Mobility Digest » HTC

HTC Ville shows off Sense 4.0 running Ice Cream Sandwich

Doug Smith — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:30:08 +0000

As we prepare for MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona ,Spain Feb 27th through Mar 1st, we are already bracing ourselves for the leaked devices to be shown off for the first (cough) time. Such is the case with the new HTC 1.5GHz dual core processor device now called the “Ville”. Some leaked video is showing off it’s it’s very slim form factor as well as 4.3” qHD screen. Especially of interest is Sense 4.0 running on an Android Ice Cream Sandwich build of 4.0.1. Sense look great and I especially miss the Windows Mobile days of having this user interface. Watch the video and check out how thin the Ville is. At 8mm thick, this thing is seriously smelt. HTC didn’t move too far from center in the design as this looks an awful lot like their current work, especially that of the Titan. 8mp Rear shooter, VGA front, 1GB of RAM, BT 4.0 and HTC has built some serious specs into this device. Hopefully it is the same 8mp camera out of the current Titan Windows Phone. Very nice indeed!

[source: HTC-Hub]

Titan II Also March 18 From AT&T But $200

David K — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:41:59 +0000

I’m sorry but I’m already married to the Lumia. Too soon?

BGR isn’t done with the leaks and they are also stating that the Titan II is coming on the same day as the Lumia 900 but for $200. For me, it’s less about pricing and more about manufacturer but at an extra $100 it will make people consider it. There’s extra real estate there for sure. at 4.7” and a16mp camera.

I’ll say this, I like to see some serious hardware being thrown down. I also like to see the commercials that this is going to have lined up for a March 18 WP7 launch day.

HTC Explorer Android Smartphone Review @ HardwareHeaven

Kristofer Brozio — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:37:31 +0000

Browsing the inbox for news today I came across this review of the HTC Explorer over at HardwareHeaven and thought I’d share it with you. The gang over there only gives it a 7 out of 10 score, so that’s not great but not too bad overall. They don’t have a pros and cons list that I can see but you can head on over and read the full review for yourself, they’ve got plenty of pictures and more, it’s four pages total.

Quote: "The Explorer is HTC’s new entry level smartphone aimed at those customers looking for a smartphone but turned off by the large, feature rich and costly offering that is the HTC Sensation and its ilk."

Link: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1388/pg1/htc-explorer-android-smartphone-review-introduction.html

Mobility Digest Review: BodyGuardz Carbon Fiber Armor

Murani Lewis — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:38:47 +0000

Our smartphones are precious to each and every one of us. We excitedly run to our local carrier store and purchase our version of the “must have” phone and delight in its awesomeness. Recently I picked up a HTC Titan and fell in love much more than I ever thought possible with a phone. The thing is that the lightness paired with the industrial feel makes the phone slip out of my hand and pockets without even a hint that its in motion. I’ve dropped my beloved Titan about a dozen times in the nearly three months that I’ve owned it. So having already dinged up the phone I wised up and started looking for a case or cover to mitigate any further droppings because I knew they were coming. I checked around and had trouble finding cases for the HTC Titan it being a new and really not heavily promoted phone and all. I feared I’d be left with grasping the phone with a vice grip for the remainder of my time. Luckily I came across a fantastic product from BodyGuardz.

The BodyGuardz Carbon Fiber Armor isn’t so much a case but a type of razor thin covering that surrounds the vast majority of the rear and sides of your phone thus providing coverage in the areas that need it. So lets get to the contents.

Package includes:

Back and Side protective skin
ScreenGuardz UltraTough Screen protector

Following the application instructions are easy as the instructions are straight forward. The most important thing is to take your time and line up the skin properly before applying pressure and securing the seal. I had to readjusted different parts of the skin several times but it was more a case of my bad alignment skills than the product. When the application was finished I was happy with the result. I did feel like if the skin was a seamless skin the coverage would be perfect although the coverage as it is is more than adequate. It’s a nitpick but just thought I’d share.

The Carbon Fiber Armor will cost you $19.95 and does come in Red & White in addition to the Black.

PROS:

I love that included in the package is one of their ScreenGuardz protectors. It provides coverage for the front while the skin takes care of the back and sides.
Another great thing that fans of thin phones will enjoy is the fact the skin adds virtually no thickness to the Titan while giving the back and sides a premium textured feel.

CONS:

Limited side coverage instead of total coverage.

If you’re in the market for a quality skin that doesn’t add any thickness to your Titan I encourage you to grab the BodyGuardz Carbon Fiber Armor from here today.

Windows Phone 2012 Strategy

Murani Lewis — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:49:55 +0000

Supersite For Windows’s Paul Thurrott has once again shared the gist of Microsoft and their Windows Phone OEM partners’ strategy for making Windows Phone relevant. To say everyone invested in the Windows Phone ecosystem is putting their money where their mouth is would be an understatement. Thurrott cites internal Microsoft documentation that outlines the strategy. Here are the key points.

RSPs (Retail Sales Professionals) will start being given sales incentives for pushing Windows Phones. The key differentiator for Microsoft is in addition to monetary incentives Microsoft is also utilizing, awesomely, their vast ecosystem to incentitize the sales professionals. Items include Xbox 360s, Kinect, Xbox games, pizza, etc.
Nokia is spending 2-to-1 compared to Microsoft on marketing their Windows Phones. How much do you ask? How does $130 million to market the Lumia 900 “Ace” which is exclusively on AT&T strike you!
Samsung and HTC are also set to spend tens of millions of dollars promoting their Windows Phones in the coming months.
Windows Phone is a central part of Microsoft’s strategy going forward.

When you put this together with how much the Metro user interface is to Microsoft’s overall 2012 strategy you can see how important this information is. There will be Windows 8 PCs, Ultrabooks and Tablets flooding the market come fall and this gives the global awareness of the Metro user interface a huge boost leading into the Q4 release of Windows Phone 8.

Source: Supersite For Windows

Highlights of Microsoft Keynote at CES 2012

Rama Uppugunduri — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:01:17 +0000

Many thanks to Andrew Bares for providing the live tweets from Microsoft Booth.

There is nothing major shown regarding Windows Phone 7 except the Local Scout integration with Open Table API for making reservations at a restaurant and hardware of Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC Titan II, both are high end Windows Phone 7 devices running on Mango (Windows Phone 7.5) supporting AT&T LTE. Surprisingly I haven’t seen a single reference in the tweets about Skype for Windows Phone 7 and Skype for Metro. I hope Microsoft would talk about it at least during Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. Another surprise is until now Samsung, their another major OEM partner, haven’t announced LTE Phone running on Windows Phone 7.5, probably they have something in surprise and will announce at MWC 2012. But Samsung announced good Windows 7 Tablets today though.

The focus is on Windows 8 majorly and Microsoft’s Marketing Officer Tami presented the show regarding Windows 8.

The interesting points from the demo are:

1. Lock screen with Picture Password

2. Lock screen with notifications

3. Apps written for Metro will run on both the ARM and x86 processors without issues

4. Well anticipated Microsoft Store, that will be launched in February supporting all languages that Windows supports. That makes it global store.

5. Symantic Zoom (a new feature). This lets you pinch out on the start screen easily pan through. This also allows users to group Live Tiles and name them. I wish I see this feature adopted onto Windows Phone 7 as a quick update from Microsoft. I hope Microsoft patented this.

6. Metro UI lets the users to share the information without leaving the app. Microsoft presented emailing a recipe without leaving the app. Sounds like one of the feature that Bill Gates requested while making a decision on letting Courier go. Definitely an interesting feature. I hope Microsoft Patented this.

7. Desktop version of Office with split screen. Metro on the left and Office on the right. This definitely reminds the dead project at Microsoft also knows as Courier. If Microsoft brings out the Courier capabilities into this, my Money is right on it. I hope Microsoft patented this too.

8. Smooth panning in Metro Browser, which is always plugin free, sounds like browsing experience at lightening speeds.

9. HTML 5 Videos can be watched only in Metro browser.

10. Every windows 7 PC will be ready for Windows 8 on day one

11. Kinect is coming to Windows on Feb. 1st.

12. Xbox is not limited to Gaming. It is for entertainment including Movies, Music, and other media.

13. Microsoft is making entertainment experience “easy” with Kinect’s natural user interface capabilities.

14. Kinect will transform the “TV” experience.

14. Kinect can be used outside of gaming, education, medicine etc.

15. Future enhancements of Kinect will bring-out two-way experience of TV Entertainment, Microsoft presented interactive Sesame Street Show, where you through virtual coconuts on Kinect and it puts them inside Elmo’s world. I could only imagine how much my kids would get excited if they get something like this experience.

16. Microsoft is planning to ship next milestone of Windows 8 in February.

17. Microsoft is totally empowered by Metro.

Ballmer mentioned, "Metro will drive the new magic over all of Microsoft’s experiences." When he was asked what’s next? Ballmer stated, "Metro, Metro, Metro. Windows, Windows, Windows." That concludes Metro is the future of Microsoft.

Side Note: It seems Steve Ballmer uses a Nokia Lumia device himself (as per Andrew Bares tweets), I think it is Nokia Lumia 800 or could be 900, who knows. I haven’t attended the CES personally.

In between the show a group of African-American church singers sang the tweets that people twatted about Microsoft CES, Tweet Choir. Very interesting.

HTC Titan II coming to AT&T with 4G LTE loaded

Doug Smith — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:22:26 +0000

It was just 5 days ago when leaked pictures of the HTC Radiant, an almost exact clone of the HTC Titan except this version would have LTE on it made the rounds. Paul Thurrott mentioning that Windows Phones would not necessarily be waiting for the Tango update to roll out and that we would see LTE Windows Phones at CES. And now we have it from the Windows Phone Blog that we will be seeing the HTC Titan II heading to AT&T with 4G LTE.

Just some slight rear cover changes is all you’ll notice on the outside, and almost nothing on the inside except the LTE hardware. The Titan II will still be running a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor what has been incredibly fast on my Titan. Now here comes the shocker, the Titan II will not have the same 8 megapixel shooter on the rear , but will now sport a 16 megapixel camera that will feature: “a fast wide-angle lens (f2.6, 28mm), autofocus, and dual LED flash. Shutterbugs will appreciate extras like red eye reduction, image stabilization, a panorama mode for landscapes, and a burst shot mode for sports or kids”. Also included will be a front facing 1.3 megapixel camera and 720p HD Video recording. I am not a fan of how the current Titan compresses pictures when you send them, but at 16 megapixels, I would thing some compression would definitely need to happen! Don’t forget the 4.7 inch screen, but if you are like me, you are still blown away by 16 megapixel camera.

Stay tuned cause’ Ballmer hits the stage at 6:30 Pacific Time tonight and will hopefully elaborate more on the Titan II!

HTC Radiant LTE Windows Phone for AT&T

Doug Smith — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:33:19 +0000

Last week we got tipped from Paul Thurrott that we would see an announcement from AT&T about their LTE enabled Windows Phones coming in 2012 at the CES show in Las Vegas. As a matter of fact, the Nokia ACE, the HTC Radiant, and the Samsung Mendel will be the LTE trifecta for Microsoft. Originally rumored to release with “Tango”, it is looking more like these devices will remain “Mangonized” for now.

Today however, Pocketnow is claiming to have the goods on the first picture of the HTC Radiant, the LTE hot rod heading to AT&T. As you can see from the picture, it looks almost identical to the current HTC Titan. Nothing wrong with that, but wonder why AT&T broke from old habits and didn’t call it the Titan 2 and really confuse some folks!

The specs are all pretty much in line with the current HTC Titan except some back cover changes. Looks like the case has a lower plastic shroud and the dual LED flash has been moved to the right side. There will be the same 1.5GHz processor which has yet to fail me on the Titan, but we will see what the 1600 mAh battery life, which is stellar on the Titan ends up being with LTE on it. Lastly, word is that our friends down under will get the Radiant on Telstra.

Stay tuned for more on the Consumer Electronic Show announcements and the HTC Radiant heading to AT&T sporting some LTE goodness!

Six Reasons Why Windows Phone Will Be Better In 2012

Murani Lewis — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:53:47 +0000

Tis the season for all the new year predictions and wishlists for your platform of choice. For Windows Phone it was both the best and worst of times. The year kicked off with early adopters being disgruntled over the lack of updates to the OS which meant no copy/paste or any meaningful multitasking. NoDo arrived in the spring and was met by an avalanche of hiccups and the rollout was disappointing at best. In all it took several months to get it out to the majority of users. The much hyped and anticipated Windows Phone 7.5 update “Mango” was a different story. In fact you could argue that Mango was updates done right. Microsoft took even more control of the update process, stayed keyed in on their OEM partners to prevent any secret changing to hardware that would cause update failures like what happened with the NoDo fiasco and made updates look simple.

Why will Windows Phone be better in 2012? Here’s a short list.

1) Mango Momentum

Software-The Windows Phone 7.5 truly lived up to the promise the Windows Phone team bragged about. It put the platform squarely into the conversation of viable daily drivers. How good was it? It was so good you almost never read anyone of substance writing about how far ahead iOS and Android are compared to Windows Phone OS.

Microsoft will surely ride the momentum, reflect on lessons learned from both NoDo and Mango and usher the era of dual-core processors and hi-res screens to the platform. I also bet that Microsoft does dual-core right. That means not sacrificing battery life and figuring out how to utilize the dual-core architecture to run background tasks and throttling the processor at normal state.

Hardware-The Samsung Focus S & HTC Titan are two really great phones. Both are light, fast and feature really good cameras. If there was one wish is that both came in larger capacity storage space. 16GB is enough for most people but there are those who would pay a premium for the extra on board space. If Samsung and HTC are smart they will recognize the value in a great series of phones. Apple’s annual-ish iPhone hardware update leads the way but in recent years Samsung has wised up and made the Galaxy S lineup an annual update and has seen sales go through the roof. The Galaxy S III is probably more anticipated than even the Galaxy Nexus. In short the Galaxy S series is the premium line of Android phones and is well branded enough to scare Apple. HTC would be wise to do the same to the well acclaimed Titan. There should definitely be a Titan II released this fall. Too many phone names leads to no appreciable brand awareness. Sure people know HTC but not any single device.

OEMs also released some terrific midrange devices that entered the market at lower price points for the budget conscience. The well received HTC Radar and Samsung Focus Flash are both terrific devices that might lead their class in the mobile space. There were tons of people who would have bought the HTC Radar if it had not been limited to being solely available to T-Mobile customers.

Nokia stepped up to the plate with their first two devices and although they didn’t blow the competition (Android & iOS) out of the water they showed themselves very capable of still producing great looking hardware. The Lumia 800’s design was nothing short of breathtaking and rivaled the iPhone 4/4S as reviewers choice for hardware design. Operation Rolling Thunder starts early this year as Nokia re-enters the US smartphone market in earnest.

2) B2B Attention

Business focused security features will be added in the Apollo update. Hopefully some sort of on-device encryption and even better Lync, Office 365, Sharepoint and Skype integration between the phone and desktop will be present. 2012 should be the year Microsoft tears down all barriers to entry into the business sector.

The rumored Tango update is also meant to make it easier for OEMs to create devices without cameras and other such hardware removals to appease corporations that are key on confidentiality. Apparently the world of espionage is alive and well.

Business Apps-The arrival of Windows Phone 7.5 gave developers the opportunity to use sockets and other features that are useful in creating apps previously out of their reach when Windows Phone 7 launched. 2012 will bring with it popular apps like Go To My PC and other wanted titles.

3) Staying the Update Course

Microsoft will be wise enough to not give in to the wishes of a few who clearly are more interested in a wishlist than understanding the Windows Phone design metaphor. They will ignore the suggestion to make single live tiles into “multi-tiles”. They will continue to add functionality to the tiles. The ability to resize tiles being the priority. Ideally this would be done for all apps not just 1st party apps.

Selective native code Access also falls under this header. Not every dev should have native code access, there should be a certain level of ability and need to gain the access. One of the big benefits of apps being sandboxed and not being able to get at certain system level files is the non-threat of crashes and risky business taking place. Yes certain game and app developers need that native access and should be granted it but Microsoft will see the value in continuing to be selective in who gets in and who doesn’t.

1st Party App Updates-Bing should continue to be refined and I’m betting actual voice turn-by-turn navigation without having to touch the screen will be present in the major OS update later this year. I also look for Windows Phone to the main hubs on the device featuring more options to share like YouTube access and other popular media sharing services.

4) Nokia’s Operation Rolling Thunder

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you have undoubtedly seen and read about the Lumia 710 and 800 phones. You’ve also obviously also seen the creativity and effectiveness of Nokia’s marketing efforts. Nokia is putting Microsoft’s money to good use and will continue to do so in 2012 in the US. Almost as importantly, Nokia has fought to gain equal footing with the iPhone and Android phones in terms of carrier support. One of the things about the Nokia/Verizon no-go is that Verizon wasn’t going to put Windows Phone in a place to have the product thrive. Nokia wasn’t getting in bed with someone like that. AT&T will end up being the big winner and Verizon will actually use a small percentage of customers because of this. I’m not saying it’ll be iPhone exodus but any lost customer is lost revenue.

Nokia’s push into the European and other markets will dramatically increase the user base for Windows Phone and along with that comes other delightful benefits to all Windows Phone users.

5) More and Better Apps

2012 will bring to the platform the last remaining “must have” apps from iOS and Android. We will start to see speciality apps like fashion and store apps that up to this point have largely ignored the platform because of the small user base.

The more exciting part of this is that current apps will only get better as devs will have more experience and a better handle on what does and does not work well on the platform. The improvement some apps have shown between their initial release and their Mango updates are phenomenal. There are so many cool things you can do with apps on the platform now that I find it hard to believe you can get an equal experience on other platforms. I’m a huge fan of Manga and my Manga Reader app gives me the ability to pin individual titles to the start screen or even groups of titles. My TVShow app gives me the ability to see not just a picture of the next upcoming show but also a mini list of the shows for the night on the Live Tile along with a count of how many episodes I haven’t seen for all my shows. All that without having to even go into the tile saves time and is just cool to look at. Because I have grouped the most important people I follow on Twitter together (Mobility Digest, other tech bloggers) I sometimes don’t even have to go into the People Hub. I can see the latest updates from those that matter in my tech world without leaving the start screen. One more example, my Bank Account Manager app allows me to pin individual accounts to the Start Screen as Live Tiles and the Back of the Tile shows me my current balance.

Apps will only get better and more refined in 2012. Yes there will continue to be disappointing apps by devs who were either lazy, failed to properly execute their vision or just bad devs but there will be a lot of great apps that while not “brand” apps that people are used to on other platforms showcases the beauty and utility of the Windows Phone platform.

6) Apollo Update

The Apollo update reportedly will bring Hi-Res screens and dual-core support. Seeing how snappy the UI already is utilizing single core 1.4-1.5 GHz processors I can’t imagine what high end Windows Phones will behave like when the Apollo update hits. Slightly more RAM and Storage should accompany the flagship Windows Phones putting it squarely in the drool category.

More importantly the Apollo update will user in the era of better integration with the Microsoft ecosystem. With the timing of Apollo to coincide somewhat with the debut of Windows 8 for the first time Microsoft will have a platform UI and compatibility at the system level that they haven’t before. There is a growing sentiment share by both Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley that believe that the Windows CE kernel will be swapped out for a Windows 8 variant kernel. The future is near and although the present is glorious the future has much to behold. I’m excited and you should be too.

So are you excited for what 2012 promises to bring to the Windows Phone platform? Comment and win a shot at a free app.

HTC Titan Instigates Bar Brawl in Fun Video

Murani Lewis — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:15:26 +0000

Having gone what seems an eternity without the proper level of promotion the awesomely large and awe inspiring HTC Titan is given a cameo in the hit We Are Young debut video by the group Fun. I don’t know what is more awesome. The fact the lady has awesome taste or the fact the Titan was clearly built for this. The Titan gets hurled clear across the room in slow motion showcasing the Windows Phone start screen in full glory. Behold! Be patient, as the Titan debuts at around the 30 second mark and again a few seconds later.

Get More: fun., We Are Young, Music, More Music Videos

Source: WPCentral