HTC sales fall 30% in a month
reuters.com
reuters.com
I have never enjoyed my HTC devices; they have never worked smoothly, never had some sort of minor or major hardware problem (Nexus One's screen used to have snow like an old TV, myTouch 4G out of the box required a factory reset to work correctly), working with HTC support directly was as painful as using Microsoft Xbox Live support[1] and the "HTC Sense" customized Android experience has always been bloated and of course, un-removable.
I disagree with comments like Raphael's about HTC simply not having that "jesus phone" to put them on the map; they have plenty of spec-perfect phones, the problem is their phone experience is a combination of incomplete/slow software mixed with spotty hardware that didn't spend enough time in the QA lab because the company is growing so quickly.
There was another announcement 2 weeks ago about HTC's sales dipping due to "inferior devices" and I couldn't have been happier to see that specific point actually spelled out for the first time as opposed to Engadget or Gizmodo praising the newest HTC device as the "best Android device we've seen on the market" - I cannot read that phrase without rolling my eyes anymore. I think I've read that phrase about 9 phones this year...
HTC has been enjoying growing at a break-neck speed and continue to ride that Android wave; you see the stress cracks in everything they do if you are actually putting your money down for their cutting edge devices.
Their older devices may fare better. I have a friend with a myTouch 4G that he picked up a year after launch and said he has no problems with it and battery life is solid.
The next time there is an HTC device announced that you think looks interesting, read the forums for the device for the first week and I guarantee you will find complaints about hardware and software bugs (screen problems, camera not working right, battery life unexplainably short, etc. etc.)
I don't meant to hand-wave with a bunch of negativity here... I've just been in the HTC camp for a long time now and they have never not been a pain in my side or made me regret my purchase.
Without writing a wikipedia page worth of reference links I am trying to convey to others the joy of owning a cutting-edge HTC device.
Argh.
[1] http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/my-experience-with-htc-nexus-one...
However two funny things:
1) There are better alternatives out there than HTC software. HTC could have picked a partner to make the dialer/calendar/home screen.
2) HTC software is easier to use than default google 2.3 software, so htc was forced to customize.
HTC was in a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. They chose the rout with maximum friction: make software that cannot be upgraded via regular market updates, don't focus on software, don't outsource it to a good software maker that would allow that software to run anywhere. They wanted the "HTC" experience. We got it. It sucks.
I vowed I would not buy another HTC phone after the EVO. I will stay with that until HTC shows true improvement.
You look at the fact that HTC are unsure of what they want to be, creating quality apps for Sense but Android incompatible meaning that once you flash you lose the apps completely. A prime example of this is the camera app. The cameras on HTCs generally suck, but HTC get the most out of them, however once you flash, all is lost as they've attempted to close themselves off.
Samsung are pretty much the go-to OEM for the highest specification phones and up till now, HTC have had the build quality. However if you oversaturate the market with average phones that can't compete with high specification phones, no one will care about build quality. HTC need to concentrate on making the type of phone you buy knowing you want to flash your phone and you might drop your phone on occasion.
And instead of investing in companies like Beats by Dre, how about them investing in the likes of Cannon or Nikon to make up for shortfalls they have which the likes of Samsung and Apple just don't have.
They need to understand that less is more and that owning a HTC should not feel the same for a Wildfire owner as it does for a Sensation owner.
They are the worst offenders (granted, yes there are people that like that sort of stuff, obviously) in terms of bloatware and 'Sense' never lived up to its name for me.
I could be wrong, I live in the UK and I've never had any specific apps come installed on my phone. Nothing except a network's app to check your balance/plan usage, which is easily uninstalled.
As for the SIM Toolkit. I'm now sure how that gets on there, but it appears to be there even after flashing a custom ROM.
I think there's a difference between a manufacturer's own UI and corresponding apps, and the sort of crap that gets shovelled onto the American handsets.
Edit: Actually I've just checked and my phone does have Adobe Reader! Didn't even notice that there... Oops.
Things I don't use, don't get updates for and can't uninstall: Entertainment, EXpresso, Finance, Football, Footprints, Friend Stream, Games, Horse Racing, Info Easy Reader, Invest Pro (for CSL only), Magic Smoke Wallpapers, Musicholic, MyNet, Peep, Plurk, Smart Traveller, Social Network, Stocks, Studio On Demand.
If any knowledgeable person knows if the above names are actually useful tie-ins for things I actually do use, please speak up here.
All these apps supposedly take up 0.0B of space. Perhaps some of that magical space could be used to give me Android > 2.2, and give HTC a reputation for caring for their customers.
To add to that, I have found the camera to be exceptionally poor, and the hardware keyboard will occasionally trigger shortcuts rather than inputting the text.
The shortcuts thing is kinda fixable, you need to disable each keyboard shortcut.
someone starts stuffing the channel, someone else misinterprets as actual sales, presto, a disaster.
is HTC a recognized brand by now? as in customer loyalty? does anyone take HTC's side against say Apple or Samsung in a fanboi fight?
On my Google+ and Facebook feeds my friends go nuts over the various Nexuses and when I've played with them I wish I could have that experience instead of the customization that's supposed to make my life better from the manufacturers.
I've got a 1.5 year old HTC Legend, which is ... okay.