latest
HTC made some of the coolest Android phones, and I miss them
Can you believe it has been six years since Google bought HTC?
Google bought HTC six years ago, and I am still reminiscing about the good old days. The HTC One M8 was the second Android phone I ever owned, and I loved that thing. Those front-firing speakers and that all-metal chassis were a delight in hand. I even enjoyed the Taiwanese company's take on Android, which they dubbed HTC Sense.
HTC's glory days of Android smartphones may be well behind it, with other manufacturers stepping up to fill the void. Nevertheless, the Taiwanese manufacturer still occasionally churns out new phones, albeit at a glacially slow pace. The Desire 22 Pro arrived last year and failed to make an impact, despite being packaged with marketing buzzwords like the "first metaverse smartphone." Just a month ahead of that model's first anniversary, HTC teased the launch of yet another metaverse-focused phone. A set of leaked images now offers a closer look at this upcoming mid-tier device — reportedly named the HTC U23 Pro 5G — along with a smattering of details on the phone's hardware specs.
HTC is teasing its next phone on social media, no matter how much we beg it to stop
HTC, this is not the One
A couple of weeks ago, I found some time between massive, high-profile phone launches to take a trip down memory lane by revisiting the HTC One M7. The phone, which turned ten this year, is one of my favorite Android phones ever, and really helped cement the concept of what a flagship device could and should be. But, as we all know, the HTC we once loved is long gone, having sold off its phones division to Google years ago. And now, with another zombie HTC phone seemingly on the way, I'm here to beg for the company to please, please, quit while it's ahead behind. Please, leave well enough alone.
HTC's bizarre Android hardware strategy has culminated in a tablet no one asked for
The former lighthouse of smartphone innovation has been releasing some strange devices lately
Read update
HTC may mostly be out of the Android business. It instead focuses mostly on its virtual reality hardware and establishing the metaverse-like “Viveverse” surrounding it. HTC is still releasing a new Android device every once in a while, be it last year’s Desire 21 Pro or last month’s Desire 22 Pro. Now, the company has revealed another device. It’s a tablet called the HTC A101, and it’s running Android 11 in 2022.
HTC’s new metaverse phone is official, and it’s as useless as you thought it would be
The HTC Desire 22 Pro is nothing special once you strip away the buzzwords
HTC’s smartphone division of old may have mostly moved on to work at Google, but the company still hasn’t given up on creating the occasional smartphone of its own. The formerly immensely successful smartphone manufacturer teased the launch of a metaverse-focused smartphone during MWC 2022 along with its own spin on the whole web 3.0 stuff under the buzzy “Viveverse” branding, and today, this phone has finally arrived. It comes in the form of the entirely underwhelming HTC Desire 22 Pro, a mid-range phone with the faintest hint of metaverse capabilities.
HTC teases the launch of its next zombie-phone
The company keeps forgetting it doesn't make phones anymore
Back at Mobile World Congress, HTC did the impossible — it teased a brand-new phone set to arrive in the coming months. Legions of old-school fans ran to their desk drawers, digging around for their HTC One X or M8 in celebration. Those same collectors inevitably fell to their knees in disappointment as we all learned the gimmick for this next device: the metaverse. After an initial delay, HTC is ready to show the world the Web3 phone it deserves — for better or worse.
You can now download the (second) earliest known build of Android ever
Make all the 'sooner' jokes you want, I'm wondering what it has to do with Oklahoma
The second-earliest build of Android known to date is now free for anyone to download. And no, it's not from the T-Mobile G1/HTC Dream. It's from something a bit earlier.
It's been a long time since HTC's last flagship entry. The company was among the biggest names in Android phones just a few years back, but we haven't seen a proper flagship since 2018, with the latest one being the HTC U12+ (and then the HTC Exodus 1 blockchain phone, but we don't talk about that one). Recently we've been hearing about a possible comeback to the flagship space, with a new metaverse-focused device on track for release sometime this year. Now some new comments from HTC make it sound like we might be waiting just a bit longer.
It's been just over ten years since HTC released some of the hottest Android phones of the early 2010s: the One X and the One S. At that time, I was merely a 17-year-old high school student looking for my first proper smartphone, and these guys stood out from the crowd immediately thanks to their sleek aluminum casing and some impressive hardware specifications to match — something that can't be said for many plastic-galore Android phones of the era.
HTC might be preparing a comeback to the flagship smartphone space after four years
With all your favorite 2022 buzzwords
HTC's smartphone glory days are long gone. The company used to be up among the top players in the game, but started to see a steady drop around 2017, with the launch of its U lineup. We haven't had a proper flagship from HTC since the release of the HTC U12+ in 2018, and it's mostly regarded as a dead brand these days, even as we sporadically get some mid-range or budget phones like last year's HTC Desire 21 Pro. But now it sounds like there's a chance we might just see a return of the Taiwanese giant to the flagship smartphone space, all thanks to... the metaverse?
This is how much your used Android phone will sell for in 2022
A few expected ones with some surprises
Read update
It’s a well-established fact that Android phones offer much worse resale value when compared to iPhones. But there are certain brands and models within the Android world that take a nosedive within their first year of release. So, instead of being taken by surprise with an unexpectedly low price when selling off your current phone, it’s better to know the real market value beforehand — and you can even use this price data to make the most of your next smartphone purchase as well.
The first Android phone was announced 13 years ago today
Android is now officially an insufferable teenager
Android has changed a lot in the past few years. Regular annual releases, some of them good and some of them not amazing, have helped the operating system greatly mature. Sometimes, though, it's good to look back and remember how things used to be when we were still at the beginning of this road. Today is one of those days, as on a day like this, 13 years ago, the very first commercial phone running Android made its public debut.
Read update
We've clearly got a little bias on the subject, but Android has a long and storied history filled with its own triumphs and pitfalls. It's been well over a decade now since that first HTC G1 landed, the inaugural Android smartphone, and things have changed drastically since then. Being "first" might make you think the G1 was the most influential Android phone — but was it, really?
26 new devices from Oppo, Xiaomi, and Samsung now officially support ARCore
Guess you can say Google likes AUGMENTING this list
Mixed reality experiences continue to play their roles in helping us understand concepts, tell stories, market products, or in just letting us hang out with a virtual Pomeranian for a hot second. For Android phones, that means having Google certify that your phone supports its ARCore APIs. We've got our first batch of new supported devices for 2021 right here.
HTC Desire 21 Pro 5G goes official with 90Hz screen and 5,000mAh battery
The company's still kicking
HTC has been struggling for a couple of years now, but its latest offering, the Desire 21 Pro 5G, looks pretty promising. Having just gone official, this phone offers 5G, a 90Hz refresh rate, an impressive array of cameras, and a sizable 5,000mAh battery. Not bad.
The 11 most bizarre, cringey, and weird smartphone commercials of all time
From the 'ouch' to the 'eww' to the 'can't unsee this'
It can be hard for something as anonymous looking as a smartphone to stand out in the world. So, when coming up with ways to advertise and market their wares, manufacturers of these products often try to get... creative. Sometimes, they get far, far too creative, and hilarity ensues. While some of their biggest snafus may be indefinitely lost, we have 11 smartphones commercials and promo videos that we think are the absolutely cringiest, most bizarre, and generally weird ever to be created (and, frequently, the targets of later attempted destruction by their creators — so, thanks, random YouTube re-uploaders).
HTC unveils mid-range U20 5G and Desire 20 Pro with massive batteries and quad cams
The brand's first 5G phone is currently exclusive to its home market
Sure, HTC doesn’t run a booming smartphone business anymore, but its sporadic efforts remind us the company's not quite done for good. In line with its plan to introduce its first 5G phone this year and a recent teaser, the Taiwanese brand has just unveiled a pair of mid-rangers with lot in common, from their battery sizes to the camera count: the U20 5G and Desire 20 Pro.
HTC announces event for June 16, possibly introducing the Desire 20 Pro
Can the latest midranger put the company back on track?
Read update
HTC isn't quite dead yet, but the company has seemingly given up on releasing flagship phones. HTC's last high-end device was 2018's Exodus 1, which itself was a slightly-tweaked HTC U12+, but there have been a handful of Desire and Wildfire-branded budget phones released since then. Now it seems yet another mid-range phone is on the way, and it looks like the company is set to announce it June 16.
For a company that's been on a years-long downhill toboggan, HTC still has hopes of playing catch-up in 2020. There's a 5G phone in the works, we're tracking another entry in the budget-minded Desire series, and now, for some reason, we're looking at some AirPod clones.
LineageOS ROM releases first builds based on Android 10 (Update: Builds are back)
LineageOS 17.1 is here
LineageOS is the most popular custom ROM in existence, and the project prides itself on bringing newer versions of Android to unsupported devices. However, Lineage has been a bit slow to roll out a version based on Android 10 — the Pie-based ROM was already available by this time last year. Thankfully, the next major version of LineageOS seems to be just around the corner.