Hey all of you Canadian Android-lovers, looking for a good price on a first-gen Android device? How about the Rogers HTC Dream? Sound good? The folks at Canada’s ‘Big Red’ have dropped the price on the HTC Dream (about time) to $49.99 on a 3-year contract. If you don’t mind being locked-in to a device that is already passé, then throw down your Mackenzie King and pick one up.
The Rogers (NYSE: RCI) HTC Dream features a 3.2″ touchscreen (320×480), built-in accelerometer, full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, GPS, 3.2MP camera with auto focus and video… and much more.
An over-the-air software update for the Sprint (NYSE: S) Hero is now available, the biggest change being a fix to SMS and daylight savings time bugs. There’s no documented changelog, but if you notice anything different, feel free to drop a comment. If you didn’t automatically recieve the option to update to 1.56.651.2, go to Settings, About, System Updates, then Firmware Update.
HTC Hero Software Enhancement SW 1.56.651.2 provides feature updates and enhancements to address the following:
• Improvement to camera picture quality
• DST (Daylight Savings Time) issue addressed
• Unable to receive SMS due to full memory
• Memory leak when Bluetooth is in connecting state
• 3.5mm mono when not using headset with mic
• Dialer application causing excess battery draw
Important note: Dedicated Mute/Speaker buttons have been added to the Talk screen
Verification of updates:
To verify the customer has the updated build after the update:
1. Press Menu, Tap Settings
2. Flick Up, Tap About Phone
3. Scroll up and check Software version: After update 1.56.651.2
HTC announced that Australia is now officially blessed with two of the company’s Android smartphones – Hero and Tattoo.
The first of the two is a more capable device, sporting a large 3.2-inch HVGA (320×480) capacitive touchscreen, HSDPA, WiFi, GPS, 5-megapixel camera, and so on. On the other hand, the Tattoo is known as an entry-level Android handset that prides itself with personalized cover support, 2.8-inch QVGA resistive touchscreen, HSDPA, WiFi, GPS and 3.2-megapixel camera. In addition, both phones come with HTC’s own Sense UI that runs on top of Android, allowing for additional personalization.
Price wise, the Tattoo is available for AU$599, while the Hero could be yours for AU$200 more. That’s the price sans any contract signed, of course…
Highly shady and controversial Taiwanese news site Digitimes is claiming that HTC, maker of such famous devices as the Android powered Hero and Windows Mobile 6.5 packing HD2, is going to be releasing a feature fone in early 2010 that will run Qualcomm’s Brew MP operating system. The first American operators to offer Brew MP devices are going to be Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless and Sprint (NYSE: S). The only handset on the market that runs Brew MP, that I’m aware of (please comment below if you know more), is the INQ fone made by operator Hutchison Whampoa.
Heard this over the weekend, and I’m posting it so that you can tell me if it’s true in YOUR area or not. Apparently, the Sprint HTC Hero is now up for grabs for $99 on a 2-year contract at Best Buy Mobile locations.
Just finished checking the Canadian Best Buy Mobile website, and sure enough the HTC Hero is available in Black or White for $99.99. Unfortunately a search on the American Best Buy Mobile site does not yield the same result. Check out stores in your area as I’m thinking this could possibly be an in-store offer only.
Read the headline? It’s not just the “Moto Droid thing” only – the good ol’ G1 can also be used for turn-by-turn navigation provided by Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps, thanks to the ever active XDA development community. Of course, we’re not talking about the official ROM update, but something that requires a little effort, yet delivers great benefits.
We’re hearing once the process of upgrading/hacking the G1 is completed, Google Maps Navigation runs smoothly giving us hope if HTC does nothing about it, Google will. Are you reading this folks? Please make sure your old customers aren’t forgotten.
HTC expects its revenues to top NT$40-42 billion (US$12.3-12.9 billion) in Q4 2009, up from Q3’s NT$34 billion, and 5-6% more from the same period of last year. ODM shipments, on the other hand, are expected to come to the end of their business cycles.
Q4’s gross margin is expected to be in the 32-33% range, while operating expense ratio is set to rise to 16.5%-17.5%, up from Q3’s 13.9%. Higher marketing budget for the quarter has been quoted as a main reason.
In terms of total handset shipments, third quarter accounted for 2.8 million units, Q2 – 3 million units, and Q1 – 2.4 million.
Finally, HTC ended Q3 with NT$5.7 billion in revenues, which is 12.4% down from Q2 and 18.5% year-on-year. Q3’s EPS stood at NT$7.18.
HTC also said it expects the US market to continue to grow, whereas Europe will remain relatively weaker.
You see this little snippet of a photo of an HTC smartphone? This may just be an image of the rumored Verizon (NYSE: VZ)-bound HTC Passion/Dragon’s display. The photo comes bundled with new speculation that has the big-screened Android phone bringing its 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera and Android 2.0 OS to Verizon Wireless sometime in the middle of December.
How do we know this is the Verizon Wireless HTC Dragon? We don’t know anything for sure at this point. But we do know that the clock widget comes from HTC’s Sense UI, so the handset is definitely HTC hardware. The high resolution fits in nicely with what we’d expect from a 4.3-inch display rocking 800×480 pixels. And, to top it off, BGR has confirmed that the pictured handset is headed to Verizon Wireless. Mid-December seems to be the date to mark on your calendar, but we’ll update you as we get more detailed info.
The Motorola Droid might be getting the lion’s share of the media hype right now, but if the HTC Dragon hits Verizon Wireless before the holidays, it’s going to be hard to keep fawning over the Droid. The Dragon sports a larger display, a 5-megapixel camera, the same Android 2.0 OS, and Sense UI as a bonus. Sure, the Droid has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but will that be enough to woo consumers away from the Dragon?
We’ve already had a chance to play with the HTC Droid Eris from Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless, but there’s nothing like a retail package unboxing ceremony to really get up close and personal with a new handset. As the “ying” to the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid’s “yang,” the HTC Droid Eris offers Verizon customers a fully capable Android smartphone at half the price of Moto’s headlining Droid, and it deserves some of our undivided attention.
The HTC Droid Eris is a lot like the HTC Hero from Sprint. Just like the Hero, the Droid Eris packs a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel auto-focusing camera, 3G data, WiFi, GPS and a microSD card slot. It also runs the Sense UI, HTC’s custom Android homescreen skin, which gives the Droid Eris a bunch of extra HTC widgets to play with – and it doesn’t hurt that Sense UI looks way prettier than the vanilla Android homescreen.
Surprisingly, the HTC Droid Eris isn’t much thinner than the Motorola Droid, which sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. That’s not to say that the Droid Eris is a brick, it actually sits really comfortably in the hand. Still, the Eris could stand to lose a couple millimeters around its waist.
The Droid Eris’s 5-megapixel camera is faster and less laggy than the Motorola Droid. It also supports touch-focusing, which gives it a another small but significant leg-up on the Droid. The 3.2-inch display is smaller than would be ideal, but it’s plenty big for day-to-day use. Above all, there’s no sliding mechanism on the Droid Eris, so build quality is top-notch – no jiggling or creaking here.
Unfortunately, the Eris runs Android 1.5 OS. The Motorola Droid features Android 2.0 OS, which has the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps Navigation app pre-installed. Android 1.5 isn’t bad, especially with HTC’s Sense UI riding on top, but it’s no Android 2.0.
Anyway, acquaint yourself with the Droid Eris below!
Remember the HTC Shift? It was HTC’s first attempt at a super-portable laptop capable of running both Windows Vista and Windows Mobile. These days, we’d be inclined to call it a “netbook” if not for its prohibitive price tag. Despite its innovative design and features, however, the HTC Shift never gained any traction in the crowded ultra-portable laptop segment. But, don’t count HTC out of the netbook game just yet. According to HTC CEO Peter Chou, the smartphone maker is still considering an entrance into the netbook market.
At the HTC HD2 launch yesterday, Chou stated that HTC was “carefully looking into [the netbook] category and how it can be part of that.” He added that HTC doesn’t want to make another “me too” netbook that will get lost in the shuffle. Instead, HTC would be looking to launch a product with “unique value” to differentiate itself from the crowd. The HTC Shift was unique in its own right. It offered instant-on access to the Windows Mobile operating system as well as Windows Vista.
How cool would it be if HTC launched a netbook with instant-on access to Android? Or, for that matter, how about an Android-powered netbook? Speculating is fun.
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