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HTC may have struck gold with its new flagship handset, the HTC One.
HTC had hoped to impress the invited guests at the official launch with its ‘Ultrapixel' technology which offers High Dynamic Range photography --that is, the overlaying of a number of images at different exposurelevels to create one perfect composite whole -- but the news about its revolutionary image sensor had leaked to the press a few weeks ago 
However, there was still plenty to surprise and excite at the official unveiling of HTC's new flagship smartphone Tuesday, such as BlinkFeed, a live homescreen that users can set up so that it constantly displays the news they want, whether it be social media updates or the weather, or, thanks to agreements that HTC has already signed with over 1400 partners, a host of rich media content from the latest sports scores courtesy of ESPN or news from the AP and celebrity feeds from MTV.
Other technological gains can be seen in terms of audio. As well as dynamic microphones that can automatically compensate the volume of a call based on background noise and front-facing stereo speakers for music playback and video conferencing, the One also has a new music player with integrated lyrics. Drawing more than a little inspiration from Apple, the device stands out however in a market where plastic is king for most Android phonemakers with the use of aluminium and other quality materials.
To that extent the phone boasts a 4.7-inch high-definition display with 468 pixels per inch, powered by a 1.7-gigahertz quad-core Snapdragon processor and 2GB RAM. It offers 32GB or 64GB of storage and according to initial tech reviews its performance sets a new benchmark and easily beats any Android-powered handset currently available.
In other words, the HTC One is looking like a very capable, very attractive phone that could well push HTC back into the limelight. Of course Samsung will be launching its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy SIV in March and only then will potential customers be able to really judge if the HTC is really the phone for them. But other companies thinking of launching Android handsets before the end of the year may have to consider going back to the drawing board.

Google Glass tech offers vision of the future

The wearable internet-connected gadget, not expected to hit the market until 2014, will retail for under $1,500.

The glasses will handle most of the same tasks as smartphones, but respond to voice commands [Reuters]

A new promo video for its internet-connected glasses technology known as Google Glass has given potential early adopters a chance to buy the as yet unreleased product. The video, posted on Wednesday, touted the wearable technology as one of the biggest advancements in personal computing in many years. In the video, people wore the glasses while skydiving, riding a rollercoaster, skiing, and swinging on a trapeze, but Tom Royal, editor of the London-based magazine Popular Science UK, cautioned that the product will require a great deal of investment and infrastructure. "It's going to require a huge investment around the world to make these things work" anytime and anywhere as the video purports, Royal told Al Jazeera. Though he says the glasses come in "a clever looking, quite attractive package", Royal, like other analysts, said consumers should temper their expectations. "The danger of hyping something this much is that clearly the technology is far behind where the hype is right now," Rocky Agrawal of reDesign Mobile, said, adding, "there's a real danger of setting the expectations bar too high". The glasses will handle most of the same tasks as smartphones, but respond to voice commands instead of fingers touching a screen. The glasses include a tiny display screen attached to a rim above the right eye and run on Google's Android operating system for mobile devices. Google has said the mass-market version of Google Glass will cost less than $1,500 - the price paid by an exclusive number of computer programmers last June - but more than a smart phone. The California-based company does not plan to start selling "Google Glass" in the mass market until 2014.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies