July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Finally, there’s an Android phone that doesn’t make me miss anything about the iPhone. It’s called the HTC One, and it’s the best Android phone I’ve ever laid hands on.

It might also be the best smartphone I’ve ever used.

That’s saying a lot. Until now, the iPhone 5 embodied everything I wanted in an ideal smartphone: a solid-yet-elegant design, seemingly limitless speed, and a great screen. Android phones have certainly come close, but up until now there’s always been something that inexplicably held them back: the Nexus 4’s lack of LTE, the Galaxy S4’s cheap-feeling plastic case, or Android’s own design immaturity until Android 4.0.

What makes the HTC One so great? Simply put, it’s a phone that never leaves me wanting. It has a great camera, it’s freakishly fast, and its screen is fantastic without needing to be oversized. It also packs in several features I never thought I’d want in a smartphone but that I’ve found myself coming back to quite a bit.

Did I mention it’s gorgeous? Holding the HTC One in your hand will instantly make your current phone seem cheap and dated. Yes — even if your current phone is an iPhone 5.

Perhaps most of all, I appreciate HTC’s restraint. Unlike Samsung’s pile-on of features and questionable technology in the Galaxy S4, just about everything in the HTC One feels like a deliberate choice meant to create a better experience. That’s important, as it may just be the company’s last chance to turn its dismal fortune around.

It’s just too bad that most buyers will probably ignore it.

The good: It inspires pure gadget lust

The HTC One is so striking that strangers didn’t hesitate to ask me questions about it. “What is that?,” was a common refrain among New Yorkers as I was testing the phone throughout the city. I could tell they noticed it wasn’t just another Galaxy S or iPhone. It was something completely different — and they just had to know more.

One young couple I talked to, both Android owners, immediately noticed that the HTC One felt more substantial than the Galaxy S phones because of its solid metal case. They also appreciated the clean design of the phone, as well as HTC’s Sense software, which they noted was more tasteful and less intrusive than other Android phones they’ve used. These weren’t gadget geeks either, which made the conversation all the more intriguing.

I’ve tested plenty of phones in New York City, and the HTC One has managed to get me more attention than any other phone from random passersby.

You can chalk up its immediate appeal to that case, which is carved out of a single piece of metal and evokes Apple’s MacBook Air. HTC stacks the phone’s hardware to take full advantage of its limited internal space, which makes for a slightly rounded rear that fits comfortably into your hand. The HTC One feels like an evolved form of last year’s One S, which was one of my favorite Android phones so far. (Since it was only available on T-Mobile in the U.S., most people didn’t even know it existed.)

From afar, the HTC One looks similar to the iPhone 5, but up close it’s distinctly different. The One’s 4.7-inch screen commands most of its front, and it’s flanked by noticeable-yet-attractive speaker grills. Its screen is bright and vibrant with a sharp 1080p display. It even looked flawless under direct sunlight while wearing polarized sunglasses.

I initially thought the One’s stereo speakers were a gimmick (who really uses their phone like a boombox?), but I’ve grown to enjoy its ability to project decent audio. It’s particularly great for watching YouTube videos with friends — and it’ll amaze people used to tinny smartphone speakers. The One also includes Beats Audio support, but, as always, its impact on music quality felt negligible aside from making things a bit louder.

Under the hood, the One packs in a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor running at 1.7 gigahertz, as well as 2 gigabytes of RAM. Those are the same basic specs as Samsung’s Galaxy S4, and you can be sure that most other new Android phones will match it as well. For the most part, that means you can expect similarly fast speeds across most modern Android devices. The big differentiators for smartphones now are build quality, style, and features — all of which the One excels at.

It’s been a while since I’ve been unable to keep my hands off of a piece of tech, but the One’s combination of confident style, speed, and useful features has made it my go-to gadget over the last few weeks (beating out the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini).

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Facebook Home, the skin of Android that brings social networking to the forefront, has been quietly updated to support the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Android phones.

While user reviews have been highly unfavorable, Facebook Home has still received about one million downloads from people curious to try Facebook’s take on what Android should be.

Facebook Home launched with support for only a handful of Android phones, so it’s good to see it rolling out for additional units. So far, Facebook appears to just be targeting the most powerful Android sets. That’s likely because power users and early adopters that are willing to try Facebook Home own these.

Facebook product director Adam Mosseri said yesterday that the network would roll out the following updates to Facebook Home soon:

• Chat Heads improvements that make chatting more seamless with fewer steps.
• A new, full-screen interface for your dock of apps that you can access more simply through a single swipe.
• Subfolders within the app dock, kind of like you see in the iOS app launcher.
• More “Blue’s Clues” pop-up prompts to educate users on new features.

You can download Facebook Home here.

Screenshot via Facebook/YouTube

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

HTC’s first quarter saw a massive decline in revenue and profit — but the company expects a rosier second quarter.

The Taiwanese phone maker reported first quarter revenues of $1.45 billion with just $2.88 million in profit (which it previewed last month), a 98 percent fall in profit from last year. The numbers are also a huge decline from the already low $34.4 million in profit from HTC’s previous quarter.

The bright side: The company projects that second quarter revenues will jump to $2.4 billion (and hopefully profits will follow).

“We’re focusing a lot in terms of marketing,” said Peter Chou, HTC’s chief executive, during the company’s earnings call today, according to the Wall Street Journal.

HTC used to be the top Android smartphone maker in the U.S., but Samsung’s popular Galaxy S series of phones, together with the iPhone, quickly eroded HTC’s market share. Now, HTC doesn’t even rank among the top 5 smartphone vendors (when it comes to phone shipments), according to IDC.

The company’s troubles are particularly crushing since it just debuted the best Android phone I’ve ever laid hands on: the HTC One. My full review of that phone is coming soon.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

As Woody Allen said, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

When HTC reported its dismal, awful, very bad fourth quarter earnings in January, CEO Peter Chou said it was the end of his company’s struggles. Unsurprisingly, he was very, very wrong.

HTC is reporting first-quarter profits of $2.8 million, the lowest in the company’s history. Besides the obvious issues that have plagued HTC for multiple quarters, its latest decline can be pinned on the HTC One, which was delayed after suppliers decided they had lost faith in HTC’s potential as a customer. The result? HTC couldn’t get the proper camera components for the device, which was then pushed in to the middle of April.

Disclaimer: Numbers in chart may be worse than they appear.

For HTC, the situation is pretty dire. The April delay means that the One will launch within days of the Galaxy S IV, which is backed by Samsung’s hefty advertising budget.

Fortunately, the One is a damn good phone (or so I’ve read), which should give HTC some semblance of a chance — assuming, of course, that the company can actually get the thing released.

Besides the One, HTC is also working on releasing the HTC First, the so-called Facebook phone that it announced last week. If things go well, that device could attract quite a few buyers, which would obviously be quite a welcome development for the perpetually beleaguered HTC.

Photo: Facebook Home Livestream

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

After a long wait, AT&T will offer up HTC’s new flagship Android phone — the HTC One — starting on April 19 for $200 with a two-year contract, the company announced today.

HTC is a troubled company that has seen consistent sales declines during the past few years, so the HTC One represents one of its last chances to make a serious dent in the smartphone market. Thankfully it’s a pretty cool phone.

Based on a bit of hands-on time with the device, we think the HTC One is an impressive piece of hardware. It features a rich 4.7-inch 1080p display, a 1.7-GHz quad-core processor, and runs Android 4.1.2 with the latest “Sense 5″ skin of Android. The device has a beautiful aluminum body that makes it feel premium, unlike cheap-feeling plastic found on many other smartphones.

The biggest threat to the One being a success is Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S IV, which will likely be released in the next few weeks. (AT&T starts pre-orders for the S IV on April 16.) But on the plus side, the HTC One looks and feels like a new kind of Android phone while the Galaxy S IV looks and feels an awful lot like the Galaxy S III with more features.

Check out photos of the HTC One below.

HTC One photos via Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

NEW YORK CITY — At a low-key press event today, T-Mobile made it clear that it’s not just another carrier anymore.

The tone was set the moment you entered the event, which was filled with signage railing against the evils of cellular contracts. A wall-sized poster highlighted the confusing language of typical contracts, and there was a bill shock hall of shame, detailing some horrific stories of massive cellphone bills. Attendees were also forced to walk through a mock “contract detector,” which approved or denied our self-worth seemingly at random.

The festivities kicked off with a short man-on-the-street video featuring The Daily Show‘s Jason Jones, who went around New York City asking typical consumers about their cellular experiences. To simulate the abuse consumers see from typical carriers, he repeatedly hit them in the face with his microphone.

“The worst fear of the wireless industry is that someone outside Oz comes in and starts looking at their inventory,” said T-Mobile chief executive John Legere on stage today [above], referring to his ability to look at the wireless industry with fresh eyes. “The worst thing in the world has happened, someone from outside the wireless industry has come in.”

He revealed that T-Mobile has made great progress in rolling out its LTE network. The company expects to cover 100 million people by the middle of the year, and 200 million people by the end of the year.

Legere didn’t shy away from detailing his biggest issues with the wireless industry today: Expensive phones, complicated plans, and endless penalties.

“Please stop the bullshit!,” he shouted.

A new kind of cellular carrier

So how is T-Mobile going to fix things? It starts with its new contract-free plans, which start at $50 for unlimited talk, text, and data (500MB of which is 4G). They’re also notably simpler than competing plans. “When you choose a T-Mobile rate plan, you get unlimited everything: no caps, no overages, no bill shock, only one rate plan,” he said. “We call it the simple choice, and it’s obvious.”

You can add a second line to your T-Mobile plan for an additional $30 and additional lines for $10 each. The plans also include tethering at no extra cost (though it’s data limited on the $20 unlimited high-speed data account).

Additionally, T-Mobile is going to be much clearer about the cost of phones. You can purchase phones at full-cost or split up the cost in your monthly bill. With its base plan, plus $20 a month to pay off a device, T-Mobile says you’ll save $1,060 over two years when compared to AT&T’s plan.

“Oh, yes, woe is me, you’re going to have to pay for your phone,” Legere said. “We’re just not lying to you. We’re laying the rules down.”

Source: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

T-Mobile’s iPhone 5 saw LTE download speeds between 14 Mbps and 42 Mbps at the event, which is in line with typical LTE speeds.

As a “small” update, Legere revealed that T-Mobile will finally offer the iPhone 5. Customers will be able to purchase it for $99 starting on April 12 (the remaining cost is covered by an extra $20 on your monthly bill for 24 months). Additionally, he noted that Apple added some new technology to T-Mobile’s iPhone 5 — it can now support LTE networks, HSPA+ 42 Mbps, and other HSPA networks.

That means T-Mobile’s iPhone will be far faster than the competition when outside of LTE coverage. In contrast, Verizon users get stuck with its slow 3G network when they drop off LTE.

“This is just a start, we’re going to be doing a lot of things … it’ll be very direct, very in your face,” Legere said with the conviction of a preacher. “The message is we’re not just aother phone company — we’re about changing this business. It’s not self-serving, it’s abut customers. Customers don’t need another AT&T, customers need someone to stop acting like AT&T.”

T-Mobile is also going to have a strong array of devices available at just $99, including the new HTC One and BlackBerry Z10. The carrier also announced that it will offer Samsung’s Galaxy S IV on May 1.

During the Q&A portion of the event, T-Mobile’s executives deflected the notion that it’s being unclear about data throttling. They pointed out that all of the rate plans see the same 4G speeds up until their posted limits (the base $50 plan tops out at 500MB, while the $60 plan tops out at 2.5GB).

The $70 fully unlimited 4G data plan won’t be throttled unless it inhibits the fair access for another customer. One of the T-Mobile executives noted that the company already has unlimited customers using more than 50GB per month who don’t get throttled.

“If there ever is a case where we’re going to use a fair use policy, we’re going to post it so you can take a look at it,” Legere said. “It’s not a number — if someone is having a party at 3 a.m. [using a ton of data], I don’t really care.”

Being quietly brilliant isn’t all that helpful if it doesn’t help you sell phones.

HTC, it seems, has come to realize that. With sales plummeting, the company is retiring its ineffective “Quietly Brilliant’” tagline in favor of a bolder, more aggressive approach, marketing chief Benjamin Ho told the Wall Street Journal.

“We have a lot of innovations but we haven’t been loud enough,” Ho said.

The move has been a long, long time coming. For what seems like forever, HTC has had one main problem: It makes great phones but completely fails at marketing them effectively. This reality wasn’t lost on CEO Peter Chou, who hinted at the new changes in tone months ago. “Our competitors were too strong and very resourceful, pouring in lots of money into marketing. We haven’t done enough on the marketing front,” Chou said in January.

“Quietly Brilliant” was introduced in October 2009, long before HTC would realize just how ineffective/ironic of a tagline it would eventually become. (Chart via Benedict Evans)

We’ve already seen signs of this new, more bold HTC in some of the company’s recent marketing ploys. HTC North America president Mike Woodward, for example, was particularly bold in his reaction towards Samsung’s Galaxy S IV. “We were pleased to see no innovation in the design itself,” he quipped.

HTC also targeted Samsung by showing off the HTC One and giving away hot cocoa outside the Galaxy S IV’s launch event earlier this month. And then there was the whole #theNextBigFlop Twitter campaign that the company launched.

HTC’s aggression towards Samsung is understandable. The HTC One and Galaxy S IV are set to go on sale at roughly the same time next month, and HTC is rightfully concerned by how badly that standoff could go for it. After all, Samsung spent more on marketing last year than HTC made in a single quarter. How can HTC possibly keep up with that?

So far, the answer to that question is pretty clear: Be bold, aggressive, and note, over and over, that the emperor is wearing no clothes. Frankly, it’s the only thing HTC can do at this point.

Rest in peace, ‘Quietly Brilliant,’ and may you never be heard from again.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It doesn’t matter how great your phone is if you can’t actually get it built.

That’s the problem HTC is facing right now, as it has delayed its latest flagship phone, the HTC One, to late March and early April in some markets. According to the Wall Street Journal, HTC’s problems stretch all the way into its supply chain, which has seemingly lost faith in HTC after its recent rough years.

“HTC has had difficulty in securing adequate camera components as it is no longer a tier-one customer,” one unnamed executive told the WSJ. That’s a pretty big deal, since the One’s unique camera is supposed to be one of its killer features. Additionally, HTC is apparently having trouble sourcing the phone’s attractive metal casing (I guess this is why Samsung sticks with ugly plastic cases).

“The company has a problem managing its component suppliers as it has changed its order forecasts drastically and frequently following last year’s unexpected slump in shipments,” the anonymous exec said.

The One may be HTC’s last shot at rebuilding its business — the company’s profits fell a whopping 91 percent in Q4, and it hasn’t had a hit phone in several years. It’s particularly sad, since HTC’s recent phones, like last year’s One X and One S, have been more appealing than Samsung’s when it comes to overall design and functionality.

Ultimately, it seems like HTC just can’t compete with Samsung’s supply chain skills and marketing might.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If you weren’t convinced the upcoming HTC One is HTC’s last hope, the company’s latest sales numbers should remove all doubt.

HTC said today that its February sales fell 44 percent from a year ago to $384 million, the lowest point for the company since January 2010. Essentially, as the chart below shows, HTC’s sales are back to the point they were before HTC adopted Android. And that’s pretty scary.

But 2012 was a particularly bad year for HTC. Between the OnLive debacle, Apple patent spat, and One X customs delays, there’s little chance that 2013 could be any worse than last year was for HTC.

HTC’s fall from Android grace (Via Benedict Evans)

… that is, assuming devices like the recently announced HTC One actually sell. HTC has the sad, uncanny ability to make really nice phones that no one actually buys. Blame its lack of marketing or the overwhelming presence of Samsung — either way the result is the same: HTC needs (in the most existential sense of the word) its phones to do well this year.

But here’s what will probably screw things up: The Galaxy S IV, which Samsung plans to unveil on March 14. The last thing HTC needs is for Samsung’s marketing to overshadow the One’s launch — which, with HTC’s luck, is exactly what’s going to happen.

Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It’s not just gadget geeks that are eager to see HTC back on top. Best Buy is the main retail partner for the newly announced HTC One, and it’s going to great lengths to make sure that the mobile phone is a success.

“The reason why we’re excited about this one is we need HTC back in the market,” said Best Buy head of marketing Allister Jones in an interview with VentureBeat this morning. “We need customers to have more than two choices when it actually comes to smartphones. So we’re excited not just about this phone from HTC but to see what else comes from HTC this year.

“It’s going to be an exciting year for smartphones.”

[Check out our hands-on with the new HTC One.]

The HTC One will be available on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint in late March.

Early on in the interview, Jones and I both recounted fond memories of last year’s HTC One S. That was one of the best Android phones I’ve ever used, but for some reason it never took off with consumers. Seemingly aware of that, Jones said that Best Buy is going to “talk to consumers in a slightly different way” and that it’s also partnering with HTC on a collaborative marketing effort.

“We haven’t done a lot of this with HTC, but we feel really confident that the plans we’re putting in place for the end of March and through April will be good for creating awareness for this device and awareness that Best Buy is probably the best place to buy it,” Jones said.

Marketing the HTC One will be just one of many ways Best Buy is going to focus more on mobile this year. Jones also hinted that we’ll see marketing efforts from Best Buy’s website directly lead consumers to the One S in stores. Best Buy will also be training its staff on the HTC One in addition to the other product training they normally receive.

The retailer is also considering ways to promote its in-store pickup option. (While Amazon and eBay are both dabbling in same-day shipping, Best Buy already has technically been doing that for years with in-store pickup.)

It seems difficult for Best Buy to focus so much on a single phone when it’s also benefiting from sales of competing devices. Jones admitted that this was a complicated situation, but he added that Best Buy is also focused on making sure consumers find the devices that best fit their customers.

“Our sales people aren’t incentivized to sell one product over another, but they are hugely enthusiastic about matching people with technology, it just has to be the right technology,” Jones said.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

HTC just unveiled its next major Android smartphone: the HTC One.

HTC President Jason Mackenzie (below) didn’t waste any time in debuting the phone at the company’s press event this morning in New York City, saying, “HTC saw a massive opportunity to introduce some excitement into the smartphone … I’m not talking about just another set of incremental improvements, I’m talking about taking a bold step forward and delivering something that’s truly new and fresh.”

The new HTC One matches all of the leaks we’ve seen so far, with a more refined version of last year’s design and some hints of the iPhone 5′s design. It features a new version of HTC’s Sense Android skin that relies on a Blinkfeed, an ongoing series of social and news updates on your home screen. It looks a lot like what Microsoft has been trying to do with Windows Phone.

The HTC One is certainly a looker, with a 4.7-inch 1080p screen and a design mostly fashioned out of metal. The company boasted that traditionally phones needed some sort of non-metal area for antenna reception, but it managed to break through that barrier. It’s powered by a fast 1.7-gigahertz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM.

The phone also features two front-facing speakers for true stereo sound, which works together with a powerful amplifier and Beats Audio technology to deliver loud and accurate music. The HTC One also features two microphones for “HDR” recordings (that’s a marketing term for very high quality recordings) and excellent call quality. The phone monitors the ambient noise when you’re making a call to dynamically adjust the in-call volume and frequency response.

Continuing the company’s focus on camera technology, the HTC One features an “Ultrapixel” camera, which HTC claims absorbs 300 percent more light than traditional pixels. That’s yet another marketing pitch, but HTC pointed to examples that showed the HTC One’s camera beating out other smartphones in low-light performance. The camera works together with HTC Zoe, a feature that allows the phone to quickly record short video clips and pull out photos. You can also use Zoe to build short video stories, similar to iMovie.

Mike Woodward, HTC’s president of the Americas, announced that the HTC One will be available in late March in silver and black. It’s launching in eight countries with 185 mobile operators and retailers, the company’s largest rollout ever. In the U.S., it will be available on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, as well as through Best Buy stores. The One strongly resembles the HTC-built Droid DNA, which launched on Verizon in November.

Given its dire financial earnings over the past few quarters, HTC needs a killer device soon to survive. At this point, the HTC One looks like a solid device, but that may not be enough to grab attention from the iPhone and Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S IV.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

‘Tis the season for smartphone news leaks, with Mobile World Congress on the horizon and major players readying their next wave of devices. Today we have our closest look yet at HTC’s upcoming flagship phone, formerly called the M7, via the folks at the Evleaks Twitter account.

Evleaks tweeted an alleged photo of the phone this morning, and it also noted that HTC may stick with the “One” brand the company launched in early 2012. HTC is expected to officially announce the phone at an event in New York City on February 19, so it’s not too difficult to believe that someone could snap a photo of one already.

The photo also matches a render of the M7 that we saw last month, which at the time reminded me quite a bit of Apple’s iPhone 5 design. Judging from today’s photo, it looks like the phone also sports a metallic trim, which is also reminiscent of Apple’s latest flagship phone. (I can’t blame HTC much, even BlackBerry seems to be aping the iPhone 5 design these days.)

Now that HTC is focusing on releasing fewer devices, but making them higher quality in the process, it also makes sense for the company to rally around a single brand for its flagship line. Samsung has the Galaxy S series, Apple has the iPhone, so HTC could easily stick with the “One” brand.

Via Engadget

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Things aren’t getting better anytime soon for Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, which today forecast a difficult third quarter, with sales declines in every region except China.

The company announced its consolidated second quarter earnings today with revenues of $3.04 billion and profits of $247.7 million (pretty much the same as the unaudited earnings HTC released earlier this month). For the third quarter, HTC expects revenue to fall between $2.3 billion and $2.7 billion, Reuters reports. Analysts expected the company to earn around $2.92 billion in Q3.

“China will continue to see growth in the third quarter, while other markets will have different degrees of decline,” HTC CFO Chialin Chang said at an investor conference today. “Europe, Middle East, and Africa will face challenges because of macro softness and competition.”

HTC previously blamed U.S. customs delays and slow sales in Europe for its disappointing second quarter earnings.

Not only are revenues expected to fall, but HTC also said that its margins will drop in the third quarter. The company expects a gross margin of 25 percent (down from 27 percent) and an operating margin of 7 percent (down from 9 percent). Basically, that means that HTC’s overall profits will likely end up being disappointing next quarter as well.

HTC’s popularity exploded with the rise of Android over the last few years, but once Samsung locked in the Android lead with its Galaxy S phones, HTC has had trouble delivering a hit device. The company’s recent One series phones are its best yet, but now those are competing with Samsung’s popular Galaxy S III and will soon face the next iPhone.

Photo Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Despite the hype, it turns out Samsung’s Galaxy S III doesn’t quite dazzle as bright as a supernova.

Last night I finally got my hands on Samsung’s hyped Galaxy S III superphone at the CTIA Wireless conference. While the features like S Voice, eye-tracking, and TouchWiz tweaks stood out, all I could think of was how it compared to the HTC One X, the other Android superphone that’s turning heads these days.

From a short demo where a Samsung PR representative walked me through the phone’s features, and from playing around with the speedy device myself, I liked what I saw. The screen is beautiful, the performance sizzled, and Flipboard for Android was fun to play around with. I was a big fan of the Samsung Galaxy S II and now Samsung has taken that phone to a new level here.

Both the Galaxy S III and HTC One X are huge: The Galaxy has a 4.8-inch screen, while the One has a 4.7-inch screen. (If you have small hands, these phones aren’t your friend.) And both phones have blazing performance and great cameras that could please the most discerning perfectionists.

But if you look at the Galaxy S III and HTC One X side by side (see the slideshows below), it’s clear that HTC has won on the design front, with a curved polycarbonate body, while Samsung has opted for a somewhat cheap-feeling plastic body.

Samsung, however, wins when it comes to features. Both phones have Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but the phones’ respective Android skins offer different experiences. Samsung’s latest TouchWiz tweaks with S Voice, S Beam, Direct Call, and additional multitasking features. HTC offers high-quality Beats Audio and crazy good ImageSense tech for its camera, but that’s not enough to compensate for the phone’s inferior Sense skin.

The One X is available on AT&T now and will soon arrive on Sprint branded as the Evo 4G LTE. Samsung’s Galaxy S III will start showing up in stores around the world on May 29, but it will not hit the United States until some time in June.

Check out our full slideshow below to see more of the Galaxy S III in white and dark blue cases:

Check out page two to see the slideshow of the HTC X gallery for comparison to the Galaxy S III.

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

T-Mobile's HTC One S

Taiwanese phone manufacturer HTC has its eyes on the low-end mobile market, and it’s pushing forward with plans to develop its own low-cost mobile CPU together with ST-Ericsson, reports China Times.

While Apple and Samsung have high-end smartphone chips of their own, HTC would be taking completely the opposite approach with a low-end chip. The company, which is taking a beating in earnings, needs something beyond Android superphones to stay alive, especially since it looks like Samsung will dominate the high-end for some time. Building its own chips would give HTC a leg-up when it comes to making low-end Android devices, which seems to be an ever-increasing market for the platform.

When asked for comment, HTC said it wouldn’t comment on rumors or speculation.

According to the report, HTC has already signed a cooperation deal with ST-Ericsson (a joint venture between STMicroelectronics and Ericsson), and it has plans to start shipping devices featuring the new chip in 2013. The move may be partially in response to HTC’s growing issues with Qualcomm, as Unwired Review points out.

The question remains, is this a good idea for HTC? Even Nokia, traditionally a leader in low-end mobile devices, is now facing severe competition from Chinese manufacturers. HTC has never really paid much attention to the low-end market, so this would be entirely new territory for the company as well.

Now that HTC is less focused on pushing out countless phones, and more concerned about quality devices like the One series (check out our glowing review of the One S on T-Mobile), it makes sense for the company to take a closer look at cheaper devices. There’s plenty of room for innovation at the low end, and HTC can’t afford to let other manufacturers dominate cheaper devices either.

And honestly, it’s much smarter for HTC to invest in its own mobile processor, instead of silly investments like its recent $300 million stake in Beats Audio. The company needs to focus more on building quality devices and differentiating itself from competitors, instead of useless marketing gimmicks.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

T-Mobile’s iconic ad girl, Carly, has been in the news quite a bit lately, after ditching her pink dresses for black leather and a Ducati in the carrier’s new ad campaign (Lisbeth Salander says hello, by the way). But in many ways, the new HTC One S makes a greater statement for the struggling carrier.

The 4.3-inch One S, available on April 24 for $199 (with a two-year contract, and after a $50 rebate), is a bundle of superlatives. It’s HTC and T-Mobile’s thinnest phone ever, at just 7.95 millimeters; it’s T-Mobile’s fastest phone ever, thanks to its powerful dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor; and it’s the sleekest Android handset I’ve tested so far, due to its impressive unibody design.

The phone is by far the best device T-Mobile has to offer, but it’s not without its flaws (more on those below). The real question: Is it enough to stop T-Mobile from hemorrhaging subscribers? And can it keep the T-Mo faithful from pining after the iPhone (which T-Mobile has no signs of getting this year)?

The good: Finally, an Android phone that feels sexy and tough

I’ve already spent some time with HTC’s entire new One lineup at Mobile World Congress, but I was still taken aback when I opened up the box for T-Mobile’s One S. The phone’s design is immediately striking, with smooth, ergonomic curves, and an aluminum unibody design (except for the antenna section) that encourages you to hold it. It’s thin without feeling brittle, which also makes it perfect for sliding into just about any pocket.

Unfortunately for T-Mobile customers, its One S lacks the futuristic “microarc oxidation” process that the black version of the phone sports, which is supposed to give it a feathery touch. Still, I have no complaints about the anodized gray aluminum in T-Mobile’s One S. (And it may be for the better, as the microarc models apparently have chipping issues.)

Just like the iPhone and Nokia’s Lumia 900, the HTC One S provokes an emotional response that Android devices, including the flagship Galaxy Nexus, have been lacking for some time. The phone is well-suited for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, an update which brought some much-needed heart and soul into Google’s mobile OS.

Speaking of Ice Cream Sandwich, the combination of Android 4.0 and the HTC One’s Snapdragon S4 processor really makes the One S scream. It’s one of the few Android phones (along with the Galaxy Nexus) that have let me effortlessly launch apps, move between screens, and do just about anything without stalling. Of course, HTC had to ruin things by including the latest version of its Sense interface, which adds an unnecessary UI layer on top of Android. Sense 4.0 is less of a distraction than past versions, but it’s still fairly useless (more on that below).

One of the big draws for HTC’s entire One lineup is the improved camera software and hardware, which the company calls “ImageSense.” The One S includes an 8 megapixel camera with an f/2.0 lens and a backside illuminated sensor — basically, it should be able to snap really nice pictures. The camera can also shoot 1080p high-definition video at 30 frames per second.

It’s helped by HTC’s new camera app, which is the best camera software I’ve ever used on a smartphone. The app loads almost instantly, without fail, and it lets you take both video and pictures from the same screen. Notably, you can also snap photos while video is being recorded (which are basically just screenshots at the video resolution). Check out a few test shots from the One S camera in the gallery below.

The One S supports T-Mobile’s fast 42 megabits per second HSPA+ network, though unfortunately I didn’t get to see the device’s full speeds. Earlier today, T-Mobile sent out a note to reviewers saying that early versions of the phone couldn’t take full advantage of the network, though it promised that the phone will get a software update to fix the issue before it’s released.

The bad: HTC Sense and Beats Audio need to die

Back when Android a barren wasteland of design and user-friendliness, HTC’s Sense interface was a breath of fresh air. The company had been working on customer interfaces since the days of Windows Mobile, and in Android, HTC had found the perfect platform for perfecting its interface ambitions. But Android slowly evolved, and now with Ice Cream Sandwich, Google has finally created a mobile OS that feels as natural as iOS.

At this point, Sense really isn’t helping Android — it’s just getting in the way. Sense 4 is less cumbersome than the last version, which slowed down Android phones with flowery effects and transitions, but it still makes the One S feel slightly removed from its Android core. The Sense dialer is a nightmare, for example.

And because of Sense 4, HTC also didn’t include the software-based Android navigation buttons found on other ICS devices. On the One S, the Android Back and Home buttons are once again physical keys at the bottom of the phone. There is a software menu button, but it clashes horrible with the design of Android 4.0.

At least Sense gives us a nice way to multitask on Android 4.0, with a card-like interface that’s reminiscent of webOS.

The HTC One S is also T-Mobile’s first device to include Beats Audio hardware, but that really doesn’t mean much. The audio technology, popularized by Dr. Dre and his ugly headphones, distorts music on the phone by pumping up the bass and volume. It’s honestly a shame that HTC invested $300 million in Beats Audio, because the brand is shaping up to be as much of a marketing gimmick as Monster Cables.

It’s also a shame that, for a device which sports some of the best Android hardware ever, HTC skimped on the One S’s display. It sports a 4.3-inch screen Super AMOLED screen running at a 960 by 540 resolution, and as is typical for that screen technology, the One S has slight issues with color accuracy. The resolution also feels low after prolonged usage, but it may just be my eyes are spoiled by the crazy high pixel density on the new iPad and iPhone 4S.

If screen quality is important to you, check out the 4.7-inch HTC One X, which sports a higher resolution Super LCD screen.

The takeaway: The best phone yet on T-Mobile, and one of the best Android devices

While T-Mobile customers still don’t have the iPhone, I have a feeling that the One S will be more than enough to tide over many of them. It’s thin, light, and offers one of the best Android experiences yet (aside from Sense). I was a bit disappointed that T-Mobile didn’t land the bigger HTC One X, but after testing out the One S for several days, I’ve grown to appreciate the thinness its smaller screen allows.

HTC promised earlier this year that it would focus on delivering fewer devices, but with an increased emphasis on quality. The One S — from its design, to its powerful hardware — proves that HTC has followed through with that promise.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

HTC’s new flagship Android smartphone, the One X, finally has a release date in the U.S. AT&T announced this morning that it will offer the One X starting May 6 for $200 with the typical two-year contract.

The phone was first introduced at Mobile World Congress in February, along with the rest of HTC’s One series. AT&T touts the One X as its first Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” device, as well as the first with Beats Audio built-in at the hardware and software level. (T-Mobile is expected to divulge details of its One S entry at a New York City event later tonight.)

[Check out our hands-on impressions of the One X from February.]

The One X sports a huge 4.7-inch screen and a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor running at 1.5 gigahertz. The European versions of the One X feature a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, but as we learned at Mobile World Congress this year, Nvidia hasn’t been able to fit in an LTE chipset alongside its new chip. Still, the Snapdragon S4 is one of the fastest mobile chips right now, even with only two cores, and the addition of LTE makes it a more tempting phone than its Euro counterpart.

While the One X is fast and gorgeous, the real star of HTC’s new lineup is the improved camera software and hardware, which the company is calling “ImageSense.” The One X features an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording capabilities. It has an f/2.0 lens, which means it lets in more light than other smartphones. The phone also sports zero shutter lag, so there’s no delay when you’re trying to take a picture, as well as easy burst shooting capabilities (by holding down the shutter button).

Pre-orders for AT&T’s HTC One X begin on April 22.

Photo: Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

After a few years of losing dominance in the Android phone arena, HTC is on a new mission to add sex appeal and unique features to top-notch phones in hopes of stealing some love from Samsung and Motorola. Enter the HTC One X, the company’s newly-announced Android superphone that emphasizes its camera prowess and Beats audio.

While the device was announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last night, we were able to get our hands on the slick handset at a private event in New York City Monday morning. My initial impressions are that the device is yet another powerful Android phone, but its key features, camera and Beats audio, are what the company is really pushing.

The HTC One X for AT&T, with its dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 4G LTE, runs fast. Flicking through HTC’s Sense Android skin user interface was a breeze, as was opening programs, playing music, and generally all types of multitasking.

An HTC representative told me the three things: premium design that makes it feel great in the hand, top-of-the-line 8-megapixel camera with 2.0 f-stop and ImageSense technology, and Beats audio quality. On the design front, the phone does feel “premium.” Its 4.7-inch HD screen with Gorilla Glass is beautiful and is capable of up to 720p video playback. For a phone with such a large screen, it’s still fairly light in the hand, weighing in at 4.6 ounces.

While I wasn’t able to the seriously test the camera sensor for a comparison with the iPhone 4S’ incredible camera/software, the pictures on the phone that I looked at were full of detail and strong on color. The phone does have a super-fast shutter speed as well as the ability to shoot multiple shots per second to make sure you get the perfect shot.

On the camera front, HTC may have been blindsided a little by Nokia’s announcement of its own high-quality camera phone this morning . The Nokia 808 PureView has a massive 41 megapixel camera inside, but in many ways the technology sounds more prototypical rather than fully realized, based on reports. HTC’s response:

“We’re not focused on a single feature, we’re focused on the full camera experience,” HTC Director of Public Relations Tom Harlin told VentureBeat. “We know the issues that people have taking good quality pictures on the phone and we’re helping them with faster camera speed and quality pictures in adverse conditions like no light or low light. We’re also excited about consumers being able to take high-def stills while taking video.”

If anything was disappointing about the HTC One X, it had to be the Beats audio. When enabled and using Beats headphones, songs by Jay-Z and Rihanna sounded a little muddled and not nearly as crisp as they should be. That could have been the sound quality on the audio files more than the Beats tech, but it was still a lackluster element. An HTC rep said that these phones are not finalized with software and said the Beats software may end up different from what I tested today.

The HTC One X will be exclusively available to U.S. consumers on AT&T. The device will start shipping in April globally. HTC would not let slip on U.S. pricing and availability –  except that it would land some time in the second quarter.

You can view a full gallery of the HTC One X below:

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Just how much does your smartphone’s camera matter to you? With its latest flagship Android line, dubbed HTC One, the Taiwanese phone manufacturer HTC is hoping that a killer camera is just enough to sway you over to its phones.

Those killer features include the ability to take video and photos without switching modes (something that wastes precious seconds), as well as near-instant camera app launching and autofocus. HTC is calling its combined new photo technology ImageSense, which CEO Peter Chou describes as “the power of a true digital camera on your phone.”

Chou unveiled the One series of devices, which includes the HTC One X, One S, and One V, at the Mobile World Congress today to a packed room. He said that taking photos was the second-most common thing consumers did with their phones, so the company saw a huge market reason to focus on helping people take better photos.

Thanks to ImageSense — which is an all-encompassing term to describe tweaks HTC has made to the camera lens, sensor, user interface and software — Chou says that HTC One phones can launch their camera app in 0.7 seconds, and they can autofocus in just 0.2 seconds. Other tweaks are sure to appeal to camera fanatics. For example, the phones can take a burst of photos simply by holding down the shutter button, and they can automatically adjust the flash level to keep subjects from looking washed out.

Perhaps best of all, the HTC One phones will let you easily take a picture while recording a video.

The new camera capabilities will be included in HTC Sense 4, the latest version of the company’s custom Android software. In addition to photos, the new phones will offer Beats integration with music from any source, be it on your device or streamed from the web. The One series will also include 25 gigabytes of free Dropbox storage for two years, and thanks to Sense 4, they will be able to automatically sync music wirelessly from your computer.

The HTC One X is the flagship device in the new series, with a 4.7-inch screen, 720p HD resolution, and quad-core Tegra 3 processor. HTC will also offer an LTE variant of the One X that will run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 platform. The One X features a unibody polycarbonate design — a necessary upgrade for HTC, as its past phones weren’t the most durable devices.

Not surprisingly, the One S and One V are meant to serve mid-range and low-range customers. The One S is smaller than the X and features an anodized aluminum case. HTC didn’t hype up the One V much at its press conference, but we expect it to eschew the fancy case designs and large screens in exchange for a more affordable price.

HTC is also taking a different strategy this time around when it comes to bringing these phones to the public. Instead of slowly rolling them out across different regions, the One series of phones will launch globally in April. Chou said that 144 carriers around the world have already signed on to offer the phones.

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