GeekSugar

HTC Announces the Rezound, the Beats Audio Smartphone

Kristy Korcz — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:43:15 PDT

Obsessed with music? You'll probably love this phone: HTC announced the Rezound smartphone that features celeb-approved Beats By Dre integration right in the device. That means, the phone comes with unique tuning that helps your music come alive with stereo quality and clarity. Also included with the Rezound are a pair of Beats By Dre earbuds, so you don't even have to worry about grabbing a new pair - just load up the Rezound with your tunes and go.

Besides awesome audio, the Rezound comes with a 4.3-inch LCD screen, an 8MP camera with autofocus and dual LED flash, a 1.5 Ghz dual-core processor and 4G capabilities. It also comes stocked with HTC Watch, which gives you mobile access to movies and TV shows on the go, and the latest version of HTC Sense UI.

The Rezound will go on sale Nov. 14 for $300 through Verizon's network. Want a closer look? There's more eye candy in the gallery.

T-Mobile Announces Windows Phone HTC Radar 4G

Kristy Korcz — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:47:47 PDT

It's no secret that I'm a little bit smitten with the Windows Phone UI (and now Windows 8), so I'm excited to see T-Mobile's new Windows Phone offering, the HTC Radar 4G. Coming this holiday season, the Mango-running Radar 4G will be stocked with a 3.8-inch LCD touchscreen, 1Ghz processor, 5MP rear-facing camera with LED flash and a VGA forward-facing camera, along with a dedicated camera button on the aluminum white body so you can snap pics instantly without having to unlock your phone.

Windows Phone Mango has plenty of features to love as well, like Kinect support, SMS dictation, fast app resume, and threads, along with the sleek tiled interface. No pricing details have been released yet, so stay tuned for more info.

Details on the Samsung Galaxy S II and HTC Amaze 4G

Kristy Korcz — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:21:54 PDT

T-Mobile announced two new phones to its smartphone lineup yesterday: the Samsung Galaxy S II and HTC Amaze 4G. Both phones come stocked with impressive specs like 8MP cameras for crisp photos, dual-core processors, which will make both devices super fast, and average download speeds of 8Mbps on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 4G network.

Both phones are expected to be available next month, so take a tour of some of the most prominent specs, features, and prices in the slideshow!

HTC Introduces Rhyme to the Color-Loving Masses

Kristy Korcz — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:30:00 PDT

Smartphones these days are getting a little dull, wouldn't you say? Looking out across the offerings, it's an endless sea of black (and sometimes white) casings. HTC seems hell bent on trying to avoid this trend with its newly announced Android device called the Rhyme. The plum metallic casing on this Android-running phone is stylish indeed, but are the innards as impressive as the outside shell?

Announced today, the HTC Rhyme will be exclusive to Verizon Wireless and will hit shelves in the coming weeks (possibly as soon as Sept. 29) alongside some bonus accessories. Early adopters can preorder the Rhyme at Target starting tomorrow through Sept. 26. First, let's learn about the specs:

Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and HTC Sense UI
3.7-inch WVGA LCD screen
5MP rear-facing camera with auto focus, power LED flash, instant shutter, face detection, action burst (takes five consecutive shots in a row), and panorama, and a 0.3MP forward-facing camera
1Ghz single core processor, 4GB of internal memory, only 768MB of RAM

There are some other cool features coming with the latest version of HTC Sense, including 12 new wallpapers, a preview tab that lets you see all of your incoming and missed calls, emails, messages, and the like, and a photo auto-upload feature that will let you send images taken from your phone straight to a designated Facebook album. This could put you in some sticky situations, so be sure to address whether you want that feature enabled or not from day one!

Find out more about the HTC Rhyme's accessories - including a doc, tangle-free headphones, and an interesting charm - and our thoughts on the device in the gallery.

HTC Status Gets Official, Coming to AT&T This Summer

Kristy Korcz — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:06:32 PDT

HTC officially announced the HTC Status (aka. "the Facebook phone"), which is headed for AT&T this Summer. Running Android 2.3 and coming with a 2.6-inch touchscreen, the Status has yet to be priced, but the phone already has its own Facebook page. Appropriate, since this phone has Facebook integrated into its bones.

Coming with a button that connects you directly to Facebook in a flash, you can instantly share a wide range of items, as well as see what your friends are up to with just a touch. Some examples of things you can do just by pressing the Facebook Share button include:

Start and maintain multiple private Facebook chat sessions.
Instantly post a status update from the phone's home screen on your wall or a friend's wall.
Take a photo, then press the share button to instantly post on your wall or to an album.
Check in on Facebook Places/
Share stories you find on the Internet: from the webpage, you can click the share button and instantly post to your wall.
Share the info on the music track you're listening to right from the music player when you press the Facebook share button.

Other awesome features coming with the HTC Status include lock-screen shortcuts (drag your favorite apps or features into the lock screen "ring"), two cameras - 5MP rear-facing with autofocus and VGA forward-facing - with built-in camera effects. Stay tuned for exact launch date and pricing info, but until then tell me - does an integrated Facebook button make the HTC Status more appealing?

Are You Buying Into the 3D Trend?

Kristy Korcz — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:16:19 PDT

Sprint announced the availability of its new HTC EVO 3D ($200) smartphone today, which comes with 3D technology. Not only can you create 3D videos with the dual 5MP cameras on the back of the phone, but you can also stream and watch 3D movies glasses-free. The phone itself comes with impressive specs even if you take out the 3D aspect (a 4.3-inch 3D HD display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, Android 2.3, and 4G speeds), but I'm wondering how often users would actually take advantage of the 3D screen. Thankfully, the phone is still reasonably priced, so getting your hands on one shouldn't be a problem.

Now that there are 3D features being built into everything from TVs to phones, tablets, portable gaming consoles, and pocket camcorders, are you buying into the trend?

3 Reasons to Love the HTC Sensation 4G

Kristy Korcz — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:06:13 PDT

Early this morning, T-Mobile announced the availability of the HTC Sensation 4G, landing in stores on June 15. For those who aren't afraid of size, this sleek phone will run Android 2.3, and comes with a nice and bright 4.3-inch HD touchscreen display Remember: bigger may actually be better. Since it seems like a lot of you are HTC and Android fans, I thought I'd give you a quick rundown on a few reasons why you may want to pick up this new device. Check it out below, then click through the gallery for more closeup pics!

It's fast - The Sensation is a 4G phone, so you know download and upload speeds will be snappy, but it also comes stocked with a dual-core 1.2 Ghz processor, which means the phone itself will operate at lightning fast speeds as well.
It will entertain you - T-Mobile has preloaded the Sensation 4G with lots of entertainment apps like HTC Watch, which puts a library of available movies and TV rentals at your fingertips, along with T-Mobile TV, that lets you watch your favorite live and on-demand news, sports, and kiddie shows.
It lets you share easily - There's an 8MP rear-facing and HD forward-facing camera on board the Sensation 4G, which will help you capture awesome HD images and photos, then share them with the HTC Sense 3.0 experience, which has social sharing down to a science.

Verizon's First 4G Phone, the ThunderBolt, on Sale Thursday

Kristen Hawley — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:51:01 PDT

Verizon will release its first 4G phone, the ThunderBolt ($250), this Thursday. The device, which first surfaced last year, was officially unveiled at CES in January.

Despite running on Verizon's new 4G network, ThunderBolt customers can enjoy the same pricing plans as current Verizon subscribers: voice plans starting at $40/month and data starting at $30/month. The ThunderBolt has a 4.3-inch hi-res screen, 8mp camera with flash, and 720p HD video camera.

Since it runs on the 4G network, the ThunderBolt is the first Verizon phone to be able to handle voice and data use at the same time. It also can serve as a mobile hotspot for up to eight other devices, which according to Verizon will be free until May 15. After that, users can choose to pay an additional $20 for 2GB of data each month.

5 Facts About the New HTC Flyer Tablet

Kristy Korcz — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:30:40 PST

These days, it seems like there is a new tablet for every day of the week! Continuing the CES trend, HTC released the details on its first seven-inch tablet, the Flyer, to the masses. While pricing and availability have yet to be announced (though it's been spotted on Amazon's UK site for 669 euros, which is around $900), you can get a closer look at some of the specs in this slideshow!

HTC's "Facebook Phone": Love It or Leave It?

Kristy Korcz — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:58:35 PST

Yesterday morning at this year's MWC, HTC unveiled two new phones, the ChaCha and the Salsa (no joke), which would pose as the manufacturer's first socially-focused devices. Known to us as "the Facebook phone," these devices will come with a dedicated Facebook button so you can quickly access your feed, post an update, check into Facebook Places, along with other features integrated into the HTC Sense system.

While we won't know the prices or availability dates on these phones for a while (they're set to come out in Asia and the UK in Q2 and appear in the US "later this year" on AT&T's network), I'm interested to see if you think you'd want - or even need - a Facebook-focused device. With fully-functioning Facebook apps already out there, you're pretty much covered on any OS right now. So what say you - do you love the Facebook phone or would you rather leave it?