Let’s face it, as great as HTC’s phones once was, the company’s more recent endeavors haven’t really been met too favorably, especially in the light of Chinese companies who are aggressively releasing cheaper and more value for money handsets. So much so that HTC could be considering calling it quits.
With 5G and foldable phones entering the market in 2019, this year’s Mobile World Congress was full of excitement, but not all products are created equal, and some are more eye-catchy than others. Here’s what we think is worthy of your attention, in no particular order.
With most Android flagships sharing similar hardware specs, one of the ways Android handset makers differentiate themselves from the competition is by using software. HTC, just like all the other handset makers, has employed this strategy, one of which is through its Mail app which comes bundled with its phones.
Last year HTC announced the HTC Exodus, a blockchain smartphone. It seemed like a rather novel idea, and to make it even more novel, HTC later announced that customers could buy the phone using only cryptocurrency. However if you were interested in the handset but do not own cryptocurrency, you’re in luck.
It is unclear what HTC’s plans for the future will be with regards to mobile devices. The company’s smartphones haven’t exactly been well-received to date, but it seems that HTC plans on sticking around although with slightly different products. The company has recently taken the wraps off a new piece of hardware dubbed the HTC 5G Hub that they plan on launching with Sprint in the spring of 2019.
HTC has unveiled a new version of its standalone Vive Focus headset. The Vive Focus Plus comes with an updated pair of HTC’s motion controllers which the company first launched as developer hardware in October last year. The original controllers had three degrees of freedom support while the new ones have support for six.
#CES2019 – One of the early limitations of VR headsets was that they were largely dependent on being tethered to a PC. This is because a PC was required to power them and also run the apps for the headset. However we’ve started to see more models launched as standalone headsets, with the latest offering coming from HTC.
HTC has had a rough couple of years in the smartphone market. Even though it has made devices that have received good reviews, the company just can’t seem to sell enough of them to stop bleeding money. It’s not giving up, though. HTC Taiwan president Darren Chen has said that the company aims to reboot its smartphone sales by focusing on flagship and mid-tier models next year.
When you think of smartphone cameras that are supposed to be good, you might think of brands such as Apple, Samsung, Huawei, and more recently even Google is giving these companies a run for their money. This means that in theory in a blind test, it should be pretty clear who the winners are, right?
Quite a few manufacturers have now started rolling out the Android Pie update for compatible devices. Some big names like Samsung are still missing from the list, though, but that company is running a beta program now ahead of the launch for the Galaxy S9 in January. HTC has joined the list today with the HTC U11 Life becoming its first handset to get the Android Pie update.
We’re sure many are wondering what will become of HTC. The company was previously one of the major players in the smartphone industry and was churning out flagship after flagship and keeping up the pace with their competition, but over the years they started to fall behind which has since allowed others, including Chinese OEMs, to overtake them.