Insights For Success

Strategy, Innovation, Leadership and Security

HTC

OnePlus policy that makes it a better buy than Samsung, HTC or LG

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

As a security technologist, the security philosophy of the OEM is a crucial determinant of my decision to buy or recommend a device. This is where Apple shines with it's iPhone update strategy. Every single iPhone receives updates (security and version) at the same time. 

This is why I highly recommend Google's Pixel devices. The Pixel line offers the same regular and speedy update schedule. The other Android manufacturer that has shown it cares about upgrades is OnePlus. Until this week, it did a great job delivering updates quickly, but it didn't formally commit to a software upgrade schedule. 

All of that changes this week when OnePlus unveiled its new operating system (Android) maintenance schedule. It has copied the Google Pixel model and will deliver major upgrades for two years and security updates for three years. 

“As per the maintenance schedule, there will be 2 years of regular software updates from the release date of the phone (release dates of T variants would be considered), including new features, Android versions, Android security patches and bug fixes and an additional year of Android security patch updates every 2 months.”
— OnePlus OS Maintenance Schedule

Conclusion

OnePlus has always offered solid well-designed devices at competitive prices. This new software maintenance schedule commitment makes their offering that much more compelling. 

I can no longer recommend devices from manufacturers that do not regularly deliver security and version upgrades. This is why I only recommend Android devices from Google, Blackberry Mobile and OnePlus. 

HTC 10 is a wonderful Android phone you haven't thought of

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Readers know I love gadgets and no gadget is more important or personal than a smartphone. Although I have tested several dozen smartphones over the years, an Phone 6s Plus is still my daily driver. 

Recently I wanted to revisit the HTC 10 and determine if it is a phone I can recommend. 

Hardware

The first thing you notice when you pickup the HTC 10 is how good HTC is at industrial design. The sand blasted aluminium is soft and grippy in the hand. The phone feels incredibly solid with a beautifully executed chamfered edges. 

The screen is protected with Gorilla Glass 3 and the "home button" is a matt finger print sensor, that work quickly and reliably every single time. 

The buttons are solid (no wobble) and are extremely tactile. Clicking them is very satisfying. 

The phone is definitely beautiful and a few people asked me what the device was. People rarely ask about smarpthone models I test ( since most look very similar.)

IP53 water resistance means the phone would likely survive being used in the rain (but don't try to submerge it). 

The screen is a beautiful 5.2 inch super LCD 5 (QHD) screen with 565 PPI. Blacks on LCD screens aren't as dark as on AMOLED or SuperAmoLED) screens, but the HTC 10 screen has excellent color reproduction and is visible in all but the brightest sunlight conditions.

The capacitive buttons below the screen mean you are not losing any valuable real estate for virtual buttons. A definite plus.

The phone includes its signature BoomSound tweaks and hardware. The quality built in DAC (Digital Audio Converter) supports 24 bit high resolution (hi res) audio. Older HTC devices had 2 front facing speakers while the HTC 10 has a tweeter on the top and a woofer on the bottom. This is one of the drawbacks of this phone. The older HTC phones were amazing when consuming content or playing games because of the front facing speakers. The HTC 10 is good but not as good as its older siblings. BoomSound support Dolby audio and now works system wide (when using the built in speakers or headphones - not available via bluetooth headphones).

Hardware spec dump:

  • Snapdragon 820
  • 4GB RAM
  • Adreno 530 GPU
  • 32 GB if internal storage, expandable
  • WIFI 802.11ac
  • Bluetooth 4.2
  • 3000 mAh battery

Software

Sense is tightly built into their version of android and it is though even finding the version installed. 

HTC has tried to fight bloat and has not double installed apps. As an example the default calendar was Google Calendar while the camera app is the HTC one. HTC has tried to choose the best app for each function. Most HTC created apps have adopted Material design which means apps feel unified (between the Google ones and the HTC Ones). This is a very good thing to improve consistency. 

My test version came from Bell and had bundled Bell apps that did were not material design and could not be uninstalled.

HTC bundles an app called Boost+ which helps eliminate bloat. Until using the HTC device, I had to install a third party app to perform this clean-up. 

Usability

The first thing you will notice is how responsive the device is when scrolling a long list of apps (100+ apps on my test device). It's refreshing to see that even with the HTC skin, responsiveness doesn't seem to suffer.

I installed and tested these 5 demanding Android games for testing :

  • Modern Combat 5: Blackout
  • Asphalt 8: Airborne
  • Real Racing 3
  • N.O.V.A 3 Freedom Edition
  • Dead Trigger 2

All of the above games opened quickly and ran smoothly. After playing these games for 10-15 minutes, the phone becomes warm but nothing too dramatic.

HTC Connect  is included again and works relatively well. It allows you to stream on device content to various devices from Chromecast to Miracast and Bluetooth. The most surprising inclusion is the ability to stream to Apple Airplay devices (to AirPlay speakers and AppleTV). 

The device supports lock-screen gestures (such as launching the camera from an off screen). 

I've been testing the HTC 10 for 2.5 weeks now (while at home and while travelling for business). I loaded our corporate Mobile Device Management framework and used it as my main work smartphone during this time. 

Phone calls always sounded great and the phone connected to 2 major Canadian networks reliably. I compared WIFI and LTE performance to my iPhone 6s Plus and surprisingly, the HTC 10 seems to detect, capture and stay connected to wireless networks better than my iPhone. 

The 3000 mAH battery (with Android 6) was better than average for Android devices but nothing to write home about. I was able to get 3.5+ hours of screen on time. With heavy corporate use (texting, emailing and reading content), I regularly got between 3.5-4 hours of battery life.

The bundled charger is QC3.0 (but was not included in my test version provided by HTC, so I couldn't test this). Using my own Anker charger with QC3.0, I charged my device from 20% to full in a little over an hour. 

The size of the HTC 10 seems to be just right. It is big enough to enjoy videos while small enough to be used one handed. 

The HTC 10 Camera

HTC has added Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to both the front and back cameras. This is an amazing achievement and a model for other companies to follow.

The back camera uses their Ultrapixel sensor with a bright 1.8f lens. The 12 MP Ultrapixel sensor includes 1.55um per UltraPixel. The front camera also has a bright 1.8f lens with screen flash. Its one of the few devices to include OIS for the front camera. The built in (rear camera) takes beautiful 4K video with very good 24-bit Hi-Res audio. I compared the audio to that of my iPhone and found the HTC 10 in-video audio quality better than the iPhone's. The audio quality on the HTC 10 rivaled that of my iPhone with the Shure MV88 attached. 

Front camera OIS means this could be used as an excellent Vlog camera. 

I tested the video stabilization of the HTC 10 compared to the Samsung S7 Edge (rear) and found it is competitive. stabilization does not rival that of external 3-axis gimble based stabilizers but is very usable. 

In my testing, daytime photos are amazing with deep color saturation and fantastic contrast. In many test situations, the HTC 10 produced more pleasing pictures than my iPhone 6s Plus. To be honest, the iPhone is likely to get a better & more usable picture in more situations but the HTC has an honorable mention. 

The HTC 10 camera app is super simple for the average user but includes other modes such as hyperlapse, slow motion, selfie photo. selfie video and full manual. I wish HTC had slightly faster focusing (photo and video). This focusing issue is more pronounced at night. 

Warranty

 HTC offers it's Uh Oh Protection for the HTC 10. When purchasing an HTC 10 from HTC directly in the US, you can add this free protection which gives you a opne time replacement for a broken screen or water damage for the first year. 

Why aren't more people buying it?

Samsung has a huge marketing budget and seems to have pulled the oxygen out for most other Android smartphones. The Samsung S7 offers wireless charging, an amazing display and a better camera. The big killer is price. The Samsung S7 can sometimes be had cheaper (or close to) than the HTC 10 price.

B&H price for the Unlocked Samsung S7 32GB

Expansys special price for the Unlocked HTC 10 32 GB

The HTC 10 is a wonderful phone with great specs but priced it as if it were 2014. Price is the main reason most consumers haven't jumped on this phone.

OnePlus, Alcatel, ZTE and Honor have changed the conversation around smartphone pricing. These phones come with fantastic specs but are sub $400. The HTC 10 is definitely  a better phone (than those lower cost competitors but not enough to justify the substantially higher price.) 

This bracketing by Samsung offering higher end specs at the same price (as the HTC 10) and the lower end competitors offering amazing specs at $100-250 less, have meant most consumers have shied away from what is otherwise a great device.

Conclusion

The HTC 10 is the best HTC phone I have ever used. It is also one of the best Android phones I have ever tested. During my ~3 week of testing, I never had to force reset the device (unlike most Android devices I test). 

  • The microSD slot for the space consuming 4K Video is a wonderful touch. 
  • QuickCharge 3.0 which allows you to top up the battery as quick as technical possible.
  • Excellent audio quality for calls with very few dropped calls.
  • Excellent ability to find and hold onto mobile data (Wifi and LTE).
  • Built in discreet DAC (with a headphone jack) for amazing audio quality during playback.
  • Good pace of Android security updates (not perfect but decent). 

The Achilles heel is the price. If this phone was priced at $399, this would probably be the smash hit of the year. The HTC 10 is easy to recommend in isolation but harder to recommend when you consider its lower cost Asian competitors. 

HTC Desire 530 Android Smartphone review

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Customer

Reading most online device review sites will make you dizzy. It seems reviewers (professional and amateur alike) are chasing the next big phone. They want you to buy the beefiest phone currently available with crazy specs and a crazy price. Truth is that not everyone needs the latest and greatest, especially when it typically costs $800-1000.

I know a bunch of readers purchased the Motorola MotoG 2015 last year when I recommended it and this phone competes in that space. It is a decent mid-range phone for someone that wants a basic smartphone to browse the web, watch videos, listen to music and read the occasional PDF or Amazon book.

And it can be purchased online from HTC unlocked with minimal bloatware.

Specifications

  • 5" 720p display in the front
  • 1.1 GHZ quad-core Snapdragon 210 processor
  • 1.5 GB of RAM
  • 16 GB of internal storage
  • Micro-SD card expansion (up to 2TB)
  • 8MP camera in back
  • 5MP camera on the front
  • 2200 mAH battery

If you want a slight spec bump, you can always opt for its bigger brother the Desire 626 which comes with some small and welcome improvements.

Let's get physical

The Desire 530 is a mid-range budget smartphone with a polycarbonate body and has a design reminiscent of previous desire phones. HTC is using a unique "pain splash" on the back they call MicroSplash. Microsplash is said to be unique for each phone and is a way to make the phone look unique and hip. 

“Microsplash means each HTC Desire 530 will be slightly unique design on the back”

You can add lanyards since the phone comes with a lanyard loop hole (a grey one is provided in the box). 

The power button is orange and nicely textured which means you can identify it with feel only. The plastic volume rockers feel very plastic but are functional and tactile.

The SIM and SDCard slots are behind a plastic flap (on the left hand side) and the flap feels flimsy and I was worried about breaking it. Ultimately being careful, It came off and was put back on without a hitch but you have to be careful. 

HTC is known for its impressive sound quality. Although the HTC Desire 530 has 2 speaker grills on the front, the top one is the earpiece (for phone calls) and the bottom is the speaker. This is where I had high expectations. For me, good sound is a signature feature of HTC devices and here I was a bit disappointed. Whether I was playing OGG, MP3, local videos or clips streamed from youtube, the internal built-in speaker sounded very tinny with little bass (even for a smartphone).

The screen has a black border which makes the screen feel bigger than it actually is. I handed the phone to a bunch of friends and colleagues and many of them liked the smaller size of the phone. Many preferred the easy to hold one handed usability of this device compared to the gargantuan monsters being peddled by Samsung and Apple. I'm a big guy with big hands so I prefer a slightly bigger screen on my everyday carry devices. There is an option in the settings that allows you to hide the navigation buttons so you recover some extra space that way.

The screen is 720p and ultimately this isn't necessarily a bad thing. A lower display resolution means you should get better battery life (which is more important to the average user) but don't expect to use this phone with Google Cardboard. Additionally even at full brightness, the colors left a lot to be desired but it isn't any worse than the Motorola MotoG. 

The HTC Desire 530 allows you to use the SDCard as flexstorage (aka Adoptable storage) on Android Marshmallow. This means you can add the SDCard capacity to the built in 16 GBs... well... sort of.. kind of.. This is an Android issue. Apps aren't all automatically copied on the SDCard (even if you use a fast one) and there were times when I filled the internal memory and the adoptable storage had GB of free space yet the phone kept giving me out of storage space warnings.My recommendation for all Android devices is to use SDCards as external storage to host large collections of music, movies and pictures.

Having used the HTC Desire 530 as my primary device for a couple of days, I noticed that there was slight lag when browsing a web page, scrolling a home screen with a couple of widgets. Opening apps takes a bit longer than I would hope and the phone slows down a bit with multiple apps are open in the background. 

I tried playing a few games and the experience was ok. Strategy and role playing games worked well once loaded but more complex games like car racing either weren't supported or didn't work well. 

Using the phone like a typical mid range consumer (some emails, some web browsing, some music with the screen off and a handful of calls) meant the device lasted a full day (8am - 9pm). This is probably the result of the 7209 screen and lower end processor. As long as you don't play too many games, the device should get you through the day. A clear win. 

The stock camera app is basic with selfie, normal, panorama, HDR modes and video modes. I could complain that it isn't very customization but most users want to click a button and take a picture. Pictures taken in low light indoors or outdoors come our noisy and grainy. Images taken outside in good light are flat and not very engaging. I'm sure HTC can improve this with some software tweaks. 

Software

The phone I am holding in my hands is running Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 with the June 2016 security updates. Security updates make me happy. HTC has layered their SenseUI on top of Android and it will be familiar to anyone that has used an HTC phone in recent years.

SenseUI has the vertical scrolling app drawer, blinkfeed and a relatively clean user interface. 

I then loaded my Google tools such as the Google Now Launcher and Google Keyboard.. which is how I prefer to use Android devices. SenseUI isn't bad but nothing is quite as good as vanilla android.

The phone I received had no bloatware... None... Nada... Ziltch... Way to go HTC. This is something that can't be overstated. I love clean phones and love the fact chose this route. They could have made some extra cash by crapping up the phone with garbage apps but they didn't. Thank you HTC!

I asked HTC PR 2 questions:

  1. Will HTC delivery Android Nougat to the Desire 530? If so when?
    "We have not made any announcement re Nougat to HTC Desire 530."
  2. What is HTC's commitment to delivering Android Security Updates?
    "We are aligning resources around our most popular products where the most customers will benefit, and the roll-out may vary by regions and operators."
     

Conclusion

So what is my overall verdict? I think this is a decent phone for the price ($US179 or $CAD199). I know many people that have smartphones without any additional apps installed and that are looking for something affordable and usable. The HTC Desire 530 is a decent option for these people. 

A second market could be travelers that want a second unlocked phone that can be used with a local SIM at the destination.

My other gripe is that we don't know if the Desire 530 will receive Android N (Nougat) or how regularly it will receive security updates. Security updates are more critical for me than an upgrade to Nougat.

WayTools TextBlade may be the ultimate portable keyboard

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Truth is typing on a slab of glass just isn't efficient. Even with the larger iPhone 6 plus, iPad mini or Ipad Air 2, typing is acceptable at fast. Typing on glass is much slower than typing on a traditional keyboard (because of the tactile response which means you don't have to look at the keyboard). 

Over the last 20 years, I have tried hundreds of portable keyboard and only a small handful have actually been "good" or usable in the field. Now a company called WayTools is launching a brand new ultra compact portable bluetooth keyboard called the TextBlade. [Since it is bluetooth, it works with all modern smartphones and tablets including iPhone, iPad, Samsung, HTC, Nexus and more).

Announced at CES, it is a 3 piece keyboard that magnetically attaches to itself. It charges using any USB port and the company claims you get 1 month of autonomy with a 1 hour charge. 

The company describes the TextBlade as:

“TextBlade is brimming with advanced technology, including the World’s first physical MultiTouch Keys, ultra low energy Bluetooth Smart, and the first MultiLayer Keys, bringing symbols and editing to home row ... all engineered into the most compact touch-type machine ever produced.”
— WayTools

WayTools TextBlade uses the same QWERTY layout we all know and love but adds smart functions like copy/paste, easy letter, word or sentence selection, etc.

I can't judge it until I test one for a couple of weeks but I am very much interested and intrigued. If this works as advertised, it may turn out to be a huge win for the company and mobile productivity nuts.  

 

$115 worth of Android apps for free for a limited time

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Amazon's Android app store is at it again offering $115 of free android apps for free until this Saturday. Some are very good and others are just filler but this promo is definitely worth checking out and I have confirmation that it is valid in Canada, the US and UK so far.

My favourite apps in this bundle are:

  • Plants versus Zombies
  • Plex
  • Fruit Ninja
  • Sonic the hedgehog
  • World of Goo
  • Lapse it Pro
  • Longman dictionary of contemporary english

Download it now while these are free (link)