HTC Incredible is believably best Android
In this week’s Personal Technology column in the FT’s Business Life section, we look at whether the latest HTC smartphone is deserving of its superlative name.
“Names can become a hostage to fortune but Taiwan’s HTC clearly hopes this will not be the case with the Droid Incredible. While the latest in HTC’s rapidly expanding portfolio of smartphones may not quite qualify as “incredible”, it is perhaps the best Android operating system-based handset to date.” Read more
A smartphone for Geniuses?
HTC scored a hit with the Android-powered myTouch 3G when it was launched by T-Mobile USA in July last year. Now the Taiwanese smartphone maker has followed up with the myTouch 3G Slide which features a slide-out mini-Qwerty keyboard and the curiously named ‘Genius Button’ on the front of the handset.
Pressing the Genius Button enables users to use voice commands to control the phone and its features including making calls, composing and sending texts and e-mails or searching for a nearby restaurant. It will also read text messages aloud, and lets users dictate and send responses. Read more
The “Google Phone” fizzles
There’s further evidence today that Google’s Nexus One has so far been a flop.
The phone barely registers in a comparison of the amount of internet traffic generated by the 11 handsets that use Google’s Android operating system:
(Nexus One is the narrow green line barely noticeable at bottom right). Read more
There are not many companies that can get both Google and Microsoft executives to show up at a construction site to say what an indispensable partner they are, but Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC did just that on Friday when they held the ground-breaking ceremony for their new HQ and R&D centre in Taipei.
CTIA spawns new crop of smartphones
HTC’s Android-powered Evo 4G – the first Wimax-enabled smartphone which will be offered for sale by Sprint Nextel this summer in the US – was unquestionably the star of the telecoms industry’s CTIA show in Las Vegas this week. (See Chris Nuttall’s earlier post.) But it was not the only smartphone show in town.
Other new smartphones launched at CTIA included HTC’s HD2 which looks very similar to the Evo 4G but runs Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5 and is available from T-Mobile immediately for $199 – if you can find one. Read more
First 4G Android phone looks a Sprint winner
The first 4G phone in the US, the HTC Evo unveiled by Sprint at the CTIA show on Tuesday, ticks just about all the boxes for my ideal phone.
We await details of pricing and plans and exactly when the handset will be available this summer, but the features are mouth-watering enough to satisfy the thirst of smartphone addicts for the time being. Details after the jump. Read more
HTC, the Taiwan smartphone maker sued earlier this month by Apple for alleged patent infringement, said on Thursday that it “disagrees with Apple’s legal actions and will fully defend itself”.
The statement is HTC’s first official response to the lawsuit, but HTC’s statement reveals relatively little about the company’s planned legal strategy. HTC did not say how and when it would make a formal legal response to Apple’s suit.
The statement, however, did emphasise a long list of HTC’s technological ’firsts’ that predate the iPhone. Read more
Google Phone is no iPhone
The “Google Phone” is real, judging by the multitude of photos available and tweets by lucky staff recipients, but why is it necessary?
Does Google want to change the cellphone industry? Is it worried that Android adoption will stall? I would say no on both counts. The Google phone is necessary because the company feels an Apple-like need to control the user experience. Read more
Motorola takes 30 per cent Android share – AdMob
Embattled Motorola appears to be making an impression with its Android handsets, according to the latest figures issued by AdMob.
The ad network, bought by Google this month, analyses the handset-identifying ad requests it receives from more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and iPhone and Android applications.
Two weeks after its launch on November 6, the Motorola Droid represented 24 per cent of all Android requests worldwide, while its Cliq accounted for another 6 per cent. Read more
Droid – the good, the bad and the ugly
Droid, the most hyped Android phone to date – even Google promoted it on its home page today – is finally available to buy in Verizon Wireless stores.
More than 100 people queued at midnight outside a midtown Manhattan store to be among the first members of the public to get their hands on one.
I’ve been lucky enough to have one on loan for more than a week now, so here’s my assessment after the jump of whether it has been worth the wait and queues. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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