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HTC hasn't yet made the One 2 smartphone official, but we know a successor to the excellent HTC One is on its way; following a patent dispute with Nokia, a UK patent judge revealed that a new model would be launching in February or March 2014. But what will it be like? We've rounded up all the rumours and speculation here, to get an idea what to expect from HTC early next year.
With the previous flagship handset being known simply as the One, it's anyone's guess as to what HTC will call its successor. The company is believed to be using M8 purely as a codename, which is unlikely to stick all the way to retail, but we're doubtful that the company would launch a product called the HTC One Two - it sounds like you'd need to be a premiership footballer or a Chuckle brother to own one.
It's possible HTC will use a combination of words and numbers, resulting in the HTC One 2, use superscript (HTC One2) or subscript (HTC One2) to stylise the name, or copy Apple's iPhone 5s and use a letter instead. Nothing is official yet, so until we hear otherwise we'll be calling it the HTC One 2.
If there's one thing the original One handset garnered near-universal praise for, it was design. The unibody aluminium construction was almost enough to rival the iPhone 5 and made the Galaxy S4 look like a plastic toy. We're positive that the company won't take a step backwards and use plastic or polycarbonate for the successor, and early leaked photos seemingly back this up.
The pictures, discovered by Unwiredview, show a rear cover for a handset that looks very similar to the One, albeit with an additional hole towards the top (more on this below).
The design incorporates rounded edges which extend further outwards than the rear cover of the HTC One, which Engadget postulates could be a way to avoid the costly zero gap injection method used to build the One's unibody shell.
Although the images appear to show the cover with a blue colour scheme, it's possible this is just a trick of the light - the official blue HTC One is much brighter, so we expect the final result to be more in keeping with the silver aluminium first seen on the original One.
Multiple colours aren't out of the question; HTC typically launches its flagship handsets in a choice of two colours, then adds extra options further down the line. The HTC One currently has silver, black, red, blue and gold models, so we would expect a successor to follow suit eventually - although probably not at launch.
The HTC One was among the first set of Android smartphones to make the jump to a 1080p display, alongside Samsung's Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z, so we're certain its successor won't be making a step back to 720p.
According to notorious Twitter smartphone tipster @evleaks, the One 2 will have the same 4.7in display as the original One, and will stick with a 1080p resolution. HTC is almost guaranteed to stick with its Super LCD panel technology too, rather than switch to OLED.
If true, the screen may be the first stumbling block when it comes to beating the smartphone competition; leaked benchmark results suggest the Samsung Galaxy S5 will have a 2,560x1,440 resolution screen. There's a possibility the screen will increase from 4.99in to 5.25in too, which would make the S5 significantly larger than HTC's upcoming handset.
The HTC M8 will apparently use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 system-on-chip (SoC), according to a revelatory tweet from EVleaks. This was seemingly backed up by a benchmark result for an unnamed HTC handset, which produced near identical scores to a Sony Xperia Z1 and LG's Snapdragon 800-equipped G2 smartphone. This would suggest it has a similar amount of memory to these two handsets (2GB), although no firm figures have been discovered to verify the fact.
HTC took a leaf out of Apple's book when it added a fingerprint sensor to the HTC One Max - just a few months after the iPhone 5s introduced TouchID. It's currently one of the only Android handsets with biometric security, but there's a good chance the HTC One 2 could join its ranks.
Based on the leaked rear cover photos seen above, a third cutout above the camera sensor and flash could indicate presence of a fingerprint reader. Moving it above the camera, rather than below it like on the One Max, would better suit a smaller handset as your index finger naturally rests toward the top of the handset. It would be easier to reach and you'd be less likely to wipe your finger over the camera sensor.
Even before a release window was revealed during a patent dispute with Nokia in early December, the common consensus was that HTC would release its next flagship handset on the one year anniversary of the introduction of the One. That was February 2013, so the One 2 is very likely to arrive in February or March 2014.
When lawyers representing Nokia presented evidence to the UK court as part of a patent battle with HTC suggesting the Taiwanese company would release its next flagship in either February or March, HTC's own lawyers didn't deny it. Although not an outright confirmation, it's the firmest evidence we have yet. Basically, if your contract is about to run out in the next month or two, it's a good idea to wait and see what HTC reveals come the Spring.
When it first went on sale, the HTC One cost around £500 SIM-free and was available for £40 on a monthly contract. These prices quickly fell, and after just a few weeks you could get a contract handset for under £30 or a pay-as-you-go model for £350. We would expect the HTC One 2 to follow a similar patten, starting at the top end of smartphone prices and sticking there until a worthy competitor arrives.
The HTC One was a 4G handset, so we would naturally expect its successor to be the same - meaning it will appear on all of the major 4G networks, including EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three.
This is of course very speculative, so we'll update our story as we get more information.
Andoid Games
HTC hasn't yet made the One 2 smartphone official, but we know a successor to the excellent HTC One is on its way; following a patent dispute with Nokia, a UK patent judge revealed that a new model would be launching in February or March 2014. But what will it be like? We've rounded up all the rumours and speculation here, to get an idea what to expect from HTC early next year.
HTC One 2 Name
With the previous flagship handset being known simply as the One, it's anyone's guess as to what HTC will call its successor. The company is believed to be using M8 purely as a codename, which is unlikely to stick all the way to retail, but we're doubtful that the company would launch a product called the HTC One Two - it sounds like you'd need to be a premiership footballer or a Chuckle brother to own one.
It's possible HTC will use a combination of words and numbers, resulting in the HTC One 2, use superscript (HTC One2) or subscript (HTC One2) to stylise the name, or copy Apple's iPhone 5s and use a letter instead. Nothing is official yet, so until we hear otherwise we'll be calling it the HTC One 2.
HTC One 2 design
If there's one thing the original One handset garnered near-universal praise for, it was design. The unibody aluminium construction was almost enough to rival the iPhone 5 and made the Galaxy S4 look like a plastic toy. We're positive that the company won't take a step backwards and use plastic or polycarbonate for the successor, and early leaked photos seemingly back this up.
The pictures, discovered by Unwiredview, show a rear cover for a handset that looks very similar to the One, albeit with an additional hole towards the top (more on this below).
The design incorporates rounded edges which extend further outwards than the rear cover of the HTC One, which Engadget postulates could be a way to avoid the costly zero gap injection method used to build the One's unibody shell.
Although the images appear to show the cover with a blue colour scheme, it's possible this is just a trick of the light - the official blue HTC One is much brighter, so we expect the final result to be more in keeping with the silver aluminium first seen on the original One.
Multiple colours aren't out of the question; HTC typically launches its flagship handsets in a choice of two colours, then adds extra options further down the line. The HTC One currently has silver, black, red, blue and gold models, so we would expect a successor to follow suit eventually - although probably not at launch.
HTC One 2 screen
The HTC One was among the first set of Android smartphones to make the jump to a 1080p display, alongside Samsung's Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z, so we're certain its successor won't be making a step back to 720p.
According to notorious Twitter smartphone tipster @evleaks, the One 2 will have the same 4.7in display as the original One, and will stick with a 1080p resolution. HTC is almost guaranteed to stick with its Super LCD panel technology too, rather than switch to OLED.
If true, the screen may be the first stumbling block when it comes to beating the smartphone competition; leaked benchmark results suggest the Samsung Galaxy S5 will have a 2,560x1,440 resolution screen. There's a possibility the screen will increase from 4.99in to 5.25in too, which would make the S5 significantly larger than HTC's upcoming handset.
HTC One 2 specifications
The HTC M8 will apparently use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 system-on-chip (SoC), according to a revelatory tweet from EVleaks. This was seemingly backed up by a benchmark result for an unnamed HTC handset, which produced near identical scores to a Sony Xperia Z1 and LG's Snapdragon 800-equipped G2 smartphone. This would suggest it has a similar amount of memory to these two handsets (2GB), although no firm figures have been discovered to verify the fact.
HTC One 2 fingerprint sensor
HTC took a leaf out of Apple's book when it added a fingerprint sensor to the HTC One Max - just a few months after the iPhone 5s introduced TouchID. It's currently one of the only Android handsets with biometric security, but there's a good chance the HTC One 2 could join its ranks.
Based on the leaked rear cover photos seen above, a third cutout above the camera sensor and flash could indicate presence of a fingerprint reader. Moving it above the camera, rather than below it like on the One Max, would better suit a smaller handset as your index finger naturally rests toward the top of the handset. It would be easier to reach and you'd be less likely to wipe your finger over the camera sensor.
HTC One 2 release date
Even before a release window was revealed during a patent dispute with Nokia in early December, the common consensus was that HTC would release its next flagship handset on the one year anniversary of the introduction of the One. That was February 2013, so the One 2 is very likely to arrive in February or March 2014.
When lawyers representing Nokia presented evidence to the UK court as part of a patent battle with HTC suggesting the Taiwanese company would release its next flagship in either February or March, HTC's own lawyers didn't deny it. Although not an outright confirmation, it's the firmest evidence we have yet. Basically, if your contract is about to run out in the next month or two, it's a good idea to wait and see what HTC reveals come the Spring.
HTC One 2 price
When it first went on sale, the HTC One cost around £500 SIM-free and was available for £40 on a monthly contract. These prices quickly fell, and after just a few weeks you could get a contract handset for under £30 or a pay-as-you-go model for £350. We would expect the HTC One 2 to follow a similar patten, starting at the top end of smartphone prices and sticking there until a worthy competitor arrives.
The HTC One was a 4G handset, so we would naturally expect its successor to be the same - meaning it will appear on all of the major 4G networks, including EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three.
This is of course very speculative, so we'll update our story as we get more information.
Andoid Games
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