[HTC One X] TheBrilliantMistake:
95% agree on everything said here.

One small issue, and it's a European one rather than American, is that the stranglehold that the carriers once had is not quite as tight (in Europe) as it use to be, thanks to a decent retail market (although key retailers end up calling the shots too!).

Once upon a time, Nokia were not well liked by the carriers, because they had such a strong brand. Nokia were the only handset manufacturers able to 'argue' with the operators / carriers. Not, it's Apple, who have gone further than ever before... making sure THEIR product was not tainted by carrier crap.

In the old days, carriers would absolutely insist on branding a good device, adding lots of a crap apps and diluting a great phone (still happens, esp in the US). Apple managed to break that awful regime (but only for themselves).

As for the potential JV's - I agree, but they've rarely proven to work out in the long run. Ericsson were number 2 in the world handset market, and Motorola number 3 less than 10 years ago. Most of them rested on their laurels a little too much.

I worked at Motorola just before the 'cuts'... We had the then head honchos (Ron Garriques) trying to tell us all the iPhone was nothing to worry about. Totally deluded. Stretching out the damn 'Razor' brand (which is STILL going on) for every last inch.... and then flatly refusing to accept that the Motorola phone UI was dated, and outclassed by almost all competitors.

It still beggars belief that today I see precisely the same stupid / crazy decisions being made with phones. As stupid as it sounds here's some examples:

- HTC made the Diamond with no headphone socket - you had to use a proprietary USB headset, or converter.

- HTC decided that a headphone socket WAS a good idea after all, and placed the headphone socket next to the USB socket on the bottom of the device (there are pros and cons to that, but they deemed that a good place - I could like with it, both connections neatly together).

- HTC then decide one some devices that the headphone socket should be at the top, and the USB at the bottom... hmmm some logic to that, but it's awful in the car.

- HTC create a nice (for those who like it) Sense UI, only it doesn't work in landscape mode... until you change ONE line of code and it works. Strange, just strange.

- HTC create a device with pogo pin connectivity on the rear of the device, finally making docking and charging far safer and improving the lifetime of the USB port (a source of MANY warranty on previous devices) - then release a car dock that doesn't use this feature!

- HTC create quite a good Car App, that is far more than a 'launcher' - but integrates music and messaging right in - but issues arise if you try and purchase the full version of TuneIn Radio, or want to use another music app. Sure, there's integration / API issues meaning you can't expect every app to integrate, but at least offer the ability to launch a different app if you wish,OH, and THAT app MUST be run landscape... hmmm

- HTC publicly state they will provide ICS for Desire HD, with anticipated dates. Less that one month to go, and they suddenly drop that promise. Is that going to help us have faith when they say the One X will get updates?... I don't think so.

- HTC promised to backup my contacts and data, and offer a 'find my phone' functionality through their HTC hub / portal. THAT failed to fully materialise and was eventually cancelled. But they sold devices on this premise. Very bad business that, very bad indeed.

There are many reasons why ports and sockets get moved around etc, but it's attention to detail where Apple succeed and others fail, due to their compromise on design.

Google are no better. They promise the 'back up your settings / wifi / apps' - but the service doesn't actually work. It's been that way for over 3 years now! When you buy a new handset and log into your existing Google account, you get some apps back (but rarely their settings). You don't get any Wifi configuration back. It's just shoddy. I've not even started on the farcical contact photo image resolution issue (which is STILL 96px x 96px after 3 years of thousands of consumers complaints) - the reason? Google's using an Exchange backend and the limitation lies there. So we all have very high resolution phones, but the moment we sync with Google, we lose our contact photo resolution. It really is pitiful.

I'll finish on the other laughable nightmare... Google insisted on a specific button configuration for handset manufacturers, having deemed that the entire UI could (and would) operate on that configuration. 2 years later, they decide that wasn't quite right and go for an ICS version (which breaks / compromises legacy apps UI). Apple all the while manage for 5 years with just one button, and keep a pretty consistent UI. I'm not saying one is better than another, I'm saying Apple thought it through, Google didn't - as can be evidenced from their changing philosophy.

Every company makes mistakes, but for me HTC is making too many and the ones its making are too blatant. I've championed them long enough, but I don't feel I can do it anymore. Hand on heart, I simply cannot recommend them to friends any more. Samsung and Apple now hold that crown, and as much as I loathe Apple, I can safely say THEY are doing their job properly. HTC aren't.

---------- Post added at 11:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 PM ----------

It's estimated that 80% of handset purchasing decisions are made in-store. So I have to agree with your statement. Although, the figures can be a little skewed - with high end purchases being a bit more informed, so less prone to the sales guy having influence. But all in all, MOST purchases in-store are people wandering in for a new deal, and leaving the store with a newer handset as advised by the woefully inadequate spotty kid.

Most folks don't know what iOS or Android are. They want 'iPhone' or 'HTC' or 'Samsung'. Some have a basic grasp i.e. There's iPhone and there's Android phones - iPhone is best, Android is geekier etc. Then there's the deluded Blackberry brigade who for some reason still think Push Email only exists on RIM devices. Enterprise users have a decent case for using Blackberry, but consumers really don't (from a technology standpoint).

Give me back my old Ericsson SH688... lasted a full week without a recharge, could drop it onto concrete, and I didn't get inundated with Facebook updates - AND there was no reason for a FOTA update - 'cos the damn software worked first time around!