HTC Unveiling Soon!

We're only hours away from HTC's event where the rumoured successor to the One that started it all will be revealed. I'll be having my say after the event hype has blown over and I've had some sleep, tomorrow morning (AEDT).

Source: techinasia

 Till then, I have some thoughts on the OEM.



I've never been HTC's greatest fan, if one at all. Don't get me wrong, I hold deep respect for their assistance in the take-off of Android, and the immense regard for devs and Android purists they showed when they agreed to team up with Google for the release of the Nexus One. But there's always been one main aspect of their brand which has grated on me.

Sense has never appealed to me, not even with a somewhat emphasis on customisation with pre-installed themes and layouts. To me, it was HTC's attempt to have its own users polish a turd they left, and it didn't end up making things any better. I always believed it showed HTC weren't confident in their skin as it was, and that it hadn't reached the standard they so desired.

We all know Director of the Android User Experience, Matias Duarte has gone on the record, admitting he believes Android is only a third of how he envisions it. Kudos to the man in charge of some of the primary underpinnings of every Android device in acknowledging his work is not up to his standards, yet. By the look of things, HTC could take some notes.

The expected successor to the One X: HTC One (M7)

Recently with the One (M7) leaks, people's responses have varied  in relation to the purported Sense 5.0 preview. Whereas in the past, the argument against Sense had been that it appeared, bland and/or uninspiring, and even to an extent, dated - the mock-up of a Windows tiled Sense has both appealed to, and angered both HTC loyalists and Android fans alike.

To some, the new Sense is refreshing, albeit a little crowded for Android, but to most it's blasphemy. Off the bat of their Windows Phone 8 line, many believe HTC have drawn major styling cues from one of Android's rival OS' - and that rarely ends well for those involved.

Ubuntu on a tablet by HTC? 

With the event fast approaching, we're also hearing about a potential Ubuntu powered HTC tablet ready to be plucked from the vine, and put on display. We'll only know when/if it's officially announced, but I know I'm just about ready to slap on Ubuntu on my Nexus 7. The OS on computer is brilliant, fast and fluid and to use an N7 purely with gestures excites me, as does that extra screen space and my current familiarity with the computer equivalent.

The latest and greatest data speeds
with a battery which should have been put to rest two years prior.

Another gripe I have is with their poor choice of batteries to match the raw processing power of their devices. On this front, HTC have almost definitely nailed the dismal user experience for just about all their devices. The Nexus One had a minuscule 1,400mAh slugger to keep a whopping 1GHz Snapdragon on a leash, and unless you were ever so careful with how you used it - you're battery would be completely worn before noon. Even worse, they decided to keep the 1,400mAh misfit powering an updated 1GHz Snapdragon on the Thunderbolt - only this was one of the first LTE handsets! It was a disaster before it even launched, yet still it sold like hotcakes, with the ramifications of HTC's decisions taking place shortly after. The Droid DNA on paper read like a nightmare too. A non-removable 2,020mAh battery supporting the latest quad-core S4 Pro processor, as well as a 1080p display seemed an impossible feat, but alas, somehow its managed to survive this seemingly impossible feat with generally good reviews all round.

If HTC manage this with their future devices, they have a chance of staying afloat because in a world where batteries only appear to be getting larger as displays and processors improve, the significance of an efficient battery that handles these features holds great weight in the mobile world. This could be their saving grace, provided they don't muck up on the software/UI front.