I've owned 2x Nexus One, 2x HTC Magic (one myTouch 3G and one Google Ion dev device) and finally a myTouch 4G (Essentially 1 HTC phone from each generation of device they have produced).
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.
HTC makes decent hardware, but really shitty software that no self-respecting developer would release and be proud of. They wanted to "brand" htc with thier own bs crap of shit.
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.
Comments
I've owned 2x Nexus One, 2x HTC Magic (one myTouch 3G and one Google Ion dev device) and finally a myTouch 4G (Essentially 1 HTC phone from each generation of device they have produced).
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...
HTC makes decent hardware, but really shitty software that no self-respecting developer would release and be proud of. They wanted to "brand" htc with thier own bs crap of shit.
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.
The availability of the iPhone 4S in Sprint is responsible for the 30% drop i would assume. The evo was a top seller for Sprint last year.