Another Shot Of Mystery HTC Device Surfaces. (And What Does It Tell Us About The One Series?)

You may or may not have seen the leaked image circulating over the last ~week showcasing an unnamed, unannounced HTC device seemingly headed to Verizon Wireless in the U.S. The carrier designation is purely speculation, though, the hard edges and red accents are characteristic of Verizon’s “DROID” branding that originally started the big Android push back in 2009 with the original Droid handset.

Today, another image of the aforementioned device has leaked, this time giving us a glimpse of its front side. As one would expect, the modern smartphone physique which contains nothing more than a few soft buttons (if any) and large display are about all you see. Specs and any further information regarding pricing and release sadly haven’t accompanied the image.

While the unique styling Verizon has chosen for a number of their Android handsets is all and well, we do have to ask ourselves if HTC really knows what they’re doing. As of late they’ve failed to meet upgrade deadline promises, have yet to divulge any hard facts on when their flagship One Series of Android phones will see Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and are now apparently going against previous comments that their One Series was the company’s main focus moving forward.

From a design standpoint, the One Series is nearly flawless. They’re beautiful. And the branding/design was supposed to be HTC’s sole focus in future handsets. The “DROID” branded handsets are complete opposites of the One Series — hard, angular and cold. One would think that if HTC really wanted to recapture some of their past glory that they held during the Windows Mobile and early Android days that they’d keep the One Series branding and design universal from carrier to carrier. So far in the U.S., few carriers have access to any of HTC’s One Series devices; AT&T has the high-end One X while T-Mobile has the mid-range One S. (A new, more powerful One X+ is rumored to be coming to T-Mobile sometime this month.) Verizon, the second largest carrier (only second by a little mind you) in the U.S. doesn’t have any One Series device. How is HTC supposed to compete with the likes of the multi-carrier supported Samsung Galaxy S III which is found on at least half a dozen U.S. carriers and carries the same design and branding across carriers, too? Answer: They can’t.

HTC needs to get their act together and start staying true to upgrade deadlines as well as previous soapbox statements regarding design choices or they’re going to find themselves back to being a no-name handset manufacturer that other companies re-brand and release under their own names. Such a life, while profitable, is hardly as glorious.

We love HTC’s most recent handsets and really wish they’d get back to the top where they belong. Their current and recurring missteps, however, paint a pretty bleak picture.

Via: AndroidCentral