Samsung's slumping sales suggest China is the next mobile battlefield
Samsung had a rough day yesterday. Its earnings report indicated the company experienced the first posted drop in profit in two years (a mere $7.8 billion, compared to $8.27 billion in the same quarter last year), thanks to a strong Korean won, a special one-off bonus payment to employees and heavy holiday marketing costs. Given its increased year-over-year profits and sales this may not seem so bad, but there is a growing concern that the company has a difficult year ahead, especially for smartphone sales.
The company expects slowing sales in the first quarter of 2014 for its smartphones and tablets, thanks to "seasonality." This means fewer people are buying mobile devices -- as a new Galaxy flagship approaches, many people put off their phone purchase until it comes out. But the company also indicated that the mobile battlefield is only going to get fiercer over the next year, as developed markets are reaching saturation. Now, the war is shifting to developing markets where more people are becoming smartphone and tablet owners for the first time.
"With developed markets becoming saturated and experiencing slow sales, regions like China are ripe for the picking."
In its earnings report, Samsung stated: "In 2014, Samsung will focus on expanding its smartphone portfolio both by region and price range, and actively responding to growing LTE demand in Europe and China. Expect ... intensified price competition, amid developed and emerging markets to continue rapid growth." With developed markets becoming saturated and experiencing slowed sales, regions like China are ripe for the picking.
This isn't to say that Samsung doesn't already have a large presence in areas like China and India -- it's currently the market share champion in both countries -- but its dominance is quickly slipping as it faces intense competition from both local and global companies alike. Local powerhouses Micromax and Karbonn are quickly catching up to Samsung in India, and in China, Apple has experienced exponential growth in recent quarters; reports indicate that the iPhone 5s and 5c helped Apple more than double its market share to take third place. The phones launched on China Mobile (the country's largest carrier with 750 million customers) this month, so we expect Apple's foothold to only get stronger there in the coming months. But that's not the only large company making strides in China: Lenovo, which is in second place, is also growing significantly.
"If the rumors about Apple releasing iPhones in larger form factors are true, Samsung will have to directly compete against a major force that didn't exist last year."
Not only is there more competition in these countries in general, there's also a much more pointed focus on specific form factors and price points. As we pointed out in an earlier piece, the under-$100 pricing tier is becoming very aggressive, especially in emerging markets. Additionally, the large-screen smartphone, a form factor once dominated by the Galaxy Note, is now covered by nearly every major company. If the rumors about Apple releasing iPhones in larger form factors are true, Samsung will have to directly compete against a major force that didn't exist last year.
As the battle continues to intensify in countries like China, where demand is growing at a tremendous pace, Samsung's profit margins will get squeezed as phone prices plunge. Thus, we expect to see the company hit tablets and wearables even harder in 2014 -- according to Samsung, the former will experience a 20 percent increase in demand, and it has more of the latter on the way as well. We don't know if it will be enough for the company to enjoy a record year, but Samsung is under more pressure to bedazzle its customers than at any time in recent memory. It's just going to have to be more creative to stay on top.
Microsoft moved 3.9 million Xbox Ones, while Surface sales soared
The company's search for a new CEO is still the dominant narrative surrounding Microsoft. But if you're able to get past the quest to replace Ballmer, you'll find a company that's starting to get something of a second wind in its long life. For one, its new Xbox One console is selling quite well. After getting off to a slightly rocky start and trailing the latest PlayStation in initial sales, it outsold its rival in the US for the Month of December. All told during the last quarter Redmond pushed 3.9 million of the next-gen (now-gen?) gaming rigs out to retail channels. That's in addition to 3.5 million Xbox 360s, which are still selling well and are quite a bargain compared to the new systems.
Another unit that struggled early on, Surface, seems to be righting the ship as well. (Though, its rough patch lasted a ways longer than the Xbox One's.) Revenues from Surface sales more than doubled from $400 million last quarter to $893 million. And let's not forget, that $400 million dollars represented a 47 percent increase over the quarter before that.
Obviously, things are not all rosy. Its desktop consumer Office and Windows 8 offerings continue to see revenues fall. But, the growth of its device division and increased income from Bing (which, stunningly, now accounts for 18.2 percent of searches in the US, according to Microsoft) are beginning to compensate for the "softness in the consumer PC market."
Nokia's dumbphones face an uncertain future at Microsoft
"Year-on-year decline." Those are words that no company looks forward to publishing in its earnings reports, but unfortunately we've seen them printed more often than not on Nokia's quarterly statements. Though there have been a few ups and downs, struggling profits and sales have been a general concern for a long time, and unfortunately this quarter's earnings report did little to soothe our worries; Nokia sold 600,000 fewer Lumias than the previous quarter. Now that Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's devices and services division is nearly complete, much of our focus has turned to how the merger will affect the Lumia lineup of Windows Phones. An even bigger mystery at the moment, however, is what Microsoft will choose to do with the rest of Nokia's phones -- namely, the Mobile Phone division, which consists of the company's basic featurephones and the Asha lineup of advanced featurephones, none of which run Windows Phone.
Just after Microsoft announced its intent to acquire the phone maker, Nokia insisted that the division wasn't going anywhere; it has "substantial global reach ... and a strong customer base," but in emerging markets like India and China, it faces intense competition from fully functional smartphone platforms for a similar cost. Even worse, as we learned in yesterday's report, sales from this division were flat -- and as the competition gets heavier, it's going to get worse, not better. Is it worth it for Microsoft to try saving a lineup of handsets that don't feature Windows Phone OS? Or does it make more sense to push lower-end Lumia devices to cater to the next billion smartphone users?
"We've seen several companies make huge moves to compete in emerging markets, where even a difference of $10 or $20 can have a significant impact."
In yesterday's report, Nokia stated: "Our Mobile Phones net sales were affected by competitive industry dynamics, including intense smartphone competition at increasingly lower price points and intense competition at the low end of our product portfolio." In other words, an influx of cheap Android and Firefox OS devices is making it difficult for Nokia's lower-end devices to remain relevant in fiercely competitive countries like India and China.
The Ashas, which bridge the divide between featurephones and smartphones, range from $70 to $100; however, Android devices like the Galaxy Pocket cost around $85 in the same markets and offer similar specs with a much wider variety of apps. Firefox OS devices like the ZTE Open are now available for around $75. Heck, even the Lumia 520, which uses the Windows Phone platform, costs roughly the same as an Asha.
We've seen several companies make huge moves to compete in emerging markets, where even a difference of $10 or $20 can have a significant impact. Unfortunately, this means it's much more difficult for the Asha lineup to compete today than just a couple years ago when they were first introduced. At the time, the concept was sound -- if you offer a featurephone with smart abilities like a developer platform, messaging/email, social networking and so on, the customers will come. But today, as other platforms like Android and Firefox begin to flourish in emerging markets for the same prices, developers have less incentive to focus on making apps for Asha products, and consumers will become more hesitant to buy into the ecosystem.
There's still a place for the simplest of phones. The $20 Nokia 105, for instance, is a basic candybar phone that offers a few nice extras like FM radio, flashlight and (best of all) month-long battery life. But what about the $85 Nokia 301 (pictured above), which offers a camera, HSPA connectivity and Mail for Exchange? How about the $160, aluminum-clad Nokia 515? We're not so sure there's a place for them in the years to come. It's fantastic to see a lot of variety in the low end, but these handsets won't be able to stay afloat in a sea of similarly priced phones that have more capabilities.
"These handsets won't be able to stay afloat in a sea of similarly priced phones that have more capabilities."
Nokia states that featurephones won't be going away under Microsoft's reign, and everything under the Mobile Phone umbrella will continue on. But outside of the Nokia 105, we just don't see how selling a featurephone that costs more than $60 makes sense -- and if Microsoft continues the Asha lineup, it would have to add even more functionality in order to compete with phones that boast full smartphone platforms. This is where a device like the oft-rumored Normandy would play an interesting role, since it's reportedly an Asha-class phone that features a forked version of Android. However, Microsoft may not be so keen on Nokia launching the phone for that very reason.
Regardless of what happens to the Normandy in the end, we doubt it will have much of an effect on Microsoft's end goal -- to help Windows Phone blossom and grow. The best place to do that right now is in emerging markets, where it's finally becoming affordable to get a smartphone. Nokia created a lot of momentum with low-end smartphones like the Lumia 520, which Softpedia claims was the best-selling Windows device in the world in September. Microsoft should take advantage of those successes instead of focusing on products that deter from its objective.
Beats Music builds a unique, if messy, listening experience around emotion
The Beats empire has officially expanded beyond its humble headphone roots. Beats Music has officially launched (download it from the iTunes App Store here), and become the latest contestant for your streaming music dollar. Of course, the market for such services is already pretty crowded. Between Spotify, Google Play and Rdio (just to name a few) one might wonder "why bother?" Well, the company thinks there's plenty of fish in the sea who haven't jumped aboard the music subscription bandwagon just yet. While we're sure execs are hoping to convert a few listeners along the way, they're more concerned with broadening the pool of customers. After two years of plugging away, with a little help from Trent Reznor and its MOG acquisition, Beats feels it has something unique to offer; something built around curation, emotion and a personalized user experience. It all sounds good in theory, but the real question is whether or not the reality lives up to the promise. As usual, the answer is complicated and it awaits you after the break.
The initial setup experience, which we've already given you a rundown of, is quite different from most services. The app spends a good amount of time getting to know you and your tastes. You'll tap (like), double tap (love) and long press (hate) your way through bubbles bearing genres and artists. It doesn't take long, and Beats Music immediately starts serving up musical suggestions based those choices. The first tab you see in the app, Just for You, is populated based on your listening habits. So, on first launch it's primarily built around your professed preferences from the "on-boarding" process. But over time, thanks to algorithms created with the help of both behavior and data scientists, it should grow smarter. Granted, in our limited time with the app it was hard to spot a difference. A few days didn't exactly give Beats a chance to figure out the finer details of our tastes (liking Vampire Weekend does not equal liking Fleet Foxes). That said, it quickly learned this editor had an obsession with Bruce Springsteen, and served up a new album from the Boss' catalog every time it launched.
Swipe to the right of the Just for You tab, and you come face to face with The Sentence. This is one of the interesting and bizarre features of the app. The Sentence is just that, a Madlibs-style fill in the blank statement. Tell it that "I'm at my computer & feel like partying with my inner child to hair metal" and you'll get an automatically generated playlist of retro rock tunes with big guitars and simplistic lyrics (think girls and partying). Go with "I'm at the gym & feel like running with my pets to vintage soul & funk" and you'll get a selection of treadmill-worthy gems from Funkadelic, Kool & the Gang and the The Gap Band. Of course, odd things occasionally slip in, like the late-era Marvin Gaye cut Third World Girl, but for the most part it does a decent job of matching up with your mood. Besides, just like its competitors, you can fine tune its selections by taping love it (a heart icon) or hate it (a heart with an X through it). You can even share your sentences on Facebook or Twitter and invite others to give the tailored listening experience a try. All told, Beats claims there are a 1,000,000 possible sentences and we're sure that will grow over time.
From there, Beats Music turns into a more traditional listening experience. The Highlights tab serves up a curated selection of playlists and albums chosen by taste-makers like former Pitchfork and XXL writers. But there is no personalization to be seen here -- Highlights serves up the same exact content to every listener, such as a themed collection of songs dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. The same is true of Find It, the next and final tab, which allows you to browse playlists, albums and artists based on genre, activities and curators. If you're planning a summer cook out, the BBQing section under activities has a host of playlists conducive to grilling up some burgers. Wondering what Pitchfork thought the best tracks of 2013 are? You'll find a playlist dedicated to just that under Curators. If you swipe to the left from most screens you'll reveal a pop out menu with a search option that lets you pull up a specific artist, album or song. There's also options here to browse your playlists or your library, the latter of which are songs and albums that you've pinned for easy access. (That's right, no saving albums as playlists here, huzzah!) So long as you're a paying subscriber, you can download any of this content for listening offline and it will never expire and force you to re-download.
On the whole Beats has succeeded at building a mobile-first service that offers something its competitors don't. The human-curated playlists are top notch and features like The Sentence allow users to create a more unique listening experience than simply starting a radio station based on a song or artist on Pandora. But there's still a lot of work to be done. For one, there are some glaring holes in its 20 million song catalog. And those holes go beyond expected omissions like Led Zeppelin. Pull up Black Sabbath and you'll discover none of their pre-1980 albums are available. Oddly, they're listed in the artist's library, but grayed out and tapping play does nothing. We encountered the same phenomena with the Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat, a song sitting smack in the middle of one of those much-touted curated playlists.
The other major short-coming (other than some stability issues, which we're willing to forgive in the beta version of the app we used) is the app's design. The company says its guiding principle was to focus on function, and build something simple and accessible for those that don't consider themselves early adopters. But there are plenty of questionable interface decisions. For one, the left-hand slide out menu doesn't work when viewing a playlist or currently playing track. And, while it will function when you're browsing around other parts of the app, the visual indicator of its existence disappears the moment you leave the home screen. It's also far too easy to accidentally open up the right-hand social menu (which is also inconsistently available) when trying to swipe between tabs. If you tap on the track name or album art in a playlist, instead of directly on the play button sitting between those two, you're taken off to the artist's profile rather than treated to a tune. And, if you're already on the artist page, tapping a track title does absolutely nothing. Many of our issues might seem less onerous after getting more familiar with the app, but our initial impression is that the interface is simply too busy and inconsistent.
Despite its problems, Beats Music is still a pretty compelling product. If you're not yet hooked on Play Music's ability to plug holes by uploading your own files, or on Spotify's robust social features it's certainly worth giving this new comer a look. It has all the basics down pat and at least partially succeeds in its quest to build unique features around the inherently emotional experience of listening to music. Sure, playlists curated by major music publications aren't quite the same as getting a personal recommendation from a clerk at Other Music, but its a heck of a lot closer than letting Pandora serve up a random series of tracks based on a song's "musical genome."
Beats Music will be available on January 21st with subscriptions starting at $10 a month. Those still clinging to their MOG accounts will be migrated to the new service over the next 90 days.
Update: By the way, as we reported last week, AT&T has a deal with Beats that allows families to take advantage of the service: $15 per month gets you and four other family members access to unlimited streaming and offline listening across up to 10 devices -- if you're an AT&T customer, of course. There's also a 90-day trial in which your family can check it out for free.
HTC One review
introduction and design
After months on sale, the HTC One is still our top pick of the smartphones available at the moment - and with all new software, it's now even better.
While it may not have been borne out in sales, the One is definitely the phone that the likes of Samsung and Apple have been aspiring to.
It's got a full HD screen crammed into 4.7-inches, which brings a 468ppi – well above what's needed for the eye to discern, and it does definitely bring sumptuous sharpness throughout the use of the phone.
On top of that there's a good CPU and RAM combo, a more-than-enough 32GB of storage and top-end Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G / 4G connections, all topped off by a completely re-imagined version of HTC Sense. What's not to like?
It's at the sharp end of the smartphone price scale, although can be had for around £34 per month on a two year deal in the UK, which isn't too bad at all compared to the competition. On a SIM free deal, it's still not too bad: £480 for the phone without having to monkey about with a network.
Given the One is now nearly a year on sale, the price is a little high for our tastes - there are better specified, if not designed, phones on the market, and be warned that its successor is likely to drop in the next few months.
The design of the HTC One is something that you simply have to experience in the hand though. Where those that pick up the Samsung Galaxy S4 will go ' Oh, it's a bit plastic, isn't it? But ooh, it's quite light' and those who encounter the iPhone 5S will, to a person, say 'Ooh, it's very light isn't it? You don't expect it to be that light!' those that try the HTC One will simply intone: 'Oh, that's really nice. Really, really nice.'
And do you know why? Simple: the HTC One is one of the best-designed phones on the planet. Not content with inventing a new machining process to allow the body to be all aluminium, the Taiwanese firm has extended the screen to the edges of the chassis further than ever before, meaning you're getting a 4.7-inch Full HD display without the additional heft you'd probably expect.
It's even thinner than its predecessor, the HTC One X (we know, that naming strategy leaves a lot to be desired) and as such slides nicely in the pocket.
It's not light either, weighing more than most of the competition, but rather than feeling overweight, combined with the metallic chassis is oozes a premium build. Samsung is probably hoping not a lot of people hold this phone side-by-side with the Galaxy S4 as otherwise the buying choice is going to be a lot more of a worry for the Koreans.
On top of that, there's a whole host of little design wins that delight when you first try the HTC One. For instance, the machined holes that allow sound toe emanate from the dual front-facing speakers (can you say BOOMSOUND?) looks amazing, and the lines on the back of the phone give a nice textured movement to things, helping to break up the constant greyness of the aluminium.
You could argue that straight on it looks far too much like either an iPhone 5, with its chamfered edges, or a BlackBerry Z10 front on, and you'd have a good point as this phone doesn't reinvent the rectangle-with-rounded-edges formula that we're so used to, but in the hand the curved back brings a whole new dimension to things.
There's a zero-gap construction at work here as well, which means that you won't find any gaping distance, holes or light leakages to make you feel like you've not spent your hard-earned cash on something wonderful.
The volume control on the right-hand side of the phone is in the same dazzling metal, and contrasts nicely with the rubber/plastic that makes up the sides. Our sample actually showed a fair amount of wiggle in this area, and slightly detracted from the overall premium feel. However, later models have deleted this problem, so chances are you won't notice it either.
The power button resides on the top, and doubles as the infra-red blaster - however, this is one of the poorer points as it doesn't have a whole lot of travel.
Similarly, the placement of this button, even on a phone that's been shrunk down while accommodating a larger screen, is still a bit inconvenient. We had to shuffle the phone around in the palm to turn it on and off on many occasions, and a lot of the time we couldn't use our thumb to hit the whole of the screen without jiggling the phone up and down.
That's another problem with the design: it's pretty slippery thanks to the metallic chassis. We thankfully only ever suffered two serious drops when we were about a foot off the carpet (basically scrabbling for it to turn off the alarm in the morning) and a more alarming one stepping out of a cab, but there have been a few near misses when trying to manoeuvre around the screen.
If only that power button was on the side (as it is on the HTC One Max), or a physical home button unlocked the phone, this whole issue would be negated for a large part.
But as we mentioned, HTC has wandered away from the physical buttons - where once it put a trackpad in the Nexus One, now it's stripped the capacitive buttons down from three to two, with the multi-tasking option going the way of the dodo. You can still get the same functionality by double tapping the home button, but it's not the same.
Overall though, you can guess we're impressed with the construction and design of the HTC One. We're not even looking at final hardware here - although we appear to have got lucky with our sample, as there are few design flaws in sight - so the chances of metallic chipping ('because that's just what it does....' OK, Apple) are slight to say the least - providing you don't fling it on tarmac. Seriously, we tried that... don't do it.
We thought we'd scuffed it so many times during our test, but each time it was simply a slight amount of dirt or dust that wiped right off. Tick from TechRadar on the design front, HTC.
Interface
The HTC One is set to get the Android 4.4 KitKat update in the next month - so stay tuned for our updated review with the new software.
HTC has been hard at work redesigning Sense once more, and the HTC One is the first phone to bear the fruits of that labour. Sense 5 (as it's colloquially, if not officially, called) is another step forward in the Android overlay story, but we think this is the biggest yet from HTC.
It's also been upgraded to Sense 5.5 with the launch of Android 4.3 on the One, which brings a huge set of new functionality once more.
We're talking a whole new button layout, a new grid for the menu icons, geometric patterns replacing the over-complicated widgets of old; in short, it's simple, stark and we really like it.
HTC One review
There's no doubt that it's still a little heavy on the old processor - a quick trip to the battery usage settings will confirm that - but what HTC has done is bring the notion of Android 4.3 to a wider audience by, well, making it less Android-y.
The option to add widgets and such has been brushed to the side to some degree, with BlinkFeed taking centre stage (and you can read our bigger rundown of BlinkFeed on its own, separate, section).
Instead of the home button taking you to your collection of homescreens, BlinkFeed will pop up, in all its Windows Phone-like glory by default.
With the Android 4.3 update you can finally change the home screen to the one you want - perfect for when you don't want to look at the dizzying list of live tiles, but it can cause you to forget Blinkfeed is there at times.
However if you are using Blinkfeed as the default home action it only takes a swipe to the right to access the homescreens as you know them from Android of old, although you get a miserly five home screens to customise.
And customising them isn't easy - you either have to long press on the home screen and choose the apps that way, or drag them from the menu via the shortcut icon at the top. More convoluted than on other Android phones, that's for sure.
But enough of that - how does the interface work under the finger? In short, blazingly well, as you'd expect from a phone rocking a quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. Add to that 2GB of RAM and you've got more than enough grunt. It's bettered by a good few devices on the market now, (the LG G2 wipes the floor with it) but it still does enough to zip by.
From opening and closing apps to browsing multiple tabs on the internet, there's nothing that can slow down the HTC One, and you'll really appreciate that in day to day life.
You can also choose from a number of lockscreen types, be it productivity for emails, calendar entries or messages - and a swipe upwards while holding said missive will launch it directly too.
It's a little sad that we've lost the HTC ring that we grew to love so quickly, but the geometric simplicity of Sense 5 is enough to calm the urges to run back to a Sensation.
You can select a range of pictures to wander past your eyes, have some tunes on offer or simply have no lockscreen at all if you're convinced nobody is in there trying to get at all your precious smartphone data stored on the HTC One - and we're fans of the latter, as lockscreens are annoying if you have no need for them.
Once you're in and past BlinkFeed you can select whether to stick with the frankly under-selling 3x4 grid of apps ('People now want simplicity in an Android phone' say HTC rather unconvincingly.) If you want to have the right amount of apps, edit that instantly to show 20 on the screen at once, and you can order them in a number of ways too.
Widgets aren't locked away in the menu like on many other Android phones either, as all it takes is a long-press on any home screen and you're greeted with all the widgets on offer - which is admittedly rather few.
The dock at the bottom of the phone pervades through the homescreen and menu options, which means you can always launch the camera or internet browser from anywhere on the main screens - you can customise this with a long press, so if you only want the entire range of Angry Birds games at your fingertips, you can make that happen.
It's not obvious how this works if you want to change it - you'll have to be in the apps menu to do so. While you're there, you can also hide apps too, which is neat if you're stuck with a phone rammed with bloatware.
Compared to something like the Samsung Galaxy S4 the HTC One is a little under-powered when it comes to the interface, but where Samsung is all about the functionality HTC is about style and minimalism.
However, with the 4.2 update you can pull down with two fingers and get access to said settings, as per the update from Google. It does take a few goes to remember that this is the way to get to settings, but it's a nice touch.
And with Android 4.3, you get even more choice, such as the Do Not Disturb icon that lets you decide when you want people to contact you.
The alarm clock is now more powerful too - sadly not with better ringtones, but in that if the phone is turned off the alarm will still trigger but then turn right back off when you slam your fist onto it to make the morning go away.
You can also now add widgets to the lock screen thanks to the Android 4.3 update - it's not something you'll use often as the scroll to the right to find them isn't intuitive, but if you need a quick calculator or similar it's useful. We wish flashlight was an option here.
The interface on the HTC One is simple - really simple. It doesn't have a huge amount of peeking to see messages (BlackBerry, take note) nor does it do much more than telling you the time or the weather.
But it does all this in a way that makes you feel like you're never missing anything and getting a stylish experience to boot that isn't like anything else on the market.
The closest we can equate it to is the LG Prada 3.0 phone's interface - and given that was designed by a fashion house, we'll call that pretty high praise indeed, if we don't say so ourselves.
Camera
A big change on the HTC One is the camera: it's 'only' a 4MP sensor. It should be put into context though: the camera has a smaller sensor but much larger pixels to allow in more light, and therefore more data, to make your pictures look that much better on the go.
The Ultrapixel method is one to be applauded, as it's pushing back on the 13MP image sensors that are being crammed into ever-thinner phones these days. HTC has published a blog detailing how this process was conceived, if you're after a bit more Ultrapixel info directly from the horse's mouth.
But what does that mean in reality? Well, you're getting a faster sensor for one thing, and that means you can take more snaps on the go. In fact, it's so fast that we didn't notice that it had fired on the odd occasion, although at other times it would have a bit of a think before saving your picture.
The same range of HTC gizmos are on offer here as seen in the HTC One X - so you can alter the ISO levels, change exposure, contrast and sharpness and also enable HDR mode through the onscreen menu.
With Android 4.3 you can change the orientation of the panorama camera, so like the iPhone you can take the wider pics in landscape as well as portrait - it's a nice touch and the interface is really simple to keep you in line.
HTC clearly wants you to use the front facing camera too - it's been given a spec bump to 2.1MP, making it close in power to the rear of the phone (without all the Ultrapixel jiggery-pokery) and as such takes great snaps.
You simply slide your finger up and down the screen to jump between the two cameras as well as enabling the countdown timer if you so wish - it's not a strongly advertised feature, but when you find it, it's really impressive.
The interface for the camera isn't the easiest to use at times, simply thanks to the fact the buttons to hit are so small and there's a great deal of scrolling to alter the effects. There's no intelligent shot mode like that found on the Sony Xperia Z1 and LG G2, but it doesn't matter in many situations.
But if you want to fire the text mode (which alters the contrast of the picture) or get a little closer up to stuff using macro, you'll have to scoot through a few menu options.
It's also annoying that you can't use HDR (high dynamic range, where multiple exposures are captured of the same photo and stitched together) mode when shootings Zoes (more on that in a separate section) as this really improves the pictures no end.
Given you can use video HDR mode as well on the HTC One, we're not sure why it's not an option. HDR is a much better option than it used to be on older HTC phones, as it can manage to process in no time at all now. In fact, we wish it could be enabled by default rather than having to switch it on each time.
So onto the good stuff: is the HTC One camera actually any good given the bold move made on the camera front? The simple answer is yes, photos taken in a variety of scenes look pretty darn nice.
There's a lot of noise thanks to the lower pixel count at times, but the range of light levels you get to shoot in compared to other camera phones is excellent. We were surprised how trigger happy the flash was in auto mode given this ability. The HTC One DESTROYS the Galaxy S3 at low-light ability, as you'll see in the photos below.
It's a bit closer now the competition has caught up - the Galaxy S4, LG G2 and iPhone 5S all excel in this area too, plus the Nokia Lumia 1020 is in a league of its own when it comes to cameraphone-ability.
How does the HTC One fare in our ultimate cameraphone test?
And the photos we took looked stunning at times on the phone screen, which HTC says is where most of them stay - which we agree with to a degree. However, on the computer screen things are oddly different, with higher exposure and some loss of detail.
You probably won't look at many photos this way, but if you're thinking of uploading them to Facebook, you probably will get some people checking out your efforts at a larger size.
We've noted some criticism of the HTC Ultrapixel system already, and yes, if you really care about photos on the go, working hard on scene composition all the time and fiddling with the exposure chances are you won't want this phone. Ultrapixels work well enough, but there's definitely a lot more to come from the technology.
Another 'failing' some perceive for the HTC One is that, by default, the phone shoots in 16:9 size, rather than the traditional 4:3. Well, again, if the photos are only ever going to be viewed on the screen on on a social networking site, then it makes sense that they should fill the display. We know there are many good reasons to have photos in the 4:3 format, but the user base of the HTC One is less likely to be bothered by those.
However, for most people they'll be overjoyed with the photo quality on the HTC One. The combination of fast shooting, accurate focus, sharp continuous shooting and a nippy HDR mode, combined with photos that look good on the phone screen, will impress many.
And let's be honest, that's the reason we buy a phone with a camera on it, right?
Maps and Apps
HTC has finally bitten the bullet with the One and lost the HTC mapping software that bloated things so badly before. It's also dispensed with the services of Footprints too, which were cool in their own way (being able to give an account of places you've been pictorially) but were rarely used.
Instead, it's all about Google Maps here, and what a stunning experience it is. We won't go into huge detail on how the program works, as it's a delight for you to find, but there are a number of ways that the HTC One really uses its power to bring Google Maps into the light.
For starters, over Wi-Fi and 4G (and even decent 3G) the speed with which it can locate you and load up your surrounding area is impressive - and if you're in one of the larger cities you'll get 3D models of the buildings too.
A simple two finger swipe will change the perspective so you can see exactly what you're walking through when you're in a new city (with the ability to save maps offline too) and the HTC barely breaks sweat to bring you these mountainous images.
Then there's the sat-nav software - it's excellent, but you'll need to make sure you've got a decent data plan and a car charger handy, as it sucks both bytes and power down in a heartbeat as it brings live traffic information and route information.
But the bright and large screen of the HTC one makes the handset and excellent choice for dashboard mounting and ditching the TomTom.
So if you're looking at the HTC One as dedicated sat-nav, we can't recommend it highly enough - plus the car mode is one of the best out there, with large buttons, instant-on music and good voice transcription all part of the dedicated interface.
Apps
The HTC One comes with a host of extras to make it into a more fully-fledged phone, and of course you can supplement these with more from the bulging Google Play store. However, we'll take you through a few of the key ones on offer here.
Kid mode is one of the big changes from HTC, with the option to set the phone up with programs the kids will like without giving them the keys to buy stuff from the internet or send a picture of poo to your boss. The main interface is pre-loaded with a load of mind-numbing games and activities (can you tell we don't have kids?) but they all seem beautifully colourful and probably contain some educational message.
You can them add to this by choosing apps you've selected live in there as well, such as Google Maps so they can learn where Scotland is. It's not the simplest interface to learn, but then again, kids are managing to jailbreak iPads these days, so we're probably worried about nothing.
The only annoying thing is you have to enable Kid Mode, where on Windows Phone the service is accessible from the lock screen, which saves you from a child with sticky fingers nabbing your phone.
Evernote integration is also on offer from the HTC One, with the Notes function allowing you to sign into the service. You can also record voice and notes at the same time and see where the match up afterwards - this is an invaluable tool if you're big on transcription, although you'll have to hope you get pretty accurate with that onscreen keyboard.
Polaris office is on offer and will allow you to view and edit a whole host of document types. It's an irritating app in that when you download a PDF it won't let you read it - but then when you try to open it with Adobe Acrobat (which you have to download) you're presented with an option to open in Polaris, and it does it better than Adobe. Grrrr.
Beyond that, we're into the same territory as before, with the handy flashlight locked deep away in the menu, so make sure you turn it into an app shortcut if you live in darkness or like poking through stuff quietly.
The alarm on the phone is a bit poor, as the choice of ringtones is limited and none of them really scream 'let's wake you up softly', rather scaring you into consciousness. Compare that to the Samsung Galaxy range, which has pre-alarms and fairy mist or some odd business to wake you up with, or the LG Optimuseseses which make you type in a code to prove you're awake, and we think HTC has been a bit lazy here.
We know we're being a bit over the top with the criticism, but given most people now rely on their phone to wake them up in the morning, this is something that really can't be overlooked. Thankfully, again, there are loads of options on the Play Store to sort you out.
And finally, the HTC Weather widget. How we love you. How very, very much. While Sense 5 has stripped away the temperature graph of old (boooo) and replaced it with a list of temperatures for each hour, it's still light years ahead of the competition, which push you onto a mobile site to just see how cold or hot it's going to be later that day. Again, a small feature, but again, a key one for a lot of people.
Verdict
Well, here we are - if you've skipped the whole of this review just to see what we thought, shame on you. Go back and read it properly. Have you done that? Good. Now read on, safe in the knowledge you didn't miss that bit about how to get free adult film downloads.
The HTC One is the phone that NEEDS to relaunch the ailing Taiwanese firm, and as such it's gone all out on the design. TechRadar spent some time with HTC's designers of many different sections of the handset, and you can see the passion that flows through the One from top to bottom.
Its combination of innovation and sumptuous hardware is a testament to the brand, and shows that new things can still come to our smartphones without costing the earth. Sure, it's not a cheap handset by any means, but it's perfectly in line with what we'd expect from a flagship.
we liked
The HTC One is the best phone the firm has made without doubt. It's got the wow-factor that made us fall in love with the HTC Desire, and manages to bring Sense back to a level that shows off the best of Android, rather than obfuscating it. There are those who pine for stock Android Jelly Bean, but earlier Android updates aside, we happen to think that Sense is better.
The camera is a great addition for on the spot shooting - if you want to take the photos and blow them up somewhere, it's not the phone for you, but if you want to be able to snap your friends in pubs without it being a blurry, dark mess, the HTC One comes into its own.
BoomSound and HTC Zoe are both really nice additions to the handset - the former makes the sound quality really sparkle and gives the option of recording louder noises without needing to worry about distortion, which is a really key capability.
We like the video highlight reels and the moving pictures of the HTC Zoe, and can see a number of people really starting to use them in day to day life. Some won't, and for them there's still a very competent camera on offer.
We disliked
The battery life issue has been negated, although it's not gone away totally. But many will only use HTC Zoe and the highlight reels at the weekend, and in doing so will remove some of the big battery draining daily problems with the phone.
Our only real gripe is with storage: many will argue that expandable memory slots are unnecessary when you've got Dropbox onboard for extra space, or just being organised and deleting unwanted content will solve the problem. That's true to a degree, but it's not common behaviour for today's smartphone user.
Bringing the phone out in a 32GB flavour from the off does help though - just be warned that you'll need to be organised with your photos on the phone, which isn't helped by a confusing gallery system.
Also, the alarm needs to be better. Come on, it's a key part of the phone HTC… put some effort in.
Final verdict
As we said, this is the best HTC phone ever, without a doubt. But we'll go one better than that: it's the best phone on the market full stop. The Samsung Galaxy S4 isn't far behind at all with its stunning screen and rich detail, but for sheer level of functionality, innovation and just overall effect it has in the hand, we can't help but recommend the HTC One to anyone looking to buy a new smartphone.
If you prefer raw power over style, the LG G2 is a better bet. But that's got a cluttered UI and plastic design, where the One is just the best mix around even with the older hardware.
So whether it's the Ultrapixel camera that extends the range of photos you can take, or the moving photos on offer, or simply the improved speakers bolted on the front (as long as you don't play them on public transport) the HTC One takes the best the smartphone market has to offer and just makes it better.
The Galaxy S4 is sleeker, the iPhone 5S is, well, Apple-ier, and the Nexus 5 is cheaper. But for the overall package of smartphone design and functionality, the HTC One stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Apple iWatch release date, news and rumours
What time is it? If you check your smartwatch, you may find that it's a text message past a Twitter notification but if you check the zeitgeist, you'll find that it's wearable tech time.
After more than a year of relegation to 'next big thing' status, the smartwatch is finally breaking out into the mainstream with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Gear and Sony Smartwatch 2 following where Kickstarter phenomenon Pebble led.
But we're yet to see a watch with true wow-factor and, for that, many are looking to Apple.
Rumors of an Apple smartwatch have abounded since Pebble first hit the big time. The so-called iWatch has so far failed to materialise in 2013 but will we see Apple get in on the wrist-worn game in 2014?
We've rounded up all the rumors and speculation to keep things ticking (geddit!) over. Which seem likely and which are complete Apple poppycock? Let's find out.
Does the iWatch even exist?
That's the million dollar question, and one that only the Apple insiders really know the answer to for now. So the short answer is: we don't know.
Now for the longer answer:
Way, way back in 2008, Apple co-founder and renegade loud-mouth Steve Wozniak "let slip" to the Telegraph that "Apple's future could lie in an 'iWatch'." And, in April 2013, an Apple board member mentioned the word 'watch'.
Taking time out of dissing Google Glass ("I wear glasses because I have to"), Apple CEO Tim Cook told attendees at All Things D that "the wrist is interesting" in May, thus kindling thousands of iWatch rumours across the web.
The WSJ seems 'confident' that the iWatch is real because it's been talking to "people briefed on the effort", while a couple of analysts have stuck their oars in too, saying "Yup, an Apple Watch. That sounds feasible. I'm going to say yes, that exists."
Then, in the midst of a thousand iWatch rumours, Apple seemed to confirm that it was at least thinking about releasing a product of that name by trademarking 'iWatch' in Japan, Mexico, Russia and a number of other countries.
But a trademark does not a definite product launch make.
The Nike connection
While the world and it's sister got hyped about smartwatches when the Pebble Kickstarter went stratospheric, Apple's interest in watches stretches back beyond that.
Design guru Jony Ive, in particular, is a fan. According to ex-Nike man and watch designer Scott Wilson, in the mid-2000s, Jony Ive took his team to visit watch factories and ordered boxes of "a sports watch" made by Nike.
That's well before Nike's Fuelband hit the mainstream, but the two companies are close.
Like, really close: nevermind Apple CEO Tim Cook sitting on Nike's board of directors and wearing a Fuelband day in day out, Apple has reportedly hired Ben Shaffer (previously innovation leader at Nike) and Jay Blahnik, a health and fitness instructor who consulted on the Fuelband for Nike.
So Apple really likes the Fuelband. And Nike really likes Apple, going as far as to tell TechRadar that it "hopes" the Fuelband has inspired the Cupertino crew.
Jony Ive and his health- and sport-focused dream team
The supposed iWatch project is supposedly being headed up by Jony Ive. Bloomberg reports that around 100 engineers are working under Ive to develop the device, but a number of secretive yet also high profile hires also hint at the Apple watch's potential capabilities.
Aside from the ex-Nike men Apple has brought on board, Apple has hired a raft of sleep analysis experts, who hold "several patents for integrating mobile devices with fitness equipment" and biometric scienticians to boot.
So it could be supposed that Apple is planning some kind of health and sport-focussed device. And if that device played nice with your iOS devices and just so happened to be worn on your wrist, the same wrist that Tim Cook thinks is interesting, then it stands to reason that Apple could, perhaps, name it the iWatch.
The iWatch will be about curvature
The most recent word claims that Apple may be going for the whole bendy approach with a fully flexible plastic OLED screen, which was backed up by speculation that LG Display will provide G Flex-like bendy screens for the watch.
Before that'd we'd heard that Apple was playing with the idea of curved Corning glass. "Apple is experimenting with wristwatch-like devices made of curved glass," says the NYT's Nick Bilton, quoting "people familiar with the company's explorations".
The glass "can curve around the human body" and may be Corning's just-announced Willow Glass, which "can flop as easily as a piece of paper in the wind without breaking."
In January 2014, Corning announced that it's ready to manufacture curved glass products using 3D-forming technology. Gorilla Glass is the glass of choice on most of Apple's mobile devices, so this sounds like good news for the iWatch, if it exists.
Adding credence to this particular supposition is the fact that Apple has patented a '90s slap-band style form factor which would require such a flexible display. Apple's patented plenty of tech that never sees the literal light of day - we can't help but hope this isn't one of those.
The iWatch has Bluetooth but display size isn't locked down
That's what Chinese gadget site Tech.163 reckons, anyway, although that might be one of many prototypes. Bluetooth is essential, though: if the iWatch is going to communicate with your phone or iPod, low energy Bluetooth is the way to do it.
Then, an Apple patent surfaced that showed a Wi-Fi-less device using Bluetooth to share another device's network connection - so you'd connect the iWatch to an iPhone to get enough internet juice to get news, messages and push notifications on your wrist.
A 1.5-inch screen suggests it'll show selected information from your iOS device rather than mirror the whole display, which would be rubbish.
However Apple is also said to still be toying with its idea of a 1.3-inch or 1.4-inch screen, though it's the 1.5-incher that is said to exist as a full prototype right now.
In November, the Korea Herald announced that Apple will make two versions of the smartwatch: iWatch for Him and iWatch for Her.
The iWatch may have Siri and Maps
Nick Bilton again: "Would it include Siri, the voice assistant? Would it have a version of Apple's map software, offering real-time directions to people walking down the street? Could it receive text messages? Could it monitor a user's health or daily activity?"
Some of Bilton's questions have since been reported as fact by more excitable outlets, but the idea of having Siri makes sense, not least because you could pretend to be a sci-fi secret agent.
If Siri is on board, it may be because the iWatch is running a form of actual iOS rather than a souped-up iPod nano software system - thus supposes Bloomberg again, with 'confirmation' provided by The Verge's inside sources.
The iWatch features could include authentication, NFC, home automation and flying cars
Bruce Tognazzini makes it clear his ideas are "not based on insider information" but they include predicting the weather, organising your life, monitoring every step you take, replacing cash, making Passbook work really well and even fixing Apple Maps. We were with you right up till that last one, Bruce.
He makes a good point about the iWatch release date too: "Apple, when you look back, is never actually the first. They let a few others, sometimes many others, experiment first. (Tablets were out for more than a decade.) Then, they bring out the killer product."
In March it emerged that the Apple Watch may come packing fingerprint scanning tech for NFC-based security reasons, although this news comes from an analyst who heard it from a supplier who had it from a leprechaun who came to him in a dream.
This rumour became less spurious when Apple launched the Touch ID-toting iPhone 5S in September 2013, of course.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, we've put our own concept design together based on rumours and speculation so far. It's classier than a G-Shock, we think you'll agree.
The Apple Watch release date will be 2013...
So said a bunch of rumours from the likes of Bloomberg, The Verge, an analyst and more. It's 2014 now, so using deductive powers unparallelled by anyone from Sherlock Holmes on down, we're going to say that they are all wrong.
The iWatch failed to materialise at September's iPhone launch event, but perhaps it will make its debut on October 22 alongside the iPad 5 and iPad mini 2. Update: nope!
Display Search decided in November that the "delay" to a product that has never even been formally acknowledged by its supposed manufacturer is down to another mythical Apple product: the iWatch is supposedly holding up the launch of the iTV!
OR...
The Apple Watch release date will be 2014... or 15... or never
Quite aside from Tim Cook promising "some really great stuff coming... across all of 2014", when Apple hired ex-Burberry chief Angela Ahrendts to sort out its shops, a lot of people thought hey! she's from fashion, watches are kind of fashion-y, maybe this is something to do with the iWatch.
Hey, maybe. After all, Ahrendts supposedly "took particular interest in the watch retailing space" during her time at Burberry. Ahrendts doesn't start at Apple until 'spring 2014'. Hmm.
What's more, Tim Cook's end of 2013 staff memo said, "We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love." Are we going to love the iWatch, Apple? ARE WE?
Of course, there's always the possibility that Apple looked into making an iWatch and then decided naaaah.
The iWatch is 'delayed'
In as far as any unannounced product can be delayed in the eyes of the consumer, rumour after rumour has claimed that Apple's manufacturers are having trouble performing.
A report in November 2013 posited that production of the iWatch has actually started but factories Quanta and Foxconn have been having trouble producing fully functioning products so mass production has apparently been pushed back to the second quarter of 2014 (April - June).
In early January 2014, the famously unreliable Digitimes claimed that the factories producing the iWatch are failing to turn out more than 50% as working devices because of its teeny tiny innards.
Hot on the heels of this bad news came more: the battery is also causing the Apple Watch problems with its display tech, to the point where Apple ditched one supplier and (we assume) moved on to another.
The iWatch will face stiff competition
In fact, it already does. The wearable watch market could be the next big tech battleground as perennial Apple nemesis Samsung has already released its Galaxy Gear smartwatch.
Other smartwatches have made their way into the limelight in recent months too: there's the original Kickstarted Pebble and the Sony Smartwatch 2 to contend with, not to mention a host of new gadgets from unlikely sources like Adidas, Qualcomm and Garmin.
Other tech heavyweights are rumoured to be getting in on the timekeeping game too; the Apple watch may have to fight off competition from Google, which filed a smart watch patent last year and was 'confirmed' to be working on a timepiece by the good folk over at the Financial Times.
Since then, rumours of a Google Gem watch have percolated through the web - could we see Google unveil its watch before 2014 is out?
Also leaping aboard the wearable bandwagon is LG, which launched the fitness-focussed LG Lifeband Touch at CES 2014.
And it's not just smart watches that will give the iWatch a run for its money - other wearable tech like Google Glass swims in the same pool. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is backing Apple's watch over the glasses in the short-term, but who's to say which will win out overall.
Last but not least, even long-standing watch-maker Casio piped up to say that it's ready to take on the likes of Apple and Samsung in the great battle for your wrist.
We've taken an in-depth look at the competition between the two types of sartorial gadget too, and conclude that the Apple Watch has the edge solely because it'll hit the mainstream (and mainstream price points) first.
The iWatch price is a total mystery
Remember before the iPad launched and everyone thought it'd be $1,000? Oh, how we laugh about that now.
Clearly, though, until we have a better idea of what the Apple Watch is and whether Apple is actually going to ship it, nobody has the faintest idea what it'll cost.
Nobody but one anonymous analyst who had a stab at pricing and reckons somewhere between $149 and $229 (£100 to £150 / AU$167 - AU$250) seems likely.
Valve: The future of Virtual Reality is just one year away
The most exciting aspect of contemporary virtual reality is its implications. Even using Oculus VR's early duct taped-prototype, most users immediately "get it." You're transported to, say, Tuscany, or an underwater exploration vehicle, or a space fighter, and that experience is enough to trigger a flood of ideas for other potential interactions -- interactions that are dramatically heightened by employing a VR headset. How about deep-sea exploration in 4K? Or maybe Mars? And we're not talking just video games, but experiences. Valve VR lead Michael Abrash detailed that notion in a recent talk:
"Not only could VR rapidly evolve into a major platform, but it could actually tip the balance of the entire industry from traditional media toward computer entertainment."
Abrash believes that VR headsets so vastly outperform other interaction methods (TV, theaters, etc.) that how folks absorb media in general may be impacted by the coming wave of head-mounted displays. His concept of our potential future may be distant-sounding, but the beginning of consumer-grade, extremely polished VR headsets isn't far off: 2015. At least that's what Abrash and Valve are targeting as primetime for VR, and they're laying the groundwork right now.
Valve's first ever game developer conference, dubbed Steam Dev Days in honor of the company's ubiquitous digital storefront/ongoing socio-economic experiment, took place this week. Abrash gave a talk titled "What VR Could, Should, and Almost Certainly Will Be Within Two Years," where he detailed the current state of VR, what challenges the technology faces going foward, and when he (and Valve) believe it'll be ready for primetime. In it, he established a baseline of standards for VR: perfect timing to lay a base given Oculus VR's own standards for VR game development going live at nearly the same time.
First, any VR headset needs to create "presence" for the person using the headset. Abrash defined presence as such:
"It's the sense of being someplace else while in virtual reality; many people feel as if they've been teleported. Presence is an incredibly powerful sensation, and it's unique to VR; there's no way to create it in any other medium."
Cliché as it is, VR headsets aim to do exactly what their name implies: simulate a new reality for the user, real enough to fool the human brain. Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe echoed that sentiment to us earlier this year when he said that the closer the experience is to reality, the better the experience is for the user. Sadly for us writers, "presence" -- or rather the experience of using a virtual reality headset and being convinced -- is incredibly hard to convey with just words. "Most people find it to be kind of magical, and we think that once people have experienced presence, they'll want it badly,"Abrash noted during his talk.
Moreover, Abrash thinks that the VR hardware available right now -- including the latest Oculus Crystal Cove prototype -- is still a step or two away from the specs required for true presence. He even has a list of target specs required for creating presence (which Valve has functioning in an R&D headset right now, and was shown to developers during Steam Dev Days):
The Crystal Cove prototype that Valve provided support for is "a big step in the right direction" Abrash said, but still not enough to create the sense of presence he and Valve are aiming to achieve. While Valve continues R&D on virtual reality hardware -- Abrash said "several" companies are working on VR headsets, though we only know of two officially creating consumer products (Oculus and GameFace Labs). The company's also building out Steam's VR software support to stay ahead of the curve. That's why SteamVR just went live (a VR version of Big Picture Mode) in beta; why VR games now have their own category in the Valve's store; and why the company created the SteamVR API (read: it makes games play nice with the SteamVR platform).
Valve's yet to give press a chance to try its VR hardware prototype, but developers who tried it at Steam Dev Days are responding positively thus far. It apparently has specs similar to what's detailed above, and we're not entirely clear on whether or not it uses a camera in conjunction with the headset for positional tracking (a la the latest Rift prototype). Given Valve's openness during Dev Days and Abrash's assertion that Valve is open to working with any partners to push VR forward, we're certain to hear more in the coming year(s).
Abrash ended his speech with a confident, thrilling statement regarding VR:
"A great VR system at a consumer price in 2015 is more than just possible – it's sitting there waiting to happen. And it will happen, if not in 2015, then soon after. Virtual reality on the PC over the next few years may be as exciting as anything that's ever happened in games. We're sharing what we've learned with you, and we'll continue to do so. There's a huge amount to be learned and figured out about VR, and we certainly can't figure it all out by ourselves; I hope that as you dive into VR, you'll make it a two-way exchange, so together we can make VR one of the great entertainment evolutions."
