HTC Announces One X+, US Launch Date Coming Later Discussion

[Grant Hatchimonji]

HTC announced a successor to its successful One X Android handset today, an improved Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) smartphone appropriately-named the One X+.

Read the full content of this Article: HTC Announces One X+, US Launch Date Coming Later

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[Varjak]

I wish they'd go back to the old 'button' arrangements at the bottom. Otherwise, it looks good. They should also make a world 'Evo' version.

[Drillbit]

Qualcomm should not be happy about this, because the One X and the One X+ has one significant change --- the processor. No longer the Qualcomm S4 on the US version, this is the first US version with LTE packing the Tegra 3. This is significant because apparently, nVidia finally managed to cross the LTE divide. Its very likely an external LTE modem (outside of the main SoC) is used, and the chip might likely be Qualcomm's, though Samsung is also possible.

I kind of like the new matt finish on the black. I kind of feel excited with this model.

[weegie]

I bet they're being pretty optimistic about a 50% increase in battery going from 1800 to 2100mAh especially when they've increased the clock rates as well, my tegra One X had pretty bad battery life except for in standby.

It's unusual for HTC to overlook Qualcomm, usually they insist on using QC when it's the worst option available, maybe the S4 quad was just too far away and HTC wants to beat Samsung in the US with LTE enabled quad core, I notice the exynos LTE enabled SIII [international] has different bands to what the US versions using the S4 have.

[Drillbit]

Yeah, HTC is a bit too tied to Qualcomm, almost to a fault. This partnership did well when Qualcomm was ahead of everyone (2009, 2010). But flunks when Qualcomm falls behind the competition (2011). In 2012, HTC decided to diverse from Qualcomm, as they not only took up the Tegra 3 but also the Ericsson Novathor processor for some of the lower end phones. But it didn't prove to be that good a timing since 2012 turned out to be Qualcomm's year, coming out with those Krait cored processors.

But make no mistake, HTC was actually right in choosing the Tegra 3 from another point of view. Qualcomm was hit with production shortages, blaming TSMC, and had to subcontract to other foundries as well. The shortages forced HTC to concentrate their S4 powered stocks to premium carrier customers using LTE. This caused the Asian HTC One S to downgrade to using a 1.7Ghz Qualcomm S3 processor instead (last gen despite the faster clock speed). During all this time, the Tegra 3 powered HTC One X were unaffected by these shortages. Had HTC went completely Qualcomm S4 on the One X, they may have had difficulty filling stocks as the demand of the S4 goes sky high as it is used on so many phones. So yes, smart move for HTC to diversify their processor choices.

Should note that the Tegra 3 was made using TSMC's proven and venerable 40nm process, while the Qualcomm S4 is made using TSMC's newer 28nm process, which TSMC was reported having yield problems. Using the smaller transistor however, does mean the S4 uses less power per transistor over the Tegra 3, unless the Tegra 3 has a new variant using the 28nm process. Note the Exynos 4412 and Apple's A6 both uses Samsung's 32nm process. The pressure for HTC to rely less on Qualcomm is probably the reason the X+ uses an upgraded Tegra 3, and with which they are going to use with LTE. Note the parallel development why Samsung might be using Exynos on their LTE Note 2.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

[Ed Hardy]

Just to be sure no one missed it, AT&T is going to offer this model:

AT&T To Carry HTC One X+ and One VX