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HTC Desire = Nexus One + Sense UI — The Competition

Rene Ritchie — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:23:46 +0000

While yesterday’s Mobile World Congress news was all about Windows Phone 7 Series (henceforth WinPho7s), the Android invasion has returned with news of the HTC Desire, which looks to be Nexus One-style hardware running a new version of Sense UI, and the HTC Legend, a unibody update to the Hero.

Android Central has your details and your HTC Desire hands-on.

In terms of competition to the iPhone, it’s probably not too different than the Nexus One either. The specs remain over the top but the polish in terms of capacitance sensitivity isn’t likely improved. The big question will be whether or not Sense UI on the HTC Desire is more consistent and if multitouch is in the keyboard’s future.

There’s also a new, uber-version of the Hero called the Legend, so check out details and an HTC Legend hands-on over at Android Central as well.

Overall, the main contrast to Apple’s steady, once a year pace with extreme fit and finish is Google/HTC/Android’s release fast, fix later, polish never strategy. The sheer amount of “superphone” class devices they’re putting out, however, should keep the pressure on Apple as we round the corner towards a 4th generation iPhone.

Also, unlike Apple’s one, global iPhone, HTC is — as is all too often the case — releasing the Desire and the Legend without any support for US 3G bands. (Yeahbuwhy?)

Check them out and then come back and let us know what you think Apple has to do, if anything, to compete in the newer, hotter 2010!

Google Android HTC Hero, Motorola Droid Hands-on Video — Smartphone Round Robin

Rene Ritchie — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:22:53 +0000

Week 3 the 2009 Smartphone Round Robin serves me up on a princess-splattered platter for Google’s Android platform with the equally pretty HTC Hero and the red-eyed macho-mech, Motorola’s DROID.

Our ace Android Central expert, the generally non-grievous Casey Chan is helping me out in the video below the fold, and I’ve also headed over to AC’s cantina to mind-trick me some answers.

Remember, every day you post on my Android Central Forums thread, you’re entered for a chance to win the Android of your choice. (And there’s a total of 6 smartphones up for grabs — one per SPE site — so check them all out!)

And since turn-about is fair play, the aforementioned Casey has returned from the ~~Dark~~ Droid Side to once again wield the iPhone, and you can now be his Yodas in the TiPb Forums! (And win an iPhone 3GS!)

Now brace yourselves for the jump to lightspeed (and a week of poor Star Wars puns!) because Casey’s about to show me everything new and hopeful about Hero’s Sense UI and Droid’s Android 2.0!

[YouTube Video link]

The Competition: Chin-less HTC Hero Android Invading Sprint

Rene Ritchie — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:32:09 +0000

It’s official — the HTC Hero, currently the most drool-inducing handset the Android platform has to offer, hits Sprint October 11. Sibling site AndroidCentral has all the details, and PreCentral.net has the concern that Spring might be loving the Palm Pre just a tad less when the droid everyone’s looking for hits the Now (and then) Network.

So how competitive will the Sense UI on Sprint at $179.99 be with the iPhone 3GS on AT&T at $199? (We’ll leave the iPhone 3G at $99 off the table for now). As functionality gets closer and closer, Android apps picks up, and ease of use improves, it will likely be the network that’s the deciding factor — who gets more bars in the most places they need to be. [Note: the video above shows the Sense UI, but the form factor above is the original Hero, not Sprint' chinless version]

Oh, oh…

Jokes aside, we’ve seen Nokia N900 upping their UI game, and Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 distressingly still not, should Apple be most worried about the increasingly competitive Google and its increasing army of droideka?

Or is this really — and mostly — just a problem for Palm right? Apple’s enemy’s enemy’s carrier enemy is… what now?

Smartphone Experts Roundtable 5

Dieter Bohn — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:35:12 +0000

Join Dieter, Matthew, Rene, and Kevin as they discuss all of the insanely great new smartphones that have been announced and released in the past month. On the docket:

Palm Pre Review
iPhone 3GS Review
Nokia N97 Review
BlackBerry Tour Review
HTC Hero
and a bit more about Windows Mobile to boot. It’s all here!

(Update: links and player fixed.)

Download it directly with this link
Subscribe via iTunes
Subscribe directly to the Podcast feed with your favorite Podcatcher here
Listen to it here with the player above

Show notes after the break.

Matthew Miller for Nokia Experts
Rene Ritchie for The iPhone Blog
Kevin Michaluk for CrackBerry.com
and Dieter Bohn for PreCentral.net, , TreoCentral, and Android Central

Credits

Special thanks to gmz for the song Parametaphoriquement, licensed under the Creative Commons at CCMixter.org

The Competition: HTC Hero (Android)

Rene Ritchie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:03:44 +0000

Our sibling site Android Central is all over the new HTC Hero announcement — the latest Android smartphone and one that looks decidedly different from its G1 predecessor.

We weren’t exactly fond of the G1′s user experience, but did lust after their notification system and push Gmail. Does this latest entry, with its Senses UI, up the ante? And should Apple be worried yet, or is Microsoft and Windows Mobile still the low-hanging fruit in Google’s sights?