By While HTC has been keeping quiet on any kind of information on the upcoming HTC One sequel (One Plus, One 2), we’re know we’re getting close to its release. How, you ask? Well, aside from us quickly approaching the original device’s year anniversary, the amount of “leaks” coming up out of the wood work are usually indicative of a device’s impending launch.
You may remember last week we got a few glimpses of the front and back of an HTC M8, only to have those “leaks” possibly discounted by the subtweet of an HTC exec. According to him, those may have been little more than shop jobs.
Today, another leak of the back of the device is making the rounds, this time looking more legit than the previous showing. Why? Aside from a nice close-up of the dual-camera array the M8 is rumored to come equipped with (you can see the tiny lens inside), you’ll notice the dual-LED flash is a single unit, unlike the previous leak which showed duplicated single LEDs form the original HTC One (nice try, hoaxer). The dual-LED flash also shows 2 different colored LEDs, suggesting HTC could be looking to duplicated the iPhone 5s’ white/amber flash for improved white balancing when flash is necessary.
Probably the most unnerving part about this leak were the pictured software buttons. Nothing to do with them, mind you (notice how they rotate according to the phone’s orientation), but because the bezel that once was home to the capacitive buttons is still present, now used for little more than the HTC logo.
We don’t know about you guys, but we can’t wait for this device to finally become unveiled and HTC to make this thing official.
was really excited for this phone, but not gonna lie, the HTC logo still being there is a little disappointing.
agreed to some point. I love my current HTC One, but with onscreen buttons, I am hoping they do away with that extra bezel. I am sure they could just put the HTC logo where the speaker grill is and just section the grill to be on both sides of the HTC logo and get rid of the useless bezel.
Or they could leave the logo on the back of the phone. I don’t see what the point of having a front facing logo is…
Goddamn Bottom Bezel! ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
Do you even bezel?!
Not sure what else to say but these early leaked pix make me think HTC is well…….
That was actually the deciding factor in me NOT getting the last version. After going Nexus and Moto X, I just do not want any carrier branding on the front of my phone (and especially not with a whole added extra layer of bezel because of it).
i dont care about the logo being on the front i just dont want the extra pointless bezel.
Occupied screen space + wasted bezel. lel
Virtual buttons are garbage. Samsung has it right
LOL, the only thing Samsung has right is their marketing. They do not make a superior product. Cheap bloaty, laggy, garbage.
Yawn, “IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF MAAAARKETTTINNNNGGG!!!”. Find a new line. People don’t spend hundreds of pounds or sign a two-year contract based on the fact that they’ve seen a few advertisements. The product must be good and superior to the competition in terms of what the consumer wants. The vocal minority of people who only exist on tech sites circlejerk over virtual buttons, but they really are not valuable in the eyes of most.
Samsung has it right.
Virtual buttons are superior when there is no bezel. I would take a phone with a 5.2 inch screen and virtual buttons(small bezel) over a phone with 5 inches and physical buttons because I can use that extra space while playing games or watching movies, etc.
The bezel will always be large enough to accommodate hardware buttons due to ergonomics.
Making just the bottom bezel smaller and the screen longer wouldn’t affect ergonomics at all
Please elaborate. How would ergonomics require bezels(on the bottom)
It would be uncomfortable to touch the side of the screen when holding it in landscape without a bezel. The thumb’s angle would be too acute.
Great, except every phone has a bezel, whether it has virtual buttons or not. I keep hearing this argument, that the virtual buttons only take up the space the capacitive buttons were on, so you don’t lose anything. That would be true, except it isn’t. You just get an unused bezel is all.
I agree. Companies need to take advantage of on screen buttons and reduce the bezel. The empty bezel on my n5 annoys me. On screen buttons are pointless if you don’t reduce bezels.
Yes!
Agreed but that’s probably not how it’s going to be. Last time the HTC One got screwed with a 4.7″ screen when the S4 got 5″. This time the HTC One will probably be 5″ but with on screen buttons, so another ~4.8″ useable screen most of the time, and the S4 will probably get a full 5.2″ screen. Looks like the One will fall short in screen size … Again.
Exactly!
well that’s the argument many people are making because it is not superior to the competition. Yes it is a very good product and its top of the line, no one can argue that. However, there are plenty of products that are currently just as good or arguably better depending on your preference.
There are many factors when it comes to selling a product. Brand awareness and recognition being a huge factor…. which is why advertising is one of if not the largest industry in existence. I’m a vendor for advertisers and my gf works in advertising so the amount of money they fling around just to get their name out there can drastically affect sales. Google can give nexuses away for free and still be a profitable business cuz of the revenue it brings in from advertising. So i wouldn’t undersell its role.
Scenario: you see 2 apples on a table. Both red. One apple is labeled Apple A. The other apple is labelled “rated world’s #1 apples, the ULTIMATE fruit, Time magazine says it tastes like chicken.” Even if they both tasted and cost exactly the same, which apple do you think is going to sell more?
Apple A please.
I really dont want my apples to taste like chicken
Plus i prefer androids to iphones.
The only reason the OMG ULTIMATE WHATEVER apple will oversell the other is because “apple a” will soon after have an injunction placed on it disallowing its sale due to infringing upon a well known fruit companies name.
Yes that one week long injunction 2 years ago That happened weeks before the gs3 was available is exactly why the gs4 outsold the HTC one
LOLWUT? I was just stating the major flaw in your advertising logic due to using the name apple. (Duh)
But, either way no… The reason the S4 outsold the one is not because of an injunction nor by advertising alone. Im not going to say that advertising didnt help all the sheeple see its cool features, (that they then turn around and call gimmicky because they heard some other idiot who didnt own the phone call it that) but a great sell in point was anyone who spent even a few minutes in store with the devices.
I had my s4 a couple weeks before another guy in my office got the one. After being able to play around with both phones (I literally didnt see my phone for 2 days strait at work because people were playing with it) for a bit, 5 out of the 8 of us in the office had the s4 by that months end, another got an I phone and 2 were with the one (because the last guy was torn between sticking with apple or HTC because he didnt like the plastic on the s4…. I’ve never seen his phone out of its otter box case though so go figure)
Advertising only goes so far, and often works best on those without enough brains to make an informed decision for themselves anyway (how else can metal frames or “beautiful build quality” factor in for these idiots who never remove their cases anyways) Pure functionality is what drives a large number of sales, especially in the business world.
Yes functionality is what drives large number of sales… however HTC, Samsung, LG, Apple, even blackberry now for the most part… can all do the same ish. So functionality is only a factor when it comes to buying a smartphone or not buying a smartphone, or some people don’t want to leave iOS cuz they use certain apps for work that arent on android. But they all do the same crap.
Yes many people use cases, but not everyone. And just because a phone is in a case doesnt mean it cant look more attractive than another phone in a case.
Again im not saying samsung didnt make a great product, im just saying there are other products that are equally great and what set samsung apart was its brand recognition. A strong brand recognition is what every company strives for and is created by strong marketing and reputation. Samsung being set apart by its marketing is a GOOD thing. They are running their business the way you should run a business.
There are people who know that Apple makes iOS and iPhones, and they think Samsung = android. I tell people i have a Nexus, and they go whats that, n i say its the google phone, and they say google makes a phone? And i say yeah its android. And they go OOOOH android. N i tell them Google makes android and their jaw drops and they say “get outttt!”
Yes people play with the gs4 in store and like it… however not everyone goes in the store and plays with every smartphone they see. They don’t know the difference between an HTC one and an LG L9 and a Huwaii whatever.
You can call them brainless uninformed decisions, but not everyone who buys a smartphone is a tech geek or cares that much about tech. They want a new phone n they know iphones are good and they hear those galaxies are good too. That would equivalent to me calling your parents brainless because you test drove and bought a civic they saw in the commercial on TV but didnt try out the car you never heard of.
Its also not that people are always suckers for advertising, sometimes they respect a good ad and try out a product. I tried out dos equis because i loved the commercials.
Again, gs4 was a top device, however the arguments that many of you make that HTC dropped the ball on their flagship is flawed because on nearly every tech review site all of the “professionals,”
you know, people who have handled many more phones than you or I for an extended period of time. Have rated the last two years its a toss up between HTC flagship and Samsung. Many even Giving HTC the edge.
Samsung is great, and is better with long term updates, however its marketing and cash reserve is what sets them apart.
And most people prefer Samsung. What they provide trumps the competition. It’s quite simple really.
Shitty analogy is shitty. The cards (i.e., functionality) are clearly laid out on the table and people spending hundreds of pounds will take them into consideration when making their purchasing decision.
i understand my explanation might have been a little too deep for you. You say hey it sold more so its superior. I’m telling you, (from my experience in working with the advertising industry) that is not always the case. Is Toyota superior to Porche?
Again people generally do not buy products they have never heard of over products they know are reliable when they are priced the same. That’s just researched data, facts if you will.
you keep talking about functionality… what functionality?? all android phones do the same crap. Same girl, different make up when choosing between phones.
If the gs4 trumps the competition then why were there 5 other phones that rated higher than it on objective phone review lists.
It’s a damn good phone, n those reviews were splitting hairs, but that’s just part of the pie. The LG G2 is generally acknowledged to be superior to the gs4… yet it didnt sell nearly as much as the gs4… what’s your theory to that?
Yes, Toyota are superior to Porsche in areas that are important to the overwhelming majority of consumers. Or, perhaps, the apparent positives of Porsche/negatives of Toyota are not important to the overwhelming majority of consumers.
Brands like HTC, Motorola, Sony, etc. are clearly displayed in every phone shop, are popular in the Western market and the consumer would have encountered them when looking at their next purchasing option. We are not talking about some unknown brands that have only just been introduced to the market.
There are plenty of hardware and software differences between the flagship phones of manufacturers. Contrary to the prevailing opinions of authors/commentators on tech sites, phones with hardware buttons/plastic/Touchwiz are not the worst thing since Hitler and most people do not perceive them as negatives.
What objective measures did they use?
sigh, ok so your entire argument is the entire advertising industry is bogus. These CEO’s and professionals with decades of experience in this BILLION dollar industry are just wasting their time. The people who spend their entire careers studying, researching, and analyzing data on why people buy what they buy and what inclines them to make what purchases… all that data they have been finding for the last tens of years is all bogus. Samsung, Apple, BudLight, Doritos, they all waste all of their money and time making commercials, billboards, and print ads. Money gone down the drain. Because at the end of the day, if some new potato chip company starts tomorrow, there’s exactly a 50/50 chance everyone in the world who bought doritos yesterday, will now tomorrow buy either Doritos or that new potato chip company. Its all a chance, they will open up that bag in the store and taste test both. Every new food product in every category of food they buy they will taste test b4 they commit to buying what they bought last week. And that they have tasted every single brand in the grocery store before buying the same brand twice. Maybe that is what you do, but i certainly don’t. If I Pepsi on sale for 99 cents and i see Phandroid cola on sale for 99 cents… sorry but i’m probably going to buy that Pepsi 10 times out of 10.
(also just because an object is on display, doesn’t mean everyone will play with that device…. and in many stores they have dummy phones set up anyway, i have never gone into the store and played with an LG optima L9… i rarely touch a phone i never heard of)
As far as objective reviews go.. things like battery life, display, camera, software pros and cons(android/skin), design, performance, etc. Obviously its a review so they are going to have their opinions but what i mean by objective i mean by going in with a clean slate and not “wanting” or “hoping” one phone comes out on top. A non biased and honest review.
And here’s the thing, none of these reviews are saying hardware buttons/plastic/touchwhiz are deal breakers… they are just saying they prefer the options of some of the competitors.
But anyway, you win, advertising has no place in this world, and all of those veteran advertisers are nothing but car salesman that dupe big brands and CEO’s.
People don’t “prefer” Samsung, they buy Samsung products because it’s what they’re told to buy. Marketing is a strong driving force in sales, and the fact that Samsung are constantly pushing their products in your face definitely accounts for their number of sales.
The only thing thats hundreds of pounds is you i bet, 400 or 500 pounds of dumb fat Samsung fan. Its great you love Samsung, its not others cup o tea.
lmao the butthurt is real
Button issues aside, marketing is PRECISELY why MOST people buy the things they buy. You can deny it all you want, but it is a fact. Most people refuse to believe it because they’d like to think their decisions are their own, and are rooted in wisdom and conscious decision making. WRONG.
The product must be superior to the competition in an area that is important to the consumer. Simply seeing the product in an advertisement is not enough. This is why the QQ only seen on tech sites about BAWWWW IT’S MADE OUT OF PLASTIC, BAWWWW IT HAS A PHYSICAL BUTTON, BAWWWW IT HAS TOUCHWIZ is insignificant compared to the actual market’s view of these features. They are not negatives to the overwhelming majority of people.
No…just no
k den
virtual buttons can be removed at a swipe, so there is no occupied screen space
Of course there is. I don’t want to remove anything to reclaim space that shouldn’t have to be reclaimed. If there is a bezel (which there is and always will be), I want it to be used for vital and frequently used functions like home, back, menu, multitasking, etc.
i understand your preference, however, since a completely nav free screen is available upon request, calling a phone with virtual buttons garbage is quite the overstatement. You might have had a little bit of an argument back in ice cream sandwich days, your knock against them now is a weak argument for why they suck. Completely down to personal preference at this point.
Yes there will always be a bezel, but how much of a bezel is the question. Will there always be a bezel large enough to fit buttons on comfortably? Maybe, maybe not.
I personally HATE that home button samsung always users. It felt so flimsy and inconsistent with the rest of the device when i had the Note 8.0.
“I want this, therefore all companies should do this and only this!”
Good attitude. If Samsung has it right, go buy a Samsung. Simple.
I will comment on what I feel is an undesirable change in functionality.
“lel”
Shut up with that noise…
Dude you running yo mouth and people dumb enough to entertain yo a**, DO WHAT EVA THE F YOU WANT WITH YOUR MONEY, IMMA DO WHAT I WANT WITH MINE……
Virtual buttons disappear when not being used. Duh !
I’ll take 100% of my screen’s space 100% of the time, thanks. Enjoy your unused bezel lmao.
Well i agree with you on the bezel. i hope its for more than just the HTC logo.
I don’t know why everybody’s hating on you for this comment… I totally agree with you. It seems like a waste to put on-screen buttons, but keep the unnecessarily large bezel for the logo.
I wouldn’t mind the virtual buttons if the bezel was removed, (a la the evidently fake mockup that surfaced a few days ago) but keeping the large bezel on the bottom just makes the device’s “Chin” overly large.
Really hoping that these leaks are fake…
I love the virtual buttons. Im tired of hitting the damned back button when im playing a game full screen and the game has controls in the bottom right… its frustrating as hell. There is no need for capacitive buttons… I dont care about the bezel, its obviously there to give room to the hardware, and this obsession with no bezels is dumb anyways, for the most part, small bezels = much more accidental touches
Dual camera lens? My body is ready!
Why do we need dual cameras ? I dont get it.
You will once you know it’s application. I’m guessing improved HDR, and/or a high resolution shooter for day time shots.
It doesn’t look much like the typical lens you see in phone cameras to me. It looks like a camera, but the hole where the light goes in looks tiny compared to what I’m used to seeing.
or perhaps 3d imaging like evo 3d.
Definitely not 3D.
what is the evidence for your definitive opinion?
“The module, unceremoniously known as the TCM9518MD, consists of two 5-megapixel sensors and a dedicated processing chip that simultaneously capture an image and depth data. That combination, Toshiba says, will allow users to capture photos that aren’t possible with regular lenses. You could, for example, take a macro shot and keep the background in focus, change the focus of a shot, or blur the background around your chosen subject after shooting.”
hmmm interesting.
They gotta put all that hardware somewhere. That why they keep the bezel, and you see larger and larger screens. Thats why I’d prefer a phone with just a little less hardware and better software, ie Moto X.
Can anyone who thumbed down my comment explain why? Im here to learn, if there’s something I’m missing then tell me…
I don’t mind a bit of bezel down the bottom (but not too much). The number of times I have accidently pushed the buttom right icon in my tray on my S4 is really annoying.
If HTC wants to put their logo on their devices, they can do so with their onscreen buttons:
H – Home
T – Tasks (multitasking menu)
C – Clear (back), or it could be that the C looks like a back arrow (look in the logo, it looks pointy)
Might be a bit ugly.. what do you think if HTC were to do that?
Should have just painted the hTC logo onto the bottom speaker grill.. I think that would have looked cool!
Another great leak:
http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=566&t=3769172
Thats looks more like what we want. No HTC logo and soooo sweet looking .