HTC has unveiled its new flagship smartphone, the new HTC One. Speaking at the launch, HTC CEO Peter Chou, said with new smartphone behaviours emerging, the company saw a "great opportunity" to bring a new smartphone experience to market.
"People today immerse themselves in a constant stream of updates, news and information. Although smartphones are one of the main ways we stay in touch with the people and information we care about, conventional designs have failed to keep pace with how people are actually using them," says Chou.
"With the new HTC One, we have reimagined the mobile experience from the ground up to reflect this new reality."
The handset has an aluminium unibody design, a 4.7-inch full HD display (with 468ppi) and runs the latest Android Jelly Bean operating system. It also features LTE support. HTC has said the new handset will be available globally from March, and Vodacom and Cell C are listed carrier partners for the launch. The handset will be available in silver or black, and the full specs can be viewed here.
In terms of the new user experience features, HTC has also announced HTC BlinkFeed, HTC Zoe and HTC BoomSound.
Special features
BlinkFeed is the new homescreen experience which offers a "personal live stream" of content for the user. This can include social updates, news, entertainment updates and photos. HTC says: "BlinkFeed aggregates the freshest content from the most relevant and interesting sources, giving it to people at a glance, all in one place, without the need to jump between multiple applications and Web sites."
HTC says it will provide local and global content for the BlinkFeed from over 1 400 media sources and content partners, including AOL, ESPN, MTV and Reuters.
Another key feature of the new HTC One is the UltraPixel Camera with HTC Zoe. HTC's VP of design, Scott Croyle, says the focus on megapixels is irrelevant. "It's not the number of pixels that count, but rather pixel size. Bigger pixels take in more light - it's pure physics."
According to Croyle the UltraPixel technology takes in 300% more light than traditional smartphone camera sensors. "In low light conditions, there is a giant leap in what's possible." The camera has an F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens.
The HTC Zoe feature focuses on content sharing, and allows users to capture high-res photos that "come to life" in three-second snippets.
"These Zoes, photos and videos are then displayed in a unique way that brings the gallery to life and transforms the traditional photo gallery of still images into a motion gallery of memories
"It also automatically creates integrated highlight films from each event comprised of Zoes, photos and videos set to music with professionally designed cuts, transitions and effects," says HTC.
The UltraPixel Camera also has multi-axis optical image stabilisation for the rear camera, and enhanced 360 degree panoramas, time sequencing and object removal.
Apart from the built-in Beats audio, Croyle says the new HTC One also has two new front-facing stereo speakers and a build-in amplifier. HTC says this BoomSound technology is a first for a phone.
"Today it's about more than just listening to music through some earphones, it's about watching videos and playing games too," says Croyle, adding that the speaker performance of most smartphones is "pretty awful".
Together with the new speakers, HTC has also introduced a new music player, which has a new visualiser feature and can pull song lyrics from the cloud in real-time.
The HDR recording also uses dual microphones and advanced audio processing to capture high-quality audio to accompany HD video. A 'Sense Voice' feature also monitors ambient sound and dynamically adjusts call volume in noisy environments.
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