Late last week more rumors surfaced on the topic of a vanilla version of the Android flagship phone; the HTC One. This article’s source from Geek.com was also responsible for rumors about the vanilla version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 before its official announcement at this year’s Google I/O is now claiming that multiple sources within HTC’s army have confirmed the reality of a “senseless” HTC One. Initially, a tweet from moderator HTC’s private online club, elevate, sparked a flurry of articles across the web about the possibility of a vanilla HTC One. That storm rushed in and out quickly as the original tweeter and others at HTC made their own comments that HTC was not about to abandon the seasoned user interface called HTC Sense.
HTC Sense was born when Google’s mobile operating system started gaining popularity. The downside to the OS was that it wasn’t very attractive although the possibilities seemed endless, Google was leaving the design up to the community and simply providing the foundation with which to work with. HTC responded creating a custom user experience that outclassed any other Android phone on the market and trumped anything Google released until they stepped up their game with an overhauled user interface in Android 4.0. Android’s new look created friction between manufacturers who were all fighting for a chance to develop the next big Nexus device and reel in the sales from all of those looking to own a pure Android handset. Plus there’s the customer expectation of being the first to receive the newest versions of Android. Many claim the manufacturer is meddling with the performance of Android by bloating a phone with a proprietary user interface.
Currently there are several versions of the HTC One available on HTC’s website or from carriers across the globe. Some are locked with the average consumer in mind and a developer model with an unlocked bootloader is available in the United States. For those that do not like HTC Sense, the locked HTC One can easily be unlocked by following the instructions in the HTCDev portal, find a ROM by developers in the Android community that looks like a better fit for the user’s needs and flash away. Keep in mind that some key features, like HTC Zoe, HTC ImageSense, HTC MediaLink HD interaction HTC TV, IR transmitter, might be lost unless a developer has had success getting HTC’s hardware and specific software to work outside of the Sense-iverse.
If this round of rumors hold true, we could hear news of a vanilla faced HTC One in as early as a couple of weeks, but there is still an uncertainty on where customers are going to purchase this un-custom handset and how much built-in storage will be on hand.
Who out there has passed on the HTC One, because of HTC Sense? Would a vanilla version of the HTC One be the combination you’ve been waiting for?
Source: Geek
I think my next move will be to a Nexus4/5.
Much cheaper SIM free than the One, which I’d have in a heart beat if it wasnt £550!
“cheaper” .. That’s the keyword here, like every other Android device pretty much before the one were all cheap and tacky plastic. The S4 will set you back more than the One and that’s an awful phone, aesthetically and the Nexus is cheap for a reason … The technology inside modern phones is cheap to manufacture and slap that in a plastic body and you have a cheap phone whereas nothing about the One is cheap, saying that, I hate Sense and would like to do away with it altogether but then that’s what third party launchers are for lol
Most modern handsets are less than £80/$120USD in parts. Not sure where the One come in, but I cant see much more than that if at all.
Most of the electronics are less than $20USD IIRC from a recent article I read on the manufacturing cost of an iphone 5.