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[this_guy]

bleh im not talking about htc but i really hate all these underpowered android devices hitting the market every chinese corporation shitting them out devaluing all devices. basically hurts all the decent flagship phones as they also are influenced by this downward spiral.

I like that there are phones coming out at $200-$300 unlocked that provide a good experience. Phones like the Moto G, Asus Zenphone 2, Alcatel Idol 3, and Huawei P8 lite are decent phones that don't cost an arm and a leg. The flagships that are priced above this level should give you better build quality and camera, but if you don't care about that then these get the job done.

Frankly HTC brings nothing to the table that can't be replaced by the likes of Huawei, ZTE, or any other chinese manufacturer. Their differentiating factor is HTC Sense and Boomsound.

 

[daveo42]

Not surprised, but disappointed that HTC is doing so poorly. The absolute best phone I ever owned was the HTC Incredible. Well designed, easy to use, great camera, and just the right size. It was truly one incredible phone.

 

[jmdajr]

Had the first ever 4G phone from Verizon. The HTC Thunderbolt. The battery didn't last anything and eventually part of the screen died. It sure as heck didn't last like my other phones

 

[Cerity]

The One's are absolutely terribly designed internally, it's like they never figured that the screen will the component that will be broken the most often. Once you do manage to get the shell off there is years of tape/shielding and obtuse design. I wouldn't be surprised if they were spending quite a lot of time and money on repairs compared to pretty much every other manufacturer out there.

 

[jrcbandit]

The HTC One was the best smartphones at the time of release aside from the subpar camera - ultrapixels was a good idea but the sensor wasn't up to task. But of course that was all meaningless because of the sub-par advertising compared to the dominance of Samsung advertising. The M8 was a nice followup, but it didn't fix things wrong with the M7 like either ditching the ultrapixles or doing something like the Iphone 6 camera (larger 1.5 u pixels but a 8 MP sensor instead of only 4), and it needed to ditch the black band that says HTC on front that was a complete waste of space to either make the phone shorter or screen larger. Of course the advertising situation did not improve either....

The M9 was a joke, uncomfortable, crap throttling processor, crap camera, etc. No wonder they are doing so poorly.

 

[Mohonky]

Pity, I had an M7, was due for a role over and decided I needed a bigger screen but didnt want to spend as much as the carrier wanted per month for the M9 and the M8 having the same size screen seemed like kind of a pointless upgrade especially with the same camera. Its not that I didnt think the M8 wasn't a good phone, I just wanted bigger so I went with the LG G4 and its been great, but there are definitely things I much prefer about the HTC theme and style.

Also on quality, the HTC feels like a seriously premium phone. When I got my LG I was like yeh it looks like and the leather back is a really suave looking design, but when you pick up the M7 the LG feels really cheap by comparison and I find the LG feels better built than the Samsungs so that really says somethi about the HTC designs.

Real pity to hear this.

 

[EatinOlives]

You got lucky then, also better hope nothing breaks.

I've been considering a OnePlus phone. Could you elaborate on build quality and/or support?

 

[jrush64]

I have an M8 that I like. I thought GAF liked the M8. Anyway mine is becoming pretty slow and I'm thinking of changing it.

 

[Souldriver]

I know nothing about HTC, other than that a few years ago their phone design were head and shoulders above the rest.

Those are some good looking phones, to this very day. Whether they were quality and value for money I don't know.

 

[EarlyEarly]

The M8 has a bad camera? I heard that it had one of the best, if not the best of the generation of phones that came out last year.

 

[neogaffer1]

The M8 has a bad camera? I heard that it had one of the best, if not the best of the generation of phones that came out last year.

its ultrapixel camera was just as bad as the m7.

mildly decent in low light, below average every other scenario.

 

[Darth Karja]

Sad to hear. My first 3 smartphones were HTC. Had the G1 in 2009, then I got a mytouch, then an Inspire. Loved all those phones. My Samsung Galaxy S4 was okay. I love my Nexus 6 though. but the build quality of all my HTC phones were great.

 

[popeutlal]

HTC has plans to make money, by firing thousands of it's employees http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/0...rkforce-hopes-to-lower-operating-costs-by-35/

 

[Jeff-DSA]

The M7 was a fantastic phone. My first one didn't have the purple hue issue with the camera, but the second one I got (after I dropped the first) did. That was infuriating and I can see how it made so many people upset. Before that, it was such a great phone though.

The G2 was my favorite Android phone of that wave too. Man, it was so perfect. I also had a G1.

It's a bummer that things went so far south for HTC. They made so many bad decisions that kept them from being able to compete with Samsung as top dog in the Android space. I think that they had it in them to put up a good fight, but they always made a poor decision or two that cut their own legs off.

 

[womp]

My M7 will be two years next month. It was fine for the first 8 months and I enjoyed it. Then the camera burned out, then went purple and now I can barely make the battery last more than 8 hours...and that is while at work on WiFi and in airplane mode. The power adapter fried after 9 months, and any micro USB I try to plug into it doesn't stay connected. I also don't play mobile games either. One of the worst phones I have ever used and as soon as I upgrade to the Note next month I am taking the M7 out front and taking a bat to it.

First and last piece of shit HTC phone I will ever own.

 

[Takuan]

My M7 will be two years next month. It was fine for the first 8 months and I enjoyed it. Then the camera burned out, then went purple and now I can barely make the battery last more than 8 hours...and that is while at work on WiFi and in airplane mode. The power adapter fried after 9 months, and any micro USB I try to plug into it doesn't stay connected. I also don't play mobile games either. One of the worst phones I have ever used and as soon as I upgrade to the Note next month I am taking the M7 out front and taking a bat to it.

First and last piece of shit HTC phone I will ever own.

My uncle in Taipei joked that the HTC One's name represented the number of years it would last before breaking down.

 

[NeOak]

My uncle in Taipei joked that the HTC One's name represented the number of years it would last before breaking down.

Sounds legit

 

[kharma45]

The M8 has a bad camera? I heard that it had one of the best, if not the best of the generation of phones that came out last year.

You headed wrong. Very wrong.

 

[ashecitism]

HTC dropped from main Taiwan stock index after share price fall

 

[RoadHazard]

So they're basically dead?

 

[EatinOlives]

Pretty surprising how fast they fell off the planet. Just a couple of years ago people were singing praises about their business acumen and how they were only going uphill.

 

[KevinRo]

I can't wait until the words 'premium' and 'innovation' are gone from the vocabulary of the 'tech-savvy', errgh, I mman those who claim they're tech literate. hahah

 

[ClosingADoor]

Pretty surprising how fast they fell off the planet. Just a couple of years ago people were singing praises about their business acumen and how they were only going uphill.

Smartphones are a risky business. Nokia, RIM, HTC. How the mighty have fallen over the past years.

 

[RevoDS]

So they're basically dead?

No. They're still being traded and operating as normal, but they're just not part of the 50 largest Taiwanese companies. This says nothing about whether they're dead or not, but it does say the company shrank quite a bit in the last few years.

 

[NobleGundam]

Samsung is leagues ahead compared to them.
And Samsung has a lot more customization for android. HTC felt so... generic.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Samsung is leagues ahead compared to them.
And Samsung has a lot more customization for android. HTC felt so... generic.

Software wise? Not a chance. touchWiz is useless.

 

[D4Danger]

Smartphones are a risky business. Nokia, RIM, HTC. How the mighty have fallen over the past years.

the "premium" phone is dying unless it has an Apple logo on.

HTC are the latest to fall but they won't the last. Samsung are probably big enough to survive and adapt but I don't like the look of Sony or LG in this space.

 

[1st Course]

Yeah.

 

[The Llama]

Yeah.

Yep, Apple products are basically in their own market right now.

 

[Epcott]

HTC Thinderbolt was one of the worst phones I ever bought. Half a year after its release, it wasn't even supportef by the latest Droid OS. Then it broke right before my upgrade. Not surprised by the news.

 

[Cyd0nia]

I have the M7 and I'm at the end of 2 years with it right now. TBH its one of the best phones I've ever owned, value wise. Never had battery trouble, I've always been able to do everything that I want on it, it looks and feels great. I never ran stock-rom though, I've always been on custom ones.

That said the M8 and M9 feel like incremental upgrades, they don't look like they'd feel like whole new phones. I feel like that might be part of their problem. Its what's putting me off anyway, I fancy trying something different.

The Samsung S6 Edge is just an S6 with a gimmick, and I don't like Samsung's software. I've got a feeling I'm going to get a Sony or LG next. I've never had an iPhone, I think they're far too expensive - but I'm considering the iPhone 6 for development reasons.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

cant say i feel sad about it, first HTC bought it unlocked and it broke so quickly. cant remember how much that HTC Diamond costed me but holy fuck the next two years were horrible financial wise as an university student.

my cousin changed from his iphone to those M8 and shit broke after six months, he went back to iphone

 

[Cipherr]

Had the first ever 4G phone from Verizon. The HTC Thunderbolt. The battery didn't last anything and eventually part of the screen died. It sure as heck didn't last like my other phones

The thunderbolt is legit one of the worst smartphones in existence. Its crazy how they were making money back then too. They were shitting out those phones and people were buying them up but they left such a bad taste in peoples mouths that they started losing share fast.

Never recovered. The thunderbolt is fucking legendary in terms of how shit the battery life was.

 

[Majine]

The M7 was beautiful. Best looking Android phone ever.

Then they just kinda rolled over on their back.

 

[Lamel]

HTC One M7 was an awesome phone. I dunno how they fucked it up so badly from there.

 

[Frankfurter]

"In June it said second-quarter revenues had halved from the same period last year, resulting in an operating loss of 5.1bn Taiwanese dollars ($155m; £102m)."


They are in huge trouble if that's their general trend (I assume it is).

 

[_illmatic_]

Sad to see them in this state. They made the FIRST android phone, and the first nexus device. Hopefully they get their shit together because the nexus one was truly ahead of it's time right along with the HTC EVO. Hell, the most knowledgeable forum on mobile devices started from HTC devices and is named after them.

 

[vg260]

Hm, I have an M7 and really like it, but didn't realize they'e so bad off now or that the M9 flopped. The M7 size is just about perfect for me and the sound is great, which is why I still haven't upgraded. Admittedly, I don't take a lot of pictures so the camera part doesn't bother me. All phones seem like huge monsters now. Where should I look for my next Android phone for something similar in size and quality to the M7? (not interested in iPhones)

 

[D23]

I owned HTC one m7. After 4 months the camera turns purple, returned and exchangr for another m7, purple tint came back again. And everything stopped working


HTC makes shitty phone

 

[mrklaw]

Yeah.

I don't get it though.

- If you accept that the Apple pricing is justified for the hardware you get, then flagship android devices with arguably better hardware should at least justify similar pricing. But high priced android smartphones get laughed at it seems.

- if you accept that android devices with similar hardware to apple should sell at $3-400, then why are people accepting Apple charging those prices? Why hasn't their margin collapsed?

Yes I realise this is a huge amount to do with marketing and brand value, but isn't that all just vacuous nonsense? Why is nobody going 'hang on, why are we paying $7-800 for these phones?'. Especially in the US which is supposedly such a price-sensitive market.

 

[Baron Doggystyle von Woof]

Always used HTC before switching to iOS. They have made some great phones!

 

[The Llama]

I don't get it though.

- If you accept that the Apple pricing is justified for the hardware you get, then flagship android devices with arguably better hardware should at least justify similar pricing. But high priced android smartphones get laughed at it seems.

- if you accept that android devices with similar hardware to apple should sell at $3-400, then why are people accepting Apple charging those prices? Why hasn't their margin collapsed?

Yes I realise this is a huge amount to do with marketing and brand value, but isn't that all just vacuous nonsense? Why is nobody going 'hang on, why are we paying $7-800 for these phones?'. Especially in the US which is supposedly such a price-sensitive market.

To most consumers, Apple aren't competing with Android phones. They've effectively created their own market.

 

[bishoptl]

Not surprised at all. My 2nd HTC phone blew up on me out of nowhere (8x) and I'm never, ever going back to anything HTC makes. I'll stick with my Nokia 920, the difference in build quality is amazing.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

What a fall.

 

[Cipherr]

Sad to see them in this state. They made the FIRST android phone, and the first nexus device. Hopefully they get their shit together because the nexus one was truly ahead of it's time right along with the HTC EVO. Hell, the most knowledgeable forum on mobile devices started from HTC devices and is named after them.

They are also majorly responsible for the idea that All Android phones are shit being planted in the markets mind at one point. An idea that the OS in general still has to fight against. For a two to three year period HTC was shitting out 2.X Android phones by the fucking dozen and not supporting them or even making sure they were good devices in general. They just flooded the market with phones; all named differently depending on carrier, with shitty to no ad campaigns.

It was awful. Its hard to say they don't deserve this. The only reason I feel even a little bad for them is because in the last 3 years they managed to design some of the best looking phones on the market. But besides that, they deserve all of this.

 

[RoadHazard]

Samsung is leagues ahead compared to them.
And Samsung has a lot more customization for android. HTC felt so... generic.

"Generic" is a good thing when it comes to Android. Maybe it wasn't back in its early, ugly days, but now (and really since 4.0 IMO) nothing beats stock Android. Samsung's hideous mess of a skin (TW) is just trash.

 

[darkwing]

"In June it said second-quarter revenues had halved from the same period last year, resulting in an operating loss of 5.1bn Taiwanese dollars ($155m; £102m)."


They are in huge trouble if that's their general trend (I assume it is).

Yikes, and they have no other business to lean on, unlike Sony

 

[BoboBrazil]

Yeah.

This is flawed since there are hundreds of Android smartphones out there, many in a budget range bringing down the average.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Yikes, and they have no other business to lean on, unlike Sony

hopefully it's not to late for them to diversify that portfolio. it's dangerous to grow that large and remain a one-trick pony.

 

[1st Course]

This is flawed since there are hundreds of Android smartphones out there, many in a budget range bringing down the average.

That's exactly what the chart is illustrating. Android users are moving to low/mid range offerings, high-end Android phones don't sell as they used to.