Making the train journey down to London from Hull, East Yorkshire, UK was both exciting and nerve-wracking for me, thinking about what was to come and waiting in anticipation for what HTC was going to show us. The build-up on Twitter kept me busy along the way, with the buzz growing hour-by-hour from other HTC fans that were also travelling to the capital – some to the launch itself and others to the select locations where the new device was going to go on sale immediately after the announcement.
Upon arrival at the event and registration, we were met by a huge room draped with HTC logos and designs with sneak previews of what we were going to be shown. Hundreds of photographers and journalists filled the rows behind us; with me and my fellow elevate members being given VIP seats on the front row! We were moments away from seeing what HTC were about to unveil.
Phil Blair, President of EMEA, welcomed the expectant crowd before Cher Wang, Chairwoman, talked about HTC’s history of designing game-changing devices and how successful last year’s HTC One flagship was. It was a fantastic feeling being just metres away from someone who has had such a huge influence on setting up HTC as a company and getting it to where it is today. This is the point we’d all been waiting for – the unveiling of the HTC’s new flagship phone. The excitement was unbearable as Cher held up the device on stage following a teaser video showing off the metallic feel and structure. The HTC One (M8) was here!
Scott Croyle, SVP & Head of Design and User Experience at HTC, then took the stage and showed us all the exciting new features of the device including the new Sense 6, improved BoomSound, the Duo Camera and the 90% aluminium body. For me, this was very exciting – this is the person you see online in all the HTC videos explaining how the designs were created and how the masterpieces are made – and I was sitting in the front row, hearing him talk about HTC’s new flagship.
Following the launch, we were given the opportunity to try out the HTC One (M8) and its new features with demonstrations from HTC experts and special sound-proof rooms to discover just how great the new BoomSound is. I was given the chance to experience the HTC One (M8) during the afternoon, and had lots of practice on the new Duo Camera and its new focussing features. I was really impressed with how well the features worked and how easy they were to pick up, having not used the device previously.
Playing with UFocus and Foregrounder effects on the M8′s Duo Camera.
Having had the chance to feel the device and explore its new tricks, I’ve got a long list of favourite features. Have you had the opportunity to get your hands on the HTC One (M8) yet, and what do you like most?
Editor’s note: Want to know what it was like at the event in London? Watch the video below featuring comedian, Chris Parker:
Last year, we launched the HTC One family of smartphones, giving you
breakthroughs in design, sound, camera, and changed how you stay
connected. Since then, both you and industry leaders have recognized the
HTC One as one of the most-recommended and top-reviewed smartphones.
And its legacy continues as the HTC One was named the Best Smartphone of the year by GSMA and won the 2013 Engadget Readers’ Choice Smartphone of the Year.Our passion is to create design that is iconic and premium; seamless, inside and out; design that people will love and appreciate.
Today, we unveiled a new phone carved out of everything that you love the most about the HTC One.We took the best phone in the world, the HTC One M7, and made it better. Introducing the HTC One (M8)—the best just got better.
Feel it, see it, experience it. The HTC One (M8) is available online and in select stores today, with wider availability coming soon.
Back in the early twentieth century when a headline would break, newsies would stand at street corners and shout: “Read all about it!” Now when a story breaks, we turn to feeds on Twitter and Facebook instead of street corners. We look for a condensed, eye-catching snippet of what’s going on in the world, and if the story catches our eye, we’ll dig deeper and seek out the facts behind the headline. We live in a world consumed by news, with over half of us (52%) “information snacking” on a daily basis through our smartphones.
The rise of social media and smartphone usage has changed the way that we digest news. But is this new form of consumption putting us at risk of information overload or is all of this ‘information snacking’ good for us?
How we Read News Today & in the Future
We saw the trends and wanted to learn the answers, so we commissioned independent research company, ICM Research, to interview 10,000 people in ten markets1 as part of a global study2 into the behavior around news consumption—how it’s changed in recent years, how they feel about the changes, and what news consumption might look like in the future. The full global report, Feed All About It, is available today.What did they tell us about how we consume the news?
- We’re waking up to it – almost half (42%) of the 10,000 participants admitted to checking the news within an hour of waking up, with over a third (38%) also checking the news within an hour of going to bed.
- We’re addicted to it – almost two-thirds (63%) admit to a greater overall need to be the “first to know” about global news.
- We have it all - 65% agree that they have a more rounded viewpoint on the news because they have access to multiple sources of information and opinions.
- We know it all - 72% of us feel more knowledgeable about what is going on in the world because news is more accessible.
How do they think news consumption will change in the future?
- Story over source – over half (55%) are more interested in the news story itself rather than its source.
- The generation gap – 50% of over-55s were found to be loyal to traditional news outlets compared to only 34% of under-25s.
- News becomes social – almost half (45%) of under-25s are less likely to differentiate between a news story and a social media post.
Suffering from Information Overload? Try Checking the News through HTC BlinkFeed
This lack of differentiation towards sources of news, coupled with our constant need to be informed, is impacting how consume news today and how we will consume news in the future. News will need to be even more social, tailored to personal interests, and delivered along with other content such as weather updates, calendar reminders, or status updates.3 Aggregators such as HTC BlinkFeed, Facebook’s Paper app, The Huffington Post, and Upworthy, will grow in popularity as the desire to stay on top of ‘news’ in all its guises continues.Yves Le Jan, Director of Content and Services at HTC, said, “At HTC we developed an innovative solution in HTC BlinkFeed,4 in response to the explosion of digital news sources. We wanted our customers to be able to keep up with the news from around the world, alongside their social networks, at a glance and in a way that was simple, accessible and easy to digest.
“We knew that delivering up-to-date content was vital to the creation of HTC BlinkFeed, so this study has confirmed what we already believe to be true—that bite-sized news with the choice to delve deeper into a story, is leading to a better informed global nation. This realization is why the aggregated news content available on our smartphones through HTC BlinkFeed is so important to us, and reinforces the HTC One’s position as one of the most critically acclaimed phones of 2013. Over the coming year we will be making even greater enhancements to HTC BlinkFeed, which will bring more social and news updates live to user’s home screens.”
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