Google and HTC Announce US$1.1 Billion Cooperation Agreement

Google and HTC Corporation has announced a definitive agreement under which certain HTC employees – many of whom are already working with Google to develop Pixel smartphones – will join Google. HTC will receive US$1.1 billion in cash from Google as part of the transaction. Separately, Google will receive a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property (IP). The agreement is a testament to the decade-long strategic relationship between HTC and Google around the development of premium smartphones.

This agreement also supports HTC’s continued branded smartphone strategy, enabling a more streamlined product portfolio, greater operational efficiency and financial flexibility. HTC will continue to have best-in-class engineering talent, which is currently working on the next flagship phone, following the successful launch of the HTC U11 earlier this year. HTC will also continue to build the virtual reality ecosystem to grow its VIVE business, while investing in other next-generation technologies, including the Internet of Things, augmented reality and artificial intelligence.

For Google, this agreement further reinforces its commitment to smartphones and overall investment in its emerging hardware business. In addition to the talented and experienced team of professionals, Google will continue to have access to HTC’s IP to support the Pixel smartphone family. Additionally, this agreement also represents a significant investment by Google in Taiwan as a key innovation and technology hub.

“HTC has been a longtime partner of Google and has created some of the most beautiful,
premium devices on the market,” said Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President of Hardware at Google. “We're excited and can't wait to welcome members of the HTC team who will be joining Google to fuel further innovation and future product development in consumer hardware.”

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, is expected to close by early 2018.

Source: Techpads

HTC and Hungama enter into a partnership

Hungama, India’s leading digital entertainment destination has partnered with HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, to offer an exclusive, unparalleled entertainment experience for HTC users. Hungama’s music and video destinations – Hungama Music and Hungama Play will be available as pre-embedded services on HTC’s range of current and upcoming series along with an exclusive free trial of the apps for a period of 3 months and 1 month respectively.

Offering a range of latest and trending songs along with curated playlists and a live radio experience, the Hungama Music library consists of over 10mn songs and music videos while Hungama Play offers over 8000 blockbuster Bollywood, Hollywood and Regional movies such as King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Kong: Skull Island, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Fury and more, along with a vast catalogue of TV and kids series like Coupling, Citizen Khan, Shaun The Sheep etc, as well as a host of short films, documentaries, music videos and live events.

Elaborating on the partnership, Mr. Faisal Siddiqui, President- South Asia, HTC said, “We are excited to partner with Hungama and provide our customers with a daily dose of entertainment that can be delivered and enjoyed seamlessly on our devices. “

The Hungama services also come loaded with power-packed and convenient features such as offline download that allows users to download content (video and audio) over their WiFi network or any other preferred network and consume the same when they are offline. In addition to this, users can select their songs basis their moods like happy, chilled out, party etc. through the mood based discovery feature available exclusively on Hungama Music and can also can enjoy the unique Gamification feature that rewards users with coins for every interaction which can be redeem for free music, music video downloads, movie tickets, discount vouchers, merchandise & more.

Speaking about the association, Neeraj Roy, MD &CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment said, “With the advent of faster and cheaper data, the personal handset is progressively becoming the primary destination to consume entertainment. We are glad to partner with HTC and enable an entertainment ecosystem on their devices at a single click. Hungama offers HTC users a one-stop destination for all entertainment ranging from music, movies, TV series, music videos to live events and more.”

 

HTC launches Initiative ‘Aarzoo: ek wish har Aarzoo poori karne ki’ In Partnership With CRY

Sonal (Name Changed) is an activist and she is only 12 years old. She is a member of the "Little star children's group" from Shahbad dairy that works towards educating children on protecting themselves against abuse. Like the other members of the group, she has been working with other children from the basti who are yet not associated with the children group.

She is a part of Aarzoo – a movement, a promise to fulfill dreams of countless young girls from the lower income group families by facilitating guidance and resources to supplement their dedication and enthusiasm. In association with 'CRY - Child Rights and You', and as a part of its corporate social initiative, HTC Corporation, a leading innovator in mobile and virtual reality technology, has launched the initiative ‘Aarzoo: ek wish har Aarzoo poori karne ki’’ in India.

The initiative brings together HTC and CRY in an effort to create education and basic training opportunities for the girl child from the under privileged sections of our society. As a part of this initiative, beginning February 2017, HTC will, for a period of six months, contribute part of consumer sales proceeds towards delivering an on-ground impact on girl child education for 1500 girls through CRY.

‘Aarzoo’ aims to bring positive changes in the lives of the under-privileged girls by giving them the opportunity to learn whilst working towards recognizing, promoting and protecting their rights. In order to build mass reach and awareness and establish connect it will involve the use of Digital consumer connect campaigns as well as on ground activation via events and activities. HTC employees will also join the drive by donating their time towards the cause – volunteer for CRY. The initiative will culminate with a large children festival in Delhi.

HTC Launches HTC Sense Companion

HTC Corporation, a leading innovator in mobile and virtual reality technology has announced the launch of HTC Sense Companion on its recently launched flagship smartphones HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play. The HTC sense companion has successfully completed initial feature testing early, and it’s beginning to roll out now and over the coming 1 to 2 weeks from the Google Play store. 

Initial features include helpful recommendations to improve device performance, reminders to charge or bring a battery bank for a long day out, time estimates for arrival when driving in traffic, and clothing and accessory suggestions based on weather conditions. We’ll be rapidly introducing new features, and in the coming days and in few weeks, we’ll be introducing restaurant recommendations based on your location, fitness reports based on total step counts and distances moved, points of interest suggestions based on your travel schedule and location, and more.

Additional language support will roll out over the coming days. Due to the global nature of the roll out, some users could not see cards pushed from the server. Simply update the HTC Sense Companion app from the Google Play store, re-launch it, and log in, and you will see default cards to introduce features. More cards will begin to appear over the coming days as HTC Sense Companion learns from you and your actions. The Google Play store staggers the rollout of apps in a way that can take up to 1 to 2 weeks to reach everyone.

HTC Unveils Week-long Diwali celebrations

HTC India has unveiled week-long Diwali celebrations –HTC Festive Freestyle: Diwali Clicks on its social media platforms from October 24- October 30 this year. The week long festive bonanza includes a series of contests where participants can share their Diwali celebrations photographs on 3 themes: lights, sweets and Rangoli. The contest is in line with HTC’s innovative Freestyle layout theme available on most of its latest smartphones which enables users to experience unprecedented level of customization.

The most popular 2 images across each category will win HTC’s recently launched HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle smartphone. The Desire 10 Lifestyle brings stunning design and flagship-level features to HTC’s widely praised Desire family of smartphones along with the legendary HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition, made popular on the flagship HTC 10, plus 24-bit Hi-Res audio that delivers powerful, crystal-clear audio performance on both the external speakers and headphones. The HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle is currently available on both Amazon.in and HTC e-store at Rs 15,990.

Interested participants can use the #HTCFestiveFreestyle to post their entries during the week on HTC India Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HTCIndia/. Winners will be announced in the 1st week of November this year.

HTC Desire 728 dual sim with 13 MP camera launched for Rs 17,990

HTC has announced the HTC Desire 728 Dual SIM at Rs 17,990. The dual sim HTC Desire 728 smartphone is 4G LTE anabled and weighs 153grams. It is powered by a 64-bit MediaTek 1.3GHz Octa-Core processor coupled with 2GB RAM. 

The smartphone features a 5.5" High Definition screen and has 16GB internal storage, as well as a MicroSD slot which supports up to 2TB of additional storage. It runs on Android and HTC Sense OS. 

The HTC Desire 728 sports a 13MP main camera and supported by a 5MP front camera. Both cameras offer the ability to capture high-quality 1080p video. The HTC Desire 728 Dual SIM comes in Purple Myst and White Luxury colours. It houses a 2800 mAh removable battery and allows talk time: Up to 26 hours on 2G, up to 21 hours on 3G. The Standby time is Up to 496 hours on 2G, up to 485 hours on 3G.

HTC One A9 excluisvely available on Snapdeal

HTC has announced that the latest addition to the award-winning HTC One family, the HTC One A9 will be exclusively available on Snapdeal at an aggressive price of RS 29,990.

"Melding the best of HTC’s acclaimed design and innovation with the latest from Google’s Android, this is a stunning, no-compromise smartphone that stands out from the crowd. Built for people who want a better choice, the HTC One A9 is a smartphone that combines striking design on the outside with the newest features of Android 6.0 Marshmallow with HTC Sense on the inside to create an unrivaled smartphone experience." said Faisal Siddiqui, President, HTC South Asia.

Tony Navin, Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives. Snapdeal said, "We are thrilled to launch the HTC One A9 in India. This is a great addition to our smartphone offerings, given the success of this phone overseas. We are confident that this phone will be well received by our customers across Metros, Tier-1 & Tier-2 towns & cities."

The HTC One A9 comes in Carbon Gray and Pearl Silver colours across India. The registration will open exclusively on Snapdeal website and app from December 9 till December 14, 2015. The smartphone will be available for the consumers to buy from December 15 2015 onwards.

To register for your HTC One A9 please click on the link below:
http://www.snapdeal.com/offers/htc-one-a9

New HTC DESIRE 728G Dual Sim launched for Rs 17,990

With Diwali round the corner, HTC has announced the HTC Desire 728G Dual SIM for RS 17,990.

"The new HTC Desire 728G Dual SIMbrings distinctive design into a feature-rich smartphone, providing you with a great value smartphonewhich you can truly make your own.We want to provide a powerful, fully customisable experience to our customers, and the HTC Desire 728G Dual SIM brings this in abundance," said Mr. Faisal Siddiqui, President, HTC South Asia.

The HTC Desire 728G Dual SIM is powered by a 64-bit MediaTek 1.3GHz Octa-Core processor and features the HTC BoomSound speakers with Dolby Audio. It has a 5.5" High Definition screen and runs on Android and HTC Sense (upgraded to Sense 7). It sports a secondary 13MP main camera and a 5MP front camera for selfies. Both cameras also offers high-quality 1080p video. It comes With 16GB internal storage, as well as a MicroSD slot which supports up to 2TB of additional storage.

The HTC Desire 728G Dual SIM comes in two colors, Purple Myst and White Luxury, and will be available in India from today onwards at Rs 17,990.

HTC Launches The HTC Desire 820G+ Dual Sim For Rs 19,990

HTC has announced the launch of the new HTC Desire 820G+ dual sim for Rs 19,990. The 820G+ has a 13.97cm (5.5-inch) 720p HD display screen and sports 8 megapixel front facing and 13 megapixel rear camera with LED flash. It is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6592 (clocked at 1.7GHz) and 1GB RAM. The phone has 16GB inbuilt memory and is expandable to 32GB via microsd card.

The HTC Desire 820G+ dual sim also features HTC’s signature BoomSound front facing speakers. The HTC Desire 820G+dual sim also offers real time Live Makeup, allowing you to preview the image and set the desired level of skin smoothing before capturing. 

The HTC Desire 820G+ Dual SIM runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box. The handset is backed by 2600mAh battery which offers 12 hours of talk time and weighs 155 grams. 

The HTC Desire 820 G+ will be available in India at Rs 19,990 with Santorini White, Saffron Grey and Milky-way grey as color options.

Key specifications:

• 5.50-inch screen, 720x1280 HD display
• 1.7GHz Processor
• 13-megapixel Rear Camera
• 8 megapixel Front Camera
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB in-built storage (expandable up to 32gb)
• 2600mAh Battery 
• Android 4.4

HTC One M9 and One M9+ To Get Android M Update

HTC Senior Global Online Communications Manager, announced on twitter: "Good news! The HTC One M9 and M9+ will be updated to Android M, with more devices to be announced soon."

Google has unveiled its latest version of Android, Android M, at Google I/O. When Google unveiled Android 5.0 Lollipop at last year's Google I/O, HTC was one of the first smartphone manufacturers to publicly announce that it would offer the update within 90 days of Google's release for some of its smartphones though it missed the deadline in US. 

This was great news for HTC mobile users especially who owned the HTC One M8 and One M7. When the Lollipop update for both the HTC One M8 and One M7 were officially released, many users were experiencing problems with the update, which included freezing apps, excessive battery drain and forced reboots. HTC One M9 or One M9+ smartphone owners will be happy to know that Android M would be released for both of these smartphones.

Source: Techtimes