HTC’s Goal of Full Spectrum Dominance?
It looks like HTC is making a big push with it’s Touch branding, as three devices have recently been announced by the Taiwanese mobile device maker to expand its line up.
Beyond the HTC Touch Diamond, which we discussed in episode 9 of rgbFilter, we’ll soon be seeing the Touch HD, with a massive 3.8″ 800 x 480 WVGA screen, as well as the Touch 3G, which on paper looks to be the replacement for its Touch, adding a faster processer, and a slightly pared down verision of the 3D interface found on the Diamond. I’m sure that HTC chose the 3G name as more consumer are now familiar with the term and what it means, though many earlier versions were also 3G enabled. The new Touch Viva will be more along the lines with the original Touch, with the 200Mhz processor, WiFi but no 3G data network.
This would give the Touch lineup four flavours ranging in price from dirt cheap to very expensive.
TheTouch 3G, with it’s QVGA screen, and low 512Mb internal storage will probably be priced similarly to the original Touch, which can be found for anywhere between free and $99 on a 3 year contract. The Diamond sits at the approximately $150 price point, with 4 Gb of onboard storage and a VGA screen. Finally, the yet to be priced Touch HD will be much more expensive, and setting its sights on those looking for the richest multimedia experience one can jam into their pocket
I’m not sure where this is going put the Viva pricing wise, but it’s entirely like that the Viva will be destined for emerging markets.
On a more general note, it’s interesting to see these developments, not just as a user of Windows Mobile (I bailed on Palm a few years ago) but how HTC has grown and adapted in a changing market. And they’ve changed a lot, unlike companies like Palm and Sony, who I used to have a lot of respect for in the mobile space until they both stumbled in the smart phone space.
HTC has come a long ways since their Original Device Manufacturer (ODM) days. For years they solely manufactured mobile devices designed by other companies, running a number of mobile OSes including both Palm and Windows Mobile.
As time marched on, the company found itself with such a following that at least one website dedicated to it’s hardware has thousands of users posting every day, and updating an customizing it’s phones. With this kind of fan base, it’s not surprising that HTC has become a brand in it’s own right, and has now brought some of the most innovative designs to the Windows Mobile platform.
That doesn’t mean that HTC has been given a free pass. Many fans of the company, yours truly included, were more than a little ticked off that HTC didn’t include the 3D drivers on some of it’s earlier Qualcomm 7xxx series phones, leading to really poor refresh rates, and a website dedicated to the problem.
Even though it looked like they were leaving the ODM days behind them, earlier this year it was announced that both Palm and i-mate, former clients, were returning to them as the manufacturer of choice (including Palm’s decidedly cool business oriented Treo Pro, and Sony-Ericsson is also using them to manufacture the highly anticipated Xperia 1, that company’s foray into the Windows Mobile world.
Not content with merely installing Windows Mobile on the phone and being done with it, HTC has also pushed the platform in it’s own direction, with its TouchFLO interface, which makes access to media and information as easy to acess as a swipe of the finger. I’d even say that TouchFLO has been at least somewhat influential on the direction the folks at Redmond, if the early examples of Windows Mobile 7 are any indication. This is a welcome change to the very powerful but clunky Windows Mobile interface, as is HTC’s licensing of Opera Mobile 9.5, giving the device a full html browsing experience, as well as Microsoft’s Voice Command, which allows one to not only voice dial, but call any contact at any number, or tell the phone to play a particular song or video, or launch a program.
HTC is also the manufacturer of choice for the first official Google Android based phone, the HTC Dream, which should be hitting the US through T-Mobile sometime in the next month. There’s also been speculation that official Android ports may become available for other current HTC models. I wouldn’t be surprised, as I’ve already run a beta version of the Android OS on my own HTC Vogue with nary a hiccup, including Android’s superb web browser.
When I first started writing this the other day, it was just going to be a short post on HTCs new phones, but it mutated overnight. Over the past few years HTC has become one of the most innovative mobile companies out there, not just in hardware design, but in building better interfaces for said hardware.
Wanna see the Touch HD in action?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eisadEADpwk
It’s a German video, but they have a heads up with the HD, the iPhone and the new Samsung as well.
Wow, that’s a great (French) video!!
And it looks like there’s no contest…if you were to compare the iPhone and the HD, the HD is the CLEEEEEAAARRRR winner. I like how they got around the multitouch debacle with a groovy ZOOM-slider. Very slick.
For the first time, in a whole-package-sense, including things like the big screen and the UI, I can finally admit that Apple should no longer the the defacto “Phone to Beat”. The HD pwns, without a doubt. So sexy.
Of course, since I have 2 macs at homeand one at work, I’ll likely be sticking with my iPhone (and will get the next generation if the upgrades are worth it) because I doubt a WinMo device will talk to my OSX as easily and seamlessly as the iPhone does…but unless Apple takes some serious strides to catch up with this new HTC standard, it won’t be a cut & dry decision.
For the record, I went to Génération’s site and didn’t experience the text overflow issue like they did in the video, although I don;t think they were on the site’s main page like I was…can’t be sure.
Regardless…that screen…wow 🙂
Well, to each his own. I think I’d take a Diamond over the HD. The phone is just too big for my tastes. I guess that’s an argument in favour of HTC creating multiple form factors. 😀
As for ‘getting around’ multi-touch, I don’t see how it’s something that needs to be ‘gotten around’. But yeah, it’s a pretty cool interface. Thanks to xda-developers, I’m running it (minus the 3D effect in the GUI) on my phone with no problems.
Hands down the best phone interface I’ve ever used.
As a long time mobile geek, there’s just a hint of irony in the whole thing, because I remember clamouring for just such a device from Palm 3+ years ago, and I wasn’t the only one wanting them to cram the Treo phone hardware into their 320×480 T-series. Palm used to be the only mobile company that had that screen resolution, and now they’re the only ones without a nice big tablet style phone.
Oh well.
~As for ‘getting around’ multi-touch, I don’t see how it’s something that needs to be ‘gotten around’.~
Well, I should have clarified…the beauty of Multi-Touch is that you can zoom in and out to whatever percentage you want, not based on some locked-in ratio (1X, 2X, 2.5X, etc.) That’s basically what I mean by “getting around” it. 🙂 Whether Multi-Touch is the best interface on the planet is debatable…I like it VERY much, but as Alex has pointed out (on SEVERAL occasions :P), you can’t operate it one-handed. The slider definitely alleviates that issue.
Re. PALM: I for one am kind of glad they’re buun pushad all the way down the ranks…TBH, I NEVER liked Palm’s devices, and the OS was more than a little irritating…the only time I ever truly enjoyed it was on my Clié NX70V (http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=5084). I know this UI was used on Palm devices (like the Tungsten), but was it ever used on a Treo?
umm you can zoom in on the diamond incrementally with the click wheel below the screen
“umm you can zoom in on the diamond incrementally with the click wheel below the screen”
And with one hand… optimal pr0n surfing device. 😀
As for Palm interfaces, yeah, there were a couple that were outside the ‘sea of icons’ design, and Sony certainly made some of the best. There were some other 3rd party launchers that make Palm OS devices (both for Treos and non-Treos) a much more robust interface, but the OS itself is a number of years old, and with the false start of Cobalt, and the multi-year development time of their new Linux based Nova (supposedly in early 2009 they SAY), the company has really gone by the wayside.
What keeps them going is their adoption of WM in the meantime. And if I were a thumboard type person (which I’m not) I’d be taking a good look at the Treo Pro.
For me, I either want a good portrait screen or a slide out keyboard a la the Wizard or HTC Dream. In between sacrifices both screen real estate AND keyboard usability. I won’t sacrifice both. 😀
~umm you can zoom in on the diamond incrementally with the click wheel below the screen~
I didn’t know that 🙂 That’s also cool…but insofar as a a software-based solution is concerned, the slider is a great one. Especially so, since the HD is notably clickwheel-free, and is the form factor to which I’m referring 🙂
But on a phone with a hardware interface, I agree, the Diamond’s clickwheel is a good device, although I would hardly call it revolutionary (heh, pun).
The Sammy Instinct doesn’t have a clickwheel and is a similar FF to the iphone and HD, but has an incremental zoom feature…which sucks ass.
The main problem with the HTC products that I have noticed (and I’ve tapped around on several of them now) is that they just don’t touch very well. Yeah, yeah, I know people are going to tell me that it’s because they had protective covers over them and whatnot, but I have since used some iPhones with some pretty heavy protective covers on them, and the difference was still just as plain as day, so I no longer buy this argument. The HTC just touches like ass compared to the iPhone — there is really *no* comparison. Until they get this basic tech right, it’s as if they’re selling Windows with a decelerated mouse. (Note this is a *metaphor* not a ‘Microsoft mention’ — k? 87)
Every other modern device I have used (so *far*) but Apple’s is quite clearly way behind on touch technology.
Every time I see one of these phones I actually think it looks physically quite cool, and then every time I use it I am *heavily* disappointed. The web browsing experience is particularly bad, due to all of the mistaps and unregistered taps, and the fact that the browser simply is just way more buggy than Safari on the iPhone.
I don’t agree with the way Apple has been handling the user base with the iPhone, but that doesn’t make me love the annoying experiences I have had with HTC any better.
OH NOES!!! IFONEZ!!!
Not gunna comment on the i-sitch, but:
I agree, generally, that the HTCs suffers from the same affliction as ALL touch-screen interfaces, a term I used to call TTP (Tap, Touch, Pound), in that it always seems to take at least 3 attempts at varying degrees of power before the device responds. That said, HTC is likely the LEAST affected by this, as their touch screens seem to the be the best pressure-based ones available. (I suppose I’m just used to a screen that’s Bio-Lectric-based rather than pressure-based.)
^^^ it shoudl be pointed out that, in regards to the HTC specifically, oft-times the TTP issue is a result of me trying to access an app that hasn’t fully loaded. I’m a little eager sometimes. 😛
I’m not sure what other WM devices you guys have used, but both Squid and I hack our phones and run apps that would be best suited for faster processors. We’re definitely not ‘out of the box’ users by any stretch of the imagination, though I can’t speak for Squid’s Diamond. Don’t know if he’s changed the OS at all.
I have used other HTCs than the ones you guys souped up with your geek chops. 8)
BTW is Opera the only web browser?
My 9-year-old PSION Series 5mx touches way better than any Windows Mobile device I’ve ever used.
^^^well, that’s kinda like saying “My Etch-a-Sketch draws a straight line way easier than your fancy Photoshop” 😛
There’s a few browsers out there. Pocket IE is pre-installed, and does a ‘render down’ to mobile size. It’s not flashy, but I do like it’s speed for doing google searches, and Gmail (until I added Gmail to my email app anyways).
It looks like HTC and Opera Mobile inked a deal to be the ‘bonus’ browser for their phones (though it can be purchased separately).
Opera Mini is free and works with WMs java environment, and runs pretty snappy, but limited.
Skyfire is still in US only beta, but all reports say it’s a VERY fast full html browser.
NetFront used to be really good (much like Opera Mobile), but I haven’t tried it in a while as there’s no demo available. It was hands down champ on the Palm OS back in the day though.
There’s a couple of others like Iris which I’m not familiar with at all.
Re: the etch-a-sketch/photoshop analogy (funny, btw 8P) — what is the added complexity in HTC’s touch capability that justifies the slower/less accurate response? Is there some complication to touch technology from a colour screen.
I don’t get this. I see no reason for it not to be at least as good beside wrong programming priorities and other general incompetence.
I would like to try the HTC with the leanest, simplest, most unlikely-to-crash-and-stick-you-permanently-on-a-webpage-you-don’t-want browser available, and nothing else running in the background. Then I could decide whether the OS/processor sluggishness is interfering with the touch response, or whether the touch response is just plain not very good.
Actually — I believe that is a PODCAST CHALLENGE.
Let’s make it a taste test. HTC. iPhone. PSION Series 5mx. Side by side. No background tasks. *No* protective covers — touch-off!
I will install EPOC’s web browser in the PSION for just this purpose. 8)
I’m down.