What happened to HTC?

[WildW]

re: the Beats by Dr Dre stuff that HTC do...from reading reviews I got the impression that this "technology" was just the pair of free earphones. Is the phone itself actually any different?

 

[Red Storm]

re: the Beats by Dr Dre stuff that HTC do...from reading reviews I got the impression that this "technology" was just the pair of free earphones. Is the phone itself actually any different?

It's marketing.

 

[ew915]

re: the Beats by Dr Dre stuff that HTC do...from reading reviews I got the impression that this "technology" was just the pair of free earphones. Is the phone itself actually any different?

The beats is fud, the phones to start off are not having anything special to reproduce music, such as a dedicated board with shielded DAC amplifier to play music. Second the beats by Dr Dre headphones have a overemphasized low range but lacking on responsiveness so headphones will sound muddy if you play classic or opera music.
To really appreciate the quality of the earphones you need to train your ears to listen for the details and clarity in the recording.
There is a very small jump from $30 to a $300 pair of earphones and you will not take the most out of it without having the proper DAC and Amplifier unit, also your media has to be Flac or 320kbps mp3. So in summary for a phone you don't need high end. However coolness factor is another thing.

 

[poofyhairguy]

HTC needs a strong flagship like the Galaxy phones. Maybe they could turn Rezound into one.

They way I see it HTC had 4 potential flagship phones this year:

-Thunderbolt (popular first LTE phone but weak by modern standards)
-Sensation (kinda was the flagship but lack of RAM and carriers sinked it)
-Evo 3D (most powerful phone of their lineup for a while but sold on the gimmick)
-Rezound (first 720p phone in their lineup being sold on its fake audio capabilities)

I think the main problem with HTC is just marketing incompetence. When Verizon helps them (TBolt) they soar. When they don't it flops.

Kinda like another large mobile provider I know.

 

[kyrax12]

They way I see it HTC had 4 potential flagship phones this year:

-Thunderbolt (popular first LTE phone but weak by modern standards)
-Sensation (kinda was the flagship but lack of RAM and carriers sinked it)
-Evo 3D (most powerful phone of their lineup for a while but sold on the gimmick)
-Rezound (first 720p phone in their lineup being sold on its fake audio capabilities)

I think the main problem with HTC is just marketing incompetence. When Verizon helps them (TBolt) they soar. When they don't it flops.

Kinda like another large mobile provider I know.

Motorola?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Motorola?

Bingo.

 

[Oyeve]

fixed for you.

N/M

 

[Red Storm]

They must have time traveled into an alternate dimension to steal the design for my Galaxy Nexus.

 

[pantsaregood]

I'd say that the HTC Titan and Radar are pretty notable phones. They're both of great build quality.

 

[destrekor]

They way I see it HTC had 4 potential flagship phones this year:

-Thunderbolt (popular first LTE phone but weak by modern standards)
-Sensation (kinda was the flagship but lack of RAM and carriers sinked it)
-Evo 3D (most powerful phone of their lineup for a while but sold on the gimmick)
-Rezound (first 720p phone in their lineup being sold on its fake audio capabilities)

I think the main problem with HTC is just marketing incompetence. When Verizon helps them (TBolt) they soar. When they don't it flops.

Kinda like another large mobile provider I know.

I think they simply have zero ability to gauge consumer opinion. lol
Their phone designs are largely failing to follow what consumers really want.
It's confusing for them, because they think people vote with wallets. Sometimes, of the choices you have (based on various factors, could be needing specific features, or simply network choice), you have to choose one who still dislike but find to be the better choice.

Hell, this has pretty much summed up the sales of most HTC phones. If you look at the market on specific carriers when they release phones, if they are very successful it tends to be a product of the circumstances.

All things considered, HTC has come a long way, but still lack in comparison to the major players.


Oh, and for the HTC w/Beats thing, the name is for the headphones as well as what amounts to an EQ setting [iirc].

 

[wirednuts]

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.

yeah this is what i was going to say. samsung is an international bully in the tech world, but at the same time nobody really cares that much because their products they produce are state of the art with a normal price tag. and i dont mind samsung myself because to me they are the new sony- that hasnt gone to shit yet. sony of the late 80's lets say. you knew at that time, if it said sony on it- it was good stuff. as it is today, if you buy something sony there is a good chance it is utter garbage for what you paid. not the case with samsung these days (or the last 15 years).

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I was referring to HTC, they make you trade in your Warranty for the Bootloader

No they don't. The bootloader is easy to unlock and relock. I sent one in a few months ago because it kept randomly rebooting.

BTW, they all will not honor warranty claims if you have a non stock ROM on the phone.

 

[ew915]

No they don't. The bootloader is easy to unlock and relock. I sent one in a few months ago because it kept randomly rebooting.

BTW, they all will not honor warranty claims if you have a non stock ROM on the phone.

did you use the third party unlock method by unforgiven or their official unlock?

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I think they simply have zero ability to gauge consumer opinion. lol
Their phone designs are largely failing to follow what consumers really want.
It's confusing for them, because they think people vote with wallets. Sometimes, of the choices you have (based on various factors, could be needing specific features, or simply network choice), you have to choose one who still dislike but find to be the better choice.

Hell, this has pretty much summed up the sales of most HTC phones. If you look at the market on specific carriers when they release phones, if they are very successful it tends to be a product of the circumstances.

All things considered, HTC has come a long way, but still lack in comparison to the major players.


Oh, and for the HTC w/Beats thing, the name is for the headphones as well as what amounts to an EQ setting [iirc].

Well if their phones fail to be what consumers wanted, they should be sitting pretty. How many iPhone 4s has Apple sold already? lol
HTC's problem is themselves. They have competing products in the same class on the same carriers.

As far as the Beats thing goes, IT is just software, but there is a noticable difference in non Beats and Beats.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

did you use the third party unlock method by unforgiven or their official unlock?

I use Revolutionary/ADB You can s-off, s-on to your hearts content. (HTC)
For the Samsung Galaxy S, I found AIO Toolbox which makes things a lot easier.

 

[shortylickens]

The HD7 was awesome. Radar is good. The Titan is pretty sweet. In fact I think they've been making the best WP7 devices so far (we'll have to wait and see if Nokia gets a strong footing in the new year).

I think they are getting frustrated trying to compete with several other big companies for domination of Android. Every time they take the lead Motorola or Samsung pushes out a new kick ass device to make them look like 2nd place. There wasnt much competition in WP7 until HTC entered, it makes sense. There still isnt a heck of a lot going on there which is why Nokia is pushing in that direction.

And nobody but apple can make apple phones, so that kinda limits options. WebOS is dead, and I dont think HP was ever planning to let it go public anyway. RIM is closed, and dying besides.

I think we all got kind of used to having a plethora of devices and platforms and the only real issue was deciding exactly what you needed and then finding it. We dont have it quite so good any more so people are able to focus on nit picking.

 

[smartpatrol]

They way I see it HTC had 4 potential flagship phones this year:

-Thunderbolt (popular first LTE phone but weak by modern standards)
-Sensation (kinda was the flagship but lack of RAM and carriers sinked it)
-Evo 3D (most powerful phone of their lineup for a while but sold on the gimmick)
-Rezound (first 720p phone in their lineup being sold on its fake audio capabilities)

I think the main problem with HTC is just marketing incompetence. When Verizon helps them (TBolt) they soar. When they don't it flops.

Kinda like another large mobile provider I know.

True, but having 4 flagship phones is pretty much the same as having zero.

Everybody knows iPhone is Apple's flagship (obvious, because all their products are flagships). Just about everybody, by now, knows Galaxy S is Samsung's flagship. With Motorola it's little murkier, but they've managed to coast on Verizon's Droid brand and resurrected the RAZR brand.

But, if you asked most consumers what HTC's top-of-the-line is, out of say the Evo 3D, Evo Shift 4G, Sensation, Rezound, Thunderbolt, MyTouch 4G, MyTouch 4G Slide, Incredible 2, Amaze 4G, etc. . . they would probably have no clue. Hell, I'm a big smartphone geek and even I get confused by their enormous product line. Imagine how confusing it is to ordinary non-geeks.

HTC's problem is that their numerous brand names have no prestige. They need to come up with one unified brand to use on their high-end phones. Now that they have Beats, they have a great way to distinguish themselves. They just need to stop cranking out so many damn phones with confusing product names.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

True, but having 4 flagship phones is pretty much the same as having zero.

Everybody knows iPhone is Apple's flagship (obvious, because all their products are flagships). Just about everybody, by now, knows Galaxy S is Samsung's flagship. With Motorola it's little murkier, but they've managed to coast on Verizon's Droid brand and resurrected the RAZR brand.

But, if you asked most consumers what HTC's top-of-the-line is, out of say the Evo 3D, Evo Shift 4G, Sensation, Rezound, Thunderbolt, MyTouch 4G, MyTouch 4G Slide, Incredible 2, Amaze 4G, etc. . . they would probably have no clue. Hell, I'm a big smartphone geek and even I get confused by their enormous product line. Imagine how confusing it is to ordinary non-geeks.

HTC's problem is that their numerous brand names have no prestige. They need to come up with one unified brand to use on their high-end phones. Now that they have Beats, they have a great way to distinguish themselves. They just need to stop cranking out so many damn phones with confusing product names.

HTC also tends to ruin any good brands they have established. The Evo was a great top of the line device but then they go on and release the Evo Shift and Evo design that are lower end devices. Likewise the Incredible was a great high end phone yet the Incredible 2 is basically a re release of the enact same product with a slightly faster gpu.

 

[kaerflog]

I think EVO is HTC best brand.
They should have worked on it as their flagship line.

 

[Bateluer]

Does HTC own the Evo brand or does Sprint?

 

[kaerflog]

Does HTC own the Evo brand or does Sprint?

Good question.

 

[QueBert]

re: the Beats by Dr Dre stuff that HTC do...from reading reviews I got the impression that this "technology" was just the pair of free earphones. Is the phone itself actually any different?

There's some software that makes it different, it's basically like a really advanced EQ. The sound difference between audio with and without the beats enhancement's very noticeable. It will sound better than even PlayerPro another android app that has built in EQ features. With that said if Monster wanted they could release the beats audio as an app and it would work with any phone. hummm maybe some dude on XDA will yank the APK off the Rezound and figure a way to h4x0r it to make it run on a non Rezound phone.

 

[lothar]

Well off the record.. Which corporation do you think is more criminal based on your opinion?

I haven't rated either of those companies against each other and I don't plan to.
To make it easy for myself, I only keep two lists(I will keep examples of companies in each section short)

Good: (I try my best to buy from them or their brand if possible due to excellent quality, customer service, and reasonable cost. I sometimes don't mind paying a premium from them or for their products)
Costco
Logitech (Quite possibly to most customer/consumer friendly company I've ever dealt with)
Amazon (If a product is available there for cheap which it usually is, I buy from them first)
LG (My household is filled with their appliances...TV, Electric stove, Washer/Dryer)
Panasonic (My household is filled with their appliances...TV, Iron, Digital camera, Microwave)
Valve (STEAM is the only DRM I can handle...Almost all the others are too invasive for legitimate users while allowing the real "pirates" to go scotch free, especially EA's Origin and Ubisoft)

Bad: (I "try" my best to go out of my way and avoid these companies/brands)
Ubisoft
EA

Neutral:
Any company that is not on the list good/bad list. Samsung and Apple are here. Heck, HTC(since this topic is about them) and Motorola are still on the Neutral list. That should tell you something about this "neutral" section.

Can I tell you which company is more criminal, LG or Panasonic? EA or Ubisoft? No.
But I tell you which company is more criminal, Valve or Ubisoft? That's easy, Ubisoft!

Which company is more criminal, HTC or Motorola? I have no idea.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Hmmm, would make a good OT thread...

 

[lothar]

No they don't. The bootloader is easy to unlock and relock. I sent one in a few months ago because it kept randomly rebooting.

BTW, they all will not honor warranty claims if you have a non stock ROM on the phone.

That's true, but I will nitpick that statement further.

If you use HTC's "official" unlock method.
http://htcdev.com/bootloader/
They make you register and by registering they have your username on a list with your phone's ID attached to it with your signature(or click in this case) of you agreeing to their terms & conditions of forfeiting future warranty claims. It doesn't matter if you have a non-stock ROM on your HTC phone or not because your phone ID is on a list somewhere in their department tied to the online account you created.

Of course, there are ways to do it officially to bypass that which is what you did and what. This whole S-Off, S-On issue is complicated for me when I was trying to help a friend that had the Thunderbolt. With Samsung, I flash once and I'm done with. No toggling S-Off, S-On and such.

With Samsung, you flash back to stock and use a $1 eBay jig or create your own and no one would notice.
HTC is certainly a step ahead of Motorola in that regard of unlocked bootloaders, but not by much.