For reasons seemingly known only to Peter Chou himself, HTC has mostly steered clear of producing high-quality physical QWERTY devices running Android, despite the fact that there might be no phone manufacturer in the world more skilled at making them (let us remind you of the Touch Pro2, among many others dating back the better part of a decade). Anyhow, we caught wind last month of a possible entry in the form of the so-called “Vision,” but we didn’t have any visuals — just a user agent profile that may or may not amount to anything. Well, that seems to be changing today with a couple blurry shots out of a Croatian site that allegedly shows the goods featuring a 3.7-inch display, a 1GHz processor (Snapdragon, we assume), and Android 2.1 with Sense (the launcher looks like stock Android in this photo, but the status bar is clearly HTC custom). At a glance, it doesn’t seem to be the prettiest thing in the world — but for a form factor traditionally associated with power users and suits, this might be just the ticket.
Details still haven’t been confirmed yet, but word is that the upcoming HTC Vision will sport some pretty juicy specifications. If the rumors are true, it’ll boast a dual-core 800MHz processor, Android 3.0, and a huge 4.3-inch display. There are suggestions that the HTC Vision might be the Project Emerald that is going on at T-Mobile, though of course, there isn’t any way to confirm this just yet. If everything falls into the place, the Vision could be ready for T-Mobile to sell by the holidays, which is encouraging news.
source: ubergizmo June 26th 2010
HTC’s rumored Vision may have received more concrete info through a talk with an HTC representative at a Seattle event. The design could be one of HTC’s fastest as it could use a dual-core 800MHz processor. It would run Android 3.0 and have a 4.3-inch screen that would use a new form of screen technology.
Scotty Brown of Android Guys suggests that the Vision might be none other than Project Emerald, T-Mobile’s plan to replace the Sidekick in spirit, though not necessarily in price. If so, the special display may be Samsung’s Super AMOLED. However, the last mention of the phone also referred to a 1GHz single-core processor, suggesting either that specs have changed or that some of the story is inaccurate.
For a company with as rich of a reputation for landscape QWERTY sliders as HTC has, you’d think they’d be tripping over themselves to release a truly high-end Android phone with a keyboard, but not so much — the closest they’ve come so far would be the midrange myTouch 3G Slide, and that puppy ain’t even out yet. We broke the news last night about three seemingly new names for upcoming HTC devices — Vision, LED, and Glacier — and Dutch site Tweakers.net is now reporting on a user agent profile for the Vision that lists the device featuring that mythical holy trinity: WVGA display, QWERTY, and Android. Furthermore, they’ve got the director of HTC Benelux on record saying that they’re planning more Android phones with keyboards — so that’s a Good Thing to hear at a time when huge slates seem to be stealing the show in every segment of the market. With the Nexus One, Desire, Droid Incredible, and EVO 4G all alive and well, we think these guys would be well-served to play with other form factors for a minute or two, yeah?
source: engadget May 21st 2010
HTC must have the most hyperactive R&D department in the smartphone world, planning several more smartphones this calendar year, still, with the rumoured HTC Vision being dubbed the HTC Desire with a Qwerty keyboard added for good measure.
Desire + keyboard = more desirable? The simple question is: should you care? The simple answer is: it depends. It depends on whether you care for keyboard or not, because as a standalone device, the HTC Desire is one of the best mobile phones available on the market, period. So, if HTC somehow manages to keep all the HTC Desire functionality and attractive form factor, and somehow sneak a keyboard into the device for those who want tactile feedback, it’s almost impossible to not recommend purchasing it.
HTC looks set to release another Android phone in the near future, with the HTC Desire getting a keyboard and morphing into the Vision. Although nothing more than an obtuse reference in a device profile sent to Dutch site Tweakers.net, this does have more than a grain of truth in it.
Firstly, the profile apparently references a phone with the exact specs of the HTC Desire, but with a QWERTY keyboard also mentioned.
And the same site is quoting a recent interview with Mark Moons of HTC Benelux, where he confirmed Android phones with keyboards are in the offing.
source: techradar May 24th 2010
HTC has a high-end Android device with physical QWERTY keyboard in development. The device has yet codenamed Vision, but will probably have a different name if it’s in the shops. The HTC Vision has a screen with a resolution of 800×480 pixels, according to the device profile Tweakers.net into his hands. There is in addition to the physical presence of the qwerty keyboard is not much to draw from the profile, which is almost identical to that of the HTC Desire. The Vision will run on Android, though not to the version that will be. Probably the 2.1 or 2.2, depending on when the power suits.
The code name of the device came up in a screenshot of an internal page on the site of HTC. It is unlikely that the Vision will be released under that name: in the vast majority of cases, the HTC device has a different name than the code name. For some devices, like the Legend, it was the code name under which the unit was eventually sold.
