The HTC One has been a true competitor in the high-end Android game these past few months, but since it also has a high price to suit its stature and quality of build, not all fans have been able to run out and make the purchase. If you've been sold by the One's design but don't want or need such a high caliber of smartphone, you may be interested in the HTC One mini, which after umpteen rumors, has just been officially announced by the Taiwanese company.
The culture of smartphones with ridiculously large displays, which is currently being pushed almost single-handedly by Samsung, looks also to be catching on with the chasing pack. HTC, whose flagship One device is one of the Galaxy S4's closest rivals, is rumored to be plotting a follow-up device for those requiring more display real estate, with reports suggesting the so-called HTC One Max could feature a 6-inch screen.
HTC’s latest flagship Android smartphone, the HTC One, has been making headlines around the blogosphere for quite some time, and rightly so, thanks to the device’s many enticing features. It’s the first phone to come with HTC’s proprietary Sense 5 UI skin, and boasts hardware enhancements such as the UltraPixel camera module and what not. Combine that with the device’s extraordinary build quality, and you have a winner through and through.
When considering a future smartphone purchase, few take into mind the importance of a decent battery life. Bamboozled by the megapixels, dots per inch and multiple core processors, it's amazing how little regard folk give to the battery life, which has to go down as one of the most important features because without it, any exciting hardware is basically useless. Which.co.uk, a prominent observer of the mobile industry, has thrown together a rather interesting infographic on the battery retention levels of the foremost handsets on the market and, suffice to say, the results may shock you.
One of the highlights of Google's I/O, particularly for those with an affinity to Samsung-made devices, was the news that a variant of the flagship Galaxy S4 would be arriving on stock Android, bypassing all the crap additional extras Samsung likes to bundle therein. Now, rumor has it that HTC could be planning a similar move with its flagship ‘One’ smartphone, which currently ships with an overlay of bloatware including Sense 5 and the divisive BlinkFeed. The report, if true, would certainly appease the purists who like a 'clean slate' of Android when they purchase a new device, and given how unconfirmed sales figures have placed the HTC One in a strong position against the Korean company's latest and greatest (selling one unit for every two Galaxy S4s), it's a move that would help the Taiwanese vendor keep tabs on its strongest rival.
Early sales figures of the two biggest flagship Android smartphones thus far this year have shown once again that when it comes to overall consumer appeal, the Samsung Galaxy S series is still head and shoulders above the rest. The 10 million handsets shifted in first month of the latest and greatest Galaxy S4 is double the unofficial 5 million quoted sales of the HTC One in the same timeframe, but with the Taiwanese company still managing to flog the unibody device at a quicker rate than it can make them, its own sales figures are certainly not to be baulked at.
The bigger problem with Android has always been its fragmentation, which often results in certain devices being left out when it comes to being eligible for an Android version update. Unfortunately, this happens quite often with devices that are barely a year old, and quite capable (hardware-wise) to run the new software. Therefore, it’s really encouraging to see an old device getting an official update to a newer version of Android. If you own an HTC One X, you may have reason to rejoice, because renowned developer LlabTooFeR claims that HTC is planning to update its last year’s flagship, HTC One X, to Android 4.2.2, and not only that, but also supply the handset with the brand spanking new Sense 5 UI skin! Details past the break.
Guide on how to install ClockworkMod (CWM) Recovery On HTC One, with complete step by step instructions and download links.
It's not just Samsung and Apple that like to launch an ad every once in a while, HTC too knows how to get peoples' attention. While Samsung is intent on pointing fingers at Apple in its own set of TV ads, HTC appears to have taken a leaf out of its competition's book by also poking fun at those that it is in direct competition with.
We've all heard of drop tests, and there have even been cases of people blending new technology in the past. It's something of a right of passage for new smartphones especially, with the humble drop test not just offering entertainment for those who like to destroy things, but also a real world example of how a phone may survive if dropped whilst out and about.
