xTeknoblog

Another HTC flagship leak reveals microSD slot, brushed metal finish (video)

Storage expansion went out of fashion over the last two years. Fortunate, then, for those of us wanting to take our music / audio book / photo collection everywhere, that HTC's upgraded One will see a return to microSD storage on its flagship series. Against trend, the new One also looks like it'll have an identical footprint to last year's model. In a lengthy video leak from GadgetReviews -- now down, but mirrored elsewhere -- we get to see that unibody build from a few more angles (including a closer look at that brushed finish) and catch some few software tweaks to the Blinkfeed news stream (~~another swipe to the left apparently opens up more options~~). However, what does that secondary camera actually do? We're getting increasingly impatient about that March 25th reveal date.

Update: That extra swipe on Blinkfeed was already there on the most recent HTC One software build.

Weathered old HTC HD2 dresses up like a Nokia X

You may remember the HTC HD2 from posts such as "will it play Tekken 3?" and "wait, it runs Windows RT now?" Despite the handset's age, a stalwart community keeps it relevant by getting anything and everything to run on the developer favorite. It's only fitting, then, that the HD2 be one of the first to don Nokia's heavily skinned version of Android, other than the unreleased X family, of course. That's right: An XDA Developers forum member by the name of gilbert32 has apparently succeeded in porting some form of the Nokia X Android build onto a rather beat-up-looking HD2. We say succeeded, but while it looks the part and plays a booting sound when fired up, "everything else" is admittedly non-functional. Then again, if the goal was to show the HD2 still has legs after all this time, then mission accomplished, sir.

New HTC One dual-lens camera shown off in detailed leak

Leaked images and videos of the HTC One's successor are a dime a dozen, so we've already seen every possible nook and cranny of the device. Why, then, are we reporting on the latest find by @evleaks? It gives us the closest and clearest look of HTC's rumored dual-lens camera setup so far, which is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing features on the phone. It features a smaller lens just above HTC's standard lens and dual-LED flash, but the purpose of is still a complete mystery. Plenty of theories exist, and we reported on the most likely possibilities demoed at Mobile World Congress last week. Ideas include the ability to cleanly magnify distant subjects without using digital zoom, enhancing low-light performance (which was an area HTC focused on with the One), quicker autofocus and the ability to change a picture's depth of field. Whether or not these particular benefits show up, it's hard to dispute that a parallel-lens setup is indeed coming to HTC's new flagship smartphone.

HTC's overpriced Desire 310 ready to underwhelm Europe in April

When the Desire 310 popped up on HTC's Chinese site a few days ago, we wrote it off as a regional product with no international aspirations. Well, we were mistaken, and though there's no word on the low-end handset coming to the US, it's most certainly bound for Europe. HTC didn't invite the Desire 310 to party at MWC, but then again, there's not much to celebrate. The handset bundles a 4.5-inch, 854 x 480 display with a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek CPU, a gig of RAM, 4GB of storage (expandable via microSD), a 5MP camera, 2,000mAh battery, 3G connectivity and Android 4.2. It's an incremental improvement over the Desire 300, with a few design tweaks like the omission of soft keys (a recent trend for HTC). We're told in the UK that the Desire 310 will arrive at O2, Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse at the end of April in a selection of hues, and the folks over at GSMinfo.nl note a recommended price of 169 euros for The Netherlands, or around £140 (UK pricing isn't available yet). With the far superior Moto G going for £100 on pay-as-you-go or £130 unlocked in the UK, though, we can only suggest HTC raise the stakes soon if it's serious about betting on lower-end devices.

Goophone copies the all new (still-unannounced) HTC One

Goophone M8, aka the all new HTC One's copy

If you're going to clone one of 2014's hottest Android flagships, you might as well clone others, right? Goophone certainly thinks so. It just launched the Goophone M8, a smartphone that bears an uncanny resemblance to the all new (and still-unannounced) HTC One. Not that the similarities are much more than skin deep, mind you. Goophone's attempt at keepin' it real fake uses capacitive keys instead of the new One's on-screen buttons, and we doubt that the middling (if octa-core) processor, 1GB of RAM and 3G data speeds will have HTC breaking a sweat. It only costs $230 to get Goophone's knock-off, though. And hey, it comes in gold -- if you're only looking for an ostentatious design, you might as well save some cash.

How would you change HTC's 8X?

It seems like forever ago that HTC was making Windows Phone devices, but it's not even been a year. HTC's 8X earned plenty of praise for the fantastic performance, build and battery life - not to mention the display and camera. The downside, of course, was Windows Phone 8, which, at the time, was still too young to hit the spot for our tame phone reviewers. But what about you? We guess that plenty of you would have picked up this phone, so share with us your experiences and what, if anything, you would have changed.

HTC's next One leaks again in all-angle photo shoot

HTC's upcoming successor to the One, codenamed M8, has been a leaky ship while sailing to its March 25th launch. But the latest set of photos from a Chinese Weibo site leave nothing to the imagination, showing a possible China Mobile retail model from nearly all sides. Of interest are the speaker grills, which seem to be coated with a clear layer of material, possibly for protection. The leaker also said that the M8 used a lot of new CNC process tech, resulting in a very tight build on the handset. Otherwise, the gallery confirms details we've already seen, plus several pics with an HTC One Max that show the relative size. To cap it off, @evleaks has shown a possible snappy-looking LED smart cover for the M8. That mimics others we've seen (like on the Alcatel OneTouch Hero), by showing the weather, date and other real-time info. Head after the break to see that image, or for an all-around view of the (alleged) M8, check the gallery below.