HTC- Quietly giving up on innovating. - General Topics

Well, another day, another thread. Here I'd like to talk about HTC and their general lack of the ability to innovate that seems to have come with the release of the hd2. First of all, a little history. HTC's slogan is "quietly brilliant." a slogan that stood true to its name until recent times with devices such as the g1 with its chin that temporarily set a standard for android devices to the PPC 6xxx series which were still perhaps the best phones built for gaming aside from the cliq and its epic d-pad that should be on every phone with a slide out keyboard, all the way on to the hd2 which was an amazing device that could do so much. Its pretty much still a standard by which modders will always compare to other phones. It had a nice 4.3 inch display, nice build quality, a great processor for its time, and while it ran an OS that most had abandoned at that point I was more than happy to be able to play warspear again and emulate some Tekken 3 (before android had its ps1 emulators.) it was great, the problem is I think HTC has over-estimated just how great the device was as now they see fit to release that same exact device over and over with minute tweaks to the hardware and a new OS slapped on. Unless you consider the htc surround and its easy to bend kickstand with shoddy speakers or the g2s broken z hinge innovative then these days you're SOL with HTC. Its the same 4.x inches on a device with way too small a battery often given a power hungry OS to leave less fulfillment and a slightly better processor with each iteration. I'm not saying that HTC is the only company doing this but they used to be the big innovators. I just want to see some thought put into the cellphone market again because there's only so many times you can shove a new motor into the same old car and pass it off as something spectacular.

You're like a tech blogging project gone wrong.

You clearly don't know how devices work, or how to use paragraphs.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

I do apologize for my wall o' text, I am typing from a mobile device and while I do what I can to save face grammatically it's not imperative that I treat it like a thesis paper. I am however fully aware of how these devices work as well as the OSes themselves. I just miss the innovation that HTC once put into their devices.

Seriously...wtf. you have no idea what your talking about. Htc is amazing. From test springs to 3d fricken cameras they are always trying. You have way to much time on your hands buddy. Might wanna take up another hobby instead ranting like teenage girl. Sorry but xda is not your own personal diary...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

The attention whore is at it again to stir up the pot. Get a life.

pierrekid said:
Seriously...wtf. you have no idea what your talking about. Htc is amazing. From test springs to 3d fricken cameras they are always trying. You have way to much time on your hands buddy. Might wanna take up another hobby instead ranting like teenage girl. Sorry but xda is not your own personal diary...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
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3d cameras were innovative... Yeah, then the 80s happened. Sure putting them on a phone is innovative enough but like most of what's come out recently it feels gimmicky at best. There's no call for petty insults, if you're looking for a forum for that sort of thing I might suggest 4chan.

I just bought the HTC Infuse and yes there are some things i could complain about such as the battery location, or speaker quality, but overall it is a great phone. This is my first HTC and i feel that they have some great features, especially some of the sense ones.

slapshot30 said:
The attention whore is at it again to stir up the pot. Get a life.
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my opinion does not match that of the general consensus, oh joy, I get to watch a bunch of people go into rage mode and throw around insults I haven't heard in over a decade again. My favorite.

joosix9 said:
I just bought the HTC Infuse and yes there are some things i could complain about such as the battery location, or speaker quality, but overall it is a great phone. This is my first HTC and i feel that they have some great features, especially some of the sense ones.
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I'm certainly not stating that they'ree not quality devices. I'm often not find of the battery life of them but aside from that they're typically quite nice. I just feel that they lack the level of innovation that they had in the past.

If you haven't noticed already...not single person agrees with you. And my comments weren't insults... their facts. You are complaining like a little girl and using xda as a personal diary...apparently I'm not the only person who thinks so...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

I assume you've yet to learn the clear difference between fact and opinion. Ok, so no one wants to see HTC start innovating as they did before? That's intriguing that we discourage such things now.

HTC started innovating when they gave up on the windows platform and started making android flagships IMO
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

joosix9 said:
I just bought the HTC Infuse and yes there are some things i could complain about such as the battery location, or speaker quality, but overall it is a great phone. This is my first HTC and i feel that they have some great features, especially some of the sense ones.
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I think you mean HTC Inspire
The Infuse is made by Samsung but somewhat similar.

All 1 of their android flagships that was just a souped up mytouch 3g with a bigger screen and better processor... Yeah, no thanks. Hardware-wise HTC was more innovative in their winmo offerings as painful as it is to realize.

No, HTC is going strong.
HTC has a bright future ahead of them, they have also launched Htcdev.com now, giving us access to source code and their OpenSense SDK and able to unlock bootloaders.

He's hard to please.

Daeva said:
No, HTC is going strong.
HTC has a bright future ahead of them, they have also launched Htcdev.com now, giving us access to source code and their OpenSense SDK and able to unlock bootloaders.
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I know they are, doesn't change the fact that their hardware lacks the innovation that made them the mobile giants they are.

The latest devices? Not innovating? You serious sir?

Seems Like he means. That HD2 was the best phone at that time when it was releaed. It has no enemies. It was killer of all phones..
On latest HTC´s is most problem the Qualcomm Chipset. Mainly their GPU.. Evo 3D is great innovation due 3D Cameras and display. This one is very good.
I know what should help HTC on their innovations.
1. Changing Platform. Sorry Qualcomm.. I am using old MSM7201A.. (Yeah its slow.. But at the time it was great And crappy Intel Xscale 624MHz. Even using overclocked GPU at my kernel is really great.. Its better than locked Adreno 200 and above GPu´s)..
2. Getting proper GPU drivers (nice shiny and fast)
3. Unlocked Bootloader by default. (Not that web thing. That will void your warranty)
4. Sense as open source.. Not Sense SDK.. That will help devs to make Apps look like sense interface.
5. Creating Better Battery Life. WinMo devices hitted 2days +
6. Better quality/louder speaker .
And a lot more.. Just need to think

Related

Does anyone else think that MT4G should of been tha natural succesor of the N1?

...or is it just me?
It would have been a better fit. The only thing missing is NFC and this phone would've really shined with some vanilla flavor.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
my feelings exactly.
Yeah, plus the battery life with the N1 and this, have no difference so yeah.
This is one of the top high end Android phone in the US right now and I'm feeling good about it.
oh yea!
i'm gonna be off topic with this comment,but imagine this scenario:
Monday morning,after a busy weekend with your loved ones,cuz of the holydays,you weak up to the sound of your beautifull,new,latest most fullfing android device on the market (my opinion at least, don't even make me start about NS,huuuumunnnnguusss disspointment). Your beloved phone,wich at times could be compared with a second or third girlfriend cuz of the amount of time an android/android based device fanatic actually spends on it,and maintains it, not only by himself,but by an unbelivebly well structured comunity...
Ok,moving on to the point of this scenario,so your MT4G is waking u up,cuz you gotta go to work,right?
Wouldn't it be nice if the first thing u see would be the MT4G in an apple like dock (just gotta admit they make beautifull designs for theyr devices), in a dock like mode in wich you have all the important info u need to start the day,like time,day,temperature,latest news and various updates, and THAN a MENU that gives u,from your bed ,barrely waking up, acces to the most imprtant ,if not all the devices in your home,through whatever wirelles way possible, alowing u to,bassically,customize your day,the same way you know you love to customize your phone...
Now thats where I hope GOOGLE and ANDROID are going, and at the same time beeing opened source and not invade ones privacy ...sorry google,only love for you,but had to say that!
That would be a great way to start your new year. You guys agree?
dani26286 said:
...or is it just me?
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Nope, I completely agree with you and have thought this since day 1. HTC had the g1 and n1 so I was curious why Samsung got the ns.
Would have been nice if HTC would have thrown a SAMOLED2 in the phone, but as someone that moved from a N1 to the MT4G, this phone has been a great successor.
As for the NFC, it would have been nice, but to be honest, I don't see it taking off in the very near future in the US. And by the time it does, we'll probably have a very good replacement from T-Mobile.
dani26286 said:
oh yea!
i'm gonna be off topic with this comment,but imagine this scenario:
Monday morning,after a busy weekend with your loved ones,cuz of the holydays,you weak up to the sound of your beautifull,new,latest most fullfing android device on the market (my opinion at least, don't even make me start about NS,huuuumunnnnguusss disspointment). Your beloved phone,wich at times could be compared with a second or third girlfriend cuz of the amount of time an android/android based device fanatic actually spends on it,and maintains it, not only by himself,but by an unbelivebly well structured comunity...
Ok,moving on to the point of this scenario,so your MT4G is waking u up,cuz you gotta go to work,right?
Wouldn't it be nice if the first thing u see would be the MT4G in an apple like dock (just gotta admit they make beautifull designs for theyr devices), in a dock like mode in wich you have all the important info u need to start the day,like time,day,temperature,latest news and various updates, and THAN a MENU that gives u,from your bed ,barrely waking up, acces to the most imprtant ,if not all the devices in your home,through whatever wirelles way possible, alowing u to,bassically,customize your day,the same way you know you love to customize your phone...
Now thats where I hope GOOGLE and ANDROID are going, and at the same time beeing opened source and not invade ones privacy ...sorry google,only love for you,but had to say that!
That would be a great way to start your new year. You guys agree?
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LOL, I found the first paragraph very ammusing, haha..
I think the reason it wasn't is because TMO wanted to market this phone as theirs because of the video chat capability... and they wanted the consumers to associate a good phone with their name, where as the N1 was googles baby, and while you could look at it and say it was an amazing phone, you didni't really give anymore credibililty to TMO. This way, tmobile looks good to consumers. Looking at things now.... the nexus S blows, but I don't really blame TMO for that, I can blame google or Samsuck for really dropping the ball there...so smart move on TMO part, IMO
Little known fact. The MyTouch3G was going to be known as the Google Ion, and was going to be the precursor to the Nexus Line.
I think the MyTouchHD would of been a perfect phone for the second generation Nexus Line. How ever, they did just over clock the phone to 1.2Ghrz and the quadrant scores look AMAZING.
I think they undercooked this phone. It's so close to being perfect but Samsung doesn't know the difference between sh!t and Shinola
neidlinger said:
Little known fact. The MyTouch3G was going to be known as the Google Ion, and was going to be the precursor to the Nexus Line.
I think the MyTouchHD would of been a perfect phone for the second generation Nexus Line. How ever, they did just over clock the phone to 1.2Ghrz and the quadrant scores look AMAZING.
I think they undercooked this phone. It's so close to being perfect but Samsung doesn't know the difference between sh!t and Shinola
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A Lot Ppl would not know that! That's like explaining something in Russian to a Jew. LoL..
The Mytouch 3G was used heavy as a dev device before the N1 came out. HTC has always been the device not by choice but for not having something else avail. The N1 was basically a revamped version of the Touch and Other Ideas that were on the Drawing Table.
The Nexus S by Samsung is by far hands down the best addition to the Nexus Line. I am also very glad that this is number two in the Line and no other garbage took its place.
Always Remember: The Nexus Line is Google's way of being open with their dev devices, hence "Pure Google". All other devices are literally bastard children that carry a logo that says "with Google" to represent their honorary build.
Sent From a Crop Circle... with a Nexus S
well it's a part of the original "mytouch" line phones ... it's a mt4g not a nexus touch4g. just saying, cause this phone is a successor of the mytouch3g. like how the g2 is for the g1. when the htc hero came out they were calling it a g2, but it wasn't the successor. plus this kills the nexus in so many ways! mytouch has so much custom UI put into it, talking about the slide & this, whereas nexus is just all straight android vanilla without all the bloatware. look at the nexus s, that's pretty much the successor since I heard they won't come out with a nexus 2. but all this is just IMO
dani26286 said:
...or is it just me?
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neidlinger said:
Little known fact. The MyTouch3G was going to be known as the Google Ion, and was going to be the precursor to the Nexus Line.
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Click to collapse
No it wasn't. The Google Ion was the developer version of the HTC Magic which came out at least a year before the N1. Never seen any reference to ION being relaunched at the MT3G.
The magic and the mytouch are the same phone. The magic shipped with 288mb ram, the mytouch, until February 2010, shipped with 192mb. Aside from the color, I believe there is no difference between the ion and the magic. Its just that the ion was never on sale to the public, unless I'm mistaken.
PlankLongBeard said:
A Lot Ppl would not know that! That's like explaining something in Russian to a Jew. LoL..
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I guess sarcasm doesn't fit into your vocabulary?
ScottC said:
No it wasn't. The Google Ion was the developer version of the HTC Magic which came out at least a year before the N1. Never seen any reference to ION being relaunched at the MT3G.
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There are two different MyTouch3G phones. The PV32A and the PV32B, The "A" variant is a Google Issued phone. That is the dev phone.
I got the MT4G on release date and I'm still in awe at how well built, and feature packed this device is. If they released this with AOSP and called it the Nexus Two no one would be disappointed. I can't believe that T-Mobile of all carriers released such a high end, future proofed device. Most devices are lacking in some area, but the MT4G isn't lacking at all. It has everything and more. I love this device so much, it's the first android handset I've owned where I haven't had any complaints with it.
There must be some political issues behind Google going to Samsung for the Nexus S and not HTC. HTC makes such better devices. You have the G2 and Desire HD which are industrial business looking devices, then you have the MT4G with a completely different design than anything else on the market and it appeals to almost all demographics. Whether you're a first time smartphone buyer or a seasoned Android veteran you will appreciate this device for what it can offer to you. I'm the latter and I have my MT4G hooked up with Gingerbread (complete with the NS screen off animation) and overclocked to 1.8Ghz. What more can you ask for?
The release of the Nexus S really changed my mind about Google and how they view the Nexus family. I don't think Google gives a **** about the average consumer so they don't include things like HD Video Recording, a Notification Light, FFC, Micro SD Card Slot for people with tons of music and videos etc. Instead they give you the bare bones and honestly, the only reassuring factor for the price is the idea of getting tons of Google updates first. That's all fine and dandy if the phone is priced right. $580 is simply too much for a smartphone that lacks so many features regardless of how you want to argue about it.
Right now the MT4G is the top android device on the market. Even when the first dual core devices come out I will still stick with my MT4G until something comes along that is the successor to it. The next smartphone that I make my daily driver will have to surpass the MT4G in every area; hardware, camera/video quality, screen, design etc.
I've been 100% happy with my purchase since day 1. This is the first time I can say this about any android device I've owned.
PlankLongBeard said:
A Lot Ppl would not know that! That's like explaining something in Russian to a Jew. LoL..
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The Russian Jews I went to school with would probably say "That's like trying to explain something to a person who uses extraneous LoL's" or more likely they'd avoid your presence entirely.
The rest of what you said made as much sense.
What would have helped is if you said "No, it wouldn't be the natural successor..." or "Yes, it would have been..." to start out with.
I sure would have preferred the MyTouch 4G as the new Google phone. It has all the extra pieces many phones don't have that a dev might want to test such as a FFC and 4G. Superior to the Nexus S, it has a memory card slot and working GPS (I assume the GPS on the Nexus S is as good as on any (other?) i9000 series phone).
The beautiful (and tough) screen on the Nexus S might be nice, but it doesn't much matter to a developer testing something, n'cest pas?
Case and point for what its worth... I wanted the NS so bad when I heard about it (I had the G1> MyTouch Fender> then finally MT4G. I'm sorry but that NS is a pain in the **** to get when I can just drop by TMobile and pick this one up. F best buy for cell phones I like t mobile stores I pay them I go to them. Plus this phone runs tits rooted and oc'd @ 1.6-1.7 with no crashes at all ... I've had one crash @ 1.8 big woop. And I know for a fact I haven't been able to get this phone to stutter at all it does everything flawless and fast bottom line.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
neidlinger said:
There are two different MyTouch3G phones. The PV32A and the PV32B, The "A" variant is a Google Issued phone. That is the dev phone.
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The "A" variant is the HTC magic, released in the UK and in Canada with Rogers. For some reason t-mobile decided to go with the "B" for North America at launch. All Mytouch 3G phones built after February 2010 are A as well. Main difference is the amount of available ram.
excarnate said:
The Russian Jews I went to school with would probably say "That's like trying to explain something to a person who uses extraneous LoL's" or more likely they'd avoid your presence entirely.
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I know lots of Russians, lots of Jews, and several Russian Jews. I'm Jewish and 2/4 (both parents were 1/2) Russian myself.
I just wish everyone could speak English at a respectable high school level so I don't cringe when I read some of the posts around here. English as a second language has a free pass though; learning a second language is HARD.
Back on topic - I totally agree that it must have been political. HTC seems to be the Android leader so Samsung getting the NS came out of left field in my eyes. Not to mention the hardware being blatantly inferior to the MT4G, ie; HSPA+, additional RAM, SD slot. I still don't get that.
Also never understood why the US got the inferior 32B. The entire reason I rooted that thing in the first place was so I could overclock it to try and run Navi and Pandora at the same time. I should have bought a N1 in the first place.

Will android ever have another phone released that lives up to the hype like the G1

It seems ever since the first generation of android devices a multitude of phones have been overhyped and just havent delivered. The G1 was a pinnacle of android masterpiece even with its clunky form and poor build quality it was what android phones should be. It was updated when it could be and if not it was easy to update for devs. It didn't have some terrible skin on it, it felt solid enough, and it worked in every way necessary. I mean the nexus one was the same, it was just a good phone. Ever since things have just been over-hyped and generally not worth it. The original droid was pretty terrible by comparison to the original android phone and yet they publicized it to be something amazing because of the sleek look... dont think most of us care too much about the look of our phone or we'd all be like those iphone wielding tools. This same mediocrity has come into play over and over again straight up to the galaxy S series... what are the odds that garbage is ever really going to get updated without XDA as long as samsung has any say over it? That lag also left a bad taste in most peoples mouths and the fact that the sequel to the amazing nexus one is a glorified galaxy S with a front facing camera and flash is just like taking a dump on the nexus line. There have been a few decent devices along the way mostly from HTC but in all actuality the only enjoyable andoid experience I had post G1 was on an HD2. This is not an android bashing thread just a real question and dedz to the G1... Lost but not forgotten.
no there wont , ur live will be empty and sad from now on
Nah, I'm happy with my WP7 devices. Would just like to have a decent android device on the side and when I heard they were making another nexus I got excited.... then I saw the S
souljaboy said:
no there wont , ur live will be empty and sad from now on
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lmao. Way to cheer up a person.
Lol why bother to cheer up an obvious troll post?
there was a bit of hype when the desire came out.i think the HD2 is to be honest and thats not suppose to be an android but its deffinently a fun phone to play with,its got eveyone hyped up on here most deffinently,its turning into the must have tweakable phone.It terms of native android devices,we shall have to see what this year brings
Not a troll post by any means. I beg you to give me another phone that lived up as well out of the box. The HD2 did but I dont think it was quite as hyped til XDA took hold of it.
z33dev33l said:
It seems ever since the first generation of android devices a multitude of phones have been overhyped and just havent delivered. The G1 was a pinnacle of android masterpiece even with its clunky form and poor build quality it was what android phones should be. It was updated when it could be and if not it was easy to update for devs. It didn't have some terrible skin on it, it felt solid enough, and it worked in every way necessary. I mean the nexus one was the same, it was just a good phone. Ever since things have just been over-hyped and generally not worth it. The original droid was pretty terrible by comparison to the original android phone and yet they publicized it to be something amazing because of the sleek look... dont think most of us care too much about the look of our phone or we'd all be like those iphone wielding tools. This same mediocrity has come into play over and over again straight up to the galaxy S series... what are the odds that garbage is ever really going to get updated without XDA as long as samsung has any say over it? That lag also left a bad taste in most peoples mouths and the fact that the sequel to the amazing nexus one is a glorified galaxy S with a front facing camera and flash is just like taking a dump on the nexus line. There have been a few decent devices along the way mostly from HTC but in all actuality the only enjoyable andoid experience I had post G1 was on an HD2. This is not an android bashing thread just a real question and dedz to the G1... Lost but not forgotten.
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You have a valid point, but just like the first iPhone, the G1 did have it's flaws, but it was a success because it was the only device for Android. As you rightly said, the Nexus One was the next major step, I'd consider the G2 to be an incrimental step up, but I think the next wave of devices to truly impress will be wielding dual core CPUs, because as of now we're just getting the same internals in different casings. As of now all the other specs have been sufficiently maxed-out (1GHz CPUs, 8mp cameras w/ flash, 576-768mb RAM), so I think an influx of DC Snapdragons and Tegra 2s will shake things up a bit.
AdrianK said:
You have a valid point, but just like the first iPhone, the G1 did have it's flaws, but it was a success because it was the only device for Android. As you rightly said, the Nexus One was the next major step, I'd consider the G2 to be an incrimental step up, but I think the next wave of devices to truly impress will be wielding dual core CPUs, because as of now we're just getting the same internals in different casings. As of now all the other specs have been sufficiently maxed-out (1GHz CPUs, 8mp cameras w/ flash, 576-768mb RAM), so I think an influx of DC Snapdragons and Tegra 2s will shake things up a bit.
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I dont really think the processors going to make that huge a difference. These phones still have not released anything new and amazing like they did then... They have yet to make another keyboard that could compare to the G1 and thats just sad considering the amount of praise it received. The G2 was nice but the Z hinge was bad and the fact that without overclocking the processor was smaller (though overclocked it was epic) was kinda lame. I dont think tegra 2s are going to make as big a difference as everyone thought if it's the same phones with a nicer processor. What ever happened to that phone with the projector built in? Thats a development...
No there won't. The first one will be the most hyped about regardless of the outcome. Why? It is the first of its kind! It applies to everything, first electric car, first 3D television, first motion-controlled games. So now manufacturers can only make the best phones that they can and still it won't have the same hype as it's granfather.
Isnt honeycomb supossed to be game changing? If you get a dual core phone running 3.0 maybe a gig of ram and you honestly say there Isnt a noticeable you might as well place a sticker saying 'troll' right on your forehead and/or asscheaks...
Word.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
timur525 said:
Isnt honeycomb supossed to be game changing? If you get a dual core phone running 3.0 maybe a gig of ram and you honestly say there Isnt a noticeable you might as well place a sticker saying 'troll' right on your forehead and/or asscheaks...
Word.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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please do learn your stuff before attempting to insult. 3.0 is a tablet os. Cheeks is spelled cheeks and yeah, not trolling, just a bunch of overhyped phones as of late
Troll.
You didn't capitalize a few letters where necessary. Also, you forgot your punctuation.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
So the Droid, the Hero, the Evo, the Galaxy S, the G2, the MT4g, and hell even the HD2 didn't have any hype? My sales when I worked at Radio shack tend to disagree with that.(Aside the droid)
vbetts said:
So the Droid, the Hero, the Evo, the Galaxy S, the G2, the MT4g, and hell even the HD2 didn't have any hype? My sales when I worked at Radio shack tend to disagree with that.(Aside the droid)
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They got the hype, aside from the HD2 though none of em lived up to it. That of course isnt android native.
z33dev33l said:
They got the hype, aside from the HD2 though none of em lived up to it. That of course isnt android native.
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Aside from the G1, the Droid is probably one of the factors that made Android what it is today. The Hero won awards left and right. The Galaxy S has had its share of problems, but considering there are so many variations of it out there, I'd say it lived up to it's hype and more. The Evo lived up to it's hype as one of the biggest selling devices for Sprint! It passed the record sales in the first week than the Palm Pre, their second biggest sales record in a week! Sprint kind of overestimated when they released their sales numbers, but it was still so much that they ran out of stock quickly everywhere. The MT4g is still growing! Look at the Desire! The Desire like the Hero received awards like phone of the year! G1 didn't. G1 was a hit with developers, and the homebrew community. As is almost every HTC phone is too.
Should also mention, in the T3 tech awards the HTC Desire also beat the Iphone 4, which the Iphone 4 and all the Iphone series is easily way over hyped compared to what the G1 was.

Slashgear Review . . .

I think this is the first proper review.
http://www.slashgear.com/htc-sensation-review-23153699/
Do the people with the phone already, agree with the conclusions drawn?
freedirk said:
I think this is the first proper review.
http://www.slashgear.com/htc-sensation-review-23153699/
Do the people with the phone already, agree with the conclusions drawn?
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Seemed pretty fair and balanced. Glad to see that pics are better with this handset over some other HTC ones. Little bummed about the tearing int he video - but I imagine that might be something that a software update might address. Browser seems fine if a little different than the samsung when zooming flash. Battery life looked ok - but what surprised me was that they have great battery life on their SGS II. That seems to be one of the most dominant complaint threads on their boards.
All in all I feel better about looking to purchase one when it comes out in the states.
Damn.
I'm thinking more and more of getting the SG2 now instead due to lack of dev support and this review is swaying it more too. The SG2 is a much better hardware package but i prefer the design of htc and i prefer sense to touchwiz.
I can comment on TouchWiz vs. Sense. I got an SGS2 because I couldn't wait for the Sensation to come to the States to evaluate it. I had Sense on my former HTC phones and was expecting TouchWiz to be kind of the same thing. Sense is an environment with apps tightly integrated whereas TouchWiz is really just a Samsung launcher. I used launchers on my last two phones which were vanilla Android so TouchWiz's more Android feel felt comfortable. People looking for HTC's approach toward common apps being front-ended by Sense and tightly integrated would be disappointed with TouchWiz. Not that TouchWiz is bad and a lot of Samsung's proprietary apps and hubs are really good, it's just a very different approach.
"Sensation as the consumer’s phone and the Galaxy S II as the Android fan’s phone"
this review is that whas i need.
i dont intresting sg2. i only intresting or sensation is beter that desire in all aspekts ( screen, power, call quality, camera, sound in 3.5mm and laudnes in speeker, battery u.t.t)
Sensation is beter? i think it is.
hope for root, bet some time i cen live without that
p.s in latvian phone cen wait 2-3 weaks after unbranded realise in eorope. need wait some time
MartijnMM said:
"Sensation as the consumer’s phone and the Galaxy S II as the Android fan’s phone"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i disagree. sg2 is just too ugly and iphone'esque (even if Apple copied their original design from samsung)
HTC are a better all rounder i think
Well Barff1984, I do agree with you that in the all-rounder category the Sensation is the winner, however in terms of "Android Fans Phone" I think it's a bit inconclusive:
On one hand you've got the fact that the SGS2 was released earlier, with its bootloader opened wide with the sound of devs cheers, incredible specs and whatnot. Is it the easy fan choice? Well;
On the other hand: Some people (myself included, hate me if I sound a bit biased) prefer HTC's approach - albeit slightly weaker, when it comes down to the experience of actually using it - the UI, the sense of quality in your hand is a key factor.
And you know what? I think that's another way of being an Android fan - sticking with the things you like, and not fitting into an iFruity pattern. That's the beauty of Android - you've always got choice, whether its hardware or software. If you don't like it - change it. Because you can.
Plus I can smell the dev gods are cooking delicious stuff for us Hardcore HTC guys, and just because Samsung got a head start doesn't mean the Sensation is DOA.
i agree with you trek -
I don't think you can say either phone is better, they both had good points, both had bad points...
but the reason i love android - WE are left with a choice of which one WE prefer !
i happen to prefer better build and feel of htc and sense over touchwiz.
Barff1984 said:
i disagree. sg2 is just too ugly and iphone'esque (even if Apple copied their original design from samsung)
HTC are a better all rounder i think
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you've mis-read the quote slightly.
I think it's to do with the sensation having a more polished interface which will make it sit better with casual users. Whereas people that have researched the phones a great deal will possibly prefer the Galaxy2 for its unlocked bootloader and arguably better hardware.
Of course as slashgear also stated,this generalisation does nothing for either phone as both are power houses.
P.s. I also realise that the vast majority of users here have researched both phones and have alot of knowledge, hence the reason we're here. ;-)
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
It's a never-ending debate.
As long as someone is happy with any of the phone, I would say job well done from the part of the manufacturer/OEM. And I believe the review did it's best not to raise the fanboy-ish sentiments that we have.
I am absolutely sure that Engadget review will be provocative/controversial (it's always their goal to generate maximum comments). Gsmarena/Anandtech seems to be much more detailed and objective.
Phil750123 said:
i agree with you trek -
I don't think you can say either phone is better, they both had good points, both had bad points...
but the reason i love android - WE are left with a choice of which one WE prefer !
i happen to prefer better build and feel of htc and sense over touchwiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What i just hate is that HTC failed on a few VERY simple issues,
if they did better on those points, they would easy have a winner.
1) More RAM and internal storage
2) Non signed bootloader
3) Hardware accl browser
Barff1984 said:
i disagree. sg2 is just too ugly and iphone'esque (even if Apple copied their original design from samsung)
HTC are a better all rounder i think
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, put together, SGS2 is ugly look.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
I think the review was good. I saw some complaints about it being too superficial but I think it serves its purpose and was unbiased pointing out the benefits and cons giving each phone its due (I don't care that it was more of a comparative review as that's basically how people on here treat it). I also hope the GSMArena one comes out soon. They tend to have very detailed review going into all aspects of the phones. I'm still quite sure I'm getting it but I like to be aware of all the "bad" stuff before I get something (this is also nice because often the bad doesn't turn out to be as bad as I thought it would be making me pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed )
MartijnMM said:
What i just hate is that HTC failed on a few VERY simple issues,
if they did better on those points, they would easy have a winner.
1) More RAM and internal storage
2) Non signed bootloader
3) Hardware accl browser
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, minor steps for big improvements.
1) Think the ram is the big issue, specially when sense is going to take up
more ram then touchwiz (im guessing here but im pretty certain it be the
case)
2) Im sure "hoping" that this will be by passable, I've read a detail
article about this stating, it not as bad as people believe. I dont understand
it fully but as most people on here, i just want custom roms!
3) Would be nice, but not on my top list as personally im not a big
web broswer on my mobile. (Although might change when i get a bigger screen
and faster web browsing )
Im leaving work early to fly down to the vodafone shop and see if
they have one in stock - bar that to phones 4 u shop opposite so
hopefully I'll be able to talk from first hand experience!
Hmm, I wonder when we'll start seeing reviews with proper GPS testing. Not comments like "the gps is fine, it locked really fast!" but showing some tracks and proof of decent accuracy and consistency. That would help avoiding fiascos like the one with the Galaxy S.
I'm curious about the Sensation but will definitely not buy another toy without clearing this out first... can't get lost.
did anyone notice sample camera picture taken by sensation at slashgear review have soft image on left and sharp on the right?
ignore the already out of focus background flower pic, other street and tree pictures it doesn't seem like depth of field, anyone got the device on hand can confirm or share your picture please.
Beowulf_pt said:
Hmm, I wonder when we'll start seeing reviews with proper GPS testing. Not comments like "the gps is fine, it locked really fast!" but showing some tracks and proof of decent accuracy and consistency. That would help avoiding fiascos like the one with the Galaxy S.
I'm curious about the Sensation but will definitely not buy another toy without clearing this out first... can't get lost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, I'd like to know this. But no tech site, or youtube review has brought up the GPS issue, which I'm sure they would when they did their review.
I did hear (made a poll), on androidforums, that a few had these problems but all of them, now, have basically ironed themselves out. Really odd, but a few days later virtually everyone reported back that it fixed itself. I know your looking for hard evidence but I just thought I'd share what I know.
ratchetnclank said:
Damn.
I'm thinking more and more of getting the SG2 now instead due to lack of dev support and this review is swaying it more too. The SG2 is a much better hardware package but i prefer the design of htc and i prefer sense to touchwiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, Its kinda just got out on contract... wait for it to be off-contract and published in the USA and more :O
http://www.slashgear.com/sensation-vs-galaxy-s-ii-does-qhd-make-a-difference-24154010/
Addition stuff about the screens. Looks like for games its the SGII for movies/webbrowsing/text based stuff - Sensation.

Disgruntled Sensation owner

I have an htc sensation and am extremely unhappy with the software support it has gotten. Not putting any blame on the devs, they have been great to us but the fact of the matter is that we are still on cm7 alphas, not even nightlies, and ics support is looking pretty bad. Kmobs has made some progress, so I'm going to wait a while to see what he has to offer along with whatever else the cm team gives us. And that's ignoring the hardware issues like poor reception and a shoddy screen (Ghosting and scan lines on an lcd made in 2011? seriously? That's ignoring the fact that my a** produces deeper blacks than this thing. I know it's an lcd, but come on! I swear to god I'm never buying an htc phone ever again).
Assuming that doesn't end well, would you guys recommend I "downgrade" to a nexus s? I wouldn't be able to afford a galaxy nexus (whenever the hell that launches on t-mobile, no way I import one) I could sell my sensation and get a used one for a pretty good price. Or should I just tough it out with my sensation and get a galaxy nexus when its second hand price drops?
Basically, what I'm asking is do you gs owners feel compelled to upgrade to the galaxy nexus or are you still content with your devices?
I'm happy with my phone as it is. Yeah, I could get a Galaxy Nexus if I wanted to pay for it outright, but there'll be another one next year, and there's nothing wrong with my NS. I wouldn't mind a Galaxy Nexus, but for me, my phone's doing what I need it to
tehgeekguy said:
I'm happy with my phone as it is. Yeah, I could get a Galaxy Nexus if I wanted to pay for it outright, but there'll be another one next year, and there's nothing wrong with my NS. I wouldn't mind a Galaxy Nexus, but for me, my phone's doing what I need it to
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what really bothers me about the sensation, it doesn't do what I need it to do. HTC Sense is a complete mess imo, and cm7 (which is what I'm currently running) is incredibly buggy due to it still being an alpha. (the browser will crash about every tenth page you load) Thanks for the input.
gonintendo said:
I have an htc sensation and am extremely unhappy with the software support it has gotten. Not putting any blame on the devs, they have been great to us but the fact of the matter is that we are still on cm7 alphas, not even nightlies, and ics support is looking pretty bad. Kmobs has made some progress, so I'm going to wait a while to see what he has to offer along with whatever else the cm team gives us. And that's ignoring the hardware issues like poor reception and a shoddy screen (Ghosting and scan lines on an lcd made in 2011? seriously? That's ignoring the fact that my a** produces deeper blacks than this thing. I know it's an lcd, but come on! I swear to god I'm never buying an htc phone ever again).
Assuming that doesn't end well, would you guys recommend I "downgrade" to a nexus s? I wouldn't be able to afford a galaxy nexus (whenever the hell that launches on t-mobile, no way I import one) I could sell my sensation and get a used one for a pretty good price. Or should I just tough it out with my sensation and get a galaxy nexus when its second hand price drops?
Basically, what I'm asking is do you gs owners feel compelled to upgrade to the galaxy nexus or are you still content with your devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your first mistake.. the nexus s is not a downgrade. not even close. just because it doesnt have a dual core cpu, doesnt mean anything. as a matter of fact, my nexus s doesnt know that it doesnt have a dual core, and im not telling it
i have a friend thats very disgruntled with his sensation also. and for pretty much the same reasons that you gave. the only thing that i can say to ease your pain is that morfic, the creator of the Trinity line of kernels(for the ns/ns4g), has just received a sensation to develop on. im hopeful that the sensation will be seeing some great kernels in not to long of a time span. so, heads up
simms22 said:
your first mistake.. the nexus s is not a downgrade. not even close. just because it doesnt have a dual core cpu, doesnt mean anything. as a matter of fact, my nexus s doesnt know that it doesnt have a dual core, and im not telling it
i have a friend thats very disgruntled with his sensation also. and for pretty much the same reasons that you gave. the only thing that i can say to ease your pain is that morfic, the creator of the Trinity line of kernels(for the ns/ns4g), has just received a sensation to develop on. im hopeful that the sensation will be seeing some great kernels in not to long of a time span. so, heads up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, that's why I put downgrade in quotes, everything about the phone in terms of specs is worse than the sensation, but I think it's a better over all phone. Thanks for the heads up though, I'll definitely keep track of this this morfic guy.
simms22 said:
your first mistake.. the nexus s is not a downgrade. not even close. just because it doesnt have a dual core cpu, doesnt mean anything. as a matter of fact, my nexus s doesnt know that it doesnt have a dual core, and im not telling it
i have a friend thats very disgruntled with his sensation also. and for pretty much the same reasons that you gave. the only thing that i can say to ease your pain is that morfic, the creator of the Trinity line of kernels(for the ns/ns4g), has just received a sensation to develop on. im hopeful that the sensation will be seeing some great kernels in not to long of a time span. so, heads up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fully agree with this. My friend had a Sensation, and even though the specs look better on paper, my phone could out-perform his easily, especially with Morfic's or Ezekeel's kernel.
tehgeekguy said:
I fully agree with this. My friend had a Sensation, and even though the specs look better on paper, my phone could out-perform his easily, especially with Morfic's or Ezekeel's kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a slippery slope.
the 1.35x higher resolution skews 2D and 3D benchmarks.
benchmarking sense roms with the unoptimized libsqlite implementation drops IO scores
so it stacks up quite nicely now where i can actually benchmark a sensation hands on
flashing cm7 alpha10 on sensation right now to do some further test on a more familiar platform.
user experience is great on sensation so far btw
I'd wait till the ics OTA drops for the nexus s. Right now ics roms are pretty stable but they are no where near as smooth as gingerbread roms. No one knows how well ics will transfer to single cores, so your sensation may be better for the long run because of the duel core.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
morfic said:
It is a slippery slope.
the 1.35x higher resolution skews 2D and 3D benchmarks.
benchmarking sense roms with the unoptimized libsqlite implementation drops IO scores
so it stacks up quite nicely now where i can actually benchmark a sensation hands on
flashing cm7 alpha10 on sensation right now to do some further test on a more familiar platform.
user experience is great on sensation so far btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For sure. It's a gorgeous phone, and I've always liked the Sense UI. I think it's the best OEM UI out there. I think once the phone gets some more attention it'll definitely be a nice piece of hardware. Honestly, if I were in the OP's position, I would probably hang on to the phone if I could... but it seems it doesn't meet his needs.
morfic said:
It is a slippery slope.
the 1.35x higher resolution skews 2D and 3D benchmarks.
benchmarking sense roms with the unoptimized libsqlite implementation drops IO scores
so it stacks up quite nicely now where i can actually benchmark a sensation hands on
flashing cm7 alpha10 on sensation right now to do some further test on a more familiar platform.
user experience is great on sensation so far btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually disagree about the ux on sense. There are a lot of little things that really bother me. The way that the notification drawers sometimes takes a second to slide down for no apparent reason, the unlock animation, the lack of a bookmarks button in the browser (you have to hit menu), and the choppiness of the app drawer to name a few. imo, cm7 is a much more pleasant to use os, but that has been really buggy for me on my sensation. Sense is definitely a love/hate affair, and I really hate it lol. (Which is strange because I actually liked sense 2.x quite a bit, 3.0 was a step backwards imo.)
tehgeekguy said:
For sure. It's a gorgeous phone, and I've always liked the Sense UI. I think it's the best OEM UI out there. I think once the phone gets some more attention it'll definitely be a nice piece of hardware. Honestly, if I were in the OP's position, I would probably hang on to the phone if I could... but it seems it doesn't meet his needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am definitely going to hang on to it for at least a month or two, I just wanted to see how you nexus owners like your phones as I don't have any friends with them.
gonintendo said:
I actually disagree about the ux on sense. There are a lot of little things that really bother me. The way that the notification drawers sometimes takes a second to slide down for no apparent reason, the unlock animation, the lack of a bookmarks button in the browser (you have to hit menu), and the choppiness of the app drawer to name a few. imo, cm7 is a much more pleasant to use os, but that has been really buggy for me on my sensation. Sense is definitely a love/hate affair, and I really hate it lol. (Which is strange because I actually liked sense 2.x quite a bit, 3.0 was a step backwards imo.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just curious, which ROM are you running? Not sure if you're on stock or a customer Rom, but when I had my Inspire I ran Android Revolution most of the time (when I wasn't on CM) and the performance improvement over the stock ROM was amazing. I talked my friend into throwing Android Revolution HD (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098849) on his Sensation 4G and he keeps mentioning how much faster it is now.
tehgeekguy said:
Just curious, which ROM are you running? Not sure if you're on stock or a customer Rom, but when I had my Inspire I ran Android Revolution most of the time (when I wasn't on CM) and the performance improvement over the stock ROM was amazing. I talked my friend into throwing Android Revolution HD (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098849) on his Sensation 4G and he keeps mentioning how much faster it is now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on cm7 right now. I have tried arhd, but that gave me really bad battery life, no matter which kernel I used. I tried a few others, I think insert coin was one of them, but none really felt as snappy as cm7. Some were smoother, but multitasking and opening apps is much quicker in cm7. I'll take the buggyness of cm's current state on the sensation over sense any day.
My ns4g with aosp's ics ROM is incredible. Probably going to take a break from my EVO 3d and use it as my daily driver for a while once the OTA drops
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
First why in the he'll would you get an HTC phone if you didn't like sense, dumb move, should have got the g2x. It will get better for aosp, quit crying..
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G
gonintendo said:
I have an htc sensation and am extremely unhappy with the software support it has gotten. Not putting any blame on the devs, they have been great to us but the fact of the matter is that we are still on cm7 alphas, not even nightlies, and ics support is looking pretty bad. Kmobs has made some progress, so I'm going to wait a while to see what he has to offer along with whatever else the cm team gives us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're asking a bit much there. CM for Sensation is being done by one guy. One guy with a real life and a real job and real commitments that don't involve coding an OS for a bunch of - quite frankly - ungrateful users. KMobs is an utter perfectionist, but he has good reasons as to why we don't have nightly releases for the Sensation yet (a9 is just about perfect but a10 introduced a bunch of bugs... and to be honest, I'd prefer he focused on getting CM9 alphas out the door).
The real fact of the matter is that the Android market is much broader than it has ever been. Two years ago, we were looking forward to the Droid and Nexus One as our saviours from the 528MHz MSM720x-infected designs that were around. All we really had to choose from was the HTC Dream/G1, Magic/MT3G and Hero, which all shared basically identical internal designs. Nowadays you can point at just about any brand of phones and they'll have a truly lustworthy Android handset competing for your dollars and marketshare, so therefore the developer base has splintered accordingly. It's therefore only natural that handsets will have less 3rd-party developer support as time goes on.
And that's ignoring the hardware issues like poor reception and a shoddy screen (Ghosting and scan lines on an lcd made in 2011? seriously? That's ignoring the fact that my a** produces deeper blacks than this thing. I know it's an lcd, but come on! I swear to god I'm never buying an htc phone ever again).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, this interests me. I haven't had these issues. In fact, my Sensation has far better reception than my two previous phones (LG Opitmus 2X and Samsung Galaxy S). I've definitely not noticed any ghosting or scanlines on my screen. Dust under the screen, yes. Power button funkiness, yes. At the risk of sounding like a Sensation/HTC apologist, I'd suggest that your phone has some kind of fault and you should get it looked at.
Basically, what I'm asking is do you gs owners feel compelled to upgrade to the galaxy nexus or are you still content with your devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GS Owners? Well, I assume you're addressing Sensation owners here
I'm very tempted to upgrade to a GN. I won't though, mostly for the following reasons;
Removable SD Card - GN only has internal memory, muddied by...
USB Mass Storage - GN uses MTD which is a suboptimal ux, IMO. In a nutshell it means that all the writeable media on the phone presents as a single unified area with the user accessible /sdcard/ just being a directory rather than a separate partition & device as it is otherwise. It's probably The Future, but right now I hate it.
Offscreen buttons - I hate capacitive buttons as they are, but at least they're not taking up screen real estate
Build quality - The Sensation feels glorious. Samsung devices tend to feel cheap.
unfnknblvbl said:
I think you're asking a bit much there. CM for Sensation is being done by one guy. One guy with a real life and a real job and real commitments that don't involve coding an OS for a bunch of - quite frankly - ungrateful users. KMobs is an utter perfectionist, but he has good reasons as to why we don't have nightly releases for the Sensation yet (a9 is just about perfect but a10 introduced a bunch of bugs... and to be honest, I'd prefer he focused on getting CM9 alphas out the door).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just FYI, there are 2 other guys that are working on Sensation from the CM team. Not gonna post links since I don't care if you believe me or not, but you can find them on kmobs g+ feed. They just don't post on XDA, and don't release things until the next build has enough to warrant a release. They've been saying we'd go into nightly status soon, but either there are a couple of problems that they haven't found solutions to, someone is busy with their lives, or someone got pregnant (joke).
nrvnqsrxk said:
Just FYI, there are 2 other guys that are working on Sensation from the CM team. Not gonna post links since I don't care if you believe me or not, but you can find them on kmobs g+ feed. They just don't post on XDA, and don't release things until the next build has enough to warrant a release. They've been saying we'd go into nightly status soon, but either there are a couple of problems that they haven't found solutions to, someone is busy with their lives, or someone got pregnant (joke).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't mind knowing who those guys are actually; so I can follow them myself on G+.
unfnknblvbl said:
I think you're asking a bit much there. CM for Sensation is being done by one guy. One guy with a real life and a real job and real commitments that don't involve coding an OS for a bunch of - quite frankly - ungrateful users. KMobs is an utter perfectionist, but he has good reasons as to why we don't have nightly releases for the Sensation yet (a9 is just about perfect but a10 introduced a bunch of bugs... and to be honest, I'd prefer he focused on getting CM9 alphas out the door).
The real fact of the matter is that the Android market is much broader than it has ever been. Two years ago, we were looking forward to the Droid and Nexus One as our saviours from the 528MHz MSM720x-infected designs that were around. All we really had to choose from was the HTC Dream/G1, Magic/MT3G and Hero, which all shared basically identical internal designs. Nowadays you can point at just about any brand of phones and they'll have a truly lustworthy Android handset competing for your dollars and marketshare, so therefore the developer base has splintered accordingly. It's therefore only natural that handsets will have less 3rd-party developer support as time goes on.
OK, this interests me. I haven't had these issues. In fact, my Sensation has far better reception than my two previous phones (LG Opitmus 2X and Samsung Galaxy S). I've definitely not noticed any ghosting or scanlines on my screen. Dust under the screen, yes. Power button funkiness, yes. At the risk of sounding like a Sensation/HTC apologist, I'd suggest that your phone has some kind of fault and you should get it looked at.
GS Owners? Well, I assume you're addressing Sensation owners here
I'm very tempted to upgrade to a GN. I won't though, mostly for the following reasons;
Removable SD Card - GN only has internal memory, muddied by...
USB Mass Storage - GN uses MTD which is a suboptimal ux, IMO. In a nutshell it means that all the writeable media on the phone presents as a single unified area with the user accessible /sdcard/ just being a directory rather than a separate partition & device as it is otherwise. It's probably The Future, but right now I hate it.
Offscreen buttons - I hate capacitive buttons as they are, but at least they're not taking up screen real estate
Build quality - The Sensation feels glorious. Samsung devices tend to feel cheap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like some dumba** mod didn't read my post and moved it from the nexus s forums to the sensation forums. The point of the thread was not to complain about cm development on the sensation, I realize that it's a labor of love and that the team working on it is small, the point of the thread was to ask galaxy s owners whether they feel proper CM support and stock OTA updates are worth the downgrade in hardware.
And no, my phone is not defective, it has one of the auo screens which have been confirmed to have scanlines and poor pixel response times.
@the guy asking me why I bought an htc phone: htc phones have always been famous for having great cm support and their hardware is really nice.
I feel that my Sensation is a bit slow sometimes, but I'm trying to tell myself that it'll all be great when ICS comes out (either via HTC or CM9).

HTC profits PLUMMET...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402691,00.asp
HTC profits plunge 70% over the past year, and I have a few ideas why.
1) Build quality clearly took a backseat to production numbers. Just take a look at the AWFUL devices (such as the Sensation) that HTC has produced recently. Dust under the screen, cheap components, and shoddy assemblies are not good for business!!
2) SENSE!!! Anyone think it was/is a coincidence that as soon as HTC started forcing Sense on all its phones the numbers took a dive? I dont, and clearly the market agrees with me. Sense is probably one of the worst conceived and implemented "enhancements" to ever hit android and that has obviously hurt HTC big time.
3) Trying to compete as an iphone replacement. Lets be honest, the iphone IS the 800 pound gorilla in the room. However, by churning out 20 "different" yet basically identical phones in 12 months HTC is only diluting its brand. Further, the Sense based "enhancements" only appeal to small minded folks who would choose an iphone, not real android fans. Sure, Sense (and IOS) look 'pretty' but neither provide any functionality. In addition both Sense and IOS are bloated, slow, and take for ever to get updates.
In summary, HTC tried to be everything to everyone and it backfired. They should go back to building QUALITY phones with proper software. Let the little kids, teens, and tweens go buy iphones, and let Sense die a FAST death! FIX THE BUILD QUALITY and people will buy your devices!! I dont know what else I can say about that. If HTC insists on making multiple phones, at least provide SOME level of differentiation! 20 phones that look identical is not a product set, ITS CONFUSING TO CONSUMERS.
Thank you and have a nice day.
HTC had a bad year ( and it's their fault ) but the good thing is that they 've learned. They are focusing on the ONE series this year and I must say those phones are the best available right now ( each in its league ).
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Well said......i used to b an htc fan nd i jumped to sammy lately due to the dilution.u referred to. Very similar phones within a very short period of time. What were they thnkng? They had no time i bet to innovate due to the demand for productn. Htc remind me of dubai.....grew too big in too little time! Now the dive comes.....but they forecasted that to say the truth. I mean expeert would have recommended that htc continue doing wat they 1st started to do......quality in low numbers....low cost meant high return! I guess their board got greedy at one time. I really doubt they can turn thngs arnd seeing how ruthless the market is. No place 4 mistakes.
Although I do agree with you in some case I also strongly disagree in others.
I'm a really big android fan and I really like sense I think it's the best OEM skin but I also like AOSP a lot , so that is just an opinion. I consider it one of the best skins its the most bloated one too. And your statement about iOS being slow, bloated and taking forever to update... Wtf iOS is definanatly not slow and its one of the smoothest ,and all of the supported iPhones and iOS devices get updates on the same day that it is released.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G with Beats Audio using xda premium
i've gone back and forth between stock android and sense, and i often prefer sense. i'd like to think i'm not small-minded.
Oh...well ,it's fun while it last. My next phone I wanted the best looking screen. If T-Mobile USA release the One X, I would have bought it in a heart beat. But it's not going to happened, so I'll wait for Samsung 1080P screen hehe.
Sent from my Sensation 4G using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
Sure they made some mistakes in 2011, but they've learned and we can already see the results in the One line which has come out to glowing reviews everywhere. As long as HTC can stand their ground and refuse carriers' requests for custom designs (which I believe is what was behind the scatter-shot approach they took last year) they will be fine. I still think HTC's build quality is the best in the Android world (I have had none of the problems people have mentioned with my Sensation aside from the dust, and my current phone has been dust-free for several months now), and nothing on the One series looks to change that.
And, I must say, having used Sense 3.x, 4, and AOSP, the latter isn't all that people make it out to be. In my daily use I can still find areas where Sense (especially 4) does things better - for example, in the lock screen, music player, browser, and home screens. I have not seen any speed advantage to AOSP over Sense that doesn't require a benchmark to show, and there is nothing I can do in stock ICS that I can't do in Sense. Also, I find the AOSP minimalist look becomes tiresome after a couple days, while Sense 4 does not, while looking just as nice. Caring about the aesthetics of the UI is not "small-minded" as long as one doesn't give up functionality - and Sense 4 does not.
Every big company has their software ontop of android running its a normal thing while i agree that sense is bloated but i disagree where you say its slow ...
I was running stock and didnt feel lag at all + the custom sense widgets are good looking if you'd ask me ...
The main reason why its falling its because they make too much device in short time and they don't put enough effort into them id rather love to see them release very few devices a year but work really hard on them ...
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
This article was a reality check and EVERY HTC Executive should read it.
Obviously you have only used HTC for a while now. I actually totally disagree.
I owned a Samsung Galaxy i9000 as my last phone. To give you an idea of how the top phone of the market performed at the time:
1) Everyone suffered terrible lag. This was never fixed. Sometimes the phone would just freeze up for a minute. Happened to me once when I wanted to take what would have been a great picture
2) The RAM was so limited because of the requirement for the CPU/GPU, that there wasn't enough to webbrowse for longer than 20mins without the phone crashing
3) The GPS on none of the units worked that well. Over time they added what appeared to be smoothing algorithms, but, at the end of the day, it was mostly unusable for driving, because the signal constantly dropped.
4) A huge amount of units had failing flash quite quickly. My phone (which wasn't an i9000M) had this problem.
5) No OTA updates, and the PC software to do updates was terrible. Seriously, this is something HTC perfected years ago.
6) TouchWiz was complete garbage. To give you an idea of how garbage it was, by default, the apps weren't even sorted alphabetically.
I suspect that a large number of these problem is caused because since Samsung manufactures their own components, it would look bad if they used their competitors components.
Also, you complain about Sense, but Sense is actually EXCELLENT. Only recently has the AOSP interface been half decent, and in comparison to other phones, it has been amazing.
HTC also regularly updates their phone software, of even their older phones. On the i9000, we got 2.1 and 2.2, and they were bloody difficult to install because Kies didn't work on many computers (no OTA supported either). And other manufacturers like Sony Ericson do an even worse job for software. iPhone's get all the updates, BUT, on the other hand, iOS can't play FLAC files, and you HAVE to go through their app store.
Sorry, but, I TOTALLY disagree. The popularity of phones appear to have more to do with advertising than anything else these days, and Samsung's boost is simply because of their collaboration with Google. But, in all honesty, the i9000 should have been recalled.
andrewluecke said:
Obviously you have only used HTC for a while now. I actually totally disagree.
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That is incorrect. In fact, I was one of the first importers of HTC phones (to the US) over a decade ago when they were just getting into Windows Mobile. I have probably had, sold, or used every HTC model that was compatible with US GSM or CDMA bands since the year 2000. As such, I speak from YEARS of experience and I can honestly say I am disappointed. Clearly my disappointment is not something I alone feel, since a 70% drop in profits indicates something is SERIOUSLY wrong.
As I said in my OP, HTC can fix this problem fairly easily. All they need to do is FOCUS and produce a GOOD product that people actually want. I personally think the whole "one" line is garbage, and I eagerly look forward to its demise in 18 (or so) months when Google forces ALL manufacturers to use a STANDARD (ie stock) version of Android. Until then, we will have a fractured, unsupported, miserable selection of phones. Check out the following graph for a better understanding of what Sense and other "enhanced" overlays have done to Android.
http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/10/27/android.support.seen.lagging.iphone.by.wide.margin/
Those stats are a few months old, however the fragmentation has only gotten worse with ICS. Enjoy!
Stock markets are like roller coasters. Htc has been on a roll up as of late...so now it's down time! Next year it will be back up...nothing to worry about
Interesting chart at the end. But i actually agree. HTC needs to focus more of what they make. One high-end and one cheap model, and possibly one with keyboard like Desire Z would suffice.
But they release too many models and in fact i just knew long ago that it was a poor business model evolving, and there would be too many phones to keep updated in the end. Thats was one reason why i dropped out of Android/htc for a while coz i thought the phones that kept coming in loads of models was just "experimental" pieces to flex muscles with tougher and rougher specs, with little care about them. And thus the fear of losing updates could easily be a reality.
Hats off to Apple anyways that keeps their products healthy for some years before they are discontinued.
Sensationaly sent from my Sensation.
Sindroid said:
Interesting chart at the end. But i actually agree. HTC needs to focus more of what they make. One high-end and one cheap model, and possibly one with keyboard like Desire Z would suffice.
But they release too many models and in fact i just knew long ago that it was a poor business model evolving, and there would be too many phones to keep updated in the end.
Sensationaly sent from my Sensation.
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Spot on - how many different handsets did they release last year? Way too many.
Different UIs like Sense actually help sell devices. While a lot of folk here might go for the native aosp look, it's very dull and uninteresting to the average user (compared to iPhone and even WM7). It's really only the different manufacturers UIs that differentiate product offerings, otherwise wouldn't they all look the same?
cr1960 said:
Spot on - how many different handsets did they release last year? Way too many.
Different UIs like Sense actually help sell devices. While a lot of folk here might go for the native aosp look, it's very dull and uninteresting to the average user (compared to iPhone and even WM7). It's really only the different manufacturers UIs that differentiate product offerings, otherwise wouldn't they all look the same?
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I agree they would all look the same and a android phone wouldn't be so special anymore for example people would stop buying android phones if they were all running pure google rom... Because it would be all the same thing it would get quite boring..
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
I agree with your views about build quality.
HTC have cheapened out on the components. They are using cheap EMMC chips, which are prone to frying, thus bricking your phone, on their devices from 2011 (Desire S)
But I strongly disagree with everything else you say.
Liking Sense or not is subjective. But I can tell you that I bet at least 70% buy HTC devices for the Sense experience. It's HTC's way of differentiation from the rest if the Market. If every OEM released pure AOSP, they would all virtually be the same. Hardware would only be the key factor. HTC's hardware isn't as good as Samsung's (specs wise) but in 2010, it clearly proved that the Desire was better than the Galaxy S...
Why?
Because of the Sense UI experience.
2011, things changes. Yes the SGSII was the phone of the year, due to its mighty specs.
But Sense is not as bad as you describe it. If you detest Sense so much, why did you buy the phone?
Also, I want to layout out - I'm not an Apple Fanboy, but I strongly disagree with what you say. Seriously, iOS slow and bloated?
It's clean and fast. The only slow iOS devices I encountered was the iPhone 3G.
How is it bloated? Apple load up minimal applications on the device. To some extent I agree with you about Sense (by default they load up so much junk - still doesn't take away the fact Sense is a good UI though)
And iOS slow with updates? Are you kidding me? It's much faster than Android updates from OEMs. But that comes back to the point with HTC being crap at software updates. I agree with you there! They are so damn slow with the ICS update for other devices (even though I have no intentions of using the official update)
So yes, HTC have become worse. (But I think they are goog to get higher profits etc in Q2,3,4 due to their new One lineup)
But, I don't think its fair that you bash Sense UI. Or bashing iOS with incorrect/false facts.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium
shahkam said:
people would stop buying android phones if they were all running pure google rom... Because it would be all the same thing it would get quite boring..
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That is a ridiculous statement and totally wrong. ALL Apple phones are exactly the same yet they sell millions of them. If all android phones ran the same OS it would be BETTER for users and they would sell MORE devices. That way manufacturers could focus their development around actually adding value. For instance, some would use a higher quality material, others would include a really great camera, others would build a physical keyboard, etc. Right now the manufacturers/carriers are focused on horrible overlays (cough, SENSE, cough...) that they never update. The end users is suffering now, and the Android fragmentation diagram I linked to is proof of this.
webmaster said:
Just take a look at the AWFUL devices (such as the Sensation) that HTC has produced recently. Dust under the screen, cheap components, and shoddy assemblies are not good for business!!
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Me, my fiancee and my best friend all have Sensations and none of us have ever had any build quality problems. My biggest problem was the terrible battery life at launch, but with an Anker battery, successive Gingerbread updates, then a custom ICS ROM from here, it's all good.
It strikes me that HTC have invested millions into phones no-one has asked for. Sensation XE and XL with royalities going to Dr. Dre? What were they smoking when they thought that up? Do they not realise that top-spec HTC phones are for geeks such as myself, and geeks don't listen to Dr. Dre.
Well, I don't anyway.
And as for the One series... iPhone wannabes, complete with no SD-card slot and a fixed battery. Not the right direction to be headed imho.
I do agree with the large number of products being released hurt their image, but I'd have to think a large part of that was due to the huge popularity of the GS2 (and sebsequently the GNex) which leapfrogged Samsung ahead. And the iPhone is always the behemoth in the room. I like my phone, but I hated how they had 15 variations of it in the year. I can barely tell the difference between any of the Sensation models and the other HTC phones (thunderbolt, desire, desire HD, etc etc) all looked very similar and confused consumers.
I like where they are going, but my next phone will likely be a Nexus because I don't want the Sense overlay anymore--nothing against HTC though. If they made the next Nexus, I'd be stoked.
Big_Rich_1983 said:
And as for the One series... iPhone wannabes, complete with no SD-card slot and a fixed battery. Not the right direction to be headed imho.
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No SD Card is a shame. But I do think spec wise they are going in the right direction. People slated the Sensation for having slightly lower specs than the GS2 e.g. in terms of RAM and Internal Memory and they seem to be rectifying that.

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