For the most part, autumn's big reveals and releases are over. We've already attended events for the Galaxy Note 8, iPhone 8 and iPhone X, and the Google Pixel 2, but before we put the autumn reveals season to bed, HTC is arriving with a late entry. Today the company began sending out invitations to an event happening in Taipei next month.
Just as the Samsung Galaxy S8 was roasted for its Bixby button, so too must we address the squeeze feature on Google's Pixel 2. The hardware comes from the HTC U11, the first place where HTC implemented "Edge Sense" with open-ended functionality. While the edge squeeze feature on the Pixel 2 remains a shortcut, it's currently restricted to Google Assistant - and no other connections are enabled.
When the Pixel 2 was announced, I did not expect that Google would bring back wireless charging - and they didn't. Much to the surprise of the industry at large, Apple added wireless charging with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X this year. But Google didn't come back with wireless charging - not now, and not since the Nexus 4. Though their reasoning holds some water, it most certainly does not hold nearly enough.
While the Google Pixel 2 is largely (not entirely, but largely) the same as last year, the Google Pixel 2 XL is taken out a whole new door. The Google Pixel 2 XL device is manufactured by LG instead of HTC while HTC's manufacturing still works on the smaller device. The Pixel 2 XL's look sits somewhere between the Pixel XL (first gen) and the LG G6 - especially when it comes to the device's display.
Today we're comparing Google's 2nd-gen Pixel XL to the first, and the first Pixel to the 2nd. When this article was first written, we were working with specs that'd been leaked before Google's big event. After the event makes all specs official, we'll be visiting this article again to correct specs where necessary - though we don't expect a lot to change from here to there. The changes we have here are compared in images, as well, with press renderings of both the original Pixel and the Pixel 2, both standard and XL.
Android One has become quite popular since its introduction back in 2014, but it's been somewhat rare to see a mid-range phone launch under the Android One umbrella. The HTC U11 Life is shaping up to be one of the few mid-range Android One devices available, and today we're getting a good idea of what to expect from a hardware standpoint. That's thanks to a leaked list of specifications that leave little to the imagination.
HTC is getting closer to Google, and we don't just mean because Google acquired part of its mobile division. Almost like what happened with Motorola and, to some extent, LG, HTC's closer ties with the Android maker is causing ripples in the way it does Android as well. The latest case in point is its Sense Home launcher which, according to a leak from LlabTooFer, will be updated to implement the Google Pixel Launcher's swipe up gesture to pull up the app drawer.
HTC phones aren’t dead yet. At least for now. Even after its smartphone workforce has been almost cut in half by the Google “agreement”, HTC assures its loyal followers and investors that it will still be making smartphones. And as if on cue, details of a certain HTC U11 Plus have surfaced, claiming to be the company’s late 2017 flagship. And, almost ironically, it might be its most daring smartphone yet.
I'm an HTC fan, but I can't say I'm impressed by the company's billion dollar deal with Google. The phone-maker has been instrumental in many of the most pivotal moments in modern smartphone history, producing some of my favorite devices in the process. I've also found myself at times being one of the company's more vocal critics, though, and for all HTC's attempts to spin this deal with Google as a win-win for all, I'm not convinced.
Google has gone shopping, spending $1.1bn on picking up some of the key Pixel team from long-time Android partner HTC. It's not the outright acquisition that many predicted, and nor is it a wholesale sell-off of the HTC smartphone team. Instead, the deal - though couched in the usual "testament to the decade-long strategic relationship between HTC and Google" hyperbole - seems more akin to a hybrid talent-grab and bailout, dressed as cooperation. Here's what you need to know.
HTC phones are dead. Long live Google phones, or something to that effect. As has been speculated, and perhaps even wished for, Google has acquired HTC, or rather only a part of it. It has purchased HTC’s smartphone operations only, but is still giving the Taiwanese company some wiggle room for its own smartphones. And the price Google paid the embattled former tech giant? $1.1 billion, which is a paltry sum compared to to the $12.5 billion paid for when it acquired Motorola and even less than half of the $2.9 billion it got from selling Moto to Lenovo.
Earlier in the month, we told you that Google may be considering an HTC buyout. You'd be forgiven if you initially disregarded such claims, but today we're getting more evidence that such an acquisition could be imminent. HTC has decided to suspend the trade of its shares, a move that will go into effect tomorrow.
