Photo: HTC

HTC is noted for having among the most gorgeous displays in all of the smartphone industry. That’s been partly attributed to the HTC OLED displays the company has used in its high-end phones. HTC has now had its hand forced by an OLED display shortage and will now make all its displays with an SLCD screen.

Why the  shortage?

The problem with OLED display is it is notably more expensive than LCD displays. And, more importantly, only Samsung, LG and CMEL supply it. Add this limited supply chain to the growing demand for this technology – spearheaded by Samsung growth and HTC’s unbelievable performance – HTC has been forced to search for alternate solutions.

What does this mean?

In short the incoming crop of HTC smartphones will use SLCD dispalys in lieu of the HTC OLED displays it has in its current crop of top-notch smartphones like the HTC Desire and the Google Nexus One. HTC puts the switch down to better battery life performance and more accurate contrast levels, but the company’s CEO makes it clear this has all got to do with product volume. In a press release,Peter Chou says that “HTC is experiencing high demand for many of our phones, specifically our phones with 3.7-inch displays,” before adding that “The new SLCD display technology enables us to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high demand.” High demand is certainly a nice problem to have.

What’s the difference?

The big question, of course, is whether there is a significant difference in display quality and imagery. In words, little is different if you aren’t searching for disparities. The differing screen types have strengths ands weaknesses, as is the case with anything, but the quality concession isn’t huge. The people over at Mobile Tech World have done a video comparison covering the various forms of display technology to show exactly.

In short, there’s nothing to see here, really. While the HTC OLED display is slightly superior to SLCD display, HTC fans have nothing to worry about.

Photo: HTC

In technology, it’s major online and software compares that get all the headlines. Facebook, Google, Foursquare, Spotify, and so. With only one hardware company absolutely killing it: Apple. You can now add HTC to that list, with the company reporting better than expected sales, showcasing massive year-on-year growth.

Great releases = great sales

Year-on-year revenues for the first two quarters have grown to £2 billion compared to £1.4 billion last year. That’s a remarkable sales increase off the back of focusing on emerging markets, as well as finally getting a foothold in the previously HTC-cold US market through its partnership with Google Android. This roundly beat analyst’s predictions, even though HTC pretty much blew the competition out of the water in Q1, too.

Photo: HTC

And how has HTC done this? Well, how else other than by releasing a string of remarkable phones in a short space of time? Within the last six months alone, the Taiwanese firm has released MCN favourites the HTC Desire and the HTC Legend, as well as the top-selling (yet critically disappointing) HTC EVO 4G exclusively in North America. Add to that list the budget HTC Wildfire, HTC Mini HD2 and some other HTC handsets and it soon becomes evident why the Taiwanese company is leaving most everybody else in their dust.

Should Google thank HTC, or the other way around?

And the bulk of these HTC handsets sales come from the Google Android line of HTC phones, indicating HTC should be very grateful to Google for the partnership. Or should Google thank HTC for validating the software capability of Google Android by marrying it with great hardware? Who is to say who is to thank, but considering HTC built the Google-branded Nexus One, too, it is safe to say the two companies have a very close mutually beneficial relationship. Sort of like Google and Apple back in the day, but that’s another story. One can’t help wonder how things will change between Google Android and HTC handsets once Windows Phone 7 Series releases.

So fess up! Have you contributed to HTC’s growing money pile in the past six months and, if yes, which HTC handsets did you purchase and how have you found them to handle? Let us know in the comments section.

Photo: HTC

Pretty much everybody gets great tech long after the US does. Look what happened with the iPad and most every major smartphone in the world. So on the rare occasions we ‘international users’ (they even clump us under one title) get something remarkable before the US does, allow us a second to feel better about ourselves. This is the case, with the HTC Desire finally getting released in the US in August, with a catch.

Regional Carriers

The catch is the Google Android powered HTC Desire will not be released on major carriers nationwide, with HTC opting to give the phone to ‘select regional operators’ to carry. That means no AT&T, no Sprint and no T-Mobile, either. A veritable easter egg hunt may need to ensue if US-based customers want the HTC Desire so as to find out what we keep cooing about.

You’ll love it, promise

We’ve had the HTC Desire for some time already and, in case it wasn’t clear when we wrote our review, we loved it. We still do, in fact. This Google Android powered phone is easily one of HTC’s best devices and is still on the shortlist for handset of the year, even with the hugely impressive iPhone 4 and HTC’s very own powerful (but disappointing) HTC EVO 4G due to both be on market soon.

Oh, wait, fancy footwork

Photo: HTC

Our fellow tech lovers who stay in the US do have the escape route of saying the HTC Desire is merely a tweaked Google Nexus One, which the US got a long while before the rest of the world did. Though this debate is old, it’s hardly true with the phones different enough that we at least consider them two completely separate devices. Glass half empty or half full, right? And even then, can us ‘international’ users get a moment in the sun? Just a brief one.

So, US readers, does the news of one of the standout Google Android handsets excite you or not? And to those of us who are ‘international’ users, how has your experience with this HTC handset been so far?

Photo: HTC

With embargos dropped, and wide availability across the UK, the opportunity to thoroughly review the beloved HTC Desire has come about. And, to little surprise, it does not disappoint.

Slim, sleek finish

The slim phone, measuring in at (in mm) 119 x 60 x 11.9, weighs a mere 133g. It has a rubberised grip, which is prone to slipping at inopportune times, and only has only six buttons on the phone: four front-facing buttons, which are standard fare on all HTC Android devices, and two side buttons.

More than a Nexus One clone

Photo: HTC

It must be prefaced that the similarities between this phone and the Google Nexus One – both are manufactured by HTC – are striking and for some, the addition of HTC’s Sense UI makes for a better device, whereas others would prefer it was not present. Sense is essentially HTC’s multiple home screens interface, that lets you widgetise all the apps you use frequently. You have seven screens you can alternate between, themed as you want, for quick access to groups of applications you use frequently.

The HTC Desire runs on Android 2.1, just like the Nexus One. It has a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 800 x 480, just like the Nexus One. It also has a 5-megapixel camera with native autofocus and 512mb of ROM, just like the Nexus One, too.

Where it differs from the Nexus One is in its optical track pad, which is fun to use for the rare occasions you will need to use it, and sits flush with the rest of the phone’s surface area.

Operating system and interface

Photo: HTC

Not much more can be said about Android 2.1 than has already been said. It’s a solid operating system, highly customisable in its ability to drop widgets to the home page as you need and, now with over 30,000 apps, finally has a decent base of applications for purchase. The phone’s touch screen is highly responsive and though it feels more ‘resistive’ than the iPhone’s, it works very well. Whether Sense UI is for you depends entirely on your preference.

Camera

The camera shoots images at an attractive 5:3 widescreen aspect ratio, which is different from the Nexus One’s 4:3 aspect ratio and the Legend’s 3:2 aspect ratio, even though all three phones have 5-megapixel cameras. The HTC Desire shoots videos in 800 x 480, which, though it isn’t quite 16:9 (it’s 15:9, for those who are interested), gives off great widescreen videos.

Thoughts

The HTC Desire is a smashing phone, in more ways than one. It is so well engineered, so well put together, that the fact that it’s a modified Google Nexus One fades very quickly from memory.

Photo: HTC

Forbes reports that in the 74 days the Google Nexus One has been available, the handset has only been sold 135,000 times, making it an absolute flop.

Perspective

While 135,000 is nothing to be sneezed at, the Google Nexus One was positioned – by the press at least – as an iPhone 3GS competitor, both in terms of build quality and in terms of commercial viability. With the Android platform coming of age, with Android 2.1 on the horizon, and the phone being manufactured by the talented HTC team, build quality was never a problem. Commercial success however, was.

The numbers game

Photo: Apple

When comparing the Nexus One’s sales to that of the original iPhone after the same timeframe elapsed, the picture becomes bleaker. Mobile apps data analytics company Flurry estimates that over the same period, the iPhone sold 1 million units and the Motorola Droid moved 1,05 million units, both over seven times what the Google Nexus One sold. If one took the figures for the iPhone 3GS over the same period, the gulf would be even more exaggerated.

The online-only excuse failure

The other defense for this sales bomb could be that the device was retailed exclusively online. If recent reports that the iPad pre-sold 152,000 units in a weekend are accurate, it renders the online exclusivity argument moot.

Google is not a retailer

Photo: Apple

This confirms two things: firstly, Google should stick to its strength in software and not flirt with hardware retail and, secondly, Google Android still has a lot of catching up to do. Another revelation is that partnering with carriers, who have marketing and retail outlet strengths, is more sensible than trying to go it alone, even if you have the influence and reach a company like Google does.