Penny Mobiles – Mobile phone news, reviews & information

The new HTC Desire HD is the perfect phone for mobile phone lovers who are on the lookout for the phone that offers nothing less than the best in any field, be it entertainment or business. The phone is the latest model that is set to the flagship of the HTC brand.

The phone features an ultra large 4.3 inch touch screen display that has the capacitive touch functionalities like pinch to zoom and so on. The screen can display images perfectly in 480 x 800 resolution. This means that you can enjoy the movies it can play with great quality, not just visually because the phone comes with Dolby Mobile and SRS virtual surround sound for the ultimate cinematic experience.

The HTC Desire HD comes with Maps application and GPS connectivity that make it possible to find whatever you want even in huge cities like New York and London. Apart from being able to play HD movies in this phone, you can also enjoy recording it because the phone has an 8 megapixel camera that can do exactly that. Sharing the recording videos is also easy as the phone comes with various social networking site support. You can also enjoy the videos on your HD TV using the DLNA connectivity feature that lets you send the data wirelessly.

The phone has built-in Adobe Flash Player support for the best possible browsing experience. The phone also lets you have nearly all your email accounts to be integrated into the phone. Hence you would have just one email account to check instead of multiple ones. The phone has a news app that syncs with the Google Reader to get you all the latest headlines. The phone has been launched in the UK and would be available for £450.

Android smart phones are the best answer to many mobile phone needs. It handles basic internet browsing, casual gaming, social networking, media recording and playback, document processing and of course, all the fun Google extra features.

And while it may seem like an easy task to simply go out and grab the latest Android smart phone from any major phone maker, there are certain devices that truly stand out over the rest. With that said, the HTC Desire is as ‘Android’ as an Android smart phone can be. The device rivals Google’s Nexus One in terms of both specs and user experience, providing users with the best that the Android OS has to offer.

A Close Look

The spec sheet on the HTC Desire is basically the new standard for what many other mobile phone makers consider as the basis for high end devices. First off, the Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 CPU; clocked at 1GHz, this processor is responsible for keeping the handset running fast and smooth.

But even with the speed and the power of the chip, there is one more important feature that the Snapdragon has: better energy consumption rates. Even with its top level performance, the handset will last for hours on a full charge.

HTC has also provided the phone with a 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen display, giving it high quality visual output and of course, serves as the primary user input. This multitouch capable display supports gestures such as ‘pinch to zoom’ which allow users a more convenient way of browsing the phone’s contents.

Wrapping Up

While the HTC Desire is pre-installed with the Android 2.1 Éclair, it is recommended that users upgrade to version 2.2 Froyo. This installment provides the handset with ever higher quality video recording, improved apps and most importantly, a massive boost to the performance in terms of speed and stability for the UI and in web browsing. The upcoming HTC Desire Z and HTC Desire HD are expected to ship with Froyo pre-installed.

Right now, Apple and BlackBerry are still on top of the Smartphone industry as the two try to battle it out for supremacy. However, not far behind is the Taiwan-based manufacturer HTC. They have continually supplied us with excellent Smartphones that match, and in some cases even outclass the likes of the iPhone. One of the best mobiles to ever come out of their busy kitchen is the HTC Desire.

Truly Desirable

One look at this Smartphone will almost instantly give you a desire to get one for yourself. The compact design is impeccable and the 3.7” AMOLED capacitive touch screen displays the most vivid of colours (resolution is at an amazing 480 x 800 pixels). 3G HSDPA, EDGE and GPRS are all on board the HTC Desire as is high speed WLAN compatibility.

The proprietary HTC Sense user interface is definitely a feature that will make this Smartphone the envy of your peers. It doesn’t only deliver user friendliness at the highest level, but its aesthetic value is also way up there.

At Par with the Big Boys

The HTC Desire is definitely at par with the big boys in today’s Smartphone scene. In fact, one could even make a case that it is even better than the BlackBerry’s and the iPhone’s out there. Alongside this mobile’s highly rated Google Android mobile operating system (version 2.1 or Eclair) is a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

With an astonishing clock speed of 1 GHz, this remains to be the most powerful processor in the market today. The HTC Desire even has a 5-Megapixel camera on board (complete with geo-tagging, an LED flash, autofocus, etc.) which is far better than the iPhone’s 3-Megapixel built-in snapper.

The HTC Desire is truly a remarkable Smartphone and we wouldn’t be surprised at all if this device bagged the awards as 2010’s Smartphone of the year.

There is no doubt that the demand for smart phones that use Google’s Android operating system are in demand. In fact, a recent study by retail research firm GfK, has shown that just here in the UK, the market share of Android devices has gone up to a massive 13% from the previous record of just 3%.

This momentous growth is spurned on by many different aspects, and here is a quick list of the things that have affected the Android’s growth.

The first thing on the list, is ironically, Apple and Steve Jobs. The Cupertino based company and their CEO has such an odd habit of antagonizing almost anything that comes their way that Google is starting to look quite like the quiet protagonist of the mobile industry. Google has stood beside HTC with regards to the Apple lawsuit and they have also taken in Adobe as well.

Another major reason why the Android OS is so in demand right now is because of all the big fuss about it. This is officially the first mobile platform that Adobe is supporting directly (though they have announced that Flash is indeed coming to other mobile platforms as well). The Google Goggles augmented reality application is also at the cutting edge of the technology. At the rate that the Android is moving forward, it has become one of the leading pioneers among mobile platforms.

Of course, the biggest reason why the Android OS is so successful is none other than the handsets. From simple mid range devices to the most powerful high end smart phones, the Android OS is used in a wide range of devices –with that range, almost any kind of smart phone user would find a great match.

With the upcoming launch of version 3.0 Gingerbread later this year, we can only expect the market share for the Android to keep on growing.

According to Steve Jobs, the antenna issue is “a challenge for the whole industry”.

Mobile phone users and many mobile phone makers beg to disagree; after all, this is the first time that a device would actually drop calls if its antenna was held. Even in the early days of 2G/GSM devices, Nokia manufactured plenty of mobile phones with visible antennas that literally jutted out of the phone body. Phones like the old Nokia 5110 would still work properly even if the antenna was being touched by the hand.

And in the many years since then, various phone makers have made countless numbers of mobile devices that have not only made the antenna smaller and non-obtrusive, but also equally, if not more efficient.

Companies like RIM, whose BlackBerry Bold 9700 was named directly by Apple as a device affected by antenna issues. What Jobs might have failed to realize that even if the Bold or any other handset loses a bar of signal from touch, none of these phones would drop a call like the iPhone 4 would.

Jobs also failed to realize that RIM would also speak out.

To sum it up nicely, here is a quick excerpt from RIM’s official statement, “Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation.”

Nokia has also stated they their company emphasizes a lot on testing their products –including the antenna performance, to ensure the usability of their mobile handsets.

The two companies are not the only phone makers to have made their voices heard. Samsung and Motorola have also spoken out as well. Of the three companies that Apple has directly mentioned in the presentation, only HTC (manufacturers of the HTC Wildfire and Desire, among others) has yet to make a comment (and many believe that it will not be long before that).

According to recent news Fujitsu is the newest phone manufacturer to be joining the ranks of HTC, Motorola, LG, Samsung and more in the Android phone community.

So far, the only thing that has been announced is the fact that Fujitsu is indeed working on an Android device, but aside from that, it is not known what kind of handset the Japanese electronics manufacturer will be coming up with. It is however, estimated that the new device will be out by the end of the year. The only speculation that matters right now is whether Fujitsu will device to bring the device over to the UK.

While we are all still guessing on what Fujitsu is planning, the other Android phone makers are already busy working on their own devices.

Korean manufacturer Samsung has recently added several new devices to the Galaxy series of Android phones, but it seems that the Galaxy tab seems missing from the list of devices that will be getting a release date soon.

Not to be outdone, the other Korean phone maker, LG has also confirmed that they are going to be adding a couple of new devices to the Optimus series of handsets (LG’s line of Android phones). In the meanwhile, the existing Optimus handsets are going to be updated.

HTC is already an established name in the smart phone industry –most particularly with the Android OS. With the HTC roadmap already leaked, it comes as to no surprise that the Taiwanese manufacturer is the one with the Android handset that we would be most looking forward to: the HTC Vision. Aside from the already impressive spec sheet, the device also comes with a physical slide out QWERTY keyboard. The other HTC device, the HTC Ace is still an unknown handset (no specs or details) at this point.

Cambridge based electronics manufacturer ARM is enjoying a very solid position in the mobile phone industry, even with competitors such as Texas Instruments, the company’s CPU’s are the standard hardware for many smart phones by manufacturers all over the world.

Intel, a major player in the computer industry, seems to have their sights on the mobile phone market as well. With the introduction of the Intel Moorestown CPU several months ago and the continuous evolution of the Atom hardware to consume less and less power, the company is getting close to producing hardware that will provide plenty of processing power, but will not be consuming so much energy.

According to recent reports, the first Intel bearing smart phones might be seeing light by 2011.

The company is taking the transition slowly and steadily. The company has already started with several Taiwan made tablets –providing the CPU for handheld devices can go a pretty long way.

The MeeGo operating system which Intel co-developed with Nokia is going to be released in October to November. According to Intel, they intentionally designed the MeeGo to work with a wide range of processors –not exclusively Atom technology. By doing this, their OS can be more widely used. Their previous operating system, the Linux based Moblin OS seems to have been scrapped in favor of the MeeGo mobile platform. Of course, with their team up with Nokia, it is likely that new devices from the Finnish phone maker will be showing the new Intel CPUs next year.

In the meanwhile, ARM is steadily strengthening its position in the industry. They have already acquired the support of Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 –according to Steve Ballmer, Qualcomm will be playing an instrumental role in the development of the OS and as such, a Qualcomm CPU is a requirement for the new platform. Aside from Microsoft, Intel has also teamed up with phone manufacturers HTC and Motorola.

A lot of critics and consumers alike consider the HTC Desire to be one heck of a Smartphone. As much as we’d like to bash on this Taiwan-based piece of technology, the truth is, we totally agree with the Desire advocates. The Desire is as impressive as they come.

Multimedia Mad

Aside from all the voice and data connectivity options on mobiles, one defining aspect of an excellent Smartphone is its multimedia features. In this regard, the HTC Desire definitely doesn’t disappoint. It starts things off with its highly impressive 3.7” AMOLED touch screen display which delivers 480 x 800 pixels of resolution. The Desire also packs in a functional 5-Megapixel camera which sports features such as geo-tagging and smile detection. The pre-installed multimedia player is also noteworthy as is its external memory which goes up to 32GB.

Sensing a Difference?

One more thing that makes the HTC Desire stand out is its user interface. Not only does it sport the highly-acclaimed Google Android operating system (version 2.1 or Eclair), but it takes things a step further by combining it with HTC’s proprietary Sense UI. The two work together amazingly well as they bring out the best features out of one another – much like how we expect all our romantic relationships to be. Joking aside, the Android hasn’t looked this good and surely, Google has to thank the Sense UI for this vast improvement.

Bang for Your Buck

Lastly, the HTC Desire is very reasonably priced. It was launched just this March and today, it retails at approximately £400. At this considerably affordable price, you can already get your hands on a wonderful Smartphone that gives you all the features you’d need and want. It’s even over a hundred pounds cheaper than the iPhone 3GS which retails at over five hundred pounds.

Winning a lawsuit against Synaptics Inc seems to have given Taiwan manufacturer Elan the confidence to take on a much larger target, Apple. In what seems like a pretty ironic twist, a Taiwan based company is filing a major patent infringement lawsuit against Apple.

Apple has just recently declared that they are filing a patent infringement case against HTC –also a Taiwan based manufacturer. According to Apple, HTC has infringed on 20 patents for various hardware and software technologies. According to reports, the actual court proceedings for this case may not start until much later this year or even until the start of 2011.

Anyway, the Elan lawsuit covers a certain patent 352, which according to the description, covers multi touch technology –which is used by the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and the upcoming iPad. To be specific: “the 352 patent is a fundamental patent to the detection of multi-fingers that allows for any subsequent multi-finger applications to be implemented.”

While vague, this is the very same patent which Synaptics Inc had to settle for. Of course, Elan will be going for the big fish in their lawsuit against Apple:

“Apple is violating Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, by importing its iPhone, iPod Touch, MacBook and Magic Mouse products into the United States, that infringe Elan’s U.S. Patent No. 5,825,352. (the “352 patent”). Elan also alleges that the importation of Apple’s iPad products, which Apple has indicated will be available to consumers on April 3, violates section 337. Elan is requesting that the ITC issue a permanent exclusion order barring the importation of those products into the United States, as well as a cease and desist order barring Apple from selling any of these products in the United States that it has already imported.”

Should the C&D order push through, Apple will be forced into a settlement. While they can easily handle the court proceedings, having their products put on hold will certainly hurt their profits.

Find out more about the Elan versus Apple lawsuit at the DigiTimes.

A week or so ago, Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC. The Taiwanese manufacturer was accused of stealing patented technology with a patent infringement case that covers up to 20 different patents from Apple.

Obviously, with 20 patents being put on trial at once, it is obvious that Apple has been preparing this case for quite some time. No doubts about Apple’s ownership of the patents obviously, but they will still have a long way to prove that HTC did infringe on those patents knowingly or before the patents were approved.

HTC has already been in the mobile industry for a long time, something that the CEO of the company has brought into spotlight when giving a statement about the lawsuit. With their reputation and credibility as a manufacturer on the line, HTC is reminding us that they are innovators in their own right and would not ‘steal technology’.

The full quote from CEO Peter Chou is as follows: “HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible.”

“From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then.”

Google has taken a stand on this matter and declared that they will be supporting their industry partner HTC.

Get to know more about the HTC’s reaction to the Apple lawsuit at GSM Arena.