Stock Android phones are pretty rare, at least through major carriers worldwide. Most Android smartphones come with a customized OEM interface, such as TouchWiz or Sense. Today, Google’s Nexus 4 by LG and custom ROMs on popular flagships are generally the easiest way to get your hands on the latest versions of Android without manufacturer skins. But a recent device also comes with a mostly stock version of Android on board – the HTC First. Officially, it ...
The HTC One is so exciting because it delivers a whole bunch of new ideas, all in one package. From the metal build, to the UltraPixel camera, to the stereo Boom Sound speakers, there are a lot of things HTC is trying to do differently. We’ve wondered how many of these might find a home in future HTC devices, and now we’re starting to get our first look, upon HTC model 606w appearing in a Chinese phone database. Right away you’ll notice those dual speaker grilles framing the phone’s face, giving away the presence of Boom ...
In the mobile chipset space, Qualcomm has been the dominant party. From 2010 and the original Snapdragon to the Snapdragon S4 Pro and newest series, Qualcomm’s chips have been used in the vast majority of the most notable low- to high-end smartphones around the world. In January, Strategy Analytics estimated that Qualcomm holds
It’s pretty clear that Facebook Home is the defining feature of the HTC First. After all, that’s why the device exists in the first place – to be marketed as a Facebook phone of sorts and offer a slightly more integrated Facebook Home experience than you can get on other devices. But Facebook Home is hardly the only trick up the First’s sleeve. Beneath Facebook Home, it sports the one feature we hear requested more ...
Facebook made waves when it announced its new mobile service, Facebook Home, which replaces the native launcher on Android devices with a beautiful, full-screen News Feed for a home screen. For avid Facebook users, Facebook Home has tons of value proposition, and it solves one of Facebook’s most outstanding problems – monetizing mobile. The company teamed up with HTC to bring the first smartphone pre-packaged with Facebook Home, the
Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the new no-bezel project from Pantech dubbed Vega Iron. Then we talk about the Motorola X Phone, and that delay you were already expecting to hear about. The Pebble smart watch is next as their SDK gets released. Then we go over BlackBerry’s recent issues with the media as apparently their Z10 is being returned as quick as it’s bought. We end today’s show talking about the HTC First, Facebook Home, Chat heads and everything you need to know about Facebook’s new home on Android. All this and more after the break. ...
HTC and Facebook teamed up last week at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park, California to (hopefully) lay to rest the remaining rumors of any official Facebook phone. Facebook unveiled its latest product, Home, and HTC announced its newest device, the First, the first phone to run Facebook Home out of the box. On the outside, the ...
As Mark Zuckerberg introduced Facebook Home, Peter Chou unveiled the HTC First on April 4 and AT&T promised it would be available starting April 12, which is today. The phone packs a dual-core Snapdragon 400 SoC clocked at 1.4GHz, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 2,000mAh battery, five-megapixel main camera, 1.6-megapixel front-facerand a 4.3-inch 720p display. Following the source link below you’ll be able to grab your own; it goes for $99.99 with a two-year contract or $449.99 ...
Stuff comes up, folks. Sometimes you’ve got a pressing appointment in Romania, or a meeting scheduled in Media, PA. Sometimes you’re at the day job, other times you’re off the grid somewhere in the country. Other times you’re buying a car. These things happen. Fortunately for us, these things don’t usually happen all at once, which means the Pocketnow Weekly podcast usually features more than two people on the air. But today, listeners, Lady Luck was not with us. Today, Sam the Scheduler was out sick, because every member of the Pocketnow team was otherwise ...
It’s a little early for us to post our full impressions of the HTC First, but while we’re waiting to put the device through its paces, let’s briefly talk about what the new “Facebook phone” means in terms of screen size. Longtime readers will be familiar with the display-dimensions discussion, which we’ve had a
Remember the HTC M4? We heard the codename leaked back in February, along with some hardware specs. Now that the HTC First is official, some similarities between it and the M4 start to become apparent; both handsets use 4.3-inch 720p displays, for instance. While not all of the specs quite match up between the two, a new rumor puts forth some tweaked specs for the M4 that line up with the First closely enough to get us wondering if the M4 might be ...
Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about how Google is ditching Webkit for their own Blink in the Chrome browser, and even Samsung is doing something similar by partnering with Mozilla. Then we talk Samsung again as their new US retail experience begins this month on Best Buy. We later talk some Nokia and the possibility of the Catwalk being launched on May 15th. Later we find some leaked images of a possible iPhone prototype with a curved display and curved back. We end today’s show talking about the Facebook Home Android Launcher, and also about the new HTC First which ...
All week, we’ve been wondering about Facebook’s Android event today. Would it just be about software? Would we see the rumored Facebook phone? Leaks over the past few days have suggested a mix of both, revealing the HTC First and some glimpses at Facebook Home software. Today Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage to set the record straight, formally announcing Facebook Home for Android. Zuckerberg makes it clear that this isn’t about new hardware, or new operating systems, but ...
Sometimes you just have to schedule a podcast a few hours before a major news event, and as a result you’ve got to scramble to come up with some valid-sounding speculation about just how useful a Facebook Phone could really be. It’s not like we haven’t tossed this notion around before, but doing it on the air, off-the-cuff, imbues our lives with a certain energy, a certain je ne sais quoi, if you will. Or even if you won’t. Whatever; we have a good time riffing. You’ll listen and like it! Ahem. All that, plus some chat on just how big a copycat LG’s ...
Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we see the first leaked photos of HTC’s Facebook Phone and the UI. Then we talk about AT&T and their pricing plans confirmed for the Samsung Galaxy S 4. Then it’s Nexus 7 talk as Google and Asus are teaming up again to build it. iOS 7 is next as we talk about the delays that are plaguing it. We end today’s show going through the history of the cell phone, which turns 40 today. All this and more after the break. Stories: - Facebook Home Shown in Action on HTC ...