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HTC pushed out its first US Android 4.0 upgrade on Thursday with a delivery to the Vivid. Although not yet automatic, AT&T subscribers can dial *#*#682#*#* and get what appears to be a finished build on the 4G smartphone. AT&T hasn't yet said when the update rolls out on a wider basis.
AT&T on Monday revealed it will exclusively offer the Beats by Dr. Dre Beatbox Portable on March 11. The wireless audio system connects to smartphones through Bluetooth or, with iPhones and iPods, directly through an Apple Dock Connector. A 3.5mm audio input handles older phones or other audio sources.
Vodaphone will soon launch Europe's first smartphone to support both Android and LTE in the continent's first real adoption of 4G. The carrier has confirmed that it will soon begin shipping the HTC Velocity in Germany, with other countries arriving soon afterwards. It represents a white colored variant of the HTC Vivid being sold in the US by AT&T, and elsewhere as the Raider.
HTC stated Wednesday that it had no plans to further drop its low fall outlook. In spite of a steep November drop, which was down 30 percent month-to-month and 20 percent year-over-year, it still saw revenue down 23 percent from earlier estimates, or roughly the same as a year ago. The company's share price has plunged 40 percent in just over a month over jitters that HTC had stopped growing.
HTC has submitted the Raider 4G once more in an FCC filing for approval. The unusual submission comes for a phone that's already on sale in the US, the Vivid, that AT&T began selling in the US in early November. The reappearance may have been a response to HTC being targeted by a cease and desist notice from adult filmmaker Vivid Entertainment, which claimed potential phone buyers could mistakenly associate the phone with its videos.
HTC acted as a possible bellwether for Android on Wednesday after it cut its outlook further beyond earlier predictions. The company in a filing lowered its revenue estimate by 23 percent to give it the same $3.4 billion in revenue as a year ago. It also now predicted the first sequential slowdown in sales in roughly two years.
The HTC Vivid smartphone has now been targeted by adult film maker Vivid Entertainment over its name. Vivid Entertainment's legal team has sent a cease and desist notice to HTC. It gives the phone maker until Monday, November 21 to change the name or face legal action.
HTC saw its October revenue take a rare sequential decline believed to be owed to the iPhone 4S. Although up just over 36 percent year-over-year, the $1.46 billion in revenue was down 2.8 percent versus September. Apple's quick launch in 29 countries helped, Taiwan's Commercial Times said.
AT&T had one of its bigger non-Apple phone launches in recent memory on Sunday after it launched four headlining smartphones. Its first two LTE smartphones, the HTC Vivid (reviewed) as well as the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, headlined the group. Both run Android 2.3 on 4.5-inch screens and with eight-megapixel back cameras; the Vivid has the slower 1.2GHz dual-core processor but a 540x960 screen, while the Skyrocket's 480x800 screen is made up for through a dual-core 1.5GHz chip.
HTC has been on a relentless tear through 2011, releasing new, faster (or bigger) phones seemingly every month, but it has never truly cracked AT&T: even phones like the Inspire 4G are outsold by the cheapest iPhones. With that in mind, the Vivid (known as the Raider elsewhere) is theoretically a powerhouse: 4G LTE, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, and a massive 4.5-inch screen. But are sheer numbers enough to dislodge Apple and give AT&T a reputation as an Android carrier? With our HTC Vivid review, we'll not only look into whether it's worth getting over an iPhone but whether the Samsung Galaxy Nexus threatens to undo HTC's hard work.
A last-minute catch has shown the official, complete look of the HTC Rezound. Due to show this afternoon, the Android 2.3 device shown by PocketNow very closely resembles the Vivid at AT&T but with signature HTC-at-Verizon red cues and a more rounded design. Its Beats Audio and 4G logos are clearly in sight, although the shots don't give away what's on screen.
We just received our review unit for the HTC Raider, better known to Americans as the Vivid. With HTC just passing Apple in the US smartphone market based on its successes at Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, it's this phone that's expected to take the crown at AT&T. But with LTE-based 4G and a giant 4.5-inch screen, is it enough to finally give Android the edge at the iPhone's main carrier? We'll give a quick opinion in a hands-on below.
AT&T started the week by revealing its first two LTE-equipped smartphones. The HTC Vivid is its adaptation of the Raider and merges a 4.5-inch, 540x960 screen with a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon. An eight-megapixel camera with a very wide-aperture f2.2, 28mm equivalent lens helps it shoot better in low light and with shallow depth of field.
