I've written before that it seems like HTC was due for a win one of these days (even though the rumors about the M7 were a bit off) and it sure looks like they've done pretty well for themselves with the new HTC One, which was rolled out Tuesday in New York.
While I haven't had a chance to play with the One personally, it does look impressive, with a 468 ppi display, new camera design and spiffy metal fit and finish. It also addresses a longstanding bugaboo of mine in that it's an HTC phone that's actually going to be available on more than one carrier here in the U.S. (AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, to be exact - the omission of Verizon initially struck me as pretty weird, until I remembered that the Big Red-exclusive Droid DNA just landed a few months ago.)
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If the One lives up to its potential, it could set the bar pretty high for Samsung Galaxy S IV, which is reputed to be heading for launch in mid-to-late March. Justifying the hype is already going to be a tall order for the Galaxy S IV, and if it doesn't stack up well against competitors like the HTC One, things could get a bit awkward at the top of the market for Samsung. But that's all speculation - it's perfectly possible that the GS IV will blow everyone's doors off and cement Samsung's position as the unquestioned king of the Android hill.
All I know for sure is that it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out over the next couple of months.
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Samsung has another problem brewing, according to The Register - a software bug that can apparently crash Galaxy S IIIs if the clipboard gets too full. The flaw may affect some Galaxy Note tablets as well. This wouldn't be a big deal if Samsung had fixed it right away, but El Reg says the company has known about it since October. Frankly, it's kind of bizarre that, given the severity of the problem and the fact that it affects a pretty basic function, Samsung hasn't done anything about it yet.
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An enterprising Redditor has posted X-ray pictures of the Nexus 4's wireless charging orb, which, I think you'll agree, are pretty cool.
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A $20/month unlimited everything plan with no contract? The Wall Street Journal says a bold company called Republic Wireless is doing just that. Of course, you'll have to use an old Motorola Defy XT, for which you'll pay $250. (Or $99, if you can deal with $30 a month instead of $20.) And the quality isn't great, according to the WSJ. Oh, and there's no tech support, just a user forum. Hmm.
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We all freaked out a little when the Galaxy S III outsold That Other Smartphone for a brief period last year, but it should come as no surprise that the dominance was short-lived.
A new report from Strategy Analytics says that the Galaxy S III was the third-best-selling smartphone in the fourth quarter of 2012, behind both the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S. The idevices sold 27.4 million (!) and 17.4 million, respectively, topping the Galaxy S III's 15.4 million. At this rate, I feel like we're going to run out of people who don't have smartphones pretty soon.
(Hat tip: Fortune/CNN)
Email Jon Gold at jgold@nww.com and follow him on Twitter at @NWWJonGold.
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