Just because things have been quiet around here doesn’t mean things have been quiet in the world of HTC. We’ll start with rumors about the HTC Thunderbolt for Verizon. As you may already know, Verizon is expected to unveil the HTC Thunderbolt next week at CES in Las Vegas. While we still don’t have official confirmation from HTC or Verizon, HTC continues to tease us with splash pages on their site which hint to a new 4G device. If that wasn’t enough, new leaked renderings of the HTC Thunderbolt have surfaced to give us another complete look at HTC first 4G handset for Verizon’s LTE network.
We’re still not sure when Sprint plans on launching the Sprint HTC EVO Shift 4G, but all evidence seems to indicate that Sprint will be unveiling their new G2 clone at CES as well. There are new rumors circulating that the HTC EVO Shift 4G may launch as early as January 9th for $150. Since the Shift is another 4G phone, be prepared to shell out an additional $10 to enjoy Sprint’s “1st class” handset experience.
Anyone still holding on to their previous HTC HD2 should be excited to hear that a new hacked ROM now allows users to install Android on the internal NAND memory rather than the SD card. Unlike most the other hacked Android ROMs for Windows Mobile handsets, this new ROM is installed via RUU and appears to completely replace your WM build. If you were hoping for stock Android, you might need to wait a bit longer as this current build is based on the HTC Sense ROM from the HTC Desire. If you’re been itching to get some true Android action on your year-old HTC HD2, this may finally be what you’ve been waiting for.
Though most of this news is pretty exciting, none of it compares to this last bit. The US Patent Office has just revealed a US filing from HTC to trademark the name “HTC Scribe.” In the trademark application, the HTC Scribe is detailed as a “handheld wireless device, namely, a tablet computer. Rumors of an Android powered HTC tablet have been floating around for some time, but this is the first piece of real evidence to actually come to life. Since Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) is not expected to officially launch until after CES, we wouldn’t expect HTC to announce the HTC Scribe until Mobile World Congress in February or even CTIA in late March.
2010 was a pretty great year for HTC, but it looks like 2011 will turn out even better.
