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Samsung's $700 Smart Monitor M8 is now available to pre-order
You can control smart home devices using the 32-inch 4K display.
Lenovo's fall lineup includes an all-in-one inspired by a tree
Lenovo has unveiled its latest product lineup ahead of consumer electronics show IFA, and there's a lot going on. The range, which includes laptops, monitors, tablets and an all-in-one desktop, has been designed for mainstream shoppers with reasonable budgets looking for decent tech this holiday season, with everything touting smart, adaptive features and an accessible price tag.
Apple's iPod touch gets the same chip as the iPhone 6 (update: tests)
The iPod may not be Apple's golden goose anymore, hell, it's not even an option on the company's site anymore, but that doesn't mean that the firm is ignoring it. The company is giving the iPods a seasonal refresh with the junior devices getting some new colors and the iPod touch getting more of the features we're used to seeing on the iPhone. Whereas the existing touch came with just a 5-megapixel camera, the new version gets an 8-megapixel shooter with burst and slo-mo -- just as you'd find on the iPad Air 2. Internals-wise, the new iPod comes with the 64-bit A8 CPU that you find in the iPhone 6, paired with the M8 motion co-processor that'll please the fitness enthusiast in your life.
HTC brings the One M9's software tricks to its older devices
Chances are you haven't even gotten your HTC One M9 yet, but that doesn't mean you can't get a feel for its new bits. HTC just updated its Blinkfeed app with some of the thoughtful software tricks that shipped on its brand new flagship, and gave it a new name for good measure. Say hello to HTC Sense Home.
HTC One M9 to go on sale for $649 unlocked tonight
Never mind that M9+ thing in China. Back in the US, it's all about the M9 for local HTC fans, as the device is about to hit the official online store at midnight ET for $649 unlocked (it'll have the same bands as the AT&T model). This may not mean much for folks who are used to subsidized phones, but if you compare this contract-free price with those from other regions, it's actually rather attractive -- even when you include tax. In Hong Kong, you're looking at around $770. Not to mention that US buyers also get to enjoy HTC's "Uh Oh Protection" program, which replaces your device -- be it faulty or simply because you want to change networks -- one time for free within a year, and you get $100 credit towards your next HTC phone if you end up not requiring this service.
HTC One M8 'Eye' appears in China with 13-megapixel camera
Love the HTC One M8, but aren't quite sold on the company's dedication to UltraPixel technology? Good news -- HTC redesigned the M8 just for you! Bad news? It's only available in asian markets. If you're looking for differences, there aren't many: the M8 Eye appears to be the standard model in every respect save for the fact that the 4MP UltraPixel shooter has been replaced by a plain-jane 13 megapixel camera. Think of it as a metallic, not-so-waterproof Butterfly 2. The new M8 will ship with the same "Eye Experience" software as the HTC Desire Eye the company announced earlier this week, which also sports a 13MP camera in lieu of Ultrapixels. Don't worry though, HTC assured us it isn't abandoning UltraPixel technology -- it just wants to offer customers multiple options.
Apple unveils new M8 motion co-processor for the iPhone 6
Apple today introduced its new iPhone 6, updating the hardware across the board. One small improvement is a new M8 motion co-processor that build upon the introductory M7 that debuted with the iPhone 5s. Similar to the M7, the new M8 is an integrated motion coprocessor that is designed for fitness apps. It's more than a step tracker, the new M8 can distinguish between sports such as cycling and running. It also can calculate distance and elevation using an onboard barometer to measure air pressure changes. Third-party app integration also will be available with Nike already confirming it will updates its Nike+ app to support these advanced capabilities. The new M8 will debut in the iPhone 6.
Apple unveils the 4.7-inch iPhone 6
You were expecting it, and here it is: Apple has unveiled the smaller of its two new super-sized smartphones, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6. As the leaks suggested, it centers around a larger (by 0.7 inch) 1,334 x 750 Retina HD display in a body that is decidedly slimmer and curvier than its already svelte 5s predecessor, at 6.9mm thick. It's not all about looks, though. The new handset is also running a beefier A8 chip that's claimed to be about 25 percent faster than the A7 you saw the last time around, even as it's up to 50 percent more efficient -- Apple estimates up to 14 hours of talk time, 11 hours of video and 10 days of standby.
HTC's plasticky One E8 lands in the US courtesy of Sprint
Jonesing for a taste of the HTC One M8 lifestyle but don't have the cash to make it happen? Never fear -- Sprint has just started offering the fantastic-in-plastic HTC One E8 to customers who want M8 horsepower without the matching price tag. No, really: in case you've forgotten, the E8 features the exact same screen, BoomSound speakers, processor and RAM as its slightly upmarket brother. The only real difference is that the E8 only comes with 16GB of internal storage (which is mitigated pretty nicely by its microSD card slot) and the fact that HTC ditched the Duo camera setup in favor of a more traditional 13-megapixel sensor 'round the back. In the event that your gear acquisition syndrome just started flaring up, you can lay claim to your very own E8 (in either white or gray) for $400 outright, $0 down and $20.84/month for 2 years with Sprint's Easy Pay option, or $99 with a standard 2 year contract.
IRL: Taking HTC's One M8 for a test drive
The original HTC One was one of my favorite smartphones from 2013, but it was easy to see why you'd pass it up in favor of an archrival like Samsung's Galaxy S4 -- it just didn't have the battery life, camera quality or expansion to keep up. Fast-forward to 2014 and it's a different story. Most of those headache-inducing flaws have been fixed in the new One; indeed, my colleague Brad Molen suggested it was an all-around better device. But is that enough to avoid a twinge of buyer's remorse, especially with the Galaxy S5 and Sony's Xperia Z2 upping the ante? I spent a few weeks with the new One to find out whether I'd still be pining for features from those other devices.
HTC said the new One would help swing a profit, and it did
Though HTC lost money last quarter, it had just launched its One M8 flagship to great reviews, and promised the new handset would put a halt to the red ink. The (unaudited) numbers are now in and back up that boast. The company scored a NT$2.8 billion profit ($92 million) on NT$65 billion ($2.2 billion) in revenue, nearly matching sales from last year and turning around a streak of losses. That's a far cry from the Samsungs of the world, but still a shot of good news for the beleaguered company. To cash in on the new One's success, HTC recently launched a plastic-bodied version called the One M8 Ace and a cut-down One Mini. Whether those will help it keep up the momentum next quarter remains to be seen -- it often gets the post-flagship blues.
Here's what our readers are saying about the new HTC One
The HTC One (M8) has been a hit with critics: Our own Brad Molen calls it "a great smartphone that does a lot of fantastic things," while Laptop Magazine goes so far as to say it's "the best Android phone on the market." But now that the M8 has hit all four major carriers in the US and has had a chance to stretch its legs out in the wild, how has it fared in long-term, day-to-day usage? To find out, we turn to user reviews, written by erudite Engadget readers like yourself, and they certainly haven't held anything back.
IRL: A few weeks with HTC's One M8 Harman Kardon Edition
When HTC CEO Peter Chou first confirmed the existence of the Harman Kardon edition One M8 at a small press event in New York City, I leaned over to a reporter friend sitting next to me and mouthed a few choice expletives. Wasn't this Sprint event supposed to be about Spotify? And HD Voice? Where the hell was this coming from? After a few weeks of using the thing, I'm still not entirely sure why this needs to exist... but I'm sort of glad it does.
Here's what the new HTC One might have looked like
The new HTC One may seem like a logical evolution of the original design, but that wasn't guaranteed -- just the opposite, according to company Creative Director Daniel Hundt. He tells Stuff in an interview that the original guideline was to "start with a chunk of metal" and go from there. As proof, the designer has early design sketches of the many concepts CEO Peter Chou told us about earlier, showing everything from a near-flat One body to a super-curvy front and back. Hardware should look like it's the "natural result" of its material, Hundt says, and shouldn't be guided primarily by specs like the battery size.
HTC's flagship phone is getting audio help from Harman Kardon
Well, can't say we saw this one coming -- rather than dig into the complexities of an HD Voice rollout, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse confirmed that the carrier, HTC and the folks at Harman/Kardon have created a special Harman Kardon version of the HTC One M8. Why? Apparently because the way most other smartphones play music leaves much to be desired. No one has waved around one of these things yet, but that's OK. All of the magic happens in software anyway (although it has "champagne" trim and a darker back to let everyone know how much more premium it is). The star of the show is a software feature called Clari-fi -- while it's easy to look at it as the successor to Beats Audio, it sounds a lot more substantial than a glorified audio profile. To hear Harmon Kardon tell it, Clari-fi leans heavily on algorithms that analyze music and aim to restore the complexity of sound lost in the production process. The tweaked M8 can also play 24-bit, 192kHz lossless .FLAC files -- that probably won't mean much unless you're a dyed-in-the-wool audio buff, but it'll sound good enough to make you rethink the CD archive taking up space in the garage. At this point, it's anyone's guess as to how good the end result actually sounds, but you won't have to wait long to find out. The special edition M8 will hit Sprint stores (with a pair of Harman Kardon headphones in the box) for $229 with a contract on May 9.
Plastic HTC 'M8 Ace' aims at Galaxy S5 with same specs, lower price
HTC may have poked fun at its competitors' plastic flagship devices in recent past, but it looks like the Taiwanese company will again be offering one soon. And no, we're not talking about the Butterfly line here. According to a reliable source of ours, HTC's upcoming "M8 Ace" -- which was teased by @evleaks earlier this month (as pictured above) -- will actually feature a plastic unibody instead of aluminum. Additionally, the M8 Ace will apparently pack almost identical specs as the Galaxy S5, including a 5-inch 1080p display plus a 2.5GHz, quad-core Snapdragon 801 SoC. But here's the twist: HTC's phone will be much more affordable, which could pose a huge threat to Samsung if true.
HTC hires marketing exec who led Samsung to smartphone dominance
It's no secret, HTC has an image problem. Despite consistently creating some of our favorite phones, it's failed to reach the heights of popularity of manufacturers like Samsung. That could soon change. In what is almost certainly not a coincidence, HTC has hired Samsung's former Chief Marketing Officer, Paul Golden. The Verge confirmed the rumor, first picked up by Bloomberg, earlier this afternoon. Golden, who "created and launched the highly successful Galaxy brand for Samsung," according to his LinkedIn profile, was reportedly hired on as a consultant to Chairwoman Cher Wang.
Feedback Loop: Best Android phone, cameras in tablets, finding good deals and more!
Welcome to Feedback Loop, a weekly roundup of the most interesting discussions happening within the Engadget community. There's so much technology to talk about and so little time to enjoy it, but you have a lot of great ideas and opinions that need to be shared! Join us every Saturday as we highlight some of the most interesting discussions that happened during the past week. Happy Saturday! Did you survive April Fools' Day? We did and are here to bring you another edition of Feedback Loop. This week, we debated the merits of the Samsung Galaxy S5 versus the new HTC One, asked if cameras in tablets are a good idea, talked about how to find the best gadget deals online, sought advice on the best everyday cameras and wondered what's up with these crazy luxury feature phones. Head on past the break and join the conversation in the Engadget forums.
HTC's collaboration with Fitbit isn't the end of activity trackers... yet
When HTC developed the new HTC One (M8) it knew it had a dilemma. If it played it safe, and did a general all-round specification bump, it risked underwhelming the public. Conversely, by over-cooking things, and innovating for innovation's sake, it could saddle the phone with software gimmicks and unnecessary hardware additions. It ultimately attempted to land on that thin strip of middle ground. We've already covered the return of the Ultrapixel, that new duo camera, and the latest version of Sense in our review. Potentially, though, it's the low-profile "Smart Sensor hub" that might prove to be the dark horse -- not just for HTC, but for Android, and smartphones as a whole. The new Smart Sensors are what enable the LG-like tap-to-unlock feature, and all those other fancy wake gestures (covered in the review) while the phone is in standby. The cool part being that HTC has given developers access to these sensors for their own projects. Fitbit was the first app to make deliberate use of it, but who will it benefit in the long run?
Benchmarking the new HTC One: less cheating, better performance
There are actually two "Ones" that launched this week. The star attraction is undoubtedly the HTC One, but let's not forget the brand-new Snapdragon 801 running under its hood: a cutting-edge processor that will also power the Sony Xperia Z2 and the Samsung Galaxy S5, but which happens to have reached the market first in HTC's flagship phone. This chip represents a significant upgrade over the Snapdragon 600 in the old One, promising a hat trick of better all-round performance, more fluid gaming and longer battery life, and these are precisely the claims we're about to explore using a combo of benchmarking apps and real-world tests. At the same time, HTC has suddenly decided to come clean on the issue of benchmark cheating, which makes it a bit easier for us to trust what the numbers are telling us.
