Should HTC develop its own OS?

HTC currently makes a large proportion of smartphones in the US market. Many of their phones get rebranded, so you may not know that they're made by HTC. For instance, the Google Nexus One is made by HTC. Now that Palm is for sale, what would happen if HTC were to purchase Palm and create its own OS? Does it make sense for HTC to compete against Google, Apple, RIM, and Microsoft?

I hope we don't see yet another smartphone OS enter the market. I think we'll see more innovation and relevant medical apps if we focus on few operating systems. My prediction is that Apple and Google will be dominating the smartphone OS space in a few years, so that should mean that we'll be seeing some great medical apps for smartphones that run the iPhone or Android OS. I think HTC is a great company, but they should probably focus on developing hardware (even though they've come up with some great software enhancements like TouchFlo - now called Sense UI).

HTC's Supersonic coming to Sprint

According to a few circulating rumors, the HTC's Supersonic is coming to Sprint. What is the Supersonic? It's a WiMAX smartphone with a 4.3-inch screen and it's running Google's Android OS with HTC's Sense UI. Will this be the first 4G smartphone?

The Best Windows Mobile Phone Yet

According to PC World, the HTC HD2 may be the "best" Windows Mobile smartphone yet. Wow! That's quite a statement. In fact, the editors at PC World include the HTC HD2 as part of the "Best of CES 2010." This is how they describe the HTC HD2:

superslim design, a 4.3-inch display, and a powerful 1GHz Snapdragon processor.

With a screen size of 4.3" and a slim form factor, this is almost like an Apple iPhone that has been stretched a bit. So, if you don't need a physical QWERTY keyboard and you really like the Windows Mobile platform, then you may want to get your hands on an HTC HD2. Make sure you have large pockets because this phone may be thin, but it's bulky in a different way because the device is so tall and wide.

Engadget describes the phone like this:

The massive, full touchscreen device boasts impressive specs: a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a generous 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 capacitive WVGA touchscreen display, a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, and lots of other bells and whistles.

We're not used to seeing large smartphones like the HD2, but maybe 2010 is the year where we'll see a wide range of sizes so that each user can choose his/her optimal size. Some may prefer the smaller form factor, while others may prefer larger font and larger screens.

Worse battery life after upgrading to Windows Mobile 6.5 on Touch Pro2

I'm experiencing terrible battery life on my Verizon HTC Touch Pro2 after upgrading to Windows Mobile 6.5. I've performed a hard reset to make sure that it's not an app draining my battery. Anyone else having similar issues? I should have stayed with Windows Mobile 6.1 since there are few benefits to upgrading to 6.5 if you're already using HTC TouchFlo 3D (HTC Sense).

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this yet, but perhaps it's time to load a custom ROM on my Touch Pro2. When I was using the HTC Titan (Verizon XV6800, Sprint Mogul), I was mainly using custom ROMs built by DCD and others on the XDA-Developers and PPCGeeks forums.

The HTC HD2 has a huge multi-touch screen!

The HTC HD2 will be the first Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone that has a multi-touch screen. On this smartphones, you'll get to use multi-touch gestures and the HTC Sense user interface that was first seen on the Android-based HTC Hero. The HD2 also has the largest screen of any Windows Mobile smartphone (or just about any smartphone for that matter). A 4.3" screen will look HUGE compared to the old 2.8" screens found on most older Windows Mobile smartphones. Even the 3.6" screens found on the new HTC Touch Pro2 and the HTC Touch Diamond2 will look small compared to 4.3 inches.



The HTC HD2 also has the fastest processor of any Windows Mobile smartphone. The Qualcomm 1 GHz Snapdragon mobile processor will blaze, but will it also drain the battery? The HD2 is slim, but maybe the battery is slim and wide. The HD2 is so slim that it lacks a hardware QWERTY keyboard, but who needs buttons when the screen is this big?


This may be the ideal medical smartphone for older healthcare providers who have difficulty reading small text. Will a large screen = larger text size? Let's hope so.

HTC TouchFLO and HTC Sense

HTC is a leading mobile phone manufacturer based in Taiwan. They create many phones running Windows Mobile and they have a unique interface called TouchFLO (which almost eliminates the need for a stylus since you can navigate using your finger instead). It appears that TouchFLO might soon get replaced with HTC Sense, another user interface which is going to appear on the HTC Hero (running Google Android).

HTC Hero will run Google's Android

The HTC Hero is another phone that will be running Google's Android. However, it will run a new user interface called HTC Sense. Here's a quote from Brighthand: "HTC Sense is a distinct experience created to make HTC phones more simple for people to use, leaving them saying, it just makes sense," said Peter Chou, CEO, HTC Corporation. The HTC Hero will be the first Android phone with Adobe Flash support. My prediction is that most phones will eventually support Flash. The big question is: when will that "someday" arrive?