Anyone looking forward to the new HTC Desire HD or Desire Z will be happy to hear that htcsense.com is now online. The site’s been password protected for the past few weeks, but it looks like HTC is gearing up for business since their two new Android phones should be hitting the streets any day now. Htcsense.com is simply a new tool to help you manage your phone from your computer rather than having to do everything from your handset. Users will be able to do sort through and edit their contacts, manage and send sms and picture messages, and even customize their handset’s look in feel directly through the website.
Dashboard
The main dashboard on htcsense.com is really all about security and peace of mind. If you happen to leave your handset at home or at a friend’s house, you’ll be able to forward your calls or messages to another phone number with a few simple clicks. There are also features to remotely lock and erase your handset.
Footprints
I have never been real big fans of HTC’s Footprints app. The Android Market has quite a few apps that offer similar features, but now that Footprints is integrated into htcsense.com things might get a bit more interesting. I could definitely see Footprints as a great vacation planner. Simple use the website to mark all the spots you plan on visiting and you’re set to go. You can add pictures and note to your location so that all the information you’ll need is all in one spot.
People
The People tab on htcsense.com should allow users to manage their contacts. Since my EVO with the custom Desire HD Rom doesn’t want to sync up with the website yet, things are a bit scarce. Until I can get my contact list to sync up, it’s hard to tell if this contact manager will be more useful than editing contact information through Gmail.
Messaging
Have you ever deleted a text message that you shouldn’t have or struggled to find a text that had some important information you needed? The messaging center allows you to quickly sort through all the text messages you have ever received on your phone (even if you deleted them). To make things even easier, HTC has added search functionality. You can even send individual or group messages to everyone in your contacts list directly through the website
HTC Hub
While HTC Sense has always given user the ability to customize their handsets, htcsense.com is taking things to a whole new level. Think of HTC Hub as the ultimate customization took for your HTC Sense phone. From here, you will be able to browse through and download apps, scenes, wallpapers, skins, and sounds for your handset.
One of the new highlights of the newest version of HTC Sense is the ability to download customized skins for the UI. If any of you have seen the myTouch Slide, you know what I’m talking about. The new skins allow you to completely change the look of the widgets, notification bar, and app launcher. The new HTC Sense comes with a handful of scenes already installed, but through the HTC Hub you will be able to browse through and download additional skins.
For now, the selection of content in the HTC Hub is pretty limited, but we’d expect HTC to beef up their catalog once the HTC Desire HD and Desire Z finally go on sale. With the new htcsense.com website, HTC is continuing to deliver on their promise to allow users to “make it mine.” The site isn’t anything revolutionary, but it does add to a more complete experience with HTC Sense.
Source: htcsense.com
Will this be rolled out to the original Desire? It looks like a good worth-while service: well done HTC
Looking forward to when I can log in with my HTC EVO w/Sprint. When can we see this happening?