HTC (High tech computers cooperation) is a leading mobile device manufacturing company based in Taiwan. Their primary focus of manufacturing is mobile phones, notebooks and tablet PCs. In the early stage of the company development they were mainly focused on Windows based mobile devices. Even back in 1999 those mobile devices were equipped with wireless connectivity and touch screen technologies. HTC always had one strong success factor in their side which was ‘Be the first’ in the market. However, no matter how advanced the technology that they were using and no matter how fast they introduce them to the market, they couldn’t dominate the mobile device market as expected. But finally HTC mobile devices became a hot topic in every nook and corner of the world, because they introduced HTC devices powered by Android mobile OS. The company made their profit jump exponentially due to the massive amount of android devices sold around the world in year 2009 and 2010.
Bit of History
The company HTC was founded in 1997 and in that time they were totally in to Note book manufacturing. As I mentioned earlier in the article they introduced many technologies to the word market.
- 1st wireless and touch display device in 1998
- 1st touch screen smart phone in 2000
- 1st Microsoft Powered Smartphone in 2002
- 1st Microsoft powered third generation smart phone in 2005
- 1st Android phone “HTC Dream” in 2008
- 1st fourth generation smart phone “HTC Evo 4G” in 2010
The above facts show the strength of the HTC cooperation and amount of investment they have made to technology research. The efforts they have put in to all those devices are giving maximum benefit to the company today. HTC’s revenue is exceeding 4.5 billion USD today.
Device Milestones
HTC Dream
HTC Dream is the world’s very fists android powered smart phone and it was introduced to the market in 2008. It was a slider type phone and equipped with many magical features in that time including 528 MHz processor, 192 MB RAM, 16 GB upgradable microSD, 3.2 mega pixel camera, 320X480 LCD display and HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps. Most importantly it was having accelerometer, compass and GPS receiver. Since it was powered with android OS it inherit entire application suit provided in it including Gmail, Google maps, Google calendar and GTalk. The very first version of HTC Dream was running on Android 1.0 and with the rapid development of OS it was upgraded to 1.6 later.
HTC Hero
HTC Hero is the very first android device which came with the user interface technology ‘HTC Sense’ and Adobe Flash Lite in 2009. In order to support HTC sense capabilities it was equipped with multi point touch screen. It was having the processer and display same as HTC Dream yet RAM was upgraded to 288MB and microSD support to 32 GB. The capturing device was 5.0 megapixels and it was equipped with improved 3 axis accelerometer, GPS receiver and compass. It initially came with Android OS 1.5 and upgradable up to 2.1.
HTC Legend
The specialty of HTC Legend over HTC Hero was its Active matrix OLED display which was designed makes use of battery more efficiently. It came to market in 2010 April. It was having the same screen resolution size as the HTC hero and many almost same features including camera with geo tagging, multi point touch screen, accelerometer and compass. The improvements were 600MHz processor and 384 MB RAM. The android OS on Legend was 2.1 and upgradable to 2.2.
HTC Desire
HTC Desire was one on the most popular phone in HTC line which came to market in 2010. It was having very high resolution display which is 800X480 LCD wit multi point touch screen. The camera was improved to 5 mega pixel with advanced face recognition algorithm and geo tagging with the aid of built in GPS device. As usual Desire also was having accelerometer and digital compass. When it come to underlying hardware the processor was upgraded to 800 MHz and memory was 512MB. One of the most attractive and popular feature in Desire is its video recording capability. It could record high definition video with the quality as 720p which is almost good as professional video recording device. Additionally it was powered with lots of application required for professionals including organizers for contacts, meeting and events. The operation system was android 2.2.
HTC Evo 4G
This is the very first fourth generation android phone introduced to the market in 2010. The functionalities and hardware of the phone was almost same as desire except few upgrades including 1GHz processor, 8 Megapixel camera, 1.3 mega pixel front camera, dual microphone and WiMAX capability. Same as desire Evo also was having the super quality HD video recording capability. The android OS version on this device is 2.2.
While a few HTC devices use gorilla glass for their screen, it is still beneficial to buy cell phone covers that wrap the phone completely and protect it from scratches and liquids.
Attractive Technologies
Multimedia
Multimedia support is one the most attractive feature in HTD smart phones. It provides high quality audio and video play back with advanced accessory support. Most of the latest devices support 3.5mm audio jack so that users could use any 3rd part hearing device with the HTC device. Additionally they come with video out jack so that users could connect the HTC device with large TV screen easily. One of the most special features I noticed was the rear jack in some of HTC phones that could be use to raise the phone in a flat surface. It could totally turn the mobile device in to a small TV screen. Latest HTC devices could record high quality videos which attracted customers to buy the phone. They were capable of recording 720p HD videos unlike any other phone. When it comes to still image display they present them in style with the aid of amazing android OS.
Internet Browsing
Android OS provide better internet surfing experience to its user unlike any other mobile device. It renders HTML, CSS and JavaScrip accurately. Further, most of the latest version supports Adobe flash as well. Most importantly the browser is specially designed to work with touch screen which is capable to capture multi point contacts gives awesome surfing experience to users. Other than on browser activities it provide off browser application like facebook client, Google maps and many more. They are designed to deliver even faster access to those web applications using installed client. Android OS support many of that client application by itself.
User Interfaces with HTC Sense
HTC sense is in house developed technology for smart phone user interfaces by HTC cooperation. The design of HTC sense is to give more space to the user by spreading user interfaces in a virtual 3D space within the screen. Additionally HTC sense provide wide set of application and display widgets to its users having the objective of delivering unmatched experience ever. Most of the popular application and widget out of those are mainly focused on social media and multimedia. To further improve the user experience it provides various pre defined color themes stimulating other popular mobile operation systems.
Multi-Point Touch Screen
This is one of the most significant technologies developed by HTC and its history going back to 1999. It allows the user to touch the device screen using many fingers at the same time. Screen reach to all the touch points at the same time and software will act accordingly. This became popular rapidly among smart phone users due to the multimedia functions it enabled. Additionally the multi point sensitivity was use to save the space in device screen by using virtual 3D space with HTC sense.
Capturing Devices
Capturing device is one of the most rapidly developed hardware in HTC devices. It started with just 1.3 Mega pixel cameras and today its more than 8 mega pixel. And it has extended its capability beyond still image capturing to video recording. Currently its further expanded to HD video recording too. If you are an owner of latest HTC smart phone, you won’t have to buy a camcorder or a separate camera. HTC device will serve the purpose as same as those. With the aid of Android OS it will be able to come up with advance image processing one you click a snap automatically as you configured.
Professional Support Features
The large part of today’s smart phone market is created due to professional needs. Previously they were catered by PDA, but today smart phones have become one stop solution for all. Therefore, HTC phones also provide many professional support features including note book management, calendar to manage events and meetings, maps to coordinate business in different locations and advance email facility with the aid of latest Android OS. Further, due to the advancement of multi point touch screen, those professional support features are developed exponentially, beyond previous expectations.
Competition and Challenges
Apple Products
The main competitor to HTC Android devices is apple smart phones. Apple has developed a separate multimedia based culture with iMAC and iPOD. So it was easier for them to extend the same experience to Smart phone world and they did an exceptional job with iOS 4.3 recently. In any mobile device ‘hook’ are multimedia capabilities for general users who represent large part of market. In the early stage Android didn’t gave much features as iOS, but today picture is changed. Today android OS provide much more features than iOS with far better multimedia features as well. With the improvement of HTC sense it could give even better multimedia rich user interfaces to its consumers. However, due to the well established multimedia culture around Apple, it will take some time and lots of effort for Android to take the lead. However, they have displayed exponential growth in year 2009 and 2010 which might be a huge challenge to Apple in near future.
Microsoft Products
Microsoft Windows mobile OS was always focused on professional support than multimedia and interfaces. It was empowered with OneNote, Outlook and other office packages which were extended to smart phones. Therefore, many users were using those windows mobile smart phones to manage their professional life. In order to make those processes even easier windows mobile provided online synchronization of content using online services. Currently Android OS is also providing almost same and sometimes better application for professional support. Yet, due to the strongly established Windows PC culture, android will face difficult challenges in this area. However, with their multimedia rich, yet professional features it will be able to overcome challenges with the aid of solid HTC hardware platform.
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