Barcelona, Spain – HTC unveiled a new flagship smartphone series described by CEO Peter Chou as the best the company has ever made.
The three phones in the HTC One series are among the new handsets that HTC plans to offer to reinvigorate sales and profits after posting a fourth-quarter decline in revenues and profits. The declines followed triple-digit percentage gains in first- and second-quarter revenues and profits and double-digit percentage gains in third-quarter revenues and profits.
For the first quarter of 2012, the company has forecast declining revenues with gross margins and operating margins expected to be “low” because the company’s product line is in transition.
The One series phones are destined for multiple U.S. carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, C-Spire, U.S. Cellular and Virgin Mobile, HTC said.
The three phones are the HTC One X, One S, and One V, all with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS, HTC’s new Sense 4 user interface, upgraded camera capabilities and integrated Beats audio technology. They will be launched worldwide in the spring.
One version of the top-end One X will feature 4G LTE and HSPA+ technology and be available from AT&T in the coming months. It will also feature Qualcomm dual-core 1.5Hz processor and 4.7-inch 720p super LCD display.
A One X version lacking LTE is due in undisclosed markets and will incorporate Nvidia’s new 4-Plus-1 quad-core processor, which also incorporates a fifth battery-saving core that handles less-demanding tasks such as active standby and music playback. The quad-core processor, which was also launched here in one LG phone, includes a 12-core graphics processing unit.
The HTC One S, due from T-Mobile in the spring, features contoured 4.3-inch qHD AMOLED touchscreen, 7.95mm depth to make it HTC’s thinnest phone to date, 4G HSPA+ 42Mbps technology and Qualcomm dual-core 1.5GHz processor. It will also be T-Mobile’s thinnest phone to date.
The One V is promoted as offering “broad appeal,” but details weren’t available.
HTC didn’t specify which models in the One series will be carried by the other U.S. carriers that it named.
All three One series phones apply Beats audio technology across music sources, including YouTube, streaming music services and games, not just stored music. A new Music Hub feature lets users store music, music applications and streaming-music apps in one onscreen location.
All also feature HTC ImageSense, a new suite of camera and imaging features that include multiple features not previously offered by HTC. The new features include Superfast Capture, which reduces the time to take a picture to 0.7 seconds. Fast 0.2-second autofocus lets users take continuous shots by holding the shutter button.
The camera suite also includes f/2.0 lens on the HTC One X and HTC One S to capture 40 percent more light than f/2.4 lenses available on other smartphones.
The suite also delivers Concurrent Video/Still Capture to shoot video and capture a photo at the same time. When shooting 1080p HD video, users tap the shutter button to snap a high-resolution still photo while continuing to take video. Users can also create a picture from a previously recorded video.
The suite’s high dynamic range (HDR) technology improves contrast in captured photos. HDR also takes multiple photos of a subject in rapid succession, each with a different exposure level, then layers the images to create a single photo that combines the best parts of each image to deliver a more accurate range of light.
The suite also introduces autoburst, a feature that automatically take a burst of shots of a subject if the subject moves while the user is pressing the shutter button.
To go with the new camera capabilities, HTC will offer free Dropbox Cloud storage to store up to 25GB of photos for two years.
Also with the One series, a wireless Media Link HD accessory is available to plug into a TV’s HDMI port to display smartphone content on the TV screen.
The trio also features unibody design, with the One X having a polycarbonate body and the One S having an aluminum body. The One X and One S also feature 8-megapixel camera.
The T-Mobile version of the One S has preloaded Google Music for Cloud-based access to a user’s personal music collection.
The HTC One S also sports two finishes not available before from HTC. One is an ultra-matte black ceramic metal surface that is four times harder than anodized aluminum, the company said. The second finish creates a light-to-dark gradient fade on the anodized aluminum body.
AT&T’s One X will be the carrier’s first phone with Beats audio technology, which will also be available on AT&T’s HTV Vivid in the coming weeks via a software update that will also add Android 4.0 and an updated HTC Sense user interface.
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