We do know that HTC’s new handset flow will begin to wane in 2012 in favor of better quality devices but we don’t know if that also translates to a greater focus on updating the massive amount of different handsets it released last year. At the moment, everything is just talk but we’re more than happy to hear HTC filling in its customers.

HTC has been working hard to get its Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades ready, and we’re excited to announce that our first round of ICS upgrades will roll out by the end of March for the HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation 4G and HTC Sensation XE, followed soon there after by the HTC Sensation XL.

In addition, we can confirm Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades will be coming later this year to the HTC Rezound, HTC Vivid, HTC Amaze 4G, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S and HTC Desire HD. Stay tuned for more updates on Ice Cream Sandwich releases in the coming weeks.

If you’re rocking a Sensation, which includes the 4G, XE, or XL, you can expect to get your handset updated within or around a month’s time. All other handsets will likely be waiting for a while. It doesn’t come as a surprise that HTC’s 2011 flagship handset line will be getting updated the quickest but most of the remaining handsets to be updated are more than capable of handling the next version of Android and Sense. It remains to be seen as far as the Incredible S, Desire S, and Desire HD are concerned. Hopefully there is enough space without stripping too much out.

HTC is the latest among a decent list of manufacturers who have already announced its upgrade schedule for Ice Cream Sandwich this year. Now, it’s time to wait and see which company does or doesn’t make good on their promises.

[Via: Droid-Life, Facebook]

Other noteworthy specs include:

• 1.5 GHz dual-core processor
• Support for quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, dualband UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA at 900/2100 MHz as well as dualband LTE at 800/2600 MHz
• Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi b/g/n and a GPS
• 4.5-inch qHD touchscreen
• 8 megapixel auto-focus 1080p HD camera on the back
• Front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera
• 1 GB RAM
• 16 GB flash memory expanded with microSD memory cards up to 32 GB
• 1620 mAh battery

There were 2,000 base stations added in Germany that is suppose to power up more than 8.5 million households with LTE service. But a large part of these base stations only reside in rural areas where Vodafone LTE in the 800 MHz frequency space lies, as this provides large areas and many users as possible with a DSL replacement.

So with a 4G network finally ready to go, the HTC Velocity is a pretty good beginning. That said, a price or launch date hasn’t been announced, but Vodafone Germany, HTC and Qualcomm will hold a press conference next week, which will more than likely reveal even more details on the country’s first LTE handset official.

[via Computerwoche]

Earlier this week we reported that HTC was having a bit of a problem pulling in revenues. Make no mistake, the Ville is no where near exciting enough to fix that. That being said, it is just one of four devices expected to be announced later this month in Barcelona. The others are a high end quad core device called the Edge, and a pair of mid range devices. Depending on how each of these things are priced, we’ll know whether or not they’ll be hits, but something tells us that Samsung is going to steal the show once again. They might not be announcing the Galaxy S III this month, but they do plan on refreshing the Galaxy S II by giving it a newer version of Android and more power efficient processor.

“While short term performance may not meet the results as expected, we have gained further experience and advancement in the areas of brand management and product innovation,” CEO Peter Chou stated in a press release. “These fundamental strengths and the groundwork we have laid will take us into 2012 with a renewed focus and determination.”

His message seems to echo the same one given by the company’s CFO: HTC shit the bed.

The handset manufacturer posted its first profit decline in two years this morning and expects revenue to drop even further during first quarter. Revenue for the fourth quarter dropped 2.5 percent from Q4 2010 and by over 25 percent from Q3 2011 to $3.44 billion.

HTC was arguably the top Android smartphone vendor in 2010, pumping out the first 4G Android phone along with many other successful devices with great combinations of solid hardware and software. But in 2011, the spotlight that once engulfed HTC was very dim at best. 2011 was Samsung’s year to shine: it had much thinner Android hardware and did an overall better job than anyone at stealing a bit of Apple’s thunder, albeit not a whole lot. Samsung also had a stronger focus on Android handsets, while HTC flip-flopped between Android and Windows Phone in 2011.

[via SlashGear]

“Despite short-term difficulties, momentum will resume in the upcoming product cycle driven by HTC’s brand strength, innovation, and design/engineering capabilities.”

This “upcoming product cycle” doesn’t really kick off until Q2 2012, because when you think about it, how many of the devices due to be announced this month at Mobile World Congress will actually ship before the end of March? Speaking about MWC, that Reuters piece suggests HTC will launch four devices at the show. One will be the Ville that we saw last week, which to be honest is nothing more than an anorexic HTC Sensation, another will be some quad core monster phone that’ll likely last less than 12 hours on a single charge, and the other two … we have no idea.

In our minds it isn’t like HTC really has to do all that much to win consumers hearts. Step One: Either kill HTC Sense or offer people an option to turn it off completely. Step Two: Introduce a new design language, because ever since the Nexus One came out two years ago we haven’t really seen a radical new look. Step Three: Follow in Motorola’s footsteps and come out with a phone with a monster battery so people can actually use their device for more than a day.

That’s it. Can’t be that hard? Right?

Now if you want a nicely designed 7-inch tablet, the Flyer is a decent option. However, I would suggest getting something else instead. For instance, take a look at the Samsung Galaxy 7.0 Plus or Huawei MediaPad, which even looks like the Flyer.

Although HTC’s tablet now runs Android Honeycomb, we’re not sure it will ever get the Ice Cream Sandwich update. There may be unofficial ways to make it run Android 4.0, but that’s not the point. The problem is that the Flyer has a single-core processor and I’m not sure it will be able to cope with some advanced tasks Ice Cream Sandwich brings to the table.

Then again, if you won’t need that, hop over to this page and grab the HTC Flyer while supplies last. Just don’t say I haven’t warned you.

[Via: Unwired View]

The information comes from the Taiwanese company’s Dutch office, though we’re certain the Netherlands won’t be the only country where you’ll be able to buy the white Sensation.

As a reminder, the HTC Sensation is still considered one of the best Android smartphones with specs that include a 4.3-inch qHD touchscreen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing one, HSPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS, Bluetooth and so on. Major European carriers will most likely offer the white version for free on plans starting at about 30-35 EUR per month…

[Via: EuroDroid]

The security issue at hand pertains to secure information becoming exposed while on WiFi networks and affects the following handsets: Desire HD, Glacier, Droid Incredible, Thunderbolt, Sensation, Sensation 4G, Desire S, EVO 3D, and Evo 4G. As we said before, its interesting to see that the Evo 4G is among the handset affected by this issue, as it has been around for quite a while.

HTC posted on its website:

HTC has developed a fix for a small WiFi issue affecting some HTC phones. Most phones have received this fix already through regular updates and upgrades.However, some phones will need to have the fix manually loaded. Please check back next week for more information about this fix and a manual download if you need to update your phone.

HTC is trying to play the issue down and we’re not surprised. This wouldn’t be the first time security holes have been found in HTC handsets (due to the heavy customization it put into its devices) but users will be relieved that the fix itself is already available. The company claims that the fix has already been implemented in most of its handsets that had the security issue but some may require a manual update.

While we like the Sense UI for the most part, it’s issues like this that can show that heavy customizations from the OEM can produce more issues than stock Android, or even less heavily customize user interfaces for that matter. One of the main concerns about the Android operating system is that its less secure than its competition and manufacturers who punch holes in the security the OS does have just makes it worse. We think we’ll stick with the Nexus line, thanks.

If you’re rocking one of the HTC handsets listed above, check out the website to see if you need to manually update to get the fix.

[Via: TMONews]

First announced at CES 2012, the HTC Titan II was the first official Windows Phone with 4G LTE on AT&T. With a 4.7-inch Super LCD display, 1.5 GHz SnapDragon processor, 16-megapixel camera and all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a device of this class, the Titan II could very well become the best Windows Phone on the market when it does land. Its main competition will likely be the Nokia Lumia 900, which may be landing at a very attractive price point.

I was able to play with the Titan II at CES and it has the high-quality build that you’d expect from HTC. I found it performed well and the few sample pictures I took with the 16-megapixel camera looked great, but I really want to take it out for a photographic spin.

We’ll definitely keep you up to date on when this handset will land and go ahead and check out our hands-on video of the Titan II below. Any of you interested in this smartphone?

[Via Engadget]

For their sake, hopefully the iPhone hype will cool down a bit by then. According to a report from DigiTimes, vendors from around the globe including Samsung, HTC, Nokia, and LG have pushed their finest new devices further into the year to avoid being slammed with the iPhone effect — that is, millions of people buying Apple handsets while other phone makers struggle to gain any spotlight and therefore any sales.

These four manufacturers all plan to unveil their new devices for 2012 at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, taking place February 27th to March 1st. Though that is within the first quarter, the companies aren’t expected to start shipping any new devices until later in the year.

I wouldn’t doubt that popular Android and Windows Phone vendors are scared of Apple — they should be. Apple reported it sold 37 million iPhones last quarter and brought in $46 billion in revenue. There’s plenty of reasons to fear a company that sells 37 million of any gadget within three months.

[via DigiTimes]

The HTC Ville is one of the thinnest handset’s coming from the manufacturer. This is a very good thing, as we’ve been dealing with devices like the Rezound, which seriously needs less chunk to its profile. The Ville is your typical HTC phone: Gorgeous hardware with equally gorgeous software, Sense. We’ll get back to the software later.

The Ville rocks a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED display, 8 megapixel camera, VGA front-facing camera, and the now-expected WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc. Snapdragon S4 notwithstanding, which truly is the best part of this device, the Ville is essentially every HTC phone we’ve seen before but it comes in at an impressive 8mm.

Like we mentioned above, the real story about this phone is the Snapdragon S4. Still, with the heavy customizations and animations HTC just loves to fill its phones with, we’re wondering just how noticeable the performance boost will be. Many were hoping that the introduction of Android 4.0 would give HTC a hint and strip a few pieces of its custom user interface out in order to let Ice Cream Sandwich shine through but within the short video of the pre-production software you see below, it looks like HTC has gone in the other direction, customizing the OS more than ever.

We’ll probably get our first real look at the handset come February, so stay tuned!