful Evo to date, with a 4.7-inch 720p display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and 1GB of RAM under the hood. But these specs are in no way novel, which means that quite a bit comes down to HTC’s software offerings and design language.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is running the show on this puppy, with HTC’s now-usual 25GB of free Dropbox storage and Beats Audio integration also in tow. The former two are excellent features to have and should be considered when you’re weighing your various mobile options, but I can’t honestly say that the Beats Audio makes much of a difference.

In the design department, there’s quite a bit going on. The front of the phone looks like any standard Android phone that’s come out in the past six months: a large touchscreen, three capacitive buttons within a black bezel, and black edges with rounded corners. In short, the Evo 4G LTE face is nothing to write home about, though I am impressed with the way that HTC managed to squeeze a 4.7-inch display onto a comfortably compact body.

The back of the phone tells a different story. It’s a bit like a mullet — business up front, party in the back.

You’ll find a really nice soft-touch black finish along the bottom two-thirds of the phone’s backside, divided with a bright red, metallic-y kickstand, and finished up top with shiny plastic. The plastic grabs prints like that’s its sole purpose in this world, but the overall aesthetic is quite nice, and the soft-touch finish along the bottom is pleasant as can be.

I haven’t noticed any glaring issues in performance and battery life seems to be pretty good, but we can’t be certain of anything until I complete official testing. In other words, stay tuned for our full review which will go live this week.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

When we first took a look at the HTC One S, we felt that it was just another Android phone, despite the quality hardware. With today’s introduction of the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE, the same sentiment rings true.

All the specs you’d expect are present and accounted for, including Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC’s Sense 4 overlay, but I have yet to find a really stand-out feature on this third-generation device.

Of course, Droid Incredible 4G LTE (what a mouthful) owners will enjoy 4G LTE speeds courtesy of Verizon, which is a huge step up in its own right, but LTE will soon be a standard so we can’t get too excited over it. And since HTC made this bad boy, it will certainly come packed with Beats Audio integration.

Past that, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 powers the device, with a 4-inch qHD LCD display up front and an 8-megapixel camera round the back. There’s also a front-facing camera for video chat, but what is actually kind of cool is a new feature called HTC Video Pic. Essentially, it lets you snap pictures while you’re recording HD video, like you would on some new point-and-shoots.

You’ll have an extra 32 GB of external storage as an option, and the mobile hotspot feature supports up to 10 devices. Pricing and availability are still quite unclear, but the phone will be available in Verizon stores and online in “the coming weeks.”

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Well, I suppose it was bound to happen. Just one day before HTC and Sprint kick off their so-called collaboration event in New York City, the team at PocketNow has gotten their hands on what they claim is the first press shot of the device to be unveiled: the EVO One.

The device’s supposed internals sure seem to be a treat, at least according to a tip that Android Central received a few days ago. The ICS-powered EVO One is expected to sport a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, a 4.7-inch 720p AMOLED display (which The Verge rightly notes is a slight letdown compared to the One X’s Super LCD 2 panel), an LTE radio, 16GB of onboard storage, and Beats Audio support.

Their tipster also pegs the EVO One’s release date as June 6, which is nearly two years to the day since Sprint and HTC officially released their first Android collaboration, the EVO 4G.

Sadly enough, the device seems to have had all the sexy sucked out of it. Sure, the specs are more than solid and early reports make Sense 4.0 out to be a much-needed improvement over older versions, but really — just look at that thing. It doesn’t help that in the full image below, the device is sandwiched between the One X and the One S, two of the Taiwanese company’s more handsome handsets in recent memory. HTC famously claimed last year that they would refocus their hardware efforts around a smaller number of hero devices, and while the EVO One seems to live up to the name on paper , I really think it could stand to look the part.

Gone are the screen’s rounded edges, as are the meticulously drilled speaker grille holes along the top rim of the device — it’s not a bad design, but one that doesn’t stand out at all. I’m hoping against hope that this image is some clever hoax someone whipped up to turn heads before the official unveiling, but we’ll soon see if it’s real or not as we’ll be on the ground in New York for the event tomorrow night.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

HTC’s is the Cinderella story of the mobile market — they’ve gone from low-key provider of Windows Mobile hardware to Android-powered smartphone titan within the span of just a few years.

Impressive as that is, HTC has done much more than just push out smartphones. In the past year alone, HTC has inked big deals with Beats Audio, Dropbox, and LogMeIn, with rumors of a potentially final MOG acquisition swirling around to boot. It’s pretty clear what HTC is trying to do here: they’re trying to buy an entire ecosystem for their devices, and frankly, good on them for it.

The Android end of the smartphone spectrum has always struck me as a bit more cut-throat than the rest. While Apple is content to churn out one new smartphone a year, and most Windows Phones feel very similar in use, players like HTC, Samsung, and Motorola have continually pushed out Android devices to meet every desire and fit every niche.

It’s not always the best practice though, and some of these companies are starting to realize it. HTC announced late last year that they would focus their new smartphone efforts around a smaller number of “hero devices,” and Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha announced they would be paring down their smartphone portfolio shortly afterward.

But great hardware is only ever part of the equation. The experience that users have with those devices is what really has the potential to turn them into manufacturer devotees, and rather than sink gobs of time, money, and manpower into building out an ecosystem around their devices, HTC is wisely letting their checkbook do the talking with their high-profile partners.

TechCrunch has covered the Beats Audio and Dropbox deals in the past, but the recently announced LogMeIn partnership strikes me as particularly savvy. Going forward, HTC devices will have a “LogMeIn Rescue applet” installed (that is, if the device’s carrier gives them their blessing) that will allow their HTC tech support to remotely access and diagnose a smartphone’s particular woes. With this in place, HTC seeks to establish themselves not only as the creators of great hardware, but your supportive partner if things go unfortunately awry.

At first glance, the MOG deal seems puzzling — the Google Play Store has within it a perfectly usable music portal after all. But if MOG indeed becomes part of the company’s Beats Audio division, then Beats Audio becomes more than a fancy badge and a special audio profile on a phone. It could become the music hub of choice for HTC users; why buy a track for $1.29 a song when you can access 14 million songs with one touch? And if HTC can whip up a smart pricing model (or give it away for free like all that extra Dropbox storage), well, that’s one more reason to buy an HTC phone over all the others.

It may seem a bit lazy of HTC to ink deals with these companies rather than work up their own solutions, but let’s not forget that they’ve tried in the past. Anyone remember the HTC Watch service, which allowed users to stream movies directly to their handsets? It never seemed to pick up much traction on its own, but these new strategic deals together make for a compelling argument to buy HTC. I imagine that they’ll want customers to come for the solid hardware, and stay for all of the benefits that HTC users are (or will be) privy to. That, more than anything else, is what will turn regular customers to dyed-in-the-wool fans and it never hurts to have a few more of those.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The rumor mill has been hard at work these past few months circulating information about HTC’s latest line of smartphones, but now HTC CEO Peter Chou has announced that the company’s new line of smartphones will indeed sport the “One” brand

Chou hasn’t yet jumped into details about specific phones yet, but expect that to come shortly.

In the mean time, he has taken to talking up some of the new features seen in HTC Sense 4.0. One series phones, for example, benefit from the inclusion of what Chou calls PhotoSense technology, which allows for extremely fast image shooting and enhanced photo quality. The video experience has also been rethought too, as users can now take photos and shooting videos simultaneously.

It’s interesting to see HTC focus so intently on their cameras, although it may just be what was next on the list. HTC made headlines last year when they announced their partnership with Beats Audio to provide a produced musical experience. HTC One will apparently provide users with the best sound experience by aggregating a user’s media and media services into a Music Hub where users can customize their experience further.

Sense 4.0 also sports wireless sync, so users can wirelessly transfer their music from PC to device with a minimum of headache — after one USB sync, it’s all done over the air.

Developing…

Article courtesy of TechCrunch