HTC Sense 3.0 update to hit older phones

The HTC Sense user interface experience is something that is better for you to experience for yourself, than to rely on wordsmiths conjuring up adjectives while singing its praises and merits. After all, with Android being an open platform, it makes perfect sense for phone manufacturers to tweak the operating system with their own take in terms of interactivity – Samsung has their TouchWiz UI, so why not HTC with their vaunted Sense? It seems that HTC’s Sense 3.0 update is being prepared for a port over to older HTC handsets, the HTC Desire S and HTC Desire HD in particular, letting you enjoy an enhanced unlock display, newer widgets, and the ability to access settings control directly from the notification bar among others.

At the moment, only unlocked HTC handsets in the UK will be on the receiving end of this update, although we would not be too far off the mark to say that HTC is working to deliver HTC Sense 3.0 to branded handsets across the rest of Europe and in the US in due time.

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Tags: Android, HTC, HTC Sense, SIM Free, Smartphones, UK

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HTC Ville: Thinnest HTC Handset Pictured (Image)

Apparently this is the HTC Ville, first detailed byBGR as a dual-core, Ice Cream Sandwich-powered waif of a device: at less than a reported eight millimeters thick, it would be HTC’s slimmest smartphone to date. According to the initial report, we’re looking at a Snapdragon Series 4 processor with two cores running at 1.5GHz, a 4.3-inch wraparound Super AMOLED display with qHD resolution, and a 1080p-capable eight-megapixel camera utilizing the higher-quality lens and sensor found on the latest generation of HTC handsets.

As a quick comparison, the iPhone 4/4S is 9.3mm thick, while the Galaxy S II bulges to 9.91mm at the bottom after enjoying a svelte 8.49mm profile for the majority of its length.

The Beats- and Sense 4.0-infused Ville will supposedly begin shipping next April after a Mobile World Congress debut in mid-February.

Article: RSS via Pocketnow

Tags: 1080p, 8 Megapixel Camera, Android, Android 4.0, Dual-Core, HTC, HTC Ville, Ice Cream Sandwich, Smartphones, Super AMOLED

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HTC HD2 gets Ice Cream Sandwich

The HTC HD2 has been around since November 2009, and since then it’s received numerous ports of different operating systems. From Windows Phone 7, to Android 2.x and Meego, it looks like the developer community isn’t done yet. Some folks have managed to create an Android Ice Cream Sandwich ROM for the HD2 and have put it up for download. As a beta release, some features are unsurprisingly not working, but for the short amount of time it took to come up with it, it’s pretty impressive.

USB mass storage, the camera, hardware acceleration and some other features aren’t ready yet – but hey, it’s Ice Cream Sandwich (albeit laggy) on a two-year-old phone! Manufacturers don’t even want to waste their resources bringing ICS over to their “lower end” phones themselves. If you own an HD2 and want to give it a new breath of life, you can load up the custom ICS ROM for yourself, or wait for a more stable and complete release first. Check out the demonstration video below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcdeaWB-lWM

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Tags: Android, Hacks, HTC, HTC HD2, Ice Cream Sandwich, ROM, Smartphones, Video, Windows Mobile

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HTC Zeta rendered, rumored to pack 2.5GHz quad-core CPU and Ice Cream Sandwich

Ready for today’s grain of salt? We just got handed imagery and specs of a possible HTC device in the works codenamed the Zeta. It’s a quad-core handset, much like the Edge that was leaked last week, but it has a much faster 2.5GHz APQ8064 CPU along with 1GB of RAM running the show, on a 4.5-inch 720p HD display. According to our source, the uniquely shaped smartphone will come with Ice Cream Sandwich pre-installed with Sense UI (version 4.0 wasn’t specified, but we’d be surprised to see it any lower on an ICS device) and have 32GB of internal storage space, an 1,830mAh battery, Beats Audio, Bluetooth 4.0, an 8MP rear camera with dual LED flash, 1080p video capture and a 1.3MP front-facing cam.

Dimensions? We have those, too: the Zeta is said to measure at 109.8 x 60.9 x 9.8mm (4.32 x 2.4 x 0.39 inches) and weigh 5.15 ounces (146g). Pricing and availability aren’t known, and we’re still digging for more info. It certainly has an intriguing look; the sharp corners would be a huge departure from HTC’s recent design choices, though it appears to have HTC’s signature unibody build in the back. So are we just looking at a cool concept or is this the next flagship phone? We’re hoping it’s the latter.

Article: RSS via Engadget Mobile

Tags: 720p, 8 Megapixel Camera, Android, Beats Audio, Bluetooth 4.0, HD, HTC, HTC Zeta, Ice Cream Sandwich, Quad-Core, Smartphones

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HTC Sensation XL, HTC Rhyme Can Sync With iTunes

With the occasion of launching the Sensation XL in Taiwan, HTC has announced that the company already has two devices which have a special version of HTC Sync available, enabling users to sync with Apple’s iTunes.

The HTC Sensation XL joins the HTC Rhyme with added support for music synchronization with rival Apple’s iTunes software. The new version of HTC Sync, once downloaded and installed to a PC, can detect the presence of iTunes and achieve content synchronization. “We hope consumers will be able to store their music on HTC phones from any platform,” said Jack Tong, President of HTC North Asia. It is for the first time that HTC is allowing sync with content from its rival, Apple.

Article: RSS via Pocketnow

Tags: Android, Apple, HTC, HTC Rhyme, HTC Sensation XL, iTunes, Music, Smartphones

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HTC Edge may be the first quad-core smartphone to market

Color us skeptical on this one, but rumors are coming down the pipeline about an HTC phone called the Edge. It’s supposedly going to be the first Tegra 3-powered smartphone. According to Pocketnow, the device will supposedly offer a quad-core 1.5GHz CPU, 4.7-inch 720p HD display, 1GB of RAM, an 8MP rear camera with f/2.2 lens and Beats Audio. Curiously, no LTE capability was mentioned specifically, though 21Mbps HSPA+ appears to be good to go, and there’s a slight possibility of Sense 4.0 being included — which given its proposed launch window of late Q1 / early Q2 2012, wouldn’t be a huge surprise. We’d love to start seeing more quad-core goodness headed our way, so we’re definitely keeping our fingers crossed to see a lot more of the above show up at CES and MWC.

Article: RSS via Engadget Mobile

Tags: 720p, 8 Megapixel Camera, Android, HD, HTC, HTC Edge, Nvidia, Quad-Core, Smartphones, Tegra 3

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HTC Rezound official: 4.3 inch 720p display, Beats, and LTE in your hands November 14th

Those of you looking for a 4G/LTE device from Verizon that aren’t sold on the upcoming Motorola RAZR or Samsung Galaxy Nexus likely have the HTC Rezound in your sights. The handset is now finally official and should easily be able to go toe-to-toe with about any handset in the market today.

Featuring a 4.3 inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 (720p), 4G/LTE, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and Beats support on board, even calling the Rezound a beast-phone sounds like an understatement. It may lack the larger 4.5 inch display we’re beginning to see more of (and love), the handset should me more approachable than other handsets due to its 4.3 inch display that consumers are more than used to at this point in the Android space. The Rezound also ships with an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera, capable of recording in 1080p HD, and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video chatting. Other innards of the Rezound include 32GB internal memory and 1GB of RAM.

Of course, what would a HTC phone be without bloat the Sense UI? Running on top of Android 2.3.5, the latest version of Sense is found on the Rezound and is said to be “Ice Cream Sandwich Ready.” Well, we’ll believe that one when we see it but the combination of beautiful hardware and software may distract many from the fact that it doesn’t have Android 4.0 at launch.

Music fanatics may love the fact that the handset ships with Beats audio support but we’re still skeptical. We’re not saying have the option isn’t worth it but we won’t be running out to get the Rezound solely on the fact that is supports Beats. Luckily, Beats support is just one of the many awesome features within the Rezound. Let’s just hope the Rezound will have a battery life that will back up these awesome features.

Someone should go get a shovel. I think the Thunderbolt just died from embarrassment.

You can grab the HTC Rezound on November 14th for $299. Any takers?

Article: RSS via IntoMobile

Tags: 720p, Android, Beats Audio, Dual-Core, HTC, HTC Rezound, LTE, Smartphones

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HTC partners with Dropbox, 5GB free on every Android

Today Dropbox and HTC have announced their new partnership that includes, first and foremost, the Dropbox app being pre-installed on all HTC Android devices from now on as well as an included 5 GB right out of the box! Dropbox is a cloud-based business that stores files for you, all of these files accessible wherever you have a Dropbox app installed. For the desktop, that means that you’ve got a special folder on your desktop that can be accessed everywhere else you’ve got Dropbox. For Android, that means ultra-easy file transfers to and from your device!

The Dropbox app has been a savior for your humble narrator on many occasions due on the whole to its super simple nature and ease in use. Transfer any sized file (inside your limit) with ease, share folders with whomever you want (even if they don’t use Dropbox) and now make your mobile life one step closer to total oneness. HTC and Dropbox have not yet let known if they’ll allow users who’ve already got HTC devices in their hands to have the same free 5GB of space, but new users on phones being released in the future appear to very much be in the green.

We’ve previously heard that this collaboration would only include those lucky enough to be running Sense 3.5 in the near future, this of course leaving out some of even the devices being released right this moment under the HTC banner. Sense is HTC’s user interface sitting on Android that makes their devices look ever so pretty – and it’s different on every single HTC device, regardless of the version number. So can we expect that this Dropbox inclusion will only work with top-tier HTC devices of the future?

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Tags: Android, Apps, Cloud Storage, Dropbox, HTC, Smartphones, Storage

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HTC TITAN unboxed

The HTC TITAN has yet to be released in this side of the world, but it has just been released in the UK. Thanks to the power of YouTube and folks over at TechnoBuffalo, we get to witness one of the first few unboxing videos for this upcoming Windows Phone device from HTC. Just in case you forgot, the recently announced HTC TITAN is HTC’s Mango phone with a large 4.7″ display – one of the largest displays to be used on a smartphone, and the biggest for Windows Phone 7 – at least for now.

It packs a 1.5GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera, 16GB of internal storage, DLNA support, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, and is 0.1mm shy of being 10mm thick. The unboxing video gives us a glimpse of what to expect when we open the HTC TITAN’s box for the first time. Nothing out of the ordinary was spotted in the video, but nevertheless the phone does look pretty sweet and handles web browsing pretty well, judging from the quick tests shown in the video. Check out the unboxing video for yourself:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcJ-K04pc6E

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Tags: HTC, HTC Titan, Smartphones, Video, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7.5

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HTC announces the Sensation XL – Sense, Beats, 1.5GHz CPU, and 4.7 inch display

Even though all eyes are on the Galaxy Nexus right now, HTC has just announced one hell of a phone, the Sensation XL. This handset packs a massive 4.7 inch display, 1.5 GHz single-core processor, Beats audio support, and your very own unicorn. (Unicorns in limited quantities)

This gorgeous  handset is one beast of hardware that showcases what HTC does best, which is make incredible hardware. The 4.7 inch display is massive but is a bit of a miss when it comes to resolution. The XL ships with a 800×480 resolution, which not only is a downgrade from the original Sensation but spreading the pixels across such a large display may leave you wanting something with a little more umph.

The XL is only 9.9 mm thin yet packs a punch like you wouldn’t believe. The  Qualcomm MSM8255 1.5 single-core processor may lack the allure of having the extra core we’re used to seeing in most high-and Android phones today but it should still make for a pleasant experience through and through.

While we’re not completely sold on HTC’s 300 million dollar investment for Beats audio support but we can’t certainly can’t say it’s a bad thing. There’s enough going on in this phone to make it a worth competitor to a good chunk of Android smartphones today and beats may just be the cherry on top for some. Still, I wouldn’t be rushing to grab a handset solely on the fact that it has Beats audio.

As you’d expect, the XL ships with HTC Sense and love it or hate it, it’s one of the best Android experiences around today. That said, Sense is more than bloated and offers up a handful of applications you’ll probably never use. Either way, bloated or not, the Android skin is slick and looks great on the sexy aluminium handset.

I can live without a dual-core CPU in favor of a 1.5GHz single core, but what really gets me is the resolution of the display. Such a massive screen deserves a decent resolution and while I doubt it will provide a bad viewing experience, we were hoping for a better pixel density with the XL.

Expect the Sensation XL to land on Vodafone in the UK sometime this November.

So what do you think? Is the XL a must-have or just another Sense phone?

Article: RSS via IntoMobile

Tags: Android, Beats Audio, HTC, HTC Sensation XL, HTC Sense, Smartphones

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