News HTC Handset Update : HTC One ME Express Review - Another Flagship, But More Affordable

HTC One ME is actually the closest you can get to the original HTC One M9 which was never launched in India. 

HTC’s strategy now seems to be to carpet bomb the mid and high-end smartphone segment with as many models as possible. Of course, this means even the company might find it a bit difficult to keep tag on what it is selling. But the Taiwanese company has for sometime believed it is a good strategy to have flagships for different price points. So in the upper end of the shelf the company has the HTC One M9+ and HTC One E9+. Now, the company has launched the HTC One ME somewhere between these two devices.

HTC One ME
Rs 40,500

The HTC One ME is actually the closest you can get to the original HTC One M9 which was never launched in India. The HTC One M9+ was different in many ways, but the ME is seems more like the M9 with a plastic body and a fingerprint reader. It is also a stylish device, especially the all-black unit that I had for review.

Specs: 5.2-inch (1440x2560p, ~565 ppi) display | Mediatek MT6795 Octa-core 2.2 GHz processor | 3GB RAM 32 GB internal storage expandable up to 128GB | 20MP rear camera with dual tone flash + 4MP front camera | 2840 mAh battery | HTC Sense UI 7.0 with Android Lollipop 

Watch video: (App users click here)

Watch video: (App users click here)

What is good?
People will want to buy this phone just for the style quotient and I am convinced that is one reason why customers, at least some of them, don’t really mind paying a premium for HTC phones. The One ME has a matte finish rear panel that is good to hold and an extra large lens on it that makes people take note.

The QHD screen makes everything look good, especially the photos shot on this phone. I am not a big fan of watching long videos on the phone, but this 5.2-inch display paired with the dual speaker and Dolby Surround sound make it ideal for those who like this small screen experience. Making phones sound really good is something HTC has really mastered over the years.

The 20MP camera is really good and really fast. It can capture really subtle shots and that is expected, given that HTC has been good with its cameras of late. But I was more impressed by the quality of the selfie shots. However, by default the phone beautifies these front camera shots a bit and you will need to switch that off to look more natural.

The overall performance is really good and there is no lag or stutter. The phone does heat up a bit but not as much as the other flagships these days. The battery life is good enough to last a working day. I managed 12 hours on 4G which is an achievement.

What is not that good?
I like the HTC Sense UI as it is simple and intuitive. But the contacts app needs a bit of this intelligence to trickle in. I could not copy numbers from contact cards for instance. This is something I end up doing multiple times a day; not having a simple copy option was frustrating. Plus, I thought the app had to be much more intuitive when it came to search.

As I said before, the phone does heat up a bit though it does not breath fire like a Snapdragon processor. But when the heating starts, the phone loses battery life fast.

Should you buy?

At Rs 40,500, this phone gives you everything you need from a flagship — style, processing power and great camera. So if you are looking for a top-end phone that ticks all the boxes then this is a good buy. If you don’t want to spend this much, then I still think the HTC One E9+ is the best value for money phone in this range from HTC.

HTC One ME is actually the closest you can get to the original HTC One M9 which was never launched in India - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-reviews/htc-one-me-express-review-another-flagship-but-more-affordable/#sthash.wbmNgOBv.dpuf

HTC One ME is actually the closest you can get to the original HTC One M9 which was never launched in India - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-reviews/htc-one-me-express-review-another-flagship-but-more-affordable/#sthash.wbmNgOBv.dpuf

HTC One ME is actually the closest you can get to the original HTC One M9 which was never launched in India - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-reviews/htc-one-me-express-review-another-flagship-but-more-affordable/#sthash.wbmNgOBv.dpuf

HTC One ME is actually the closest you can get to the original HTC One M9 which was never launched in India - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-reviews/htc-one-me-express-review-another-flagship-but-more-affordable/#sthash.wbmNgOBv.dpuf

HTC One ME is actually the closest you can get to the original HTC One M9 which was never launched in India - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-reviews/htc-one-me-express-review-another-flagship-but-more-affordable/#sthash.wbmNgOBv.dpuf

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, July 21, 2015

News SmartPhones Update : Microsoft Brings Windows 10 Mobile Preview To Lumia 930 And HTC One

Microsoft has released a new preview of Windows 10 for phones featuring for the first time access to the app store, universal Office apps and support for a new range of smartphones.

When Microsoft finally releases its new operating system that has been designed to work on phones and tablets, it will be called Windows 10 Mobile, but for now, as part of its Windows Insider program, the company is continuing to refer to the previews as Windows 10 for phones.

The latest update to be released by Microsoft is Build 10080 and it brings with it the biggest update to the system we have seen so far over Windows Phone 8.1.

As described by Microsoft Gabe Aul in an extensive blog post, the latest preview of Windows 10 for phones "brings many improvements but also because it adds support for a few important phones that Insiders have been asking us about".

One of the biggest additions is access to a beta version of the Windows Store for phones, which mirrors the Windows Store available in preview builds of the desktop version of Windows 10 – though app selection and the markets where the Store are available on phones are currently limited.

Carrier billing

Microsoft has also yet to roll out one of the most interesting Windows 10 features, which is carrier billing, allowing users to buy apps and in-app content without the need for a credit card, with the cost being added to the user's mobile phone bill – a feature which is extremely important in many of the developing markets Microsoft is targeting.

Aside from the new store, Build 10080 brings Universal Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote), for the first time as well as the new Xbox app, new Music and Video apps and an updated Camera app for Windows 10.

Microsoft has expanded the range of compatible phones to include the Lumia 930, the recently released Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL and the first non-Lumia device to get the Windows 10 previews – the HTC One (M8) for Windows.

Initially Microsoft limited the preview to just a handful of Lumia devices but it has gradually increased the number of compatible phones since it began previews in February.
Windows 10 Mobile release date

Microsoft has this week revealed that Windows 10 will be available in seven different versions or Editions, with two focused at smartphones and small tablets – Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise – with the latter aimed at winning a slice of the business market.

Aul also reiterated something which was first mentioned at the company's developer conference last month regarding the release date of Windows 10 on phones:

    Because we're treating Windows more like a service, this allows us to release Windows 10 on different devices and customers at different times. For phones, Windows 10 will arrive later this year – both on new devices and also upgrades for existing Windows Phone 8.1 devices. Even though Windows 10 will be arriving for phones later than it does for PCs, the underlying OS code is still the same.

There are however a number of bugs in the preview, with the most significant being one which means that MMS messages may not get through to your phone if you are out of coverage at the time the message is sent.

If you are feeling brave however, and you do want to download the Windows 10 for phones preview, here's how to go about it:

     How to install Windows 10 Previews for Phones

• First, sign up for the Windows Insider Program, if you haven't already
• Download the Windows Insider app from the Windows Phone Store
• Once it finishes downloading, open the app on your phone and follow the instructions to install Technical Preview
• Builds will come to you automatically as they are ready, after being validated by engineers at Microsoft and used on their own phones
• Use the built-in Windows Feedback app to report problems and suggestions
• Updates will continue all the way up to the final build that goes out to all customers
• You can roll your phone back to the previous OS at any time

Posted by Unknown Monday, May 18, 2015

News HTC Product Update : Launch - HTC Desire 820s Dual Sim Has An 8MP Front Camera

The HTC Desire 820s dual sim aims to raise the bar for mid-range smartphones with a 5.5” wide HD screen as well as a 8 megapixel front and 13 megapixel main cameras. With an MRP of Rs 25,500, the phone will hit stores at Rs 24,890.

The phone is powered by a 1.7 GHz Octa-Core Mediatek processor and comes with dual SIM slots and HTC’s signature BoomSound front facing speakers. The phone will come to India in a new Tuxedo Grey colour that trims around the camera, buttons and flash merge seamlessly into one another.

The HTC Dot View case will be available for the phone from launch and will offer instant access to your phone without opening the cover. The phone will offer a lot for selfie lovers thanks to its  megapixel front facing camera.

The f/2.2 aperture on the 13 megapixel BSI sensor will mean better results in low light. It will also come with continuous shooting.

The MediaTek processor will offer Cat 4 4G connectivity at speeds of up to 150 Mbps.

See new HTC One M9 video below:

Posted by Unknown Friday, March 13, 2015

News HTC Product Update : HTC Vive Hands On: Brilliantly Immersive, Beautifully Executed

The official unveiling of the HTC Vive was among the biggest surprises of this year's MWC, and with good reason. The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer was expected to launch the successor to the HTC One M8 and perhaps a smartwatch, but blindsided us all and instead launched its first virtual reality headset, which also happens to be, in my opinion, the best.

I've tested both Facebook's Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus, with varying results. I found Oculus to be slightly buggy and the headset ill-fitting, while Morpheus was immersive and genuinely quite scary (I tested The Deep, a demo in which a shark savages the diving cage I was trapped in). It still left me with a headache caused by latency - a form of nausea triggered when the brain struggles to process sensory overload. It's a common side effect of VR headsets and goggles, and one both the teams are working to minimise.

I came away from the (admittedly limited) time I'd had with the headsets thinking Morpheus was significantly closer to delivering what the consumer experience of what virtual reality has always promised but never truly delivered - losing yourself in a whole new world. But now it looks like the Vive is on the verge of changing that.

Created in partnership with games company Valve, the Vive claims to "transform the way in which consumers interact with technology and the world around them". The companies developed a full room scale 360 degree solution with tracked controllers, which simply means wearing the headset and holding its wireless controllers is supposed to give the impression of walking around an unlimited virtual world with the opportunity to grip and pick up objects in a way that's never been truly convincing before.

The HTC Vive essentially consists of a boxy headset, fixed in place over your head by a series of straps (like Oculus), and two controllers (like Morpheus, a more updated version of which was also showcased at MWC). When I walked into the small room I was testing the Vive in, it was lying in a tangle of cables on the floor. While the controllers in the final version will be wireless, the developer version I tried out were linked to thick wires. The headset works by communicating with two sensors mounted on the wall directly in front of me at a 90 degree angle, and remains in constant sync even when I crouched, ducked and shuffled around. A helpful man fitted the headset - which was wired into a PC - over my face, showed me how best to hold the controllers and started the first of five short demos. 

 Once my eyes adjusted to my surroundings, I'd been transported to the deck of an underwater ship (what is it with virtual reality and underwater?), surrounded by curious fish and huge manta rays. I wandered around the confines of the wooden deck, waving my hands at the shoals of fish to send them fleeing. I had a nagging feeling a shark was going to ambush me. Then I stood transfixed as a gigantic blue whale sailed by. It paused close enough for me to see the whites of its enormous eye, before soaring away - its tail coming within inches of clipping the ship's rail.

Put bluntly - it felt real. The whole experience was oddly breathtaking. I lost awareness of the headset, which fitted comfortably, and the plastic of the controllers in my palms and for around 15 minutes really felt as though I was in another world. 

I threw pots and pans around a robot kitchen, chopped up carrots and mushrooms and then microwaved a bottle of wine (it melted into a twisted cube). I drew amazing 3D shapes in the air using my right hand as a paintbrush and my left as a pallete, then walked through and around them. I attempted to fix a poorly robot who then promptly fell apart, before eventually turning on me and enveloping me in a cube before crushing me.

It sounds ridiculous, but I was grinning like a lunatic the whole time. I can't urge you strongly enough to try it for yourself, and HTC's vision for the headset extends beyond gaming; incorporating shopping, travelling and even speaking with friends. And it deserves to be enormously successful.

HTC will launch a developer edition of the Vive during the spring, and hopes to bring a consumer edition of the headset to market by the end of 2015. Frankly, it can't come soon enough. And it didn't even give me a headache.

Posted by Unknown Thursday, March 05, 2015

News HTC Handset Review : Hands On With The HTC One M9

Whether you're a fan of HTC or not, it's almost impossible not to feel a little sorry for the company. It's widely acknowledged to have crafted and developed the best Android flagship - and perhaps one of the best smartphones - on the market in its One M8, but despite high praise for the device, it has never quite managed to capture the top spot that many believe it deserved.

Indeed, the One M8 is an utterly beautiful handset, exquisite to look at and to touch. Whether it's running Android or Windows Phone, it has managed to put many of its rivals to shame - not just in its aesthetics, but also in its impressive all-round performance.

But the M8's days are now numbered. Over the weekend, just ahead of the Mobile World Congress - which officially kicked off today - HTC unveiled its new flagship handset, the One M9. Today, I had some hands-on time with the new device - not quite long enough to make a truly thorough assessment, but plenty of time to form some first impressions.

If you weren't a fan of the One M8, you're unlikely to be won over by the M9. Personally, I've always thought that the M8 is one of the most attractive devices on the market, and if you share that view, you'll probably be pretty happy with its successor.

Indeed, the One M9 is a fairly gentle evolution over its predecessor - perhaps a little too tame for some buyers' tastes, at a time when rivals such as Samsung are pushing the boundaries of their flagships in new and exotic ways.

I'm not convinced that this evolution has been entirely successful either. I find the 'dual-tone' bodywork of the silver and gold handset to be rather unpleasant, frankly - like it's trying too hard, but not quite hitting the spot.

Still, the One M9 is surprisingly light for its size and specs, weighing in at 157g - although at 9.6mm thick, it's not the sleekest of flagships, and it will look thoroughly chunky alongside an iPhone 6.

But the M9 manages to squeeze some impressive tech into its body. Arguably the most important is its display - screw up the screen when you're developing your device, and you may as well just bin the whole thing. A company like HTC knows this only too well, so the One M9 gets an impressive and vibrant 5-inch panel with 1080p resolution - not as pixel-packed as the new generation of ultra-high-res displays, but more than adequate, while still ensuring that your battery doesn't splutter to a halt long before you expect... or so one hopes.

Like so many aspects of the handset, we'll have to wait until we can get our hands on a review unit before we can properly assess the full capabilities of the One M9 - and that includes its battery life. The same applies to the performance of the rest of its cutting edge specs.

The M9 promises a truly mighty user experience, with an octa-core (yes, EIGHT cores) Snapdragon 810 processor and 3GB of RAM. Needless to say, the handset struggled with absolutely nothing while navigating through the HTC Sense user experience (based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop), and while exploring some of its pre-installed apps.

However, there's just no way to deliver a verdict on the One M9's performance at this stage. We'll need to really push this thing to the limits to see just how well it can handle itself. For now, though, let's just say that the One M9 is no slouch.

Likewise, apart from a couple of quick photos taken on HTC's stand at Mobile World Congress, there wasn't much of an opportunity to flex the muscles of the One M9's 20-megapixel camera.

However, it's worth mentioning that a couple of quick photos that I took of the Fira Gran Via conference center came out rather well indeed (albeit remaining trapped on the device), with a surprising amount of detail captured well into the background, along with rich color and decent contrast, despite the haphazard lighting of various companies' stands causing some rather unusual visual conditions.

With the exception of that dual-tone bodywork, which hasn't exactly won me over, the One M9 managed to leave me with an overwhelmingly positive impression. It's a stunning handset, and promises truly fierce performance across the board.

I can certainly understand the feelings of those who criticize HTC for choosing a path of evolution, rather than revolution, for its new flagship. But just as with its predecessor, there's an air of something rather special about the M9, something that hints at the possibility that HTC may have just created the best Android flagship once again.

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, March 04, 2015