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What happened to HTC?

ponyo

ponyo

Lifer
HTC made the first Android phone, G1. They made the first Nexus for Google. Then they came out with Evo which was widely praised. But it seems they've pretty much disappeared from the spotlight and I hardly see anyone recommend their phones anymore. How much do you think is due to HTC policy of locking the bootloader of their recent phones? I know they recently released some kind of tool to unlock some of their phones. HTC had huge mod community following because they were the first and they were helpful to the community. But after the locked bootloader saga, many developers switched to Samsung. I remember a year ago, people here routinely bashed Samsung phones while praising HTC. Now situation is totally reversed. So what happened to HTC? I seem to remember they missed their last quarterly earnings number.
 
I was never happy with any HTC Android phone to be honest. Besides the obvious issues with Sense, their phones seem to be notorious battery hogs, and they all look very similar to me.
 
Until the next generation of phones on Verizon, they've all been 50-100% thicker than the competing models from Samsung or Motorola and they don't have the performance or battery life to back that up. I think their next phone on Verizon will be under 9mm, so gets them more competitive.

I doubt the locked bootloader has anything to do with it as Motorola is locked and still some of the best selling phones (at least on Verizon).
 
They are being quietly brilliant, so you don't hear about them 🙂
I don't think it's due to locked bootloaders, it's more due to their phones lacking any clear competitive advantages. It's not like Samsung, they got the best screens that make the phone stand out, plus they got the Nexus with the latest and greatest unmolested Android. HTC got Sense and Beats by Dr Dre.
 
They stopped innovating. They have rehashed the HD2 - first released in September of 2009 - about 5 dozen times now. Sure, they upgrade the SoC and occasionally the screen resolution, but ultimately, they haven't really pushed the envelope recently.
 
Deeko said:
They stopped innovating. They have rehashed the HD2 - first released in September of 2009 - about 5 dozen times now. Sure, they upgrade the SoC and occasionally the screen resolution, but ultimately, they haven't really pushed the envelope recently.
Click to expand...

This. I'm an EVO 4G owner who's perfectly happy with his phone (and the MASSIVE ROM developer community associated with it), but HTC seems to have completely stalled while others are bringing new things to the smartphone table.
 
Deeko said:
They stopped innovating. They have rehashed the HD2 - first released in September of 2009 - about 5 dozen times now. Sure, they upgrade the SoC and occasionally the screen resolution, but ultimately, they haven't really pushed the envelope recently.
Click to expand...

HTC is being the HTC that has always been.

When you hear about HTC, that's HTC doing something fairly unexpected... but then, they are just there again. You think fondly of them because the memory of the unexpected and newness is still fresh, but there track record stands clear. Every now and then, release a great product and/or something exciting, something that is invigorating to a specific market.
And then they twiddle their thumbs, rehashing the same things incrementally for a long time before they realize they are terribly boring and need a new thing.

Most often: standard to sub-par build quality, visually somewhat unappealing or "old", brutish, and otherwise boring.
When they have something sleek or stylish compared to other offerings, it actually is really nice.


You sparked this new idea here... but as I remembered all the way back to WinMo6 days... I realized there was a very obvious trend.
 
Deeko said:
They stopped innovating. They have rehashed the HD2 - first released in September of 2009 - about 5 dozen times now. Sure, they upgrade the SoC and occasionally the screen resolution, but ultimately, they haven't really pushed the envelope recently.
Click to expand...
This.
I dumped my Evo for a SGSII and couldnt be happier. Screen is brilliant, CPU is fast, thin as hell. It may look nearly the same, but ultimately the components are better than anything HTC has out there.
 
My Roomate dropped my EVO a few days ago, about 3 feet off the ground and the screen cracked badly. I've never dropped the phone once. Can't really say much about a crappy feeling mostly plastic phone that still breaks so easy. Also worst battery life ever.

With that said I <3 Sense way more than Motoblur or TouchWiz.
 
I like my Sensation 4G harware wise. I hate the Sense UI so I run non-sense ROMs. Currently running ICS 4.0.3 ROM with AOSP and loving it.
The phones themselves are unassuming. People won't see you with an HTC phone and say "WOW you have an <iPhone> <Galaxy 2>
It's just another phone. The HTC Amaze has by far the best Camera interface I've seen for a phone yet. It's simple, yet loaded with options, the capture speed is amazing, and still very high quality images.
 
Deeko said:
They stopped innovating. They have rehashed the HD2 - first released in September of 2009 - about 5 dozen times now. Sure, they upgrade the SoC and occasionally the screen resolution, but ultimately, they haven't really pushed the envelope recently.
Click to expand...

YUP.
I've said this many times over.
HTC was revolutional when they came out with the HD2.
First 4.3" screen, 1ghz soc, beautiful designed phone.
After that its HD2 reharshed many times over and none of them good looking as the HD2.
HTC phones looks cheap to me when compared to Samsung.
And of course it showed because HTC sales have plunged quite a bit the last year.
 
HTC still rocks IMO.

But regarding Android makers, I guess Samsung and Motorola have gained more publicity this year. Samsung due to the ICS Nexus phone and Galaxy SII (and Galaxy Tab), and Motorola due to it being acquired by Google.
 
postmortemIA said:
Rezound is great hardware-wise, it does not get enough buzz due to Nexus having better software...
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i have a rezound and a galaxy nexus right now..


honestly from a hardware and just overall nice feel the rezound is better. i'd be using the rezound if i wasn't a tinkerer and wanted ICS so much (going to sell rezound after the holidays).


So i don't think there is anything wrong with htc per se. their phones do not visually look quite as stunning, but they are very solid. i suppose they just don't have anything flashy right now but im sure when the edge or whatever aluminum bodied tegra3 thing comes out they'll be back.


lets just say if the rezound ran stock ICS, it would be a better phone than the galaxy nexus bar none. the galaxy nexus has 2 advantages over the rezound... 1 is its a nexus so it has stock google, and 2 it has an amoled screen which is nice in sunlight (indoors honestly the rezound screen is better and sharper). but yeah for me that is enough to keep the nexus (i am an htc fan boy too. i've had the g1, g2, mytouch 3g, 3g slide, AND the tbolt and rezound) as i'm really into playing with my phone and the rezound looks like it just came out at the wrong time.



UPDATE: the rezound apparently just got a way to get unlocked... so maybe all is not lost.
 
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hans007 said:
i have a rezound and a galaxy nexus right now..


honestly from a hardware and just overall nice feel the rezound is better. i'd be using the rezound if i wasn't a tinkerer and wanted ICS so much (going to sell rezound after the holidays).


So i don't think there is anything wrong with htc per se. their phones do not visually look quite as stunning, but they are very solid. i suppose they just don't have anything flashy right now but im sure when the edge or whatever aluminum bodied tegra3 thing comes out they'll be back.


lets just say if the rezound ran stock ICS, it would be a better phone than the galaxy nexus bar none. the galaxy nexus has 2 advantages over the rezound... 1 is its a nexus so it has stock google, and 2 it has an amoled screen which is nice in sunlight (indoors honestly the rezound screen is better and sharper). but yeah for me that is enough to keep the nexus (i am an htc fan boy too. i've had the g1, g2, mytouch 3g, 3g slide, AND the tbolt and rezound) as i'm really into playing with my phone and the rezound looks like it just came out at the wrong time. no community around it because of the nexus, just not smart to release a phone the same time as a nexus really. had the rezound come out at the same time say the bionic did, i think it would already have root/s-off and real dev support...
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CPU-wise, I believe the Nexus and Rezound are on par, 1.2Ghz OMAP4460 vs 1.5Ghz Snapdragon. Adreno 220 is a little dated though.

After owning the Thunderbolt, though, the thought of having to deal with Sense again almost makes me vomit. :/
 
Bateluer said:
CPU-wise, I believe the Nexus and Rezound are on par, 1.2Ghz OMAP4460 vs 1.5Ghz Snapdragon. Adreno 220 is a little dated though.

After owning the Thunderbolt, though, the thought of having to deal with Sense again almost makes me vomit. :/
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im ok with sense honestly i dont mind it. i just know that playing with both of these phones (and sadly i have a 2nd rezound that is being repaired due to a bootl loop issue... yes i have like $1500 worth of cellphones) is that gingerbread just feels less smooth than ICS.

im definitely selling the rezound i have right now, but if a CM9 rezound build that is half decent comes out by the time my other rezound comes back i may sell the nexus instead. the rezound's hardware is really quite good.
 
Deeko said:
They stopped innovating. They have rehashed the HD2 - first released in September of 2009 - about 5 dozen times now. Sure, they upgrade the SoC and occasionally the screen resolution, but ultimately, they haven't really pushed the envelope recently.
Click to expand...
This.

HTC Android phones are the jack of all trades, master of none.
Crappy battery life, crappy speakers, crappy screens, bulky phones, locked bootloaders with unnecessary long process to unlock, and Sense.
http://htcdev.com/bootloader/

Why would anyone get an HTC device when they can get a better device from Samsung today?
Samsung Galaxy phones have excellent battery life, better speakers, excellent screens, thin & light, and boatloader process that even my mother can probably follow.

It also will be nice to see HTC adopt other SoC's for a change as well rather than them sleeping in bed with Qualcomm and their Snapdragon processors.

When Krait comes, HTC may come back to the top. Until then, they will stay relegated like they are now.
 
hans007 said:
im ok with sense honestly i dont mind it. i just know that playing with both of these phones (and sadly i have a 2nd rezound that is being repaired due to a bootl loop issue... yes i have like $1500 worth of cellphones) is that gingerbread just feels less smooth than ICS.

im definitely selling the rezound i have right now, but if a CM9 rezound build that is half decent comes out by the time my other rezound comes back i may sell the nexus instead. the rezound's hardware is really quite good.
Click to expand...
I don't anticipate ICS coming to the Rezound anytime soon due to Sense bloat.
If anything, it will probably come to Galaxy devices first since Samsung has 1st hand experience in developing ICS for the Galaxy Nexus.
 
ponyo said:
So what happened to HTC?
Click to expand...

In a word, Samsung.

Samsung Inc., is a ruthless competitor, and a quasi criminal corporation, with a convicted felon as the CEO. HTC is small fry compared to Apple.

On July 16, 2008, The New York Times reported that the Seoul Central District Court found him guilty on charges of financial wrongdoing and tax evasion. Prosecutors requested that Lee be sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $347 million. The court fined him $109 million and sentenced him to 3 years suspended jail time. Lee has not responded to the verdict.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kun-hee
 
lothar said:
It also will be nice to see HTC adopt other SoC's for a change as well rather than them sleeping in bed with Qualcomm and their Snapdragon processors.

When Krait comes, HTC may come back to the top. Until then, they will stay relegated like they are now.
Click to expand...

Stop me if I'm wrong here, but one of HTC's execs sits on Qualcomm's board, or one of Qualcomm's execs sits on HTC's board. Or they're part owners of each other. Something along those lines.
 
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