HTC First Facebook dedicated smartphone

Few weeks of rumors and speculations and here we have - new HTC device, called HTC First and created together with (and for!) Facebook. Its surely not a flagship model, but also not a low-end device.

Actually it has quite nice specifications:

• Platform: Android 4.1
• Processor: Qualcomm® MSM8930AA 1.4Ghz, dual-core
• Memory: 16 GB, 1 GB RAM
• GSM 850/900/1800/1900/2100, HSDPA 21/5.76, LTE 4/17
• Display: 4.3-inch, HD 720p
• Battery: 2000mAh (non-removable)
• Main camera: 5 MP camera with auto focus, LED flash, BSI sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 28mm lens, 1080p video recording
• Front camera: 1.6 MP camera
• Dimensions: 4.96 x 2.56 x 0.35 (in) (LxWxT)
• Weight: 4.37 oz

What is special about this device, is very deep Facebook integration. It has its own Facebook launcher instead of HTC Sense launcher. What else?

• Cover feed: A constant, fresh stream of photos and updates from your newsfeed, cover feed is always present when you wake up your phone.  It lets you stay up-to-date on your friends’ latest activities in real-time, all the time.  You can swipe through to see more photos and updates, double tap to “like” a post and comment right from cover feed.  To learn more about cover feed, check out this video.
• Notifications: Notifications from apps and friends appear right on your home screen.  It’s easier to see when you have a missed call, calendar reminder or new message. Open a notification with a double tap or clear them away to see your Cover Feed.  To learn more about notifications, check out this video.
• Chat Heads: The mobile messenger lets you jump in and out of conversations while you do other things, like watch a video and browse the web.  Reply right from chat heads, or move them around if youre not ready to respond. Plus you can send and receive texts and Facebook messages from the same spot.  To learn more about chat heads, check out this video.
• App Launcher:  See your favorite apps and post right to Facebook from the same spot. You choose what’s on your app launcher—press and hold an app then drag it anywhere.
• Instagram:  HTC First is the only phone that comes with Instagram pre-loaded.

Personally, Im very curious how this device will work with its custom launcher and what will be customers judgement. I think it has a huge potential. The idea of new custom launcher is more then interesting. Lets take a quick pick how it looks like:

To me, it seems to be very simplified version of Android launcher. It might be a great choice for users who are not expecting their phone to be multimedia all-in-one device, but they want to easily stay in touch with their friends using the most popular social channel. There is also Instagram pre-installed, so sharing your great moments captured with 5 MP back camera will be easy as well. Additionally, it is very likely that the overall system performance in HTC First will be very good. Qualcomm 1.4 GHz dual-core CPU in pair with 1GB of RAM memory will probably bring you smooth user interface experience, considering the fact that device doesnt have pretty heavy HTC Sense on board. So, do you think it is a device for you?

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) down this post!

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HTC Sense 6 0 Bluetooth security issue explained

Bluetooth is not a new technology and has long been associated with hands free headsets but with newer devices over the last few years it has obviously evolved into a technology that connects to printers, headphones, speakers, cars and of course other phones.

It wasnt long ago that I still used a Microsoft Zune with my phone sitting idle as I didnt trust the battery or it didnt have the capacity to store my music library, it has only been due to looking into the issue I am going to describe that I have begun to consider using a Bluetooth headset, reflecting on the pain of trying to untangle my headphones as I make my daily commute into the city.

But I digress, I made a discovery on the new HTC One M8 (originally noticed on the M7 port by rider5512) that when I shared had a few other users concerned about using Bluetooth securely.

One of the advantages of being an early adopter and someone who has owned the previous iteration of a flag ship model is that you quickly spot the changes that have been made and one of them was a change in the Bluetooth setup where the ability to set a visibility time out was no longer present and the only options I could see for Bluetooth were on or off.

I checked some other devices, including the Sony Xperia Tablet Z (running the latest nightly of Cyanogenmod 11), the HTC One M7 and the LG G2. I also saw, via a quick Google search that this was standard for Apple devices.

Here you can see that same interface on the HTC One M7 (on Sense 5.5) with visibility time-out options from Cyanogenmod 11 showing on the right:

Of all the other models I checked, only the HTC One M8 lacked this visibility option.

So why might this be a concern?

If your device is visible it means that anyone with a Bluetooth connection can see it, there have been pranks with the name Bluejacking where you can be sent unsolicited text message and pictures which are mostly harmless or as you imagine explicit but nothing more than nuisance, with no data being stolen.

In more extreme cases there is something that is called Bluesnarfing (which sounds ridiculous I know) where an attacker can change or copy information from your phone such as your phone book, address book and calendar or even taking it over completely. Obviously this situations are rare and extreme and as a smart reader of this blog, you are likely avoiding it.

At the very least you will be exposing your Bluetooth address to others, for the paranoid Bluetooth can also be used to track you. Certainly if more people in Hollywood were able to disable Bluetooth visibility the cast of Person of Interest would certainly have to do more work than forced pairing.

Having a visible device will also increase battery consumption!

I asked Jason Dunn, the current outgoing Senior Manager of the HTC community about this and he quickly got a few details from me and escalated it as initially he thought his was current practice as it didnt seem to be broken function on the M8 but the lack of option altogether.

In less than a week (a credit again to Jason and HTC for working closely with the community), Jason was able to give me a simple yet delightful answer.

In simplest terms, the device is only in discover mode, while you are present in the Bluetooth settings screen.

Again, so simple but that has two strong reasons:

• You won’t accidentally leave the device in a discoverable state.
• For non-technical end-users it provides a simple yet effective way for them to easily connect their device to other Bluetooth devices.

You can see a quick demonstration below, on the top my Xperia has been unable to find my One M8, on the bottom (and you will have to take my word for it) is in the Bluetooth settings screen and therefore visible.

Basically, HTC have done a great implementation for end users that does not compromise security at all! Once paired the devices will continue to function and connect as you would expect!

On a final note, it is very sad to see Jason moving on from his position at HTC, but I continue to look forward to his thoughts on Twitter and I already had the pleasure of meeting his replacement, Laura Kimball, at the HTC London meet last month.

Great job HTC!

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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First custom ROM based on HTC Sense 5 5 is out for HTC One!

Yes, here it is! The one youve been waiting for! Android Revolution HD 30.0 is the world first custom ROM for the HTC One based on Android 4.3 and new HTC Sense 5.5 UI.

Just grab it from downloads section!

My XDA-Developers thread with link to follow my work - http://goo.gl/UajIh2

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

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htc,desire,600,dual,sim,device,review

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HTC One M8 2014 first custom recovery first custom ROM

Yesterday the new HTC One M8 was launched and today I would like to inform you that you can already root it and flash your favourite custom ROM on it! :)

Custom recovery for the HTC M8 - link

Android Revolution HD for the HTC M8 - link

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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KitKat for HTC One Google Edition is out Sense version coming soon!

Android "four point four" (aka KitKat) is what most HTC One users are still eagerly waiting for. The "senseless" version is already available to download via Over The Air (OTA) update on the HTC One Google Play Edition.

If you havent received the update yet, or you dont have a Google Play Edition variant of the HTC One, you can still have a taste of the fresh Google goody. Just navigate to my HTC One Google Play Edition thread on the xda-developers forum and download Android Revolution HD based on Android 4.4 KitKat for the HTC One.

What weve already learned so far is that youll probably need an S-OFF device in order to properly boot KitKat custom ROM. Its a weird issue we still investigate and we hope to come up with some more convenient solution soon!

Also some good news for HTC Sense fans - Android 4.4 with HTC Sense 5.5 on board will be available very soon! Dont be upset its still Sense 5.5 instead of Sense 6.0. New update will bring a lot of bugs fixes and all the goodies Android 4.4 comes with. Stay tuned!

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

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Todays First Cardiac Rehab Session

Either they are being really cautious, or they dont know how to handle a case like mine, Im not sure which.  They know that I have been doing 30-35 minutes a day on the treadmill -- so today they put on the EKG monitors, and had me do five minutes on the recumbent stationary bike, then five minutes on the stepper (without the arm part, because the stitches are still healing internally), then another five minutes on the recumbent stationary bike.  What a shock!  All my rhythms look good; my blood pressure a few minutes after the last exercise had dropped to 130/82.

Tonight, I did fifty minutes on the treadmill, much of it at 3.5 mph -- and I felt great at 3.5 mph.  In fact, the last couple of days I have found myself going up to 3.5 mph because I feel better at that speed than at 3.2 mph.

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