htc
HTC to Develop Homegrown Processor with ST-Ericsson
With Samsung and Apple taking to the labs to create their own processors that can be used for devices by the company, it seems that Taiwanese Mobile Manufacturer HTC is looking to follow suit. Apparently HTC has signed a “memorandum of cooperation” with ST-Ericsson to join forces and develop a chip that can be used for low-end smartphones touted for release in 2013. For now, HTC depends heavily on chip manufacturers such as Nvidia and Qualcomm but with this deal allegedly in place, the company can effectively reduce its reliance on the companies.
Recently, HTC which has seen their sales decline by more than 60% over the last 5 months have started to implement small but significant changes to their modus operandi like removing the Beats by Dre earphones from their devices and even more recently, the company announced that they were finished with QWERTY physical keyboards and have moved closer to full touchscreen user interfaces without a clunky keyboard QWERTY or otherwise in the way.
What is the world’s best kept secret? I suppose that would be a subjective question, with a myriad of answers for your picking if you were to take into consideration the different industries and niches, but where smartphones are concerned, especially with the HTC banner involved, then it would be the HTC One X9 being the next handset from the company. A set of photos of the alleged device has surfaced, and in these photos, it has more or less confirmed the overall design of the device – including its SIM card slot, power and volume button locations.
Other rumored hardware specifications include a 5.5” Full HD display, a MediaTek MT6795 SoC, either 2GB or 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory, a 3,000mAh battery, a 13MP shooter at the back with OIS, and an UltraPixel front camera. All that we have to do now is to sit tight and wait for an official announcement concerning the hardware, and it is good to go.
Now here is a new handset (in a sense) that hails from the folks over at HTC, although it does not really pay homage to HTC’s motto of “Here’s To Change”. Apparently, the HTC One E9s Dual SIM arrived on the HTC India website with nary an official announcement, and do not be fooled by its name since it is far less an improvement over the HTC One E9 as opposed to the HTC Desire 820, taking into consideration this device is thicker, heavier, has a slower chipset, a smaller battery, and a lower resolution 720p display as opposed to the Full HD display on the HTC One E9.
Other hardware specifications of the HTC One E9s Dual SIM include 16GB of internal memory, a 13MP shooter at the back, a 4MP camera in front, 2GB RAM, LTE connectivity and as mentioned earlier, Dual SIM capability. Oh yes, throw in stereo speakers and Dolby audio, and you’ve got a “new” model.
We do know that the HTC One A9 is well on its way, but as to exactly when will it roll out to the masses? We do not really know, but what we do know is this – there will be an October 20th event that will be held by HTC, and chances are pretty high that will be the date on which HTC rolls out their new HTC One handset. Right here, right now, we will just have to make do with a bunch of leaked HTC One A9 photos, where this smartphone does seem to resemble an iPhone 6 where its design and form factor are concerned.
Of course, there is also a quick look at HTC’s very own Sense UI that will run on top of the Android operating system, in addition to rounded sides of an aluminum unibody and a microUSB 2.0 port – I guess that rules out the Type-C port that other handset manufacturers are starting to incorporate. Other than that, it looks like a loudspeaker resides on the bottom, with a lack of stereo speakers on the front. Check out the photo gallery after the jump.