HTC says that the Impact of the iPhone 3G on HTC Handsets sales is limited
The latest iPhone 3G is going for as low as $199 with a carrier contract, though the mobile operator Orange offers the HTC Touch for free on certain contracts.
Chou has stated that the smartphone market is still very large, and HTC aims to roll out a complete lineup of products in cooperation with various telcos.
With the HTC Touch Diamond making its way around the world, stores are popping up all over retailing this new hot item. This latest store in Malaysia seems to have taken the phone to heart, as the whole shop seems to cater for the Touch Diamond, complete with accessories and pretty attendants.
HTC Announces The HTC TouchPro
Most users will probably have heard about it as the HTC Raphael, but that was just during the rumor period. This time it’s official! HTC has officially announced the HTC TouchPro, which is more or less a HTC Touch Diamond with a slide our keypad. The TouchPro does improve on some of the Touch Diamond’s specs. It comes with a 1350mAh battery for up to 8 hours of talk time, a 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, HSDPA 7.2 and HSUPA. Unfortunately its not a quad-band EDGE or tri-band UMTS unit. North American units should be coming “later in the year”
Here are the full specs of the HTC TouchPro:
- Size: 102 x 51 x 18.05mm
- Weight: 165 g
- Connectivity: WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA
- Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
- Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
- Camera: 3.2MP, with video calling
- Internal memory: 512 MB flash, 288 MB RAM
- Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
- Keyboard: Slide-out 5 row QWERTY keyboard
- Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
- Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
- GPS: GPS/AGPS
- Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
- Battery: 1350 mAh
- Talk time: GSM: up to 8 hours
- Standby time: GSM: up to two-weeks
- Chipset: Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528MHz
HTC and Sony Ericsson Merger?
This rumor started off when Swedish publication Elektroniktidningen were looking forward to a meeting with HTC, but the meeting was delayed due to talks of some sort of merger with Sony Ericsson. Naturally all hell broke loose and speculation mounted that HTC was going to be bought over by Sony Ericsson. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that they just worked together on the Xperia X1.
Though according to HTC, this is all not true. HTC’s spokesperson said "This is just a rumor and there is no truth to this statement." So it appears that nothing serious will be happening soon, or so they say.
HTC Raphael Details Revealed
Users who were eagerly awaiting HTC’s new handset, and were disappointed to find out that it didn’t have an actual keypad can now rejoice. The HTC Raphael is set to be branded in Europe as the T-Mobile MDA Vario IV, and should be released around Q2 this year. There isn’t any word on whether it will have TouchFLO 3D, but it was indicated that it would be available on a variety of devices, which should give us hope. Unfortunately there isn’t any information on the pricing or the specific release date yet, but that will come sooner rather than later.
Here are the current specs of the HTC Raphael:
- 3.2 megapixel camera
- 528 MHz processor
- GPS
- Tri-band GSM
- HSDPA
- 460x640 screen
- Bluetooth
- Wi-Fi
The HTC Shift might be a nice and small replacement for a laptop, but its speed definitely doesn’t measure up to current laptops. Its running at 800Mhz, which is literally the bare minimum for the Windows Vista Business that it runs, which most users probably wont find too amusing.
Last year, Microsoft approved a downgrade program for Windows Vista Business and Ultimate editions. Both retail and OEM versions of Vista can be downgraded to Windows XP Professional. However, Microsoft stated that the machine’s maker must facilitate the process, mailing out XP restore discs and product keys to eligible customers.
HTC has confirmed that they are aware of the downgrade program, but unfortunately, they have no plans to offer the downgrade. The little bit of good news is that they may offer Windows XP drivers in the future, but customers would have to purchase Windows XP separately. Currently the company doesn’t supply XP drivers for the Shift, making XP a less than ideal operating system for the HTC Shift.
HTC has finally released the official Windows Mobile 6.1 update for the HTC TyTN II (Kaiser) handset. The internet has been awash with rumors of this upcoming update, and it’s finally here!
The main features of this update will be threaded SMS, a “Getting Started” wizard, and the much awaited video performance improvement. Last (and certainly not least), is the efficiency update, which increases battery life, as well as giving an overall faster performance. As the update is free, there’s probably no reason for any HTC TyTN II user not to update.
HTC has made the update available through their e-Club webpage. Unfortunately for AT&T Tilt customers, they will have to wait for AT&T to release an update for their AT&T branded version of the phone.
Rogers and HTC have announced the official launch of the Shift UMPC, which marks the first carrier supported version of HTC’s unique mobile computer.
The Rogers HTC Shift is available starting today at $1599 (Canadian), with a 3-year contract on a minimum $50/month data plan. HTC and Rogers also announced a future device update, promised within 3 months, that will provide Telenav GPS navigation functionality. This is good news for anyone that needs carrier support, though the question still remains as to the price of it, as a new unlocked Shift’s price doesn’t differ from this too much, and users wont be tied down with a 3-year contract.
The HTC Touch is one of the prettier smart phones in the market, especially amongst the Windows Mobile Professional bracket. That being the case, it’s probably been rather irritating for most users that only were able to have one color, chosen by their carrier. Colors include Black for Sprint, white for Verizon, and grey for Alltell. Alltell aims to change this by adding a burgundy color to its line.
Since the specifications don’t change, the phone is still priced the same, which is $129.99 with a two year contract.
HTC Launches The HTC P3400i
HTC has just announced a new model, the HTC P3400i. The P3400i has a simple and intuitive interface, packed into a very affordable package.
Looking to be fashionably sleek and stylish, without too many bells and whistles, the HTC P3400i has been specially designed for the entry level market, and adds to the success of the HTC Touch family.
The HTC P3400i is powered by Windows Mobile 6 Professional, and comes bundled with applications for listening to music, watching videos, emails, office productivity, and even Windows Live Messenger, all available to the user while on the go. It also includes HTC Home, an HTC innovation that gives users an instant access to the most useful applications.
The HTC P3400i will be available at the end of May at all authorized resellers with a suggested retail price of $488(inclusive of 7% GST). Other features include:
- DirectPush Mail
- Internet Explorer Mobile
- Quad-Band
- 2 megapixel camera
- Speakerphone
- PIM applications
- 2.8” screen.
