HTC has launched BlinkFeed, SenseTV and Service Pack apps in the Google Play Store, though at the moment they seem unavailable for most devices, including the last year’s HTC One. It could be that HTC will first launch some sort of firmware update before these apps can run on other phones; or these apps will be available only after the All New One is officially announced.
BlinkFeed, for those of you who missed it, provides users with access to all of their social feeds, calendar events, news, music and content “arranged and constantly updated in one place.” This new version of the app comes with the Offline Reading mode which will download stories while you’re connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot and allow you to read them later in the day.
SenseTV is an electronic programming guide + universal remote control app. Originally introduced with Sense 5.0 on the HTC One, it now rocks a Sense 6-like design while adding support for HTC One Google Play Edition (which for some reason was missing in the previous version).
Finally, HTC Service Pack does all of the work under the hood; it’s a “support service update that combines previously released updates and helps make your HTC experience more reliable.”
Now that these apps have been released in the Play Store, HTC will be able to update them without launching full-blown firmware upgrades. This in turn should allow the company to be more active in this department, releasing new versions of their apps every few months… or whenever needed, bypassing carrier’s approval process along the way.
UPDATE: HTC has added two additional apps to the Google Play Store – HTC Guide and HTC Gallery.
HTC BlinkFeed (FREE) [Google Play Store]
HTC SenseTV (FREE) [Google Play Store]
HTC Service Pack (FREE) [Google Play Store]