HTC U11 Life reportedly also headed for Android One lineup, new render shows ‘normal’ variant

Google's revived Android One family will further expand in the near future with the addition of the HTC U11 Life, rendered today in standard form.

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HTC U (Ocean) supposedly includes Edge Sense, may be part of Sense Touch UI

Rumors of HTC's masthead phone for 2017 adopting a new user interface paradigm have bubbled up to the surface in a software diagnostics leak.

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HTC Sense 8 Beta now opening up to all devices

Update: An earlier version of this story claimed that the beta would be opened up to all HTC devices. It is open to all Android devices with optimal experiences available to devices with Android Lollipop.Most of the devices running Sense UI version 8 happen to be the HTC 10. The few that aren’t are other HTC devices that were selected at random to get a beta version of Sense 8.Well, ...

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LlabTooFeR jacks HTC 10 wallpapers the weekend before its launch

Chalk it up to a major score by prolific tweeter and avid HTC fan-developer @LlabTooFeR. And by “score,” we mean 20.You can hit up the tweet below for a folder of 20 wallpapers that will supposedly be the pre-loads you’ll see on the all-new HTC 10 once in launches Monday.Some of the art continues to portray HTC’s interest in ...

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HTC One M10 rumor roundup: everything’s subject to change

Welcome to the HTC One M1-whoops, sorry about that. I think one of our rumors dispels that name. Anyways, what we know about this device, codenamed “Perfume,” is that it’s … well, uh… kinda. Y’know. That it’s … the Taiwanese manufacturer’s flagship smartphone for the spring of this year. And that’s about it.Let’s just get to it.The Time and The PlaceThese two factors, as rumored, will ...

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A consistent UI across manufacturers is more important than custom skins

In war there are a few proven strategies, one of the more famous is “divide and conquer”. The theory goes that by separating the forces of your foes you can more efficiently deal with each group on its own, slowly whittling away at your opposition. Though not nearly as tragic as war in the traditional sense, when it comes to smartphones, tablets, and mobile technology, there is most certainly a war being waged. Instead of fighting for Rights, Liberty, or to acquire land, this spoils of this war are you and I… our personal information, our pocketbooks, and ultimately, our ...

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OEMs: If you’re going to mod that far, give us a path back to stock

My mother-in-law isn’t exactly what you’d call “technologically savvy”, but that doesn’t stop her from upgrading to the latest and greatest Android-powered smartphones every chance she gets. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but I’ll give you three guesses who gets to support those devices. It wouldn’t be such an issue except at her age — how can I put this lightly — she’s a bit “set in her ways”.Don’t get me wrong, she can whip out her phone and call anyone in her extremely wide social network faster ...

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Is Android L the death of OEM Skins?

As we’ve had the opportunity to review devices manufactured by various OEMs, an interesting trend has begun to surface: OEM skins are getting lighter-weight, and a distinctive and bold color scheme has been evolving.We’ve reviewed the HTC One M8, the One mini 2, and the Desire 816. All of them run modern versions of HTC’s Sense UI, and all feature very ...

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HTC design VP indicted in leak scandal

It’s no surprise to learn that a smartphone company doesn’t particularly like to see its employees leaking information on unreleased products, but rarely do we talk about any of these insiders leaking info with the express intent of profiting from it. In Taiwan, however, that’s very much the saga that’s playing out, as the case against ex-VP of design Thomas Chien proceeds. This all started a few months back, when Chien and a couple other HTC designers were arrested on charges of stealing trade secrets. The investigation has since claimed that Chien and his ...

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HTC One max vs HTC One (Video)

You might say this comparison is unnecessary. After all, most people don’t need help deciding whether to buy a smartphone or a refrigerator door, right? Given the choice between a standard-sized handheld and a beastly monolith, most folks can tell pretty quickly which they prefer. But it’s not that simple. HTC’s One is one of the most visible, most well-regarded smartphones of the year -  and so it would follow, in the mind of the mythical average consumer, that something called the “One ...

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From Android skins to Android stock: a sweet & sour experience with the Google-edition HTC One

The skin/no-skin debate is the Coke vs. Pepsi divide of the smartphone space – if the cola war were an 80-20 split in favor of Pepsi, that is. Studies outlining user attitudes toward UI overlays are hard to come by, but there’s no real question about the prevalent feeling in the tech press: when it comes to Android skins, you can smell the disdain a mile away. If you ask me, the almost-automatic hatred of skins is a tired, destructive artifact of a jaded tech media. It’s a holdover from the days when

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Stock Android devices remind us why Sense and TouchWiz are so important

I have always valued the stock Android experience over the various customized strains from OEMs, even before Android itself looked anything like it does today – back in the Donut, Eclair, Froyo and Gingerbread days. It’s more rustic, rough around the edges … raw. I like to use devices as they were intended to be used, how they were supposed to look and feel from the factory. This is exactly why I don’t use cases. They mask the true beauty, engineering mastery, the design, and all the hard work that went into making a phone. It’s like saying you want to protect a ...

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HTC Claims “Widgets Aren’t Widely Used”

Whether on your home screen or lock screen, widgets can be great ways to access information at a glance and cut down on the number of apps you’re constantly jumping between. Of course, they’re only as useful as we take advantage of them, and according to HTC, not many of us are taking the time to explore widgets outside of a few obvious choices. While preparing for the development of Sense 5, HTC researched user behavior to learn what it could ...

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