Yahoo tweeted today:

77% of searches? That’s a pretty big percentage.

ZDNet says, “HTC has pulled out all the stops with the One, which looks great, performs well and includes some clever features. The lack of storage expansion and the persistence of BlinkFeed are irritations, but overall the HTC One stands up well against rival flagship handsets.”

The Salt Lake Tribune says it’s “slightly better” than the Samsung Galaxy S4.

IBN says it’s “beautiful to look at,” and “powerful to play”.

Here are a few official videos from HTC showing off the device:

HTC recently released a video featuring the hardware designers of the HTC One talking about the creative process of making an all-metal body for a smartphone. As you might expect, CNC and diamond cutters were involved to create the smooth edges found on the device. The most interesting part, however, was how the designers cut space on the inside to lay circuitry so that there would be no moving parts.

It’s stuff like this that makes the HTC One one of the best phones of 2013. Samsung is likely to remain on top this year thanks to the Galaxy S4, but the HTC One might just help boost the marketshare of the beleaguered Taiwanese manufacturer.

[h/t: Gizmodo]

Here’s the fun NMA Taiwanese animation take on the story:

What are your first impressions of Facebook Home? Future of Facebook and mobile communications or meh? Let us know in the comments.

Facebook’s mission with this offering is to make your phone more about people rather than about apps. The core feature of Facebook Home is the Cover Feed, which takes over as your home screen, and lets you swipe through the latest photos and updates from your Facebook News Feed. You can also interact with the posts from there (liking, commenting, etc.).

But it doesn’t end there. Notifications appear on the home screen in a visual way. As our own Zach Walton explained, “All notifications will show up on the home screen as separate entries. Tapping the notification will bring up the Facebook app for further interaction. If you want to get rid of it, you can just toss it off the screen. Holding one of the notifications will lump them all together if you so wish to disregard all of them at once.”

To even access your other apps in the first place, you have to hold the image of your face that appears (see that little image of Mark Zuckerberg below) and swipe it up to the appropriate place.

There is a feature called “Chatheads,” which allow your Facebook and text messages to follow you through your other apps. Messages (via these little heads of your friends) will show up at the top right of your screen regardless of what app your’e in.

For a more hands-on look, you might want to check out this demo from The Verge:

Okay, some of you are probably thinking: I don’t even use Android, so why do I care about this? Fair point, but Facebook indicated that it wants to provide an experience like this across all phones. This is easier said than done, however.

Facebook chose Android because of its open source nature that allows it to take over your phone in the manner it does. It’s not so easy for all operating systems. Zuckerberg specifically talked about how Apple’s control over iOS simply does not allow it to offer this kind of experience on an iPhone. It would take a partnership for that to happen.

Facebook already does have a relationship with Apple. As you may recall, Apple touted heavy Facebook integration in the latest version of iOS. Here’s what Zuckerberg had to say about Home on iOS in an interview with Fortune:

We’d love to offer this on iPhone, and we just can’t today, and we will work with Apple to do the best experience that we can within what they want, but I think that a lot of people who really like Facebook — and just judging from the numbers, people are spending a fifth of their time in phones on Facebook, that’s a lot of people. This could really tip things in that direction. We’ll have to see how it plays out.

Of course only a select few Android users even get access to Facebook Home at this point. It’s only launching on a handful of phones, which is somewhat ironic given Facebook’s desire to have it on every phone. It’s coming to the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II, as well as the newly introduced HTC First, which features Facebook Home pre-installed.

For developers, Facebook has created some new opportunities with Home. The Cover Feed feature lets users access app content as soon as they turn on their phones. More on that here.

For Businesses, not only will your Page’s posts and photos be more readily available to users due to the in-your-face nature of Facebook Home, but Zuckerberg says ads will be coming to the feature at some point.

Another thing that could make Facebook Home more useful to both users and businesses is the eventual addition of Graph Search. Graph Search has not even been launched on mobile devices yet, and it remains to be seen how long that will take. It will happen, however. Facebook said as much when that was introduced. Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land quotes Zuckerberg from the Home launch:

“When that’s available, hopefully we’ll be able to make that available here [in Home]. But even Graph Search, Graph Search is not web search. People still need Google or Bing of whatever they use for web search.”

Is Zuckerberg perhaps being cagey, holding back on a secret-uber plan to eventually have Graph Search take over on these devices. Perhaps. And I do think Graph Search is going to come. But really, the impression I got was that search has largely been overlooked with the launch of Home.

As Google faces the real risk of losing search market share little by little to numerous vertical services, it’s possible that Graph Search will play a big factor in that. We discussed this more here.

Sullivan makes a good point in that same article in that Facebook Home makes users have to work harder to get to the search experiences on their devices. Just as users have to take an extra step to access their apps, they have to take an extra step to get to the search function (which could very well turn people off of the offering on its own).

Fortune goes so far as to call Android “Facebook’s new weapon against Google” because of Facebook Home; the point being that Google wants you to live in Google’s world and use Google’s services when you’re on an Android device, and Facebook Home puts you squarely in Facebook’s world, distancing you more from Google’s products even on its own operating system. It’s a fair point, and it’s really a similar (but more in your face) strategy to what Amazon is doing with its Kindle Fire devices, which use Amazon’s version of Android and its own app store.

If Facebook is able to get a substantial amount of people using Facebook Home, even if only on Android, it might push Graph Search even further into users’ search habits, especially if it’s available on their devices in less steps than a Google search.

But search isn’t the only Google service Facebook Home pushes to the background. As mentioned, it essentially pushes every other app on your phone to the background, but as Pocket Lint points out, it even eighty-sixes Android notifications, except for on the HTC First (another reason a lot of people might steer clear of Home).

There are real questions about whether or not people even want this kind of Facebook experience on their phones.

And of course, like with just about anything Facebook does, privacy is in the discussion. Even some of the most veteran of tech journalists are raising concerns.

Om Malik, for example, writes, “In fact, Facebook Home should put privacy advocates on alert, for this application erodes any idea of privacy. If you install this, then it is very likely that Facebook is going to be able to track your every move, and every little action.”

“The new Home app/UX/quasi-OS is deeply integrated into the Android environment,” he continues. “It takes an effort to shut it down, because Home’s whole premise is to be always on and be the dashboard to your social world. It wants to be the start button for apps that are on your Android device, which in turn will give Facebook a deep insight on what is popular. And of course, it can build an app that mimics the functionality of that popular, fast-growing mobile app. I have seen it done before, both on other platforms and on Facebook.”

“But there is a bigger worry,” Malik adds. “The phone’s GPS can send constant information back to the Facebook servers, telling it your whereabouts at any time.”

As some noted in response to Malik’s points, Google already does this stuff.

Martin Bryant at TheNextWeb counters Malik’s argument asking, “Is that really such a bad thing?” His point is essentially that targeted ads are better ads.

All in all, you have to really, really like Facebook to want to have Facebook Home dominating your phone. Luckily, there are a lot of people that really, really like Facebook. The social network has over a billion users. It’s unclear how many of them love it to that extent. Home adoption could prove to be an interesting window into that kind of data.

Even without having access to it, it’s clear that many view the offering as intrusive and an inconvenience to the rest of their phones’ functionality. It’s going to be quite interesting to see how the product evolves and whether or not users get on board.

What do you think of Facebook Home? Is this the future of how we’re going to interact with Facebook? What are the bigger implications? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The main feature of Home is the Cover Feed. It brings up all the latest photos from your News Feed to the homescreen of your phone. Users navigate through the photos by swiping left and right. Users can also double tap images to like them, and can comment from the homescreen as well.

Notifications get a substantial update in Home as well. All notifications will show up on the home screen as separate entries. Tapping the notification will bring up the Facebook app for further interaction. If you want to get rid of it, you can just toss it off the screen. Holding one of the notifications will lump them all together if you so wish to disregard all of them at once.

Apps will not be affected by Home as they can be easily accessed by holding the image of your face and swiping.

The final feature of Home is called Chatheads. As its name implies, it collects SMS and Facebook Messenger in one place. The interesting part is that each message shows up at the top right as a small circle containing the profile picture of your friends. These will pop up regardless of whatever app you’re in.

Facebook Home will be available on Android phones that have both the Facebook and Facebook Messenger installed. If you meet these prerequisites, the Facebook app will contain a link to the Google Play store to download Facebook Home.

Facebook Home will be updated every month, just like the Facebook mobile app. It will also come to tablets in the coming months.

Facebook Home will be initially available on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Note II and the Samsung Galaxy S4 starting April 12. It’s also coming to the HTC First, a phone built with Facebook Home specifically in mind.

Both AT&T and Sprint announced today that the HTC One will be hitting their respective stores on April 19. The latest smartphone will retail for $199 at both carriers with a two-year contract. Interested buyers will be able to place a pre-order for the device on April 4 at AT&T, and on April 5 at Sprint.

If you’re in between contracts, you may find yourself stuck between choosing the HTC One on AT&T or Sprint. If you care about 4G LTE coverage, AT&T definitely has the larger network. AT&T will also be the exclusive home of the 64GB HTC One for $299. To sweeten the deal, AT&T will throw in a free HTC Media Link HD wireless HDMI adapter with any HTC One purchase as well.

If you want more info on the unique features of the HTC One, AT&T threw together this short video detailing the new device:

The HTC One presents a sizable threat to Samsung in a few key areas, but consumer interest will be the deciding factor in the latest war of the smartphones. HTC will have to pull out all the stops in its advertising if it wants to go head-to-head with the Galaxy S 4. Samsung has the deep pockets to just bombard all communication channels with its advertising so HTC will have to get creative if it hopes to undermine the competition.

The HTC One unveiling is now up on YouTube for all to see. Check out 30 glorious minutes of HTC trying to sell the press, and you, on how it’s latest smartphone is going to take the market by storm. Expect plenty of buzzwords and some ham-fisted acting.

The HTC One will feature a 1080p 4.7-inch display, a 1.7GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. There’s no price or release date announced for the product yet, but the company is offering a buyback program that will give you the value of your old phone in cash when you buy the HTC One.

Ah, but where are my manners? You may be short on time, and can’t watch the full 37 minute unveiling event. For those who can’t sit around all day watching executives pretending to be excited about their products, you can watch the condensed highlight reel from the event below.

[h/t: Droid-Life]

The device will feature a 4.7-inch screen with a 1080p resolution and 468 pixels per square inch. It has a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 2300mAh battery. It also has NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities, and includes most of the features expected in a premium-priced Android smartphone, plus support for infrared remote control. Also, it has the requisite Beats audio branding for the devices two front stereo speakers.

It will ship running a heavily modified version of Google’s Android platform called HTC Sense, which has been updated to a more Windows Phone-like style. The phone’s body is fully metal, which should help make it one of the more durable smartphones on the market. HTC is known for making durable phones, and last year’s HTC One X made a capable hammer.

HTC announced that AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile will all carry the HTC One in the U.S. The smartphone will come in two models, one with 32GB of memory and one with 64GB of memory. The device will be offered in two defferent colors: steel grey and black.

Prices have not been announced, but HTC will be offering a trade-in deal for old smartphones. Users who send the company their old phone and proof of purchase for the HTC One will receive $100 or the value of the old phone, whichever is greater.

Citing unnamed “industry sources,” the report states that the device manufacturer has cut its smartphone shipment increase in half, down to 10-15% from 20-30%. In addition, the company is reported to have suspended development on “a number” of new models that were set to launch in 2013.

2012 was a tough year for HTC. The Taiwanese smartphone maker saw its share of global smartphone shipments fall to 7.3% in the third quarter of 2012, down from 11.8% in 2011. In addition, the company’s profits in the third quarter of 2013 were down 79% from the third quarter of 2011.

Most of the reason for HTC’s poor performance can be attributed to Apple’s continued dominance in the smartphone market, as well as Samsung’s rise this year as the top Android handset manufacturer and Apple’s main competition. HTC’s flagship Android smartphone, the HTC One X, launched on only a few U.S. carriers and failed to gain popularity in the country as Samsung’s Galaxy S III sales began to skyrocket. HTC also released several Windows Phone 8 smartphones which, while scoring high in customer satisfaction, were doomed to relatively poor sales along with other Windows Phone 8 devices.

HTC isn’t alone in its smartphone struggles. Nokia has also bet big on Windows Phone 8 taking off while watching its smartphone market share plunge, and RIM is hoping that its upcoming BlackBerry 10 launch will save it from obsolescence and bankruptcy. Next year will see the sorting out which companies have the designs and technology to challenge the big two of Apple and Samsung.

(via BGR)

The Droid DNA will have a five-inch display, a 1.5Ghz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 2020mAh battery, and 16GB of internal storage. The device will also come with built-in wireless charging technology, NFC support, and, of course, 4G LTE wireless. The rear camera is 8MP and the front-facing camera is 2.1MP, featuring an “ultra-wide-angle” lens.

The Droid DNA will be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but, like the HTC One X+, it will have HTC’s Sense 4.0+ UI software running on top of Google’s OS. Being an HTC device, the smartphone will also come with Beats-branded audio.

Pre-orders for the Droid DNA start today through Verizon. The device will be hitting stores on November 21.

HTC is touting the HD screen for “superior graphics during a game.” To show off the screen, the Droid DNA will get access to Reign of Amira, a hack n’ slash game created by Qualcomm to showcase the graphical capabilities of its Snapdragon S4 processors.