I have always valued the stock Android experience over the various customized strains from OEMs, even before Android itself looked anything like it does today – back in the Donut, Eclair, Froyo and Gingerbread days. It's more rustic, rough around the edges … raw. I like to use devices as they were intended to be used, how they were supposed to look and feel from the factory. This is exactly why I don't use cases. They mask the true beauty, engineering mastery, the design, and all the hard work that went into making a phone. It's like saying you want to protect a drawing your kid made ...

Depending on your perspective, the HTC One is either the biggest Android success story of 2013, or the most overhyped piece of mobile tech since the iPhone. Debate continues to rage between the two camps across our various comment sections, and fanboys being what they are, a resolution seems unlikely anytime soon. One thing is clear, though: a timely HTC One update is critical to the company's success. For our part, we consider the One to be a real home run, both for HTC and for the Android world in general - a fact that will come as no surprise to veteran listeners of the Pocketnow Weekly ...

In America, wireless carriers continue to exert a stranglehold on much of the smartphone experience. The features a device brings to the table often matter less than which ones your wireless provider allows you to use. Too often, a flagship smartphone arrives on retail shelves mangled beyond recognition, bearing a customized (read: ugly) casing and an enhanced (read: bloat-filled) software load, "proudly" flying the colors of its host carrier in the form of one or more overbearing logos silk-screened to its shell. Fortunately, the landscape has shifted in recent years thanks to devices ...

I’ve learned that there are two things about being a smartphone-and-tablet reviewer. The first thing: you get to handle awesome gadgetry days or weeks ahead of its official release date, and you’re not just allowed to use the heck out of it; you need to, in order to do your job. That’s the awesome thing. The other, less-awesome thing: you eventually have to give it all back. Empty Nest is a recurring column discussing what I miss -and what I don’t- about the devices I’ve had to return. ___ Normally, I have a bit longer to say my goodbyes. The device-of-the-month and I usually ...

Comparisons between the two most prized Android hardware manufacturers' latest flagship devices were inevitable. Both HTC and Samsung have been battling it out to become the top Android manufacturer since the platform first hit consumer hands. And while Samsung currently has a wide lead over HTC, in both cash reserves and market share, HTC is far from hanging up the towel and going home. In the past month, both companies have unveiled their latest work to a mostly pleased audience, mixed with thousands of curious press and hundreds of thousands of potential customers. First came the HTC ...

Sometimes ya ain't got time for dilly-dallyin', spit-swappin', or tall-tale-tellin'. Sometimes even dropping in a few time codes is too much to ask. Because sometimes the meat just needs to get out to the masses. This is one of those special times, and the meat we're putting on the market is our jawing. Our opinions. Our stories. And the subject this week is the two biggest Android smartphone launches of the year, coming from the two biggest sworn enemies of the entire Android landscape. That's right: this is the episode where we talk HTC One vs Galaxy S IV. We've had the One for just a ...

Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Samsung's public Unpacked Event to happen in Times Square, New York. Then we talk about the HTC One winning the MWC 2013 award for best mobile device. Then we talk about HTC Sense 5 and which devices will get it soon. Microsoft is next as we talk about the live tile issues on Windows Phone 7.8. We then end today's show talking about our MWC 2013 wrap-up. All this and more after the break. Stories: - Samsung Announces Public Unpacked Experience in Times Square - HTC One Scores MWC Mobile Device Award - HTC Confirms Sense 5 Updates  - Microsoft ...

In a mobile world that runs on rumor and speculation, the HTC device codenamed the "M7" is this season's belle of the ball. The smartphone broke cover courtesy of an analyst leak back on December 5th, and it's been generating all manner of excitement ever since. That's not just because the M7 is purported to be an Android flagship device (though that's scintillating enough on its own). The M7 is especially intriguing because its parent company has, for over a year, been trying to claw itself out of a hole it fell into back in 2011. If it were a less remarkable corporation, that wouldn't ...