HTC introduces budget 18:9 display Desire 12 and Desire 12+ smartphones

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Good old HTC isn’t giving up on it’s smartphones yet, despite the acquisition by Google, as the company has launched two new mid-range devices to the market. The HTC Desire 12 and Desire 12+ come with 18:9 displays and a design that feels rather familiar on the back, though it certainly looks far more premium than just being a typical mid-range device, as they both come with acrylic glass back surface and a metal frame.

The Desire 12+ features a 6″ HD+ display, it is powered by a Snapdragon 450 processor and offers 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, this is also the very first HTC phone to come with dual cameras on the back, which comprises of a 13-megapixel main sensor with a f/2.2 aperture and a 2-megapixel secondary sensor that measures depth of field. The selfie camera is an 8-megapixel sensor that comes with an f/2.0 aperture and LED flash, it also  supports HDR and 1080p video recording. Unfortunately, HTC has left out BoomSound speakers and audio enhancement this time, there’s no fast charging and it also comes with a questionable 2965mAh battery, but thankfully, the headphone jack is present.

As for the Desire 12, the specs step down to a MediaTek MT6739 quad-core processor and a 5.5-inch HD+ IPS display, RAM and storage remains the same as it’s higher end sibling at 3GB and 32GB respectively. In terms of cameras, the Desire 12 features a single 13-megapixel shooter wiht a f/2.2 aperture and a 5-megapixel f/2.4 selfie camera. The Desire 12 doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor, BoomSound speakers and fast charging, and it comes with a smaller battery at 2730mAh.

The Desire 12 and Desire 12+ will be available starting April 2018 onwards with no mention of pricing yet, while it’s great to know that HTC is still releasing great looking devices, the new Desire smartphones are now clearly a step down from what we used to see from the company, this is a clear direction that the company is reserving it’s flagship features on the U series, and whether these new Desire smartphones will help HTC gain back its fame here, that would depend on how strategically priced they are as compared to companies like Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, who have basically dominated that price the value for money mid-range smartphone category.

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HTC is back in the Nexus program with the Nexus 9

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It’s been 4 years since HTC unveiled the first Nexus smartphone, the company is now back in the Nexus game with Google announcing the
Nexus 9
, the all new Nexus
tablet
 by HTC features a totally revamped design that makes the device look extremely polished and premium, which is very much the HTC way.

The
Nexus 9
 has a 8.9-inch IPS Gorilla Glass 3 display with a QXGA (2048 x 1536) resolution, this is the first
Android tablet
 or device to feature a 4:3 aspect ratio and it is the same display resolution found in devices such as the iPad Air and Xiaomi Mi Pad. It is also the 3rd Android tablet (after the Mi Pad and NVIDIA Shield) to run on NVIDIA’s 64-bit K1 Kepler Quad-Core processor at 2.3GHz and mated with 2GB RAM. Google isn’t stingy on the camera optics as well by offering a 8 Megapixel f/2.4 autofocus main camera with LED flash and a 1.6 Megapixel front camera. The
Nexus 9
 surprisingly features HTC BoomSound speakers, which Google don’t usually mention its OEM’s proprietary feature on its own Nexus product.

The
Nexus 9
 will come shipped with Android 5.0 Lollipop and is powered by a 6700mAh battery, storage options are available in 16GB and 32GB variants with an LTE model in place. Preorders of the device will start October 17th and you’ll be happy to know you can get the device locally beginning November 3. So, are you in for the new
iPad
 Air 2 or the Nexus 9 by HTC?


HTC is launching a new phone on June 11 that might have dual front cameras

436

HTC was once popular with its smartphones but that has obviously gone down the hill in the recent years. The company isn’t giving up though; HTC plans to launch a new phone on June 11.

There hasn’t been any names revealed for the smartphone, but the launch date itself is confirmed by HTC Taiwan in its Facebook post. However, there is a HTC device that appeared on AnTuTu and Geekbench that could possibly be the upcoming device.

If so, then the upcoming HTC phone will sport a 6-inch FHD+ display. It will also be powered by a Snapdragon 710 chipset paired with 6GB RAM and ships with Android 9. It is expected to have no notch and come with a rather thick chin.

That aside, the HTC phone will house a 3,930mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 4. It will also sport dual cameras on both its front and back, summing up to four cameras altogether.

HTC is not the only brand launching something on June 11 as it was also reported that Xiaomi will launch the Mi Band 4 on the same day.

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HTC is making a Windows 10 phone together with Microsoft

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While we have to say HTC and Microsoft are still great buddies, the duo have been slacking a lot after the announcing the Windows Phone 8X and 8S then shortly after the One M8 with Windows Phone,
Windows Central
 has reported that HTC and Microsoft are recently working together again on a Windows 10 phone, which we could assume to be an
HTC One
 M9 Windows Phone model but we really hope HTC starts considering making affordable Windows 10 phones just like how Microsoft did with their Lumias.

We’ll see how the new version of the Windows operating system shapes up and where it fits in the HTC lineup – Chia Lin Chang, President of Global Sales and Chief Financial Officer at HTC

Chang has also mentioned that the company will be revealing more details on the next HTC powered Windows 10 handset at the end of Q2, which will be a great timing as Redmond will be officially launching its new operating system by then. Now the question is, how well is HTC going to integrate its new Windows 10 phone with its ecosystem such as the Re Vive VR Headset and Re Grip Fitness Tracker? Will they make cheaper phones for us as well just to compete with the Redmond’s smartphone department? Only time will tell.


HTC is planning on a midrange phone with a Snapdragon 710 processor

351

HTC is going to launch a midrange phone soon, as it was discovered recently that the device with the model number 2Q7A100 showed up on Geekbench.

According to the Geekbench report, the HTC phone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor, and it will ship with Android 9 Pie. In addition, it will be sporting 6GB RAM, but its internal storage configuration has yet to be revealed.

With the information revealed, the HTC phone is expected to house a dual rear camera set up, and will probably come with a single selfie camera. However, there is absolutely no confirmed details regarding the other aspects of the phone.

Albeit being a midrange HTC phone, the new phone will be better the HTC U12 life thanks to its upper mid-range processor.

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HTC is set to release a refreshed One M7

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The One M9 may not be HTC’s most successful model last year, but most of us can’t deny that the One M7 is one device that has influenced many smartphone design of today, and HTC is said to be giving its most successful flagship refreshed hardware this year. According to Taiwanese site ePrice, HTC is set to refresh the One M7 at a price of NTD6000 (RM768.33) and we can probably expect HTC to pack the One M7 with a new Snapdragon 600 series chip and 2GB of RAM, and lets hope HTC will not be using the Ultrapixel camera as the phone’s main shooter when it gets released.

A few months back, HTC has ceased OS updates to the One M7 due to the phone’s aging hardware and it has already exceeded the two-year support timeframe, this announcement is a very similar move to Apple’s rumors of releasing a
4-inch iPhone 5e
 that we reported last week. As of now, the HTC One M7 is still a very decent performer and receiving tremendous community support on XDA-Developers, the news of a refreshed One M7 will be a great news to HTC fans out there. With MWC 2016 coming up next month, we are going to expect some exciting announcements from the Taiwanese phone maker soon enough.

Source:
ePrice

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HTC could launch the U11 Plus on November 2

312

HTC hasn’t given up on its smartphones yet, as it has sent out media invites to witness the launch of its new smartphone on November 2 at Taipei, the company has held its U11 press conference back then, and this time we should probably expect the long rumored U11 Plus with a 5.99″ 2880×1440 display, the first 18:9 display on an HTC smartphone.

The media invitation didn’t give away hints of the device, but we expect the U11 Plus to come with pretty much everything that the U11 already has, such as the Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage, the highly rated 12-megapixel main camera, and probably IP67 water resistance. The U11 was a great phone, however it doesn’t sport an attractive design like a modern 2017 device, and the 3000mAh battery doesn’t quite cut it to be a proper 2017 smartphone from HTC.

However, let’s hope that the HTC U11 Plus will turn up to be a worth upgrade from the U11, and we shall find out in a couple of weeks.

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HTC launches the One M9 Plus – Duo Camera, Fingerprint Scanner and 2K Display

345

It didn’t take long for HTC to announce its next phablet flagship even before its One M9 smartphone goes official here, the One M9 Plus is now the company’s most fully packed phablet smartphone, which brings back the famous duo camera that does bokeh, a 2K display to impress and brings one thing I’m not really fond of – a Samsung-like home button that houses the fingerprint scanner.

First things first, the One M9 Plus hardware is a little different but better in some ways than the original One M9. HTC has opted for a Mediatek MT6795T 64-bit Octa-Core chip with a max clock speed of 2.2GHz, it has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage with MicroSD expansion, display size has been increased slightly to 5.2-inch with a Quad HD resolution. Apart from bringing back the duo camera setup, the resolution of the main sensor remains at 20-megapixels while the front shooter is the familiar Ultrapixel camera that we know of.

The One M9 Plus is officially announced in a HTC China event today and that new biometric hardware is compatible with the country’s famous Alipay payment system, we’re not sure on how HTC will implement that fingerprint feature globally given that there are other payment solutions such as Apple Pay and
Samsung
 Pay already present. If you look closely at the phone itself, are you starting to realize that it looks a little like the Galaxy S6? Let’s wait for the One M9 Plus to be announced globally.


HTC launches Vive Studios, an in-house VR app and game development studio

326

Following the release of the Vive VR headset, HTC is now looking to enter the VR apps and games market, and it is doing so via an in-house studio called, appropriately enough, Vive Studios.

According to a report by Venture Beat, HTC plans to operate Vive Studios similarly to how Microsoft and Sony do for their internal development of Xbox and PlayStation titles. Vive Studios will be working on games as well as virtual reality content for cinema, design, real estate, sports and more.

While it is still too early to tell what these “virtual reality content” will be, Vive Studios have already released a game title called Arcade Saga. Meant to show off the capabilities of the Vive’s room-scale VR, the title can be found on Steam and the HTC Viveport store for RM56. The game itself contains three different minigames, all of which are meant to showcase the Vive’s potential.

Source:
Venture Beat
,
Engadget

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HTC made a terrible phone called the U20 5G

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I’m writing this as a HTC fanboy, and never before I felt so disappointed with the company’s smartphone annoucement today.

HTC is barely a name in the smartphone market today and it has clearly fall behind its competitors, so much that they have decided to announce the HTC U20 5G to just catch up with the rest and its downright underwhelming.

Although to be fair, the U20 5G is the company’s first 5G smartphone that’s powered by a not-so-powerful but OK Snapdragon 765G chipset, along with 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage, a 6.8-inch FHD+ LCD display, a familiar 48MP+8MP+2MP+2MP quad-camera system and 5000mAh batttery, which will set you back for NT$18,990 (RM2,739).

Really HTC? After almost two years and you are making a come back flagship model that resembles an OPPO phone on the back and a Honor 20 on the front, yet asking for that ridiculous price?

To be frank, I probably won’t be so mad if HTC have it sold under the Desire family, but on a side note, the company has also announced the Desire 20 Pro along it, and by all means its no ‘pro’ device either, it is a 6.5-inch device packed with a Snapdragon 665 chipset mated to 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, which will set you back for NT$8,990 (RM1,296).

Thankfully, none of these devices are coming to the Malaysian market.

I’m chill now, don’t worry.

desire 20 pro
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HTC Malaysia and Maxis officially announces the HTC One M8

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The big day for HTC has finally arrive to announce its 2014 flagship here in Malaysia today. HTC Malaysia has partnered with Maxis again this year to offer customers the
HTC One M8
 at a subsidised price from RM1399 with TalkMore 78 on a 24-month contract from May 9, 2014 onwards, which gives you savings of up to RM1000. The
HTC One M8
 will also be available in Gunmetal Gray and Glacial Silver, it retails at the price of RM2399 off contract.

“We are constantly focused on building the best smartphone in design and innovation while expanding our product portfolio at the same time. This opportunity to work exclusively with Maxis will enable us to bring the best experience and affordable HTC devices to Malaysian consumers. We are truly excited to be working with Maxis,” said Jack Yang, President, HTC South Asia.

In conjunction with the launch of the One M8, both companies entered into an agreement whereby they’ll be introducing the mid range Desire series to the Malaysian market. Therefore, we expect the Desire 816 and Desire 610 announced back in MWC2014 to reach our shores very soon.

To know more details on the packages, head over to Maxis on the source link down below. Good luck HTC Malaysia, we wish you the best in year 2014!

Source:
Maxis
, HTC


HTC Malaysia finally brings in the VIVE and VIVE Pro VR headsets

740

While HTC is seen struggling in its smartphone business and not getting as much attention as other smartphone players in Malaysia, the company has finally decided to officially bring in the HTC VIVE after two years of its existence, in fact it is introducing both the HTC VIVE Consumer Edition and VIVE PRO headsets, and the good news is the products are directly supported by the company and is distributed by well known distributor ECS Astar Sdn Bhd.

The consumer edition HTC VIVE has been in the market for a while now, it features a dual AMOLED 3.6″ display that supports a 90Hz refresh rate and 110 degree field of view, both lenses will produce a combined resolution of 2160×1200 pixels, while it sports I/O of HDMI, USB 2.0, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth and an integrated microphone.

If you have been keeping tabs on the VR HMD market, you would probably be more excited about the VIVE Pro that was launched in CES 2018, the headset features a built-in high resolution headset and has a much higher resolution AMOLED screen as compared to the VIVE Consumer Edition at 2880 x 1600 combined. The VIVE Pro uses USB-C 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 for receiving image signals, and HTC mentions that the headset would offer wearers a more comfortable experience with an improved headstrap.

The VIVE Pro will come in a starter kit which provides a complete premium solution for VR enthusiasts, it comes with two wireless controllers and two SteamVR tracking base station with room scale capability.

In conjunction with the launch, HTC has also introduced VIVEPORT, the company’s subscription service for VR apps and games that has over 1400 titles to date, the subscription allows customers to select five titles with unlimited access for RM37.99/month with no contract.

The HTC VIVE Consumer Edition will be available starting next week at HTC online partners and major IT retailers for RM2,999, the first 200 consumers who purchase it will enjoy a 3-month subscription to VIVEPORT. The VIVE PRO Starter Kit will be available towards the end of November for RM6,099, customers who pre-order device from now till 31st December will receive a 3-month subscription to VIVEPORT.

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HTC Malaysia officially announces the HTC 10 and One X9

284

After a long wait, the folks at HTC Malaysia has decided to call on a press conference to announce the arrival of the HTC 10 smartphone, which has in fact gone on sale since a week ago here. The HTC 10 is the company’s biggest effort yet on making a flagship smartphone, not only did the company drop its One branding and M naming scheme, the phone also received an entirely new design unlike any of its predecessors, gone is the pair of dual front speaker grille and flat all metal back design, there is now a 2.5D curved glass display and a capacitive home button that serves as a fingerprint scanner, while the beautiful all metal sports that really thick chamfered edge that looks uniquely beautiful and should feel great when holding the phone.

Under the hood, the HTC 10 is powered by a Snapdragon 820 octa-core processor paired to 4GB of RAM, there’s 32GB of built-in memory which can be expanded with a Micro SD card. While these performance internals are common in flagships today, the HTC 10’s camera setup is a rather unique one, HTC calls the main camera its second generation Ultrapixel camera, which is able to take 12-megapixel stills with a f/1.8 aperture and a 1.55um pixel size, the camera also has laser autofocus and will take 4K videos with Hi-Res audio, which is something to look forward to. Apart from that, the front 5-megapixel camera is also a breakthrough in other flagships as it is the first that comes with optical image stabilzation alongside with a fast f/1.8 aperture and 23mm focal length. The phone also has other new hardware onboard, such as a new 5.2-inch Quad-HD Super LCD 5 panel, a pair of HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition speakers that consist of a teeter and woofer, super fast 4G LTE speeds of up to 450Mbps, and a 3000mAh battery that delivers up to 2 days of battery life with QuickCharge 3.0.

In conjunction with the launch of the HTC 10, HTC Malaysia has also brought in the One X9 that was released exclusively for the China market back then, this phone technically shares the very same specs sheet as last year’s One M9 Plus, it has a Mediatek Helio X10 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal memory with support for storage expansion, 13-megapixel main camera with OIS and 5-megapixel front BSI camera, and a 3000mAh battery.

The HTC 10 is already on sale in authorised dealers and 11street, only the Carbon Grey and Topaz Gold version is available for purchase at RM2,799. On the other hand, the HTC One X9 can be purchased in color options of Gold and Gray at the price of RM1,499.

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HTC may be debuting a Vive-branded phone

304

Just because CES 2017 is over doesn’t mean that companies have nothing else that could surprise us. Case in point, HTC has begun teasing a its “For U” event today, which hints that the company may be debuting a new phone on the 12th of January. However, well-known leaker Evan Blass has obtained more information about the phone behind the “For U” event, and it looks to be an intriguing one.

HTC 2017?
pic.twitter.com/ppONWlT5Mr

— Evan Blass (@evleaks)
January 8, 2017

As shown in the tweet above, it appears that Evan Blass has somehow managed to obtain a promotional video that is expected to be shown during the HTC event. While a huge part of the videos are your standard marketing-like comparisons between other phones, the final few seconds of the videos shows a Vive-branded smartphone, indicating that this would indeed be the phone that HTC will be debuting at the event.

We don’t expect any details about this phone to be revealed just yet, but we are guessing that the Vive branding may indicated that HTC is going to do its own VR platform for smartphones. Should that be the case, it’ll be interesting to see how HTC will attempt to compete with Google’s Daydream platform. Alternatively, it could just be HTC’s way of labelling a smartphone as VR-ready. Whatever the case, more details are expected to be revealed later this week.

Source:
Twitter
,
Engadget

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HTC mid range tablet benchmark results uploaded

322

Is HTC busy working under our noses? Apparently not exactly as a GFX entry has been up on the net regarding an upcoming mid range tablet from the Taiwanese OEM.

The HTC IV5001-A, also rumored to be named the HTC Desire T7, is tipped to run on a quad core Spreadtrum SC8830 with a tame 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It is also said to operate Android 5.0, which is still current considering the baby stage of Marshmallow. Sadly, its 7-inch display will only be in 720p resolution. Other specs include 5MP cameras both on the front and back, like on the NVIDIA Shield Tablet.

HTC has not been active in the tablet ecosystem since its release of the the Tegra K1 powered Nexus 9 in collaboration with Google. Apart from having a somewhat dismal year in 2015, HTC has been relatively quiet. It seems that the company has started its engines for 2016 so stay tuned.

Source:
GFXBench

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HTC might be releasing the Desire 12 entry-level smartphone

286

Evan Blass has provided information on a new entry-level HTC Desire series phone that will be launched soon. According to him, the codename for the phone is Breeze and will come with an 18:9 display at an entry-level.

If the codename sounds familiar to you that’s because the company has already used the name before, 2006 with the HTC MTeoR, which was a regular cell phone. Being an entry-level phone the specs will not be very impressive but it will come with a 5.5-inch 18:9 display, MediaTek processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a decent 2.730mAh battery, based on Even Blass’s twitter post yesterday. Just after posting the code name of the phone, he then goes to tweet the name of the phone which will be the HTC Desire 12, a number skip over the previous Desire 10 Pro.

High chance we will not see the phone during MWC 2018, as HTC themselves have not made any official announcement but we will keep an eye out for any news about the phone and update you as soon as the information surfaces.

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HTC One A9 hits Malaysian shores

316

HTC’s recently released One A9 smartphone is now available in Malaysian soil.

The A9 sports an all metal finish to its body, giving it a sleek build and feel. It features an attractive edge-to-edge 5 inch 1080p display with Gorilla Glass protection on the front. HTC claims the display to possess more color as compared to normal LCD displays, even under direct sunlight.

The 13MP sapphire lens on the back of the device comes with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) for sharp capturing and prevention of blurring in images. HTC’s camera app allows users to capture RAW images, as well as speeding up videos up to 12 times with Hyperlapse. Its selfie shooter features HTC’s signature UltraPixel. It has an aperture of f/2.0, like the rear camera.

Embedded in the A9 is a DAC (Digital-to-Analog converter) which gives you richer sounds when listening to music. Coupled with Dolby Audio Surround Sound and Hi Res Audio technology, eargasm sounds very much achievable.

Underneath the hood lies the new Snapdragon 617 processor with 3GB of RAM alongside 32GB of internal storage with Micro SD expansion. All of these are powered by a 2150mAh battery, capable of quick charging with Quick Charge 2.0, upgradable to 3.0 in the future via software updates.

The HTC One A9 will be available in an array of colors at RM 2,299, selling at HTC authorized stores near you.

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HTC One E8 announced

304

HTC has announced a new member to the One series family, meet the
HTC One
 E8, a dual SIM LTE
(Note: China LTE networks only)
smartphone with the very same internals like the more premium One M8, the phone has a Snapdragon 801 Quad Core CPU, 2GB of RAM, front facing stereo BoomSound speakers and 5-inch Full HD display, the One E8 also supports HTC’s Dot View
case
.

The One E8 doesn’t have much difference from the more premium One M8, apart from having a plastic polycarbonate body, the duo camera is also missing and is replaced with a 13MP main camera while maintaining the same 5MP camera as the One M8. The One E8 has 16GB of internal storage while also supporting storage expansion via MicroSD.

China will be getting the One E8 first and HTC has also confirmed other markets to receive the phone in the coming months. According to reports, the One E8 will retail around USD$450 contract free, which is USD$200 cheaper than it’s more premium sibling.

HTC Malaysia, bring in this device!

Source:
HTC


HTC One E8 launched in Malaysia

281

Today, HTC Malaysia has launched the
HTC One
 M8’s plastic twin the
HTC One
 E8 in Malaysia, the device has almost the same hardware internals as the One M8 such as the Snapdragon 801 quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB of built-in storage with expandable storage, 5-inch Full HD SLCD 3 display and LTE network support. The only difference between the One M8, is that the main camera has been changed to a 13 Megapixel f/2.0 BSI while maintaining the same gorgeous 5 Megapixel front facing camera, and of course the One E8 doesn’t have the same brushed metal chassis like its flagship One M8. HTC Malaysia says that the introduction of the One E8 is to allow consumer to buy today’s technology at an affordable price, which the One M8 already offers and HTC has brought some great features over to the One E8.

The
HTC One
 E8 comes preloaded with Android 4.4 KitKat with HTC Sense 6 onboard, while bringing other features over like Motion Launch, HTC Zoe and HTC Boomsound. It is already available at authorized retailers at the price of RM1699.


HTC One M10 could be waterproof and set to announce on March 2016

541

There hasn’t been too much news of new smartphones from most Android big boys yet but HTC has once again been said to announce the One M10 on March this year, which means we might not be seeing any huge announcements from the Taiwanese phone maker in Mobile World Congress next month. According to reports from CNet, HTC will be having a separate launch event for the One M10 which we could assume it to happen in New York City just like previous launches, the One M10 is also reported to have 23-megapixel main camera, 3000mAh battery, fingerprint scanner, Snapdragon 820 CPU and finally, a waterproof standard chassis which will make things really interesting for a premium smartphone.

While HTC hasn’t been doing very well with its smartphone release, the company has been on to different product categories such as the HTC VIVE VR Headset and UA HealthBox, a fitness suite made in collaboration with Under Armour. With these new ventures, we hope to see HTC combine the usage of these new stuffs and make it work with the upcoming One M10 flagship, time will tell on how the company intends to survive in the competition.

SOURCE:
CNet

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HTC One M8 Prime rumored in the works

336

This year, we have the HTC One M8 as the flagship model just like last year’s
HTC One
 M7, so there has to be a successor to the other One models such as the One Mini and One Max. According to rumours, it seems that the company is already in the process of making the One Max’s successor, known as the HTC One M8 Prime.
The
HTC One M8
 Prime is rumoured to come with a 5.5-inch Quad HD display with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor (APQ8084 SoC) and 3GB of RAM. Additionally, the Ultrapixel camera is also said to be upgraded to a slightly higher number at 5MP and still features the secondary camera that does the ‘bokeh effect’, USB 3.0 connectivity and 16GB internal storage can also be expected from the
HTC One M8
 Prime.

The Snapdragon 805 processor is certainly a beast in terms of performance as we’ve talked about it back in
a post on a reference tablet by Qualcomm
, however HTC will still be facing a strong competition from the upcoming
Samsung GALAXY
 Note 4, SonyXPERIA Z2 Ultra and a wide range of China devices. Let’s hope they will be able to release the device on time at September this year, according to source.

Oh yea, not to forget to mention, @evleaks was also being criticised by HTC Product Manager Leigh Momii just because he merely suggested that HTC didn’t mention the coolest features on the
HTC One M8
 Prime, does that mean the name is finally confirmed?

Source:
Gforgames

Via:
 IBTimes
, @evleaks (Twitter)


HTC One M8 Review, a phone beautifully crafted in hardware and software

295

Last year, HTC shook the smartphone industry by introducing the
HTC One
 M7 that has the most premium materials and powerful hardware internals while featuring a pair of powerful front stereo speakers. Despite having issues such as the famous purple tint on the Ultrapixel camera, breaking up with Beats Audio and facing numerous legal issues, the company remains strong in publicity and has introduced its next masterpiece this year, it is still called the HTC One but with a new name – the One M8.

HTC One M8
 Video Review

Beautiful, Luxurious and Powerful

Phones described in the mentioned words on the title above sounds expensive, the One M8 simply looks like one of those crazily priced phones with its premium glossy hairline finishing aluminum chassis and maintains the same zero gap construction unibody process. The phone features an improved and refined design language with its rounded corners and same curved back, which makes the phone feel comfortable on hand while its material doesn’t make the phone feel slippery at all. The craftsmanship of the One M8 is so delicate that you simply want to adore the phone over and over again.

HTC One M8
 Hardware Specifications

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 Quad Core 2.5GHz
RAM/ROM: 2GB/16GB (expandable via MicroSD)
Display: 5″ Full HD (1920×1080) SLCD 3 with Gorilla Glass 3
Camera: 4MP Ultrapixel Camera (Main), 5MP (Front)
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, BT 4.0, NFC, IR Blaster, USB OTG
Features: Duo Camera, HTC BlinkFeed, Motion Launch, HTC BoomSound, Fitbit Fitness
Networks: LTE/DC-HSPA+ (band support depending on region)
Battery: 2600mAh, with Extreme Power Saving Mode

As you can see, the One M8 features similar hardware internals as flagships announced early this year. Compared to the One M7, this new baby has a larger display, expandable storage, a higher resolution front facing camera, WiFI 802.11ac and all new HTC BoomSound enhanced speakers.

The One M8 uses the same display technology found on its predecessor, which produces natural looking colors, decent viewing angles and acceptable visibility outdoors. In addition, touch screen response has been dramatically improved on the One M8, which you can instantly perceive after performing the first swipe gesture on the display.

Quietly Brilliant on the User Experience

The
HTC One M8
 runs on Android 4.4 Kit Kat with the latest version of HTC Sense running on top, the sixth iteration of Sense introduces a refined and refreshing experience that makes the phone more enjoyable than ever.When most smartphone launchers today are getting resource heavy and gimmicky, HTC made Sense 6 even more simplified, snappy and responsive. We’ve been using the phone for almost 25 days and the phone’s software has never crashed and failed us in its usability.

System apps on HTC’s phones are always very polished looking and have very consistent operational methods, they simply feel straightforward yet magical, working the way that it should and makes you feel that you are having the best smartphone in your hands. We specifically love the Mail app, which has always been an awesome e-mail client that loads most our e-mails completely without any lags.

The messages app now features a secure inbox that you can save all private messages on it to avoid prying eyes.

During our review of the
HTC One
 M7, we complained that HTC hasn’t brought over its complete collection of widgets from its previous iteration of Sense, which is unfortunately still a sad
case
 in this latest iteration, HTC’s stock widgets are still limited and there isn’t new ones being added by the company.

HTC’s BlinkFeed was pretty much a love and hate affair when it was announced back on the One M7, on HTC Sense 6, the news feeder gets a flat design instead of a tile like design back then, you can scroll all the way down instead of swiping over and over again.

What we love most this time is how simple we are able to configure our topics by swiping to the left and tapping on Add Content in the menu, which we’ll be brought to an interesting role of categories for us to choose from, BlinkFeed definitely knows where you’re located and suggests the relevant local topics that you should probably follow.

The really cool and new thing on the
HTC One
 M8’s software experience this is Motion Launch, which typically lets you perform one handed actions when your phone’s screen is off – double tapping the display wakes up the phone and shows you the lock screen, swiping up unlocks the phone without pressing the power button;

swiping down brings up voice dialing which you can use to call your contacts, swiping to the left brings you to your main home screen and the right brings you to BlinkFeed. Lastly, you can just lift the phone up to your ear without pressing the phone when a call comes in.

We simply conclude the features above in two words – Quietly Brilliant, HTC has developed an extremely practical and beautiful user experience, though not perfect, you just simply have to use it to experience it and feel the beauty of HTC’s brilliant software.

The Next-Level of Multimedia Enjoyment by HTC BoomSound

HTC’s break up with Beats Audio may have caused a little uproar among audio enthusiasts and HTC fans, however the company hasn’t left out the awesome dual frontal stereo speakers and now features its own audio enhancement technology – BoomSound, which can be referred to the technology behind the speakers as well as the hardware itself.

The One M8’s dual frontal stereo speakers are undefeatable, putting every smartphone speakers in the market to shame with its loud and undistorted audio, the speaker also produces pretty decent lows and crispier sound when compared with the One M7’s speakers. Without Beats Audio, audio quality on headphones has a brighter bass frequency as opposed to deep extreme bass, audio enthusiasts will truly appreciate the balanced sound produced by HTC’s audio enhancement hardware.

HTC once again rule the mobile audio department with the
HTC One M8
, they’ve basically produced audio hardware that not many others can do, smartphone stalkers will realize that there’ve been a few OEMs starting to adopt HTC’s speaker design, but none of them have ever come this close in terms of sound quality.

Ultrapixel, Duo Camera, and an Awesome 5 Megapixel Front Shooter for Awesome Selfies

We were truly disappointed with the fact that HTC has reintroduced the underwhelming low resolution Ultrapixel camera on to the One M8, it is exactly the same imaging sensor with a f/2.0 aperture and takes pictures in 4 Megapixels. The One M8’s camera performance is pretty much the same like its predecessor, although pictures have great color saturation and detail, it tends to over expose our shots and has metering issues in low light conditions; the camera requires some manual work to take pictures nicely, which isn’t a problem for geeks like us but the majority will find the camera not to be straightforward, thus resulting in bad photography. Check out the camera samples down below.

Duo Camera

The secondary camera a.k.a Duo Camera may sound like another gimmicky hardware added to the device, in fact it does some really cool stuffs which we really appreciate in real life. The Duo Camera is activated upon the launch of the camera app and is not usable on 3rd party photography apps.

U Focus

This feature allows you to perform a refocus on the pictures, the Duo Camera basically measures the depth of field in pictures and allows you to focus on the subjects that you want, which eventually creates a ‘bokeh’ effect that can only be found on prosumer cameras. Our tests have found this feature to be only useful if you are on a brightly lit background while low light can be a slight challenge at times.

Foregrounder

By applying the same technique as U Focus, Foregrounder basically lets you make your subjects
stand
 out in the picture while making the background in grayscale, cartoonish and etc.

Seasons

You can basically have animated sakuras and snow on your pictures to make it look really memorable, this could be really useful if you can’t visit countries that have these seasonal effects.

3D Dimension Plus

You don’t need to have a 3D display to see 3D images, the 3D Dimension Plus technically lets you view your pictures in 3D and save them in the angle that you want, it’s a pretty fun feature that we love and kind of increases our creativity on pictures out there.

We have Chinese smartphones that offers high resolution front facing cameras, but they were mostly software upscaled and produced crappy image quality. The
HTC One
 M8’s front facing camera truly shines with its wide angle lens, which lets you take awesome group selfies and it is extremely clear as a front facing shooter even in low light conditions.

The One M8 takes videos in Full HD 1080p resolution with amazing audio recording quality thanks to its rich audio recording microphones, check it out in the video down below.

Benchmarks, Battery Life and Call Quality

We ran our favorite benchmark apps and results are what we expected on a Snapdragon 801 powered device, the One M8 scores 35271 points and 25870 points on Antutu and Quadrant respectively, which is a score we have to admit true even in real world tests.

Despite maintaining the same 2600mAh battery with a larger display and powerful CPU onboard, the One M8’s battery truly surprised us when we perform pretty heavy tasks on it, the battery basically last a full day of usage with Auto Sync enabled, Google Now,3 E-mail accounts, few sessions of music and video streaming, 4-5 phone calls a day and lots of instant messaging. The Snapdragon 801 CPU also features Quickcharge, which allows you to quickly juice up the battery.

The phone also features an Extreme Power Saving Mode, which will conserve CPU performance, allow essential apps to run in the background and only allows the usage of the phone’s default apps.

Call quality of the HTC One M8 is excellent thanks to HTC Sense Voice, which our callers reported a crystal clear voice call quality from our end over the Maxis network.

Verdict – HTC has made the One M8 legendary again

The HTC One M8 is the best ever Android smartphone that we’ve ever reviwed this year, HTC has crafted a masterpiece that is simply hard to resist, combined with beauty and performance, the One M8 is once again a legend that tends to make its competitors jealous and start their photocopiers. If you can over look the low resolution camera on the One M8, which isn’t totally bad in taking pictures, the One M8 is a flagship Android device we highly recommend to anyone who wants a beautiful and memorable smartphone experience.

The Good

+ Premium build quality materials
+ Superb system performance
+ Great touch screen response
+ Awesome HTC Sense user experience
+ Front facing camera takes good quality pictures
+ HTC BoomSound is undefeatable
+ Duo camera is useful rather than a gimmick
+ Superb battery life
+ Awesome voice call quality

The Bad

– Ultrapixel camera takes the same low 4MP resolution
– Motion launch can be quite annoying
– Lack of HTC stock widgets

The HTC One M8 retails at RM2399 with telco contract plans available, we rate the phone at 4.5 out of 5 stars.


HTC One M8 VS Xiaomi Mi 3

276

The
HTC One M8
 is a premium flagship smartphone that has a killer industrial design with powerful entertainment features, the Xiaomi Mi 3 is a phone that tends to save everyone from buying expensive flagship smartphones with its extremely affordable price tag yet possessing powerful hardware internals. With these two flagships being the hottest devices in the market at this time of writing, we decide to give them a taste of our comparison works. Can the
HTC One M8
 win the Xiaomi Mi 3 by relying on its beautiful industrial design and latest hardware internals? Does the Xiaomi Mi 3 has the ability to defeat HTC with its attractive low price with similar premium build quality? Find out in the video down below and remember to check out the sample pictures, video recordings and benchmark screenshots of the
HTC One M8
 and Xiaomi Mi 3 below as well.

HTC One M8
 VS Xiaomi Mi 3 Video

HTC One M8 Camera Samples

Xiaomi Mi 3 Camera Samples

HTC One M8 and Xiaomi Mi 3 Video Recording Comparison


HTC One M9 Concept

281

HTC revolutionized the smartphone universe by offering a device with a sleek and elegant design via the emergence of theHTC One (M7) just last year and continued its legacy with the
HTC One
 (M8) this year. However, it has been rumored that HTC is already in the works to develop another breath-taking and revolutionary-designed smartphone next year with the
HTC One
 (M9).

Although there has not been any official information regarding the
HTC One
 M9, there are rumors circulating the net claiming that the M9 might sport a 7mm-thin aluminum body embedded with a 5.2” QHD Display and powered by a 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor with 3GB of RAM. There is also a possibility that the M9 could be powered by the Octa-Core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 CPU and Adreno 430 GPU which claim to be 30% more impressive than the Adreno 420 found in the 805 chipset.

On the camera(s) aspect, speculations claim that the duo camera might be replaced by an 8MP
UltraPixel
 sensor or a 13MP sensor instead. Either way, the M9 would run on HTC Sense 7 and Android 5.0 Lollipop. For storage space, 64GB and 128GB are plausible options along with a waterproof feature coupled with larger battery cap too. Consumers are expected to for the price of the M9 to be placed at the higher spectrum as after all, it would be a flagship phone by HTC.

Below is a concept video by Ashik Empro where the design language of the M9 follows real close to the M8 with its duo camera onboard.

Source(s):
3g
,
Stuff
,
International Business Times
,
Ashik Empro


HTC One M9 finally gets its Nougat update

333

The HTC One M9 happened to be mediocre at best, falling short of the glory days when HTC launched the One M7, as the company continues to struggle in the mobile sector. The Taiwanese manufacturer has finally begun the rollout of a software update that is based on Google’s latest version of Android, Android Nougat for its 2015 flagship.

The update happens to apply exclusively to HTC One M9 units in the US for the time being, but only limited to unlocked units. This means that if you have purchased your One M9 under a carrier, you won’t be getting your share of Android Nougat just yet. So if your handset is unlocked, you can start manually checking for updates if the OTA software update hasn’t been rolled out to you.

Do note that if you happen to be running the 4.14.617.6 software version, this new Nougat update is a newer version of the same number. Users will have to set aside approximately 20 minutes for the update. Also, do make sure that your device had been charged till at 35 percent battery at the very least. The new software will be ran based on Android Nougat 7.0, and consists of November 2016 Android Security Updates. Have you gotten your update yet?

Source:
HTC

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HTC One M9+ Unboxing and First Impressions

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When HTC announced the
One M9
 back in Mobile World Congress 2015, the tech journalism world thought HTC wasn’t budging up with the competition by introducing a similar form factor, slightly upgraded hardware internals from its predecessor, even The Verge calls it the most beautiful disappointment. Granted, the
One M9
 wasn’t having a groundbreaking success as its predecessor and not as appealing as the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, but little do we know that HTC has kept its best weapon until its very own China event two weeks after MWC – the One M9+ is the true flagship of what the
One M9
 should have been and every bad thought about them have been held back, at least in our first impressions and unboxing session.

I love HTC’s packaging all the time, its soy ink printed box now has a textured surface that resembles the company’s Dot View
case
 or BoomSound speaker grille, out of the box you will find the standard accessories – In-Ear earphones,
charger
, manuals and a SIM ejector, I had hope for some extras but still these provided accessories are sufficient to kick off the phone’s experience.

For the first time, you might actually think HTC has taken some design cues from
Samsung
 for the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner on the front, it also acts as a capacitive home button and I’m happy with that inclusion and hardware, as Samsung’s own physical home button annoys me a lot when the phone is in my pocket. In design, the One M9+ features a two tone color design, our review unit is a Gold on Silver model, in which the main chassis has a gunmetal gray brushed metal finishing and the phone’s frame is coated with rose gold, these are the little details that I’ve always applauded for HTC, the designers seriously know how to make a flagship look really good.

If you come from the One M8, you won’t actually find too much difference aesthetically, while the phone may look thick in today’s standard at 9.6mm, you don’t really perceive a lot of difference when you hold, for instance, the
Galaxy
 S6 side by side, the
OneM9+
 is a solidly well built smartphone with its metal built and thankfully it isn’t a fingerprint magnet.

As usual with every new flagship device, HTC introduced HTC Sense 7, the company’s latest software based on Android 5.0 Lollipop, and this time HTC has made it even more personal than ever. For instance, I immediately discovered that I’m able to change to a different set of app icons arrangement based on profiles such as Home, Work or Outdoors, this is a feature that has been missing since HTC Sense 5, which I’ve missed dearly when I wanted to change my phone experience on the go.

Since the inception of Chinese
Android smartphones
, one of the unique selling points about them is to be able to theme the user experience, HTC may have included a simple one back on Sense 6 however this time, the company has brought a full fledge high quality theme store to its software experience, in which many users will find it a joy.

Similar to the
One M9
, the One M9+ boasts a 20-megapixel f/2.2 main camera and a front facing 4
Ultrapixel
 camera at f/2.0, on a first look the camera software performs snappily just like its previous flagships, I’ll save the complete experience till the end of the full review however here are a few camera samples for your reference if you can’t wait to see them.

Many people were actually worried with the Mediatek X10 Helio system-on-chip on the
One M9+
 as this is the first time that HTC has equipped its flagship with Mediatek’s silicon, which is infamous for its sub par performance and slow driver updates, I’m happy to report as a first impression, the
One M9+
 is an extremely snappy device and I have not encountered any slowdowns in the overall user experience, this is a great device to have and I shall be exploring more on the One M9+ and be back soon with some comparisons and of course, the definitive review.

The
HTC One
 M9+ retails at RM2,599 and is available at authorized resellers now.


HTC One S9 announced with Helio X10 processor and BoomSound speakers

347

The HTC 10 finally proved to be a pretty promising flagship device, bouncing back from the One M9 which received a lot of criticism in the tech industry. The Taiwanese OEM has surprised us in the tech world yet again, launching another One handset – the HTC One S9.

In a glance, HTC One S9 can be mistaken for the M9. The phone’s rear is identical to that of the M9, with a brushed aluminium texture. On the front we are looking at a 5.5-inch Super LCD 1080 display, protected by a generation of Gorilla Glass which wasn’t revealed by HTC. Underneath the hood lies an octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 SoC clocked at 2GHz, with 2GB of RAM instead of the usual 3GB RAM seen in other mid-range devices. It comes with 16GB of internal memory, expandable via micro SD which HTC claims to support up to a still unreal 2TB.

The One S9 comes with a pretty impressive camera package. The rear facing camera is 13MP with f/2.0 aperture and OIS and the selfie camera features HTC’s UltraPixel with 4MP and 2μm pixels, also with f/2.0 aperture. The handset is powered by a 2,840mAh battery, a reasonable capacity given the amount of horsepower required for the device. However, the One S9 doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor, which can be a letdown for a 2016 smartphone. On a brighter note, you’ll be getting HTC’s front facing BoomSound stereo speakers. Another plus is the phone will run Android Marshmallow out of the box.

It may sound like a pretty attractive package for a mid-range smartphone, but the HTC One S9 carries a hefty price tag, which can cause it to lose out to other affordable devices with better spec sheets. Coming at €499 (RM2,206.96) in Germany, it may not seem like an affordable mid-ranger anymore. What do you think?

Source:
HTC

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helio
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HTC preparing something "for U" on 12 January 2017

360

CES 2017 is only a little over two weeks away as manufacturers and tech companies gear up for first major expo of 2017. HTC has teased a something to be unveiled, but oddly enough, shortly after CES next year. Based on a teaser on HTC’s Twitter feed, it has someething for us, or rather, “for U” arriving on the 12th of January next year.

That seems to be all there is on the teaser image itself, a simple “for” with a big “U”, a date below and the HTC logo at the corner. No subtle hints of any device whatsoever, which will make it hard for people to speculate. The last known “U” product by HTC is one that was unveiled at this year’s CES – a UA Health Box from a HTC and Under Armour partnership. Other than that, it is rather hard to come out with any credible predictions.

On the other hand, remember HTC’s unreleased smartwatch which has an Under Armour logo on it? Perhaps HTC has revived the initiative, building a whole new fitness centric smartwatch in collaboration with Under Armour yet again. It could be anything – a smartphone, a new VR headset or a tablet. All we can do now is keep our eyes peeled and wait for another three more weeks. What do you think?

Source:
HTC

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HTC rebadges One M9s with a different name in Europe

319

Despite the fact that the HTC 10 turned out to be a flagship smartphone that is worthy of competing with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the LG G5, HTC’s stocks have slumped more than 10% in the last week. Additionally, only 251 units of the HTC 10 were pre-ordered at two major Chinese retailers. The Taiwanese OEM sure has a lot of catch up to play as the HTC 10 heads to other regional markets. Meanwhile, a HTC One M9 Prime Camera Edition was just launched in Europe.

One would think why would HTC bother re-igniting the One M9 title and launch a new device, but the HTC One M9 Prime Camera Edition happens to be just another fancy name for the HTC One M9s. The One M9s was launched just six months ago in HTC’s home country, Taiwan. The six-month old handset with a new identity arrived in Poland, offered with a PLN 99.99 (RM102.85) monthly plan by local carrier Play, with the One M9 Prime Camera Edition costing only PLN 1 (RM1.03) upfront.

The deal still happens to be pretty much a steal although the device sports slightly dated specs. For starters, it features a 5-inch Super LCD3 display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection, a MediaTek Helio X10 SoC under the hood alongside 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage expandable via micro SD. The handset comes with a 13MP primary camera with f/2.0 aperture an a 4MP UltraPixel selfie shooter. Powering the phone is a 2,840mAh battery. What do you think?

Source:
android.com.pl

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HTC releases another teaser image of upcoming flagship smartphone

326

HTC has been teasing us for a while now, along with some leaks (not from them) all over the world wide web regarding the specs underneath HTC’s next flagship smartphone, the HTC 10. The OEM has just announced their smartphone launch date this week, scheduled for the 12th of April. The launch event will be happening virtually, only accessible online at their official website (htc.com). Earlier today, HTC has teased yet another feature of the HTC 10 – its audio.

The image shown above was posted on HTC’s Twitter account, with a caption stating, “Here comes the new boom. You’ll hear it.” This teaser image follows another one posted up last week, teasing the camera of the upcoming flagship. The image shows what seems to be a closeup of the speaker grille of the HTC 10, which will most likely be front facing, like its predecessors. On the contrary, recent leaks have been showing the lack of BoomSound speakers on the alleged handset. But then again, HTC might be dropping BoomSound for another kind of audio technology, hence the “here comes the new boom” statement. That statement however, can be viewed from different perspectives, which means that the company might also be launching the HTC 10 with BoomSound’s latest audio technology.

Another thing to note is the image only shows one speaker grille, which is most likely the one above the phone’s screen. Is HTC omitting dual front-facing stereo speakers for the 10 to make way for a better sounding single speaker? I’m going to stop the speculation right here to prevent further presumptions. Let’s hope that HTC lives up to all these teaser images with its upcoming flagship device. Till then, stay tuned!

Source:
HTC (Twitter)

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HTC Releases Promo Videos for Desire 816 and Desire 610

325

HTC has released two interesting videos on its YouTube channel promoting both the mid range Desire 816 and
Desire 610
, they are really cool and it feels kind of refreshing for the company to post such videos again. The Desire 816 is a mid range LTE smartphone that features a 5.5” 720p IPS display, front facing 5MP selfie camera and the company’s signature HTC BoomSound front facing speakers

while the
Desire 610
 is a lower end model with a 4.7” qHD display, quad-core Snapdragon 200 CPU, LTE connectivity and HTC’s BoomSound speakers. Check out the commercials down below, they’ll blow you away.

HTC Desire 816 Promo Video

HTC
Desire 610
 Promo Video


HTC is releasing a mid-range phablet with a bezeless display

294

Phablets are all the rage now and HTC is banking on the hype by releasing a mid-range phablet they are calling the Ocean Harmony. Based on its recent China Compulsory Certificate filing the phone will be a decent competitor in the mid-range market.

Based on the filing, the phone will come with a 5.99-inch bezeless display, Snapdragon 652, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. There is still no information on how the device will actually look like, but we can assume that it will have the same design profile as the U11 Plus phone. Chinese media are speculating that the phone will cost CNY 2,599 (RM1598.10) and another variant with a Snapdragon 660 processor will cost CNY3,599 (RM2212.99).

HTC has been struggling for quite awhile now, but with the release of the U11 and the response that it got, HTC could be back on track being one of the most sought-after phones in the market

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HTC reportedly testing out Android Auto competitor, codenamed HTC Cello

306

Remember the HTC Car ecosystem that HTC used to introduce back in the first One series smartphones? It was a great however short lived implementation as the company did not really focus its marketing efforts on that and with the increasing trend of connected devices on the move, the company has decided to start its own automotive software project or otherwise releasing a new device made for cars codenamed the HTC Cello.

HTC’s Cello doesn’t seem to be just an extension of the smartphone operating system itself but rather its very own standalone operating system running on top of a car’s infotainment system that will obviously run on the company’s famous and user friendly Sense operating system. Looking at the test results itself we already know a few things – the Cello is tested on Android 4.4 KitKat and has passed tests with a variety of sensors such as a Night Vision and Sonar sensor, it will even manage DVD movies with DSP audio processing and will even monitor the vehicle’s tire pressure.

HTC’s own car operating system will definitely support its Sense powered handsets however we are not sure how the company decides to extend its use to other Android or even iOS devices since they’ve already made some of its software downloadable on Google Play for non-HTC phones. Till then, we shall keep an eye out of the HTC Cello, given that automotive software still isn’t perfect and Sense has never failed to impress in user experience all this while, we can also hazard a guess that the Cello could be powered by an NVIDIA Tegra X1 with Drive CX onboard.


HTC reportedly working on a new Butterfly model

338

HTC and
Samsung
 are pretty alike on releasing their flagship smartphones, when they announced the One last year, their all new Butterfly S takes all the flagship goodies in a later date, just like how Samsung’s
GALAXY
 Note series. After the M8, HTC is reportedly working on a successor to its Butterfly S smartphone.
The model name is 0PAJ3, it has a Snapdragon 801 SoC and features a 1080p screen, 2GB RAM and 16GB built-in storage. Instead of a 4-Ultrapixel camera, the new 0PAJ3 seems to have employed a new 13-megapixel main camera, though this is identified through benchmarks and it can likely be a false information from the app itself.

HTC really needs to budge up on its product offerings and the Butterfly series has always been the most appealing model, we look forward to see a beautiful Butterfly from HTC this year.


HTC resumes Nougat rollout in Europe for the HTC 10

330

HTC’s Android Nougat software rollout to its HTC 10 flagship device has met with a number of hiccups along the way, specifically in mainland Europe. The shipping of Android Nougat to HTC 10 handsets in the said region has been halted not once, but numerous times. The company has finally rebooted its Nougat rollout once again for devices in mainland Europe, according to a tweet by HTC’s Product and Service Director Graham Wheeler.

Wheeler has tweeted that the HTC 10 Nougat rollout in Mainland Europe will be resuming shortly, but posted an image with basic instructions for those who can’t wait for the software update. The instructions consist of a link to a more detailed instructions page, and another link to download the Android Nougat software. Do note that flashing the update will completely wipe your HTC 10 device, so it is best to perform a backup beforehand.

Wheeler however has warned that users of the Dutch HTC 10 will need to hold their horses and wait for their turn as Dutch variants of the HTC 10 are currently still under testing. Let’s hope that HTC will not face anymore issues leading to another halt in their software updates again.

Source: Graham Wheeler (Twitter)

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HTC reveals a business version bundle of the Vive virtual reality headset

243

Many of you would have heard of the HTC Vive VR headset. First launched in April, the headset has seen been received well by everyone who has tried it. Sales on the device ain’t too shabby either as shortages were reported during the first week of launch. Now though, HTC is looking at the business sector, and reports are coming in that HTC will be shipping a Vive bundle known as the Vive Business Edition.

So what’s in the Vive Business Edition? For starters, the Vive Business Edition comes with the headset and all the accessories that the consumer version has. This means that Business Edition users will get a headset, two Vive controllers, two base stations and four face cushions. The difference is that the Vive Business Edition owners will receive a dedicated customer support line. Another perk of the Vive Business Edition is that those interested are able to buy more than one headset. For reference, sales of the Vive to general consumers are limited to a single unit. Besides that, HTC will also be offering commercial license and limited 12-month guarantee as part of the Vive Business Edition package, which is an upgrade to the consumer version’s guarantee which applies only to non-commercial application.

As the Vive Business Edition is aimed towards companies rather than consumers, the price tag on this bundle is appropriately higher. The Vive Business Edition costs USD 1,200, which is a USD 399 increase over the consumer version of the Vive. The Vive Business Edition will launch this month in the US, Canada, UK, Germany and Franace, and will arrive in other countries “in the coming weeks.”

Source:
Engadget

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HTC sets launch date for upcoming device in teaser

315

HTC may have been under the water for quite some time now, but the company is still working hard to make devices that the masses love. The acquisition of HTC’s mobile division by Google definitely means something in the business side of things, but it certainly doesn’t affect the company’s timeline for its upcoming devices. Speaking of which, HTC has posted up a teaser for an upcoming handset to be launched next month.

The teaser on Twitter, which subtly showcases the back panel of the upcoming HTC handset, gives away an important detail to note. We now do know that the teased smartphone will sport a rear mounted fingerprint sensor, something which has not been seen on HTC’s devices for a few years now.

Two upcoming smartphones are rumored to be in HTC’s pipeline – the U11 Life and the U11 Plus. The former will be a Android One device which will run on stock Android while the latter will be a flagship phablet to be pitted up against the current competition out there.

Regardless, either the U11 Life or the U11 Plus will finally see the light on November 2 which is only a week away from now. Time to hang on tight with some patience before HTC unveils its next smartphone.

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HTC shares plummets to 12 year low, Wang hints significant design change for new flagship

212

HTC hasn’t been faring good times in these couple of years, with dropping profits, internal lawsuits, wrong marketing efforts and more recently, the One M9’s criticism of not being a major flagship update for this year. In a general meeting a couple of days back, HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang apologized to shareholders for the company’s poor share price of NT$98 (NT92.8 as at 6 June 2015) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the lowest point in the last 12 years.

Despite of these negative side of things, Wang emphasized that the company will be introducing a ‘hero product’ in October, which could be the company’s Re Vive Virtual Reality headset or the Butterfly 3 smartphone. Of course, the blame has been put on competition as Chinese phone makers have attempted to gobble up the smartphone market with cheaper prices while major competitors like
Samsung
 and LG have upped their game in making truly attractive flagship smartphones.

According to
Taipei Times
, HTC spends 20% less than its competitors in marketing while investing heavily in RnD by increasing its budget 4% annually, which is one of the reasons why we are not looking too much promotion being done here for the company’s handset. The firm has also claimed that conventional marketing do not help sell their phones well and has therefore decided not to renew Robert Downey Jr’s contract after this year, while the company will continue to work with Taiwanese rock band MayDay, which has been pretty successful in Taiwan as we have seen ads in every part of Taipei city.

The share price drop shouldn’t come as a surprise given that HTC have not been introducing groundbreaking changes in the smartphone industry since the new
HTC One
 (M7), the company has been dwelling too much on its overnight success while making the wrong marketing content for its recent phones. In this
case
, ex-CEO Peter Chou better had a good product coming up this October while Wang seriously needs to fulfill her word in increasing marketing efforts.

Meanwhile, #HelpThisCompany and on a side note, we really love the
One M9+
.


HTC spins off the Vive VR into a separate subsidiary

327

The phrase ‘better safe than sorry’ can be applied to HTC’s move as The Verge reports that HTC has spun off its Vive VR business into a seperate subsidiary that is wholly-owned by HTC.

Called HTC Vive Corporation, HTC has stated that this company will be the company’s vehicle for developing strategic alliances to help build the global VR ecosystem. HTC’s decision to spin-off its Vive business may also be motivated by the company’s lack of success in the smartphone market. As many of you may know, HTC hasn’t exactly been performing well in the smartphone market, so the decision to spin-off the Vive into a seperate subsidiary of its own would help protect the device from the fallout of HTC’s other divisions.

Simply put, HTC believes that the Vive will be the next big thing for the company and is looking to protect it should the company’s other divisions fail.

Source:
The Verge

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HTC still believes in the Metaverse and teases a new phone

2.6K

Aside from Meta, HTC is another company that has been deeply invested in the Metaverse all thanks to the involvement with its VIVE VR headset.

With that, the Taiwanese company has teased an upcoming new U series smartphone on its Twitter page, with the hashtag #seeUsoon and a holographic image of a smartphone, could this finally be HTC’s come back to the smartphone market for real?

While HTC’s smartphone business has winded down in several markets, it has continued to produce phones at its homeland, the HTC Desire 22 pro is their most recent device that has been promoted alongside its VIVE Flow headset, which works as a companion device for the latter and gives you access to HTC’s VIVERSE Metaverse to purchase NFT and content.

#seeUsoon
#HTC

#viverse

pic.twitter.com/1q5AZKMbIY

— HTC (@htc)
May 5, 2023

HTC has typically reserved the U series for its flagship phones, the last major flagship phone launched globally was the HTC U12+ and thereafter, it unveiled the underwhelming U20 for the Taiwanese market, which comes with a mid-range chipset and an unappealing design, and based on the leaks that GSMArena has obtained, this new U series phone could be another phone with dated specs.

Dubbed as the HTC U23 Pro 5G, the phone features an AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage, it comes with a quad camera array with a main 108MP camera with OIS, a 4600mAh battery and ships with Android 13.

While these leaks can be easily taken with a grain of salt, it isn’t surprising if HTC is just making another new companion phone to go along with its VIVE headsets, which doesn’t need to come with the most recent internals to compete with the rest.

However, let’s hope when HTC finalizes this product to be unveiled to the world, it will actually come with more respectable internals and of course, a better design.

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HTC teases a reveal on the 20th of March

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It appears that HTC has something it wants to show off to the world next week as the HTC Taiwan Facebook page has published a teaser image that indicates the company will ba announcing something on the 20th of March.

The image itself doesn’t seem to hint at the nature of the announcement, as it merely mentions that “Spring is coming”. Accompanying the image is an update by HTC that claims that the company would be “giving you an unexpected surprise” during the announcement, so we don’t really know for sure what is going to happen on the 20th of March.

While HTC is being vague with the nature of the announcement, many are speculating that the event in question will see the debut of the HTC 11, HTC’s flagship smartphone that is supposedly powred by the Snapdragon 835 chip. Apart from that, there are also speculations that the event will involve the HTC Vive is some way, shape or form. Of course, the only way to know for sure is to wait for the proper announcement on the 20th.

Source:
Android Authority

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HTC teases the One M8 EYE to be announced on October 8

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It seems like HTC isn’t just sitting there and wait for its competitors to catch up, the company has teased an event happening tomorrow that will probably lead to the announcement of the rumored
HTC One M8
 EYE and Desire EYE, which both phones will have upgraded camera hardware.

Meanwhile in leaks, the
HTC One M8
 EYE is expected to pack a 13 Megapixel main shooter, which very much shows that HTC could be ditching the 4 Ultrapixel camera found on the current One M8, however we hope that technology will still be present on the One M8 EYE’s camera with a higher resolution, the secondary camera that captures depth of field will apparently be still present on the One M8 EYE.

The Desire EYE is a more interesting phone to look forward to, being a mid-range smartphone it packs some flagship hardware onboard such as a Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and a 2400mAh battery while packing two whooping 13 Megapixel main and front cameras.

HTC’s event will take place on October 8 and we shall be seeing the company showing off its product’s imaging capabilities, we might be also seeing some light or the real
HTC Re Camera
that we’ve talked about last week. Focus on the date people, not the phone!

Don’t adjust your screen. Just focus on the date.
#HTCLive

http://t.co/Eyc1sYHxxw

— HTC USA (@HTCUSA)
October 6, 2014


HTC to release smartwatch?

304

Plenty of HTC fans have been praying and hoping over the years that the Taiwanese OEM will one day release a smartwatch to do themselves proud. And of course, many of these hopeful’s come with rumors as well, and this is not much different.

April is the month of the surprise, according to a source from Twitter. This may be the moment of truth for HTC, its fans and the whole tech-buff community.

Many other OEM’s have had their shot at producing smartwatches. But they are either pricey, not pinpointing any company, Apple, and most of them, if not all, have miserable battery life to that of watches. Android Wear has been adopted by companies such as Samsung, Asus, Huawei and Motorola for their version of wearables and watchOS, of course only by Apple.

HTC’s smartwatch, also reported to be codenamed “Halfbleak”, is said to be ready by February so sit tight.

Source:
Pocketnow

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HTC to see boost in revenue in March

275

HTC hasn’t been doing well in terms of smartphone sales over the last couple of years. It wasn’t till the launch of the HTC 10 and the Google Pixel series which were made by HTC that we saw the company picking up the pace little by little. With the recent unveiling of the HTC U series, the Taiwanese manufacturer’s revenue this month is expected to increase.

Taiwanese news outlet Digi Times has reported that HTC’s revenue is expected to pick up in March due to the increasing shipments of the company’s new HTC U flagship series, citing unnamed industry sources. The sources have also claimed that shipments to China and India have begun, and that the handset will go on sale in Spain, Germany, France, Canada and the US.

HTC recorded last month’s (February) revenue at NT$4.669 billion (RM671 million), which is although an 11.2 percent increase from last year, remained at a flat from generated revenue in January. However, the company is expected to have its revenue increased by as much as 30 percent in March. Competition will definitely heat up during Q2 2017 as major smartphone manufacturers launch their respective flagships, before the third quarter in which Apple is predicted to launch their annual refresh of their iPhones.

Source:
Digi Times

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HTC U 11 the new champion in DxOMark

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The HTC U 11 seemed like a less waste of space than the HTC U Ultra when it was unveiled today. The latter was deemed by many as a poorly designed phone from certain aspects, leaving a lot to be desired. But it seems like the HTC U 11 is on the road to redemption for the Taiwanese company, plus its camera is probably the best, if not one of the best out there right now.

Why the above statement? The HTC U 11 has officially dethroned the Google Pixel on DxOMark, the popular benchmarking site for smartphone cameras. The former device delivered an impressive score of 90, only edging the Pixel’s score of 89. This makes the HTC U 11’s camera package the best ever according to DxOMark, even when comparing it to the likes of the iPhone 7/7 Plus and the Galaxy S8 series.

The HTC U 11 particularly edged the rest of the competition when it comes to low light pictures. The camera’s dual pixel PDAF technology, coupled with the larger than usual 1 / 2.55-inch sensor and OIS contributed to the minimizing of noise in pictures.

The phone camera’s autofocus abilities are said to be the best in any mobile device, claimed to be the most accurate as well. The U 11 managed to score the highest when it came to video performance against the competition, including the HTC 10.

It looks like HTC has managed to nail it in the camera department for the U 11 flagship, but will it be enough to bring HTC back into the mainstream? What do you think?

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HTC U Ultra finally gets Android 8.0 update

356

If you’ve been patiently waiting for the Android 8.0 Oreo update on your HTC U Ultra, wait no more. HTC has finally revealed that they will roll out the update, though it’s only going to be available to three countries at the moment: Taiwan, India and Italy.

As you wait patiently for the update to be available in your country, here are some details you ought to know. First of all, you will need to have enough storage for the update as it’s going to take 1.6GB of your phone storage, still a fairly sizable download if we must say so.

One odd thing about the update is that it contains the January security patch, a little bit older when we’ve expected a newer version that comes along with it. And there’s nothing else being mentioned in the changelog apart from “system enhancements”, so it seems like there won’t be much advancements to the Oreo update.

Apart from the U Ultra, HTC’s U11 and HTC 10 will also receive the Oreo update so it’s safe to say that their goal has been accomplished in rolling out the Oreo updates. We’ll keep an eye out when the update is available for HTC U Ultra in Malaysia.

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HTC U11+ finally gets Android 9 OTA update in Malaysia after delays

347

One of 2017’s flagships in the HTC U11+ is finally receiving the much-awaited Android 9 Pie OTA update.

It was announced earlier that along with the HTC U11 and the U1+ , the U11+ would receive the update – after some delays by way of HTC pulling back the update, home-base nation Taiwan would receive the new OS first, then most recently Europe; but we have confirmation that Malaysia gets it too.

Warren (you may know him as our editor-in-chief) had his HTC U11+ updated already and we expect those with the phone to be quite happy about it. Along with it comes a removal of Google+ from BlinkFeed, well, because it’s been shut down.

The changelog also mentions system enhancements. The update size is 1.37GB and you should be able to receive by heading into your settings.

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HTC U11 gets Bluetooth 5.0 and 1080p 60FPS video recording in new software update

294

The highly praised HTC U11 phone is getting better via a software update that is said to bring Bluetooth 5.0 support and 1080p 60fps video recording. Apart from that, the new update will also bring a security patch and some improvements to make the phone even more stable.

The Bluetooth 5.0 update will allow the phone to have a longer range of connectivity, higher bandwidth transmission and lower power usage based on a report by PhoneArena. On the video recording, you will be able to use the already great camera to record FHD videos in buttery smooth 60fps to give your videos more life like feel. This update comes right after HTC introduced Amazon Alexa Assistant to the phone, further enhancing the features provided on the phone, however that feature is still locked to US users. There have been plans to add more gestures to the squeeze function however, that will come in a later update.

The update will be rolling out to other countries soon with some users from Taiwan already getting the update on their phones. If you own the U11, keep an eye out for new updates on your phone for the next couple of days.

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HTC U11 Life specs exposed by reliable source

328

Google’s acquisition of HTC’s mobile will probably not affect the brand’s devices that are in the pipeline for the near future. That includes the currrently rumored HTC U11 Life, an upcoming mid range device that is part of Google and HTC’s grand plan to revive the Taiwanese brand’s fame.

Trusted HTC leak source LlabTooFeR has once again spoken, this time revealing the HTC U11 Life’s bunch of key specs that are noteworthy. Among those are a 5.2-inch display at 1080p resolution, Snapdragon 630 processor with two variants – 3GB RAM/32GB storage and 4GB RAM/64GB storage, both front and rear cameras at 16 megapixels and a 2,600mAh battery.

Other notable details include IP67 water and dust resistance, HTC’s own Edge Sense and USonic, plus the HTC U11 Life will be running on Android Oreo out of the box, and will be part of Google’s Android One program.

The HTC U11 Life being an Android One device is definitely unsurprising as Google has acquired the company’s mobile division. This will also mean that the HTC handset will be running on stock Android and will be getting new Android software as quick as Google’s own Pixel lineup does.

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HTC U11+ is officially available in Malaysia for RM3,099

340

HTC Malaysia has officially announced the availability of the highly anticipated HTC U11+. They have managed to get a bigger battery and screen and placed it into a body that is slender compared to its predecessor.

The U11+ now comes with a 6-inch screen and an 18:9 aspect ratio display making it perfect for watching your favourite videos and movies. Supporting the screen is a 3,930mAh capacity battery and they have brought back Edge Sense, the squeeze feature that you can map to a function or for launching an app. BoomSound has also be improved with 30% more volume increase and for private listening, the USonic headphones makes a come back to give you a personalized audio experience.

The HTC U11+ comes equipped with a Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage making it a really decent contender in the high-end phone range. The camera has been improved over its predecessor, the rear houses a 12MP camera with HDR Boost and noise reduction technology.

On the front, is an 8MP camera which comes with the same features as the rear camera, allowing you to take the perfect selfie even in low light. The HTC U11+ also comes with the same video quality as the U11, UltraSpeed autofocus and Acoustic Focus with 360-degree audio recording also makes a comeback.

The U11+ is available in Translucent Black beginning mid-January 2018 in Malaysia. Customers that place a pre-order online at Lazada, 11street and Shopee from 15 to 21 January 2018 will get a special pre-order edition with freebies. It will be officially released on the 22 January 2018 and comes with a price tag of RM3,099.

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malaysia
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This could be what the HTC U11 Plus looks like

331

HTC’s mobile division has recently been acquired by Google. The Taiwanese manufacturer has been struggling for quite some time, with revenue constantly plunging, causing it to be making losses. Google’s acquisition of HTC might sound like lending a helping hand, and HTC is rumored to be in the works of a HTC U11 Plus.

HTC is slated to unveil the U11 Plus by the end of this year, and renowned concept artist Waqar Khan has uploaded a concept render video of the said device. The result turned out to be pretty legitimate looking, following rumors that the U11 Plus will go with a bezel-less front.

The renders show an all glass HTC U11 Plus, with extremely minimal bezels surround the display, almost unreal. The back panel of the handset is curved at all four corners, consisting of a single rear camera and a fingerprint sensor. Recent rumors point to a 5.99-inch QHD+ display, a Snapdragon 835 processor with two variants of 4GB RAM/64GB storage and 6GB RAM/128GB storage. Camera department includes a 12MP rear shooter and an 8MP selfie snapper.

The HTC U11 Plus is said to make an appearance in November later this year. The larger sibling of the regular U11 is said to feature a squeezable frame as well as IP68 water and dust resistance.

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HTC U11 Plus Translucent Black model leaked before official launch

357

HTC’s next smartphone is set for its unveiling tomorrow. The U11 Plus, which will be a beefed up version of the current U11, will be launched tomorrow by the Taiwanese company which recently had its mobile division acquired by Google. Sporting a unique liquid glass design, popular leak source Evan Blass has posted up a sleek looking Translucent Black color option of the yet to be released U11 Plus.

The above image shows the U11 Plus in all its sharp rendered glory, which is typical of Blass on Twitter. Earlier rumors have pointed out that the U11 Plus will sport a 6-inch display on the front, which is likely given its “Plus” moniker. It will come with reduced bezels on top and bottom of the display.

The render of the U11 Plus’ back panel shows a sleek translucent paint job on top of the glass design. The coil seen on the back is likely to be the wireless charging coil. The translucent design could either be a love or hate feature for potential buyers, considering that it showcases a tiny bit of the handset’s internals.

Nevertheless, the HTC will finally draw the curtains on its upcoming flagship phablet tomorrow. Are you looking forward to the HTC U11 Plus?

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HTC U11 sales beats its predecessors

303

Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC has recently launched its latest flagship – the U11. Although the company has been struggling to bounce back from its losses for years now, it looks like the sales figures of the HTC U11 might mark a wind of change.

According to Focus Taiwan, the HTC U11 has been performing well in terms of sales since it was launched just last month. HTC’s President of smartphone and connected device division Chang Chia Lin has stated that the U11 has already sold better than its predecessors the HTC 10 and HTC One M9.

This is definitely good news for HTC, given that the U11 surpassed its predecessors within a month of its debut. Chang has also claimed that HTC might be reducing the number of smartphone models it launches in a year to either three or four, in order to minimize and cope with its operating costs.

In related news, HTC has been thriving in the VR industry. The HTC Vive is probably the reason why the company is currently surviving. The success of the Vive and the growing popularity of the HTC U11 are part of HTC’s hopes and efforts to put its losses to an end.

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The HTC U11 will have 6GB of RAM in certain regions

617

When HTC launched its U11 flagship not too long ago, it has been said that the phone will come in two variants – one with 4GB of RAM plus 64GB of storage and the other with 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage. Major countries such as the US are only having the 4GB RAM model for sale, while the 6GB RAM variant is only available in selected countries.

Malaysia happens to be one of the few lucky regions to get the HTC U11 variant with bumped up memory and storage, alongside others such as Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China and HTC’s home land Taiwan. This info has been sourced by dedicated HTC tipster LlabTooFeR on Twitter.

If you reside in Malaysia, the HTC U11 will go on sale at starting late June at all authorized HTC retail outlets. The phone will also be offered along with Maxis’ smartphone plans if you’re hoping to get the HTC flagship at a cheaper price.

The HTC U11 is famous for its Edge Sense, allowing users to squeeze the sides of the phone to trigger an action. Other specs include a Snapdragon 835 processor, a 12MP rear camera which tops DxOMark’s camera performance chart and a 3,000mAh battery. The Malaysian price tag for the HTC U11 stands at RM 3,099.

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The HTC U11+ will be available in Malaysia beginning December 2017

318

HTC has announced the next step in the U11 series with the release of the HTC U11+, increasing the size of the display and adding a bigger battery into a more slender device making it slimmer than the U11.

The U11+ now comes with a 6-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, giving you an excellent media consumption device, complimented with a 3,930mAh battery to let you enjoy doing the things you love longer. Even if it’s bigger, it is still easy to use thanks to the Edge Launcher which lets you access notifications and apps with just one hand and accompanying that is Edge Sense with lets you squeeze the sides to perform common actions. The phone is not only bigger in screen and battery size, HTC BoomSound has a 30% increase in volume upgrade, IP68 weather-resistant liquid surface design and the latest Android Oreo experience.

The HTC U11+ will be available in Ceramic Black and Amazing Sliver beginning December 2017 in Malaysia, the price for the phone will be announced at a later date.

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HTC U11’s display snaps in bend test

351

Most modern smartphones made by major manufacturers often go through a series of durability tests and some decent beating by popular YouTuber JerryRigEverything. The series of tests include a scratch test, screen burn test and a bend test. Phones that recently failed JerryRigEverything’s tests include the Honor 6X and the Blackberry KeyOne.

The HTC U11 turned out to be the latest device to fail JerryRigEverything’s durability tests. HTC’s latest flagship underwent the scratch test and screen burn test with results turning out as expected. The phone’s display toughness happens to be on par with the likes of the Galaxy S8 and the iPhone 7. However, when it came to the bend test, the HTC U11 seemed to fail catastrophically with the display snapping as a result of the bending.

JerryRigEverything explains that HTC’s other flagship – the U Ultra sported a more flat display whereas the U11 features a more protruding 3D glass instead. In terms of durability, the 3D glass screen’s flex threshold happens to be less than that of the U Ultra’s flat screen. In this case, the rigidity of the U11’s screen results in it snapping almost instantaneously from bending.

Consequently, the HTC U11 was added into JerryRigEverything’s shelf of shame, which includes the rest of the smartphones that failed his durability tests. We’re not implying that the phone is bad, just don’t attempt to bend it?

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HTC U12+ flagship phone will launch on 23 May 2018

314

HTC is all geared up to release their latest flagship which we assume will be the HTC U12+ which had some leaks in the past weeks. Based on these leaked images, it seems like the upcoming phone will not have a notch which is a sight of relieve from all the notched phones we have seen this year.

The teaser comes with a date of 23 May 2018 and it shows different modules of the phone neatly arranged around in a way that forms the shape of the phone in the middle. The image also has a tag that says ‘A Phone that is more than the sum of its specs’ which indicates that the phone will have much to offer aside from just powerful specs. From the teaser image, we can pick out certain clues that tell us the phone will come with a dual front and rear cameras and the SIM tray has an option for expandable storage and the battery seems rather large.

This is the HTC U12+
https://t.co/LP9OX5xHlO

pic.twitter.com/fi7BGkj6l5

— Evan Blass (@evleaks)
March 15, 2018

Evan Blass who released a leaked image of the HTC U12+ shows that it does have dual-cameras on the front and back so the image that Blass leaked could really be the actual design of the phone. We will bring you more information when it surfaces and cover the launch event when it happens.

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HTC U12 Life Review: A Decent Mid-Range Option

481

Despite financial troubles and how less competitive HTC’s devices are compared to the rest, the company still has a soft spot in my heart as one of the best smartphone brands that I’d easily recommend to anyone.

While I didn’t get the chance to review the HTC U12+, I was passed its mid-range sibling, the U12 Life looks entirely different and has no design language resemblance from its higher end brother.

No Notch!

With an iPhone XS like camera bump on the back, a glossy aluminum finish with textured stripes, it would seem like HTC wants to show Apple on how the iPhone’s back could be a little more interesting rather than having flat colors. Also, you don’t get an obtrusive notch on the front, while the bezels around the 6-inch display looks way better than Samsung’s Galaxy A series, it doesn’t sport the BoomSound speaker setup like the U12+.

HTC has done an excellent job on the phone’s aesthetics, while it might look slippery on the outside with all its glossy finish, I actually find it great to use one handed and have never dropped the device, at times I do also run my fingers through the textured stripes on the back as it feels so satisfying to do so.

While previous ‘Life’ variants of HTC phones come with terrible hardware internals, the U12 Life is thankfully fueled by a Snapdragon 636 chipset paired to 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which offers reasonably good mid-range performance, though it definitely can’t match the efforts of devices like the Realme 2 Pro, but what HTC can compete is its software and user experience.

rhdr

The U12 Life ships with Android 8.1 along with a lighter version of HTC Sense, the company’s software skin that has been my long time favorite. With certain features stripped off, the U12 Life’s performs reasonably fast in my day-to-day usage, though having 4GB RAM means you will have to reload apps more often, there has never been a moment I yearn for more firepower throughout my social media and communication activities.

While the U12 Life lacks software gimmicks as opposed to Chinese devices, you tend to get a cleaner software experience than the rest. For instance, it uses Google Photos instead of a proprietary Album app, the settings page isn’t cluttered with overwhelming features, and you still get an app drawer without messing up your home screen.

Therefore, this is the reason why I enjoyed using the U12 Life, though it isn’t as clean as an Android One device, the minimal customizations and cosmetics that HTC has done gives it a unique user experience of its own, without leaving its software fate to Android One.

In recent years, HTC hasn’t been hyping a lot on its smartphone cameras as other companies tend to, despite that the U11 and U12+’s cameras have been well received by many reviewers. The U12 Life’s dual camera system is definitely a big step down from the U12+, comprising a 16MP f/2.0 main sensor and a 5MP secondary depth sensor, it is neither an overachiever nor an underperformer.

Photos taken in broad daylight are generally acceptable, though with stronger sunlight it can get overexposed, which is rather common on mid-range phone cameras, just make sure you don’t task the camera with challenging lighting condition, not unless you want your shots to turn out hideous.

The U12 Life’s front camera takes decent selfies and with the help of HDR, take selfies against backlighting is effortless, and there is an LED flash available if you require more light.

While HTC didn’t state on the specs sheet that the U12 Life supports fast charging, I tried charging with a Quick Charge 3.0 power hub and it showed ‘Charging Rapidly’ on the lock screen, I have also testified this with a standard 5V2A charger and can confirm that the U12 Life does indeed charge faster with QC 3.0 and I could get from 30% to 70% in 25 minutes.

And speaking of that, HTC didn’t put a puny battery to power the U12 Life, considering its class, having 3600mAh of battery fitted into the phone’s chassis is certainly not an understatement, I have been able to experience more than two days of usage on a single charge when I’m doing casual web and social media browsing, otherwise it can usually last more than a working day when used moderately.

The U12 Life may be a phone that lacks the bells and whistles that its competitors boast, but what you get is one attractive looking smartphone that doesn’t lack the essentials, though I wished it had just one unique selling hardware to shout about, the ultimate reason to really buy the U12 Life is about how you appreciate HTC’s experience, and as someone who has reviewed several other smartphones, I would just love to go back to the U12 Life as my daily driver if I wasn’t busy testing out other devices.

The HTC U12 Life can be purchased from
Lazada
 from RM1,099.

The Good

Decent mid-range performance

HTC’s less bloated software experience

Quick Charge support

Battery life

Acceptable camera performance

The Not so Good

No outstanding features to attract

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The HTC U12 might come with 5G connectivity

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HTC is on a slow start coming back into the smartphone game but with the current devices that they have produced, it looks like they might start overtaking other manufacturers faster than expected. In a recent 5G event that happened in Taiwan, the company might have quietly shown off the upcoming HTC U12 which seem to be able to support 5G connectivity.

HTC did not mention if the phone is the U12 but Evan Blass has mentioned on Twitter that the phone is the HTC U12, codename HTC Imagine. It comes with an 18:9 ratio screen and based on rumours, a 4K resolution display and a facial recognition feature on its flagship phone rather than a fingerprint sensor. Even if there are no details on the phone, HTC has mentioned that it is capable of download speeds of 809.58Mbps and comes equipped with the latest Snapdragon 845 and an X20 LTE modem that supports download speeds up to 1.2Gbps.

Based on reports from Sogi, a Taiwanese publication, HTC will be launching the U12 somewhere in 2018, but no official confirmation has come from HTC.

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HTC U12 specs leaked, comes with dual-cameras and Treble support

284

After a month, we finally have more news on the upcoming HTC U12 phone which in a previous writing, we mentioned that the phone might come with 5G connectivity. Even if that is not confirmed, we got a pretty solid leak on the specs of the phone.

Leaker LlabTooFeR has shared the specs of the U12 on Twitter, revealing details like  256GB of storage, IP68 certification, and dual rear cameras. Other than that, it looks like it is confirmed to come with a Snapdragon 845, 6GB of RAM and a 3,420mAh battery. In this leak, we also see that it comes with some new and improved features like HTC Face Unlock, Edge Sense 2.0 and Android 8.0 with full Treble support.

HTC Imagine
CPU SD845
Display 5.99 QHD+
RAM up to 6GB
ROM up to 256GB
Dual Main Camera 12mp + 16mp (Sony IMX3xx)
Front Camera 8mp
Battery 3420mah
IP68
HTC Face Unlock
Edge Sense 2.0
Android 8.0 + Sense 10
Full treble support and A/B (Seamless) Updates
Single and Dual SIM version

— LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR)
March 4, 2018

When asked when was the phone going to release, the same leaker responded with “Somewhere in April…” which is quite believable as in our previous article, we have seen some phones displayed for a 5G event in Taiwan which seem to be using an unreleased HTC phone that comes with roughly the same specs as the U12.

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HTC U12+ will be open for pre-orders starting 17 August 2018 for RM3,499

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HTC Malaysia has announced the availability of their recent flagship device, the HTC U12+. It comes with much-improved features compared to the previous U11+ and utilizes a buttonless design where the power and volume buttons are replaced with a pressure sensitive sensors.

The HTC U12+ comes with a Snapdragon 845 processor, 6.0-inch QHD display, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. For photography, it comes with four cameras, the front houses dual 8MP sensor while the rear has a 12MP+16MP sensors with Ultrapixel 4 technology. The U12+ has pressure sensors on the sides while allows you to squeeze the phone to activate different functions. By squeezing the phone, you can call up Google Assistant, take a picture or map it to a shortcut of your choice. HTC has also said that the Cryptokitties currency will come to the phone in the next software update which will allow you to mine cryptocurrency directly from the phone, but they did not mention if it will drain the battery faster than usual.

From 17 August 2018 starting 12 AM you can preorder the phone at its retail price of RM3,499 which comes with free gifts like a Leather Pouch, 10,000mAh Powerbank, Travel Kit, U Notebook, Lanyard, and a Phone Stand which totals up to RM250. The preorder will end on 23 August 2018.

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