It’s still up in the air whether HTC’s press event midway through next month will be for the company’s first Windows Phone 7 handset or something running Android, but with Electricpig spotting an Amazon UK listing for the HTC Desire HD we’ve a feeling it’s the latter. The listing – which suggests the Desire HD will be shipped from Amazon themselves, not a third-party seller – prices the smartphone at £415 but mentions no specifications.
According to previous leaks, the HTC Desire HD will be a larger version of the existing Desire, with a 4.3-inch WVGA display like the US-only HTC EVO 4G. There’s also an 8-megapixel camera and 1GHz Snapdragon processor tipped, together with Android 2.2 Froyo as the OS with HTC’s own Sense interface on top.
SlashGear will be at the HTC event on September 15th 2010 so we’ll have all the details as to what exactly they’re planning then. Whether it’s WP7 or the Desire HD, one thing is for sure: the big-screen Android smartphone is coming.
We’ve just heard directly from HTC regarding that hotly anticipated upgrade to Android 2.2: it’s happening this weekend for lucky Euroland owners of the Desire. Provided your Sense-laden 3.7-incher is not carrier-locked, you should be receiving your serving of Froyo by the end of the week, together with a new 720p video mode and iTunes sync for your music. HTC is also throwing in its App Share widget that it first introduced with the Wildfire, along with its smart Caller ID feature. Very nice, though it’s quite a shame that operator-specific versions of the update are still stuck in testing and are expected “in several weeks’ time.” Ah well, guess that’ll teach us to buy our gear unlocked.
Update: Owners of unlocked Desires around Europe (and for that matter, the world) have informed us that OTA Froyo is being dished out in earnest. Enjoy!
HTC Europe director Mark Moons caused quite a stir this morning when he tweeted that the company would begin rolling out Android Froyo updates to devices tomorrow, starting with the Desire, but we wouldn’t get too excited yet — HTC tells us that it’s possible a rollout will begin tomorrow, but nothing’s finalized yet pending some final testing. We’ve certainly got our fingers crossed — and we’re sure Desire owners the world over will be hitting that System Updates button nonstop for the next few days.
Welcome back to our “worst kept secrets” hour, where HTC has seen fit to release a PR blast informing the world of what it already knew: the Desire and Nexus One are getting Super (duper) LCD displays to fill demand that Samsung’s AMOLED division cannot. Interestingly, HTC’s statement says nothing of the Droid Incredible, a close sibling to these 3.7-inch devices, but the global Nexus One and Desire are getting hooked up “later this summer.” CEO Peter Chou has also helpfully explained that the visual experience on the new SLCD screens is “comparable” to AMOLED, but offers better battery performance. Color us curious to see and hear more.
HTC has announced that it will be using Super LCD (SLCD) displays in its smartphones later in the summer, in response to the shortage of AMOLED panels that has been limiting supply of some of the company’s most popular devices. As we heard last month, that’s led HTC to look to alternative screen technologies, and now they’ve officially confirmed that handsets like the Nexus One and Desire will switch to the Sony-made SLCD panels.
Last month the company insisted to Android Community that they would continue using Samsung’s AMOLED screens alongside Sony’s SLCD alternatives, though there’s no mention of AMOLED in this newest press release. Instead, the company suggests that SLCD offers “a comparable visual experience to HTC’s current 3.7 inch displays with some additional benefits including battery performance.”
In fact, they say SLCD battery usage is five times less than regular LCD; considering one of the major selling points of AMOLED is its power frugality, that could be a big draw. HTC tells us that they’re “committed” to both display technologies, and that we can “expect to see both types of displays in current and future HTC devices”, but we’ll have to wait until the first SLCD handsets arrive in order to find out just how comparable the technologies really are.
“HTC believes that both technologies offer exceptional user experiences, and we will employ both types of displays concurrently within our current product lineup.” HTC statement
Press Release:
HTC INTRODUCES SLCD DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY TO ITS PORTFOLIO
New Displays to be integrated into HTC Desire and Nexus One
Taoyuan, TAIWAN – July 26, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced Super LCD display (SLCD) technology into a variety of HTC phones including the HTC Desire and global Nexus One later this summer. The SLCD display offers an exceptional natural balanced colour, clear contrast, broad viewing angles and improved power efficiency.
“HTC is experiencing high-demand for many of our phones, specifically our phones with 3.7 inch displays. The new SLCD display technology enables us to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high-demand,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “The SLCD displays provide consumers with a comparable visual experience to HTC’s current 3.7 inch displays with some additional benefits including battery performance.”
SLCD is the latest generation of LCD technology that offers improved performance from earlier LCD panels including approximately five times better power management. SLCDs also offer an enhanced viewing experience with wider viewing angles that are enabled by Sony’s new VSPEC III™ technology.
About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.
We’d already seen an HTC Desire with North American 3G hit the FCC, and it looks like we now know exactly where it’s headed — Telus has just announced that the phone is “coming soon” to its network. What’s more, the carrier has also confirmed that the phone will be equipped with a 3.7-inch Sony Super LCD screen instead of the regular AMOLED display that’s in short supply. Otherwise, the phone is the same Android 2.1-powered, Snapdragon-based, Sense-skinned device we’ve seen all along, which is hardly a bad thing — unless you’re waiting for a Desire HD, that is.
We didn’t have a ton of details on the so-called HTC Ace when it turned up in a leaked roadmap last week, but a fresh set of rumors are now suggesting that the Ace is actually the Desire HD, which will reportedly pack a number of HD-esque upgrades over the standard Desire. That includes a larger 4.3-inch WVGA screen — no word if it’s AMOLED or SLCD — and an 8-megapixel camera with 720p video recording. Other rumored details include Android 2.2, 4GB of internal storage, the same 1GHz Snapdragon as the current Desire and, perhaps most interestingly, talk of a “unibody aluminum design.” Unfortunately, the rumors still don’t include any actual images of the device, but there’s still plenty of time for those to leak out before the supposed October release.
Rumored specifications for the so-called HTC Desire HD, formerly tipped as the HTC Ace, have emerged, with one UK retailer suggesting the handset will arrive in October 2010. According to SuperEtrader, the Desire HD will have a 4.3-inch WVGA touchscreen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 8-megapixel camera; in other words, it’s a European version (and presumably 3G-only) of the HTC EVO 4G.
The HTC Ace had previously shown up on a leaked UK retailer roadmap devoid of any specifications; the list of abilities we now have are all pieced together from rumor, rather than anything official from HTC, but they do sound reasonably legitimate. The HTC Desire HD is supposed to run Android 2.2 and support 720p HD video recording, Xvid playback, SRS surround sound and Flash 10, and have automatic face tracking in the camera and 4GB of internal storage.
It’s also tipped to have a “unibody aluminium design” which sounds a whole lot like both the HTC Legend and, indeed, the HTC 1 fan concept we saw earlier in the week.
Getting Android running smoothly on the HTC HD2 has been a reasonably long project, but the xda-developers teams working on the port are getting close to perfect releases. There are now two almost complete builds available for download, one offering Android 2.2 Froyo for the HD2, and the other taken from an HTC Desire and promising Android 2.1 with HTC’s Sense UI and accompanying widgets.
Video demos after the cut
As you might expect, neither build is perfect yet. Audio seems to be the biggest hurdle right now, with in-call sound not playing ball properly. The Froyo ROM’s 3G data also seems to have issues, though they’re apparently not present on the Eclair ROM.
HDBlog.it shot a video demo of each ROM running on the HD2, which you can see below. As for downloading the new firmware, check out the xda-developers thread.
No patience to wait until Q3 for an official Froyo build? Fret not, dear Desire owners, as udK_dev has managed to push out a near-perfect Android 2.2 port that’s working spectacularly well so far. As you’d expect, HTC’s Sense overlay is indeed baked in, and while there are still a few quirks here and there, users seem to be generally pleased with how it’s going. Better still, the camera has been upgraded to handle 720p video recording, so there’s that. Hit the source link for the how-to, but make sure you set aside a few hours first. Or maybe just one.
