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HTC Launches HD Phones and Updated Sense UI
cgriffin21 writes "HTC on Wednesday confirmed two new Android smartphones, the HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z, that include what the vendor is calling an "enhanced version" of its HTC Sense user interface that includes everything from video editing software to a mapping tool. The HTC Sense's new features include the ability to record HD videos and edit images with various camera effects. HTC Locations, another new feature, provides on-demand mapping, and there's also an integrated e-reader and an e-book store powered by Kobo."
This is a pretty intriguing idea. It's interesting to see how mobile phones are not only starting to encroach on netbooks/laptops, but also now on e-readers. How long until they encroach on home PCs?
I would actually really like it if my phone was my computer, and when I went home it just linked to my keyboard, mouse and monitors and used them. And when I left, it's back to its normal interface.
According to the article, both versions will be available in Europe and Asia in October. Only the "Z" version will hit the US this year though. Gotta say that's disappointing. My next upgrade becomes available December 15th, and the "Desire HD" looks to best every other Android handset out right now. I really, really hope that some version of that phone hits Verizon before or really soon after that date.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Support MS patents, buy HTC!
Especially when it comes to Android phones.
Living With a Nerd
I ordered Verizon's Droid X a few weeks ago, it should arrive next week. But I heard that Droid 2 has a discreet graphics component whereas the Droid X doesn't. Is this true? People who have the Droid X, are you happy with the phone?
So I see HTC and all the vendors are pushing hidef video and more features. However, I see the battery life is suffering on these phones. At what point are they going to push for better battery technology and longer life? Unless your phone does nothing but make a few calls and the occasional email sync, it seems tough to get a smartphone these days to last a day without charging.
I have found that stock Android is pretty nice. HTC Sense is a good *looking* UI, but it suffers in some places. The stock mail client for stock 2.1 is much nicer than the sense variant, for example, and there are a number of other places where it looks like HTC tried to "reinvent the wheel" (with shiny chrome) for what appears to be little or no reason. Perhaps they're trying a little too hard to offer a differentiator on the software side...
I've been much happier with the stock android versions of 2.1 and 2.2 (thanks to CyanogenMod) on my HTC CDMA Hero, since switching from the stock firmware. (Doesn't exactly help that HTC orphaned OS support for that model before 2.2...)
"He may look like an idiot, and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot." - Duck Soup
The HTC Desire Z is about to be released as the T-Mobile G2 later this month ($200ish with a plan.) The T-Mobile G2 will have the stock Android UI as did the G1 years ago.
http://g2.t-mobile.com/
http://www.androidcentral.com/htc-announces-desire-z-qwerty-slider
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
Wait, it costs how much?!
Damn, never mind *sob*
Free Martian Whores!
For the past 6 years or so, I would buy the latest greatest phone after my contract ran out. I was close to getting a Droid, then it occurred to me "do I really give a frak about HDMI ports and video on my phone?" I settled with an LG Ally I got for free and got to keep that extra $200 with ZERO regrets. I guess I'll have to stop posting here and watching more Antique's Roadshow now?
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
If you can do "all you want" on a phone, imagine what WE CAN DO on a real computing device !! You go play with your Yugo-inspired phone and I'll do anything and everything I want on my REAL machine !!
There be bozos up in here !!
It looks like we're starting to see (to a greater degree) new phones coming out too quickly to match the market.
I've no idea about statistics, but I imagine that most people get a discount on their phone by signing up for two years. If new and better phones are coming out every six months, this is going to cause a problem under the current plans. It wasn't as bad with PCs and laptops, simply because people aren't locked into using them for the duration of a contract. I think it's great that my snazzy new phone is going to be less than that only a few months after I bought it, but I'm not even going to consider any kind of upgrade until my contract allows me to.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
I'd pay for an officially supported updated HTC Sense for an existing phone.
Can I? No? iPhone users can upgrade iOS on existing devices. Why can't I do the same with HTC Sense?
Would be more descriptive to say that they launched some new features that drain the phones battery even faster.
Now, I have a Android HTC to replace a ancient dumb phone. Excuse my ignorance, but it's my first smart phone... and it took me by the second day of ownership that switching off the Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and other enabled stuff saved a tonne of battery power. They may be smart phones, but they really do need more battery power packed in to the phone.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
No interest in anything new until Verizon 4G comes out later this year with 4G SIM enabled phones. All of these phones will be useless when 4G comes out - on Verizon. (As for Sprint users on 4G, great. BTW, AT&T won't be ready till 2011-2012.)
car companies went to stable brand names years ago where each car has a name and a year to show when it was made. Apple is close with the iPhone. Verizon is learning with the Droid.
why can't Samsung and HTC figure this out and stop the constant stream of new phone names every month? cell phones are as much fashion accessories/penis extenders as tools and having the cool phone is important. if you release new phones constantly then the old one is forgotten and kids and others who are your biggest customers will buy the competition.
TSIA
If someone can do an LCD with high contrast e-paper style screen and normal LCD functionality then they will solve that problem. Perhaps have the LCD flip out of the way to expose the e-paper screen underneath?
As for the Desire HD, 4.3" screen makes the device too big for me, I did some estimates on paper of its size. Any bigger than 4.3" and you'll have a phone approaching the footprint of a 3.5" hard disk.
Where are Android phones that work with the pay-as-you-go, or at least low-cost plans? Virgin Mobile has LG smartphones with $25/month plans, but if you want Android, nobody offers anything at less than $60/month.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Having read hundreds of pages so far on my Kindle (just got it recently)
I like the kindle but dislike the display. The contrast is too low for me to read with comfort.
LCD's are fine for reading ebooks - I have read a number of long eBooks. The most preferable is the iPhone 4 screen, because it is so crisp... the next is the iPad, because of the size.
The key to all LCD reading is that you need to pay as much attention to ambient light as you would with any kind of ink based reading. You wouldn't read a book in pitch black darkness, nor should you try with an LCD even though you can. If you have even a little illumination around you you can read an LCD indefinitely without strain.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Pocket Answer+hangups.
AARRGGHH!!!!
HTC, Why oh why do you not put a fucking screen unlocker on one of the real hardware buttons of the phone instead of the touchscreen only?
I like to keep my HTC Desire in my shirt pocket. Whenever I get an incoming call, just simply reaching into the pocket to slide out the phone often touches the screen enough to answer and then hang up the call as I try to slide it out of my pocket.
The touchscreen unlock security pattern thingy also is PURE FAIL because of the "Emergency Call" hotbutton on the screen below the pattern. Sliding a ringing phone out of your shirt pocket with the touchscreen pattern soft-lock enabled will about half the time trigger the emergency call button instead and dial 911. Fuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!
i do not like too bright screens for reading, too. but with my htc desire i can read without problems a lot of text. the screen is clear but not too bright at default settings.
PCs are not cheap if you are on a budget and want both a good phone and then at home a larger screen. I agree with the grandparent, I'd like a real good phone that can seamlessly connect to my regular screen/keyboard and mouse at home, with perhaps a little NAS action for large storage. If you don't do extreme high end gaming (I don't) or mad scientist home 3-D climate modeling (I don't)(and tens of millions of people don't do either), the current high end ARM offerings on phones are plenty good enough to work as both your phone and home "desktop" processor.
Why should I drop several hundred on a phone, then several hundred more on a home PC when I don't need the latter, if such a good phone and system existed to replace it? I can use that money for other important bills instead. I'm part time working-retired on a fixed low ball budget, I'd rather that several hundred dollars for the home PC go for keeping me in better phones every other year, and milk out the big monitor (the TV) and keyboard and mouse for years and years, and with USB3 hitting, that would work for external storage to the phone, if they offered the phones with that. That 400$ saved every other year by NOT buying or upgrading a desktop machine (and 400 is low end) would help pay the telco/internet bill instead. Then there would be the electric bill savings by not running a separate desktop machine.
I agree with you some on the "cloud" storage, but again, if you CAN access it adequately using the cellphone and processor there..why again do you need a separate desktop machine at home? Elimination of that box saves a bundle.
Now if phones weren't good enough, sure, use a desktop, but today, and phones next year and after that? They are good enough and getting better, this artificial "need" for a home desktop is rapidly disappearing for millions of people. And if they game, they'd be better off spending that "desktop machine" money on a console anyway.
Is that a HD phone in your pocket? ... or are you just happy to see me?
I really get the convenience of always having a decent still camera with you, and can see how gr8 that would translate into having a video camera on you whenever needed, but seriously... is HD really a selling point?
Sure, not sucking is a selling point (after all my z800i had video, it was just so bad it was worthless) but any more than that is just trying to out-do the competition with silly little niche enhancements... 'ooh, my phone has 2 flashes so can take better photos in the dark at a range of 2.5 feet'. Can't ever recall thinking 'boy, that photo I took in the dark of that flower I didn't see while walking home could have really used a second flash' ... come one. People might hate Apple for all the wrong reasons, but at least when they upgrade their phones... there's a point.
I've got no doubt that either of these phones would be gr8! But so would a Moto droid.
It has the same resolution as the original Desire in a bigger display. Doesn't that make it low definition?