HTC debuts Desire phones, Sense service
 |
HTC CEO Peter Chou shows the new Desire HD, left, and Desire Z, at their launch in London |
LONDON--Rising mobile phone power HTC began an effort to rise further on Wednesday--and not just with phones.
The Taiwanese company introduced two Android phones, the Desire HD with a large, 4.3-inch screen and the Desire Z with a flip-out hardware keyboard. Both are set to arrive in October in Europe and Asia; the Desire Z will arrive in North America later this year.
Like Apple, Samsung, and many other competitors, HTC is trying to differentiate the products through software and services, though. The phones come with an updated version of HTC's Sense user interface and tie in with the new HTCSense.com Web site designed to augment the phones' abilities.
The Taiwanese company introduced two Android phones, the Desire HD with a large, 4.3-inch screen and the Desire Z with a flip-out hardware keyboard. Both are set to arrive in October in Europe and Asia; the Desire Z will arrive in North America later this year.
Like Apple, Samsung, and many other competitors, HTC is trying to differentiate the products through software and services, though. The phones come with an updated version of HTC's Sense user interface and tie in with the new HTCSense.com Web site designed to augment the phones' abilities.
The HTC approach makes the company's technology a hub of people's use of their phones, potentially elevating HTC from a hardware maker that just sells phones to a service provider with whom customers have an ongoing relationship.
The HTCSense.com site, for example, lets people log in remotely to forward mobile phone calls to their office phone, search text messages, back up photos and videos, and record geographic bookmarks that HTC calls "footprints" for later use on the phone. Also remotely, a person can make a misplaced phone ring and, for phones that are less retrievable, issue a custom lost-and-found message on the screen or wipe the phone's data altogether.
The HTCSense.com site, for example, lets people log in remotely to forward mobile phone calls to their office phone, search text messages, back up photos and videos, and record geographic bookmarks that HTC calls "footprints" for later use on the phone. Also remotely, a person can make a misplaced phone ring and, for phones that are less retrievable, issue a custom lost-and-found message on the screen or wipe the phone's data altogether.
"We are extending the HTC experience beyond the phone," HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou said at the launch event here.
Chou is happy with the prospect of being in the thoughts of his customers. "We want people to view HTC as a global brand," Chou said, adding that research shows awareness of the HTC brand has doubled in the last year.
HTC has been making phones for years, but it was Google's Android operating system that put the company on the map and fulfilled some of its brand-name ambitions.
Other companies have produced increasingly competitive Android phones--Samsung's Galaxy S and Motorola's Droid X being recent examples--but HTC has maintained its position of strength by pumping out a profusion of models. Many are modest variations of a common design, but HTC clearly has pushed ahead as well.
Along with HTC's Android success came a lawsuit from iPhone maker Apple, though. It's something of a replay of Apple's unsuccessful case against Microsoft for the Macintosh's "look and feel" appearing in Windows, but this time alleging patent infringement rather than copyright infringement.
New phones
The Desire Z uses a new 800MHz Qualcomm 7230 processor and has a 3.7-inch screen, and the Desire HD as a 1GHz Qualcomm 8255 processor and a 4.3-inch screen. Both screens have 800x480-pixel resolution, Android 2.2, and a fast-boot feature to power up in about 10 seconds, said HTC Chief Marketing Officer John Wang.
As one might expect, the Desire HD can shoot high-definition video with a 720p resolution using its 8-megapixel camera. It also can display that video on an attached TV using the DNLA home-networking technology, including the use of Dolby surround sound.
The Desire Z also can shoot HD video with a 5-megapixel camera. It is designed with a thin screen that flips into a recessed area, moving the physical keyboard closer to the same plane as the touch screen. This eases the difficulties of touching both, HTC argues.
Chou is happy with the prospect of being in the thoughts of his customers. "We want people to view HTC as a global brand," Chou said, adding that research shows awareness of the HTC brand has doubled in the last year.
HTC has been making phones for years, but it was Google's Android operating system that put the company on the map and fulfilled some of its brand-name ambitions.
Other companies have produced increasingly competitive Android phones--Samsung's Galaxy S and Motorola's Droid X being recent examples--but HTC has maintained its position of strength by pumping out a profusion of models. Many are modest variations of a common design, but HTC clearly has pushed ahead as well.
Along with HTC's Android success came a lawsuit from iPhone maker Apple, though. It's something of a replay of Apple's unsuccessful case against Microsoft for the Macintosh's "look and feel" appearing in Windows, but this time alleging patent infringement rather than copyright infringement.
New phones
The Desire Z uses a new 800MHz Qualcomm 7230 processor and has a 3.7-inch screen, and the Desire HD as a 1GHz Qualcomm 8255 processor and a 4.3-inch screen. Both screens have 800x480-pixel resolution, Android 2.2, and a fast-boot feature to power up in about 10 seconds, said HTC Chief Marketing Officer John Wang.
 | |
| HTC Desire & HTC Desire-Z |
As one might expect, the Desire HD can shoot high-definition video with a 720p resolution using its 8-megapixel camera. It also can display that video on an attached TV using the DNLA home-networking technology, including the use of Dolby surround sound.
The Desire Z also can shoot HD video with a 5-megapixel camera. It is designed with a thin screen that flips into a recessed area, moving the physical keyboard closer to the same plane as the touch screen. This eases the difficulties of touching both, HTC argues.
No comments:
Post a Comment