HTC further responds to video driver issue, will improve future products
By Ryan Block 
posted January 25th 2008 6:53PM
posted January 25th 2008 6:53PM
It's pretty clear HTC customers and Engadget readers both are none too impressed with the manufacturer's decision to omit the drivers necessary to enable hardware video acceleration on a number of their Qualcomm MSM 7xxx-based devices. We heard a little bit from HTC on the topic earlier this week, but we wanted to know more specifically: do they plan to meet consumers' requests and release drivers for these devices? (And if not, why?) Finally, what's going to be done about this video acceleration driver issue in the future? Here's the response we got to these questions (and the reader poll we posted):"HTC does plan to offer software upgrades that will increase feature functionality, over the air wireless speeds, and other enhancements for some of the phones being criticized, but we do not anticipate including any additional support for the video issues cited in customer complaints. It is important for customers to understand that bringing this functionality to market is not a trivial driver update and requires extensive software development and time.
HTC will utilize hardware video acceleration like the ATI Imageon in many upcoming products. Our users have made it clear that they expect our products to offer an improved visual experience, and we have included this feedback into planning and development of future products."
More after the break.
...continued
"To address lingering questions about HTC's current MSM 7xxx devices, it is important to establish that a chipset like an MSM7xxx is a platform with a vast multitude of features that enable a wide range of devices with varied functionality. It is common that devices built on platforms like Qualcomm's will not enable every feature or function.
In addition to making sure the required hardware is present, unlocking extended capabilities of chipsets like the MSM 7xxx requires in-depth and time consuming software development, complicated licensing negotiations, potential intellectual property negotiations, added licensing fees, and in the case of devices that are sold through operators, the desire of the operator to include the additional functionality. To make an informed decision about which handset suits them best, consumers should look at the product specification itself instead of using the underlying chipset specifications to define what the product could potentially become."
Well, sounds like that's that. Users shouldn't expect drivers for current devices, but HTC apparently intends to beef up hardware video acceleration in some (but not necessarily all) future Qualcomm based devices.
Nice going, HTC. I guess you don't care that by the time most of us are ready to upgrade our phones in a couple of years, you won't be the only game in town offering this type of device. I personally will never buy another product from you again. And I have already dissuaded a few friends and relatives from considering your devices, and will continue to do so to anybody who will listen to me.
Happy now?
just canceled 200 order from Att for the 8925 aka tilt. Just a start, they want to insult their customers, then we will vote with our money.
Please tell me you let them know exactly why you cancelled that phone order.
This sounds like buying a computer with a dual core CPU and finding out that one of the cores is disabled.
I guess you don't remember the 80486SX / 80486DX....
The SX chip had the mathco disabled, but a simple "pencil hack" restored it, and "turned it into" the DX chip.
I guess you don't remember the 80486SX / 80486DX....
The SX chip had the mathco disabled, but a simple "pencil hack" restored it, and "turned it into" the DX chip.
Seems like the goobers over at HTC are only hearing... "our TYTN IIs are nothing like an iphone", when in actuality all we really want is the damn thing to respond at least a little faster than the previous model, after all thats why you upgrade right?!?!?!
HTC - I dont care about playing 3D games, just make the UI respond a little faster than my granny after a glass of wine!
Just...Incredible...Never thought I'd e reading this words... They would do better if they'd stayed quiet!
"HTC will utilize hardware video acceleration like the ATI Imageon in many upcoming products. Our users have made it clear that they expect our products to offer an improved visual experience, and we have included this feedback into planning and development of future products."
And this part is just... GOLD... I seriously hope that this damage their reputation and soil the company...
Had the Magician 128 and now the Tytan II. If nothing is done, I'll NEVER buy an HTC product. EVER.
I am probably what you would call an HTC fanboy and what Seth Godin would call a "sneezer" (at least 3 people I know have purchased the Touch because of my first impressions of the device). I am now on the third generation of HTC devices myself (HTC Apache, HTC Mogul, HTC Touch) and quite frankly this dissapoints me a lot as a loyal customer. I've been holding my breath for the HTC Omni but now I just don't know anymore...
I just read the Qualcomm/HTC press release, and it moved me from "gee, I see both sides of this debate" to "wow, is that a smoking gun for a class action lawsuit". Everything a semi-decent attorney would need to hang these guys out to dry in court is right there for the world to see.
Time for HTC to quit stalling with words as a response to this matter and step up to fix this issue. Making a phone call itself is a haphazard process based on the slow screen rendering on the Touch.
Thanks for listening. I'm off to eBay to list this dud.
If I bought a computer with a 8800gt, and the computer promised an awesome video experience, I would expect it to perform to the known specification of the hardware.
This isn't illegal, but it sure smells like shit.
wont do me any good, ill never buy HTC again after they took 90 days to replace my motherboard
Ok, fine, in a few months they will release these "future products", someone will buy one and extract the drivers from the ROM. Then they will be posted to one of those developer sites, you know the one I mean. Then we will be able to d/l them and then there you go.
Until then, let's just sit around an be pissed off. Maybe HTC will feel the love and give us the best drivers their products could support.
I wonder if this is another stunt HTC is pulling like with the (forgot which phone) that had a GPS chip but needed software to enable it. HTC decided to keep it a secrete until sometime after the phone was released.
Or maybe HTC will sell a phone say $100 more but has "super fast video bla bla", and it's the very same phone except with the vid driver.
Maybe if I buy a Honda Fit it'll turn into a Civic SI....
It was the HTC P3600, which required the latest firmware to enable GPS.
Ahh...thanks for reminding me.
HTC = Hating the Consumer
Everyone seems to be missing this press release though...
Since they didn't have to spend any time or money developing that expensive driver support, they were able to increase profit by more than 14%. In their own words...
"The revenues of 4th quarter was better than expected due to sales through momentum from new product launch in the 4th quarter."
That's 330 million in Q4 Net profit. How much do those drivers cost anyway?
Thought of upgrading my good old Magician to Cruise for the built-in GPS and 3G, guess it won't happen now as apparently Cruise is slower then 3 yr-old magician in terms of video.
Unfortunately the Magician IS faster than the current models. Just watch this video if you don't believe. Also, if you don't know what the big deal is you should watch this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJWAu6IRe4
This is B.S. and they know it. Its like you buy a new HUMMER H3 and it says 4 wheel drive. Then you take it home and you realise the 4 wheel drive button does nothing. You go back to the dealer and they say.. "We are sorry but its only 2wheel drive. But next years model will be 4 wheel drive. Why? We cut production cost." Total BS. I am never going to buy HTC. Ebay.. here i come. Hope fully some sucker out ther buys my TilT 2.
B.S. And they know it. They sold us a phone without drivers period. What BS. I will never bu HTC adn will tell EVERYONE this fiasco. Unbelievable.
There is a better solution. DONT BUY HTC!!!!!!!!!! SPREAD THE WORD!!!!!!!!!!!
If you play enslave or Podz you can see that its better off in an older model of HTC like O2 mini
and runs (very very)sluggish on the HTC Kaiser at such low framerates I forget Iv a new device
if they promised better multimedia and Gaming experience.Im assuming they mean better gaming experience than their previous phone models
I say my Gaming experience sux.and I think if the drivers were present it could improve it
Way to go HTC. I bought an S730 a couple months ago and if they fail to fix this driver issue, I'll never buy an HTC phone ever again.
Boy do I feel stupid for spending 500 bucks on a broke phone.
Don't worry HTC, it WONT happen again.
Sending EVERY person I see with ANYTHING from HTC to RETURN ALL PRODUCTS FROM HTC.
Emailing everyone I know, with a CC to HTC, telling them to RETURN HTC PRODUCTS, and to tell everyone else they know to RETURN HTC PRODUCTS.
I hate companies that pull this shit - make the driver - or did Microsoft put a gun to your heads?
I was about to purchase an unlocked Tilt so I could use with T-Mobile. After hearing about this issue, for sure I am not going to touch the Tilt and I might not buy anything from HTC in the future. E-ten and i-mate might get my business if I ever decide to switch back to WM from S60.
I honestly think most HTC phones are over-rated in terms of their capabilities.
The Touch, which has the same exact performance as the Dopod 818, but is a hell of a lot more expensive just because it's new. Maybe the casing is nicer but who gives a flying F about Touch-Flo. It's stupid! WM is already bloated with sh*t, now it's got Auntie Flow! Plus, for the amount I paid it should have at least came with something other then the Omap processor and a decent amount of storage. 64x128 just doesn't cut it.
I would not recomend anyone buy a WM phone right now since MS is probably working on somehting to compete with the iPHone and HTC, just like Dell did with the Axim X51V will not offer upgrades to the latest version of WM. Oh wait, Axim was made by HTC with a Dell sticker on it.
go figure.
Very disappointed in HTC. I'm a Sprint Touch customer (previously Sprint Mogul, but that phone had more problems than just drivers.) I'm hoping someone makes this right, it's not cool that hardware drivers weren't provided. I'll be looking at other manufacturers when it's time for me to upgrade again.
Sad, HTC basically just gave all of its existing customers the big F-U! I see they are now trying to destroy their Smartphone devision after they started producing Palm devices again...
Well, I hope HTC Classaction gets on the warpath, Just to spite their arrogant asses...
With the touch like phone launching on verizon shortly, I say we start a campaign to severely cripple the sales of said phone...maybe if verizon feels the pinch we may see the updated drivers.
How do we convince them we expect Bluetooth to work well in their next phone? How do we convice them we don't want AGPS but real GPS e.g. SIRF III gps units in our next phones?
So apparently the Tilt wasn't a good idea for me. I like it, sure, but eventually I wanna run some graphics-intensive stuff on it. Now it seems I can't do that.
Is there not a 3rd party that could develop some drivers? I know it'd take a hell of a long time to do (especially for non-professionals) but at least it'd be SOMETHING.
Until this news, I just figured it was WM6 at fault: jumpy scrolling, slow and unresponsive behavior, terrible screen redraw (not just during video playback, but ALWAYS, in every app.) I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought this. This reflects poorly on Microsoft and Windows Mobile, even though they're not actually at fault. Perhaps MS needs to exert some pressure on HTC, since HTC is the predominant hardware developer of WM devices.
Un-fucking-believable.
I was THIS >---< close to getting a Kaiser in two months' time when my current T-Mobile contract is up. I was going to enjoy consolidating my HTC Alpine's GPS functionality and my HTC Hermes' phone and data functionality into one handset, and the physical design and featureset was just totally uber.
Now I'm not going to buy a Kaiser, and I'll stick with my HTC Hermes until it finally stops working. Good job there HTC, you just lost £500 from someone who was less than 50 days from getting your latest handset. Your marketing team needs a kick up the arse, and you need to stop fitting chipsets which CAN offer the functionality yet, inexplicably, don't.
This is not a new problem, my 17 month old Hermes has the same problem - but yet somehow, when I trialed a box-fresh Kaiser versus my heavily-customised and app-laden Hermes in the T-Mobile shop, even something that should be hardware-accelerated and smooth as silk (streaming News 24 over the 3G connection, in this case) was faster, smoother and quicker to load on my Hermes than on the brand new Kaiser.
Epic fail.
I think I might actually get an older handset, at least I can be sure they'll offer the functionality you expect them to have.
I hope they burn in hell and as soon as possible. We don't need anymore corrupt people breathing in our well deserved oxygen.
HTC are killing themselves with this issue. They better get their arses in gear and sort this problem out quick. No consumer will trust them if they don't, let alone buy their products. When that happens, your finished.
HTC are killing themselves with this issue. They better get their arses in gear and sort this problem out quick. No consumer will trust them if they don't, let alone buy their products. When that happens, your finished.
I find it insulting that they are telling people to not look at the underlying hardware.
I bought this phone so I wouldn't have to buy teh IPhone and I wanted 3G! The extreme lack of graphic acceleration is horrible and forced users to go digging to see how it works! Honestly, I don't want to go do some crazy 3D games, but I'd like to play a movie or scroll without it lagging!
Got an advantage. Last phone i have from HTC - just mailed them to let them know the score - voting with my feet.
Basically HTC is saying that even though they screwed up, they are not willing to pay for it. HTC thinks that whatever losses they will get due to bad publicity will be offset by the people replacing their shitty phones. The only way to pressure HTC into actually fixing this is to make them realize they will lose more money if they don't fix this issue. Here is what I propose:
Everyone who has had a bad experience with one of the affected HTC units should go on Amazon, NewEgg, BestBuy and all the other websites that sell them and provide a rating HTC and their crappy phones deserve. Firstly, it will directly decrease HTC sales. Secondly, it will generate media buzz similar to the one caused by Fox's Mass Effect blunder, thus further decreasing HTC sales.
HTC said that "... unlocking extended capabilities of chipsets like the MSM 7xxx REQUIRES IN-DEPTH AND TIME CONSUMING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ..."
That is contrary to Qualcomms MSM7xxx chipset solution presentations, where they offered fully tested Windows Mobile board support packages, tested implementations of the OEM Adaption Layer, boot code and device drivers for all on-chip peripherals, ... [and] HARDWARE ACCELERATED DIRECTDRAW, DIRECT3D and Position Location DRIVERS.
How does HTC respond to this fact?
I can't believe they've got the guts to do something as outrageous as this.
I can't wait for Android now. Seriously. We might actually get stuff that way.
Complex software development, sure. I can buy that. That they're not getting at it immediately is unforgiveable.
HTC can go **** itself from here on.
By the way, is anyone else having trouble with bluetooth on their AT&T Tilt? I have a Motorola headset installed, and it works fine (most of the time) on outgoing calls, but if i'm wearing the headset and get an incoming call i have to turn the headset off and back on for it to work with the call. kind of defeats the purpose of wearing the headset on long car drives when i'm fumbling around with both hands to take the headset off, close the boom mic, reopen the mic, and put it back on my ear.
Whether or not HTC are using specific features of the chipset is not really the issue. The point is that the performance of their new, flagship devices is worse than people have experienced from 3 year old devices from HTC and other manufacturers. This is what I consider to be inexcusable if the hardware is actually capable.
Guys forget HTC. They can shove the video driver issue up their arse. Look at Nuvifone! Just 3 months aways!!!
http://www8.garmin.com/nuvifone/
http://www.kansascity.com/news.../468383.html
http://www.slashgear.com/garmi...s-309996.php
http://www.phonemag.com/garmin...ne-01582.php
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/ar...remiere.html
http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...in-nuvifone/
Andrew says
Hasn't this same thing been going on for years?
I bought my laptop with a 1.6GHz processor, but it was actually created as a stock 1.8GHz and clocked down to save on production costs.
Andrew, of course they do that but they don't sell it like an 1.8 GHz CPU right!!! And you know that you are buyng 1.6 GHz CPU. That makes all differenens.
I know that when i'm buyng my new BMW (yes it says that it can goes only with 250 km/h) but it goes with the tyres that can support that velocity. And that don't have to be mentioned because you know that when your BMW can goes with the 250 it should have tyres tough enough to drive it safely. The HTC situation is that you buy a BMW limited to 250 km/h but the tyres only support 190 km/h Do you realize the difference. And when you ask them why they might told you "Well this is a luxury car it is not a race car. Besides it is not leagal to drive it with more then 190." It might be true but you will be still unhappy because even if you would never drive your BMW with more than 190 you will want it to support the 250 as you assume buying it. And you know why? BECAUSE YOU'VE PAID FOR THE FEATURE!!!