An early version of the Android 4.0 update for the HTC Sensation has been leaked and screencaptured to death, showing that HTC is completely refusing to yield to Google’s design work and will be sticking firmly with the familiar HTC Sense way of doing things – installing a barely changed HTC Sense 3.5 over the top of Android 4.0.
If anything, the way the Android 4.0 update has been incorporated manages to make HTC Sense look worse than before, with HTC opting to make even more of its menu screens and the Notifications pane plain black. Plus the new Android 4.0 widget system appears to have been chopped altogether…
…but of course this is only an early release. It might get better. Or a bit less underwhelming. More images of the work-in-progress Ice Cream Sandwich update running on the HTC Sensation can be found over at MoDaCo, which is where we nicked the above from.
The Panasonic Eluga marks the company’s return to the European mobile phone scene years after several years of absence, and it’s come back to us with a moderately high-spec Android model that features a rather stylish, slim case.
The HTC One V is HTC’s third entry in its high-profile new HTC One range, offering a smaller 3.7″ display running on a single-core 1GHz processor. It is is very much the “affordable” option in HTC’s newest Android series, but…
The HTC One S is the piggy in the middle of HTC’s 2012 line-up, offering a 4.3″ AMOLED display inside a very slim and stylish aluminium chassis. The end result is a phone that’s very, very slim and stylish.
HTC’s new quad-core monster, the 4.7″ flagship for 2012 that introduces the Tegra 3 processor to mobile phones, updates HTC’s range to Android 4.0 and brings us the supposedly streamlined version 4.0 of HTC’s Sense user interface.
Sony returns with an all-new mobile design for 2012, pairing a dual-core processor with a 720p display. It’s a lovely phone, but is it enough to end our Samsung and HTC obsession?
LG’s updated Prada phone comes with an absolutely crazy black & white theme, but is it just for fashionable suit wearers who want to make themselves look a bit more interesting?
Simon
/ December 21, 2011I love the way HTC improved Android 4.0 by adding the wonderful Sense UI.
/sarcasm
shrinkwrapped
/ December 21, 2011Yep. Pretty happy I switched to Galaxy Nexus as I suspected this would happen…
Lee D
/ December 21, 2011Well at least the Dock got changed this time, it’s not too bad i’ll stick with it until cm9 becomes usable.
MetalMickey
/ December 22, 2011One thing these custom UI’s do is encourage more AOSP custom Roms, which as shrinkwrapped said, will push more people towards the Vanilla style handsets like the Nexus series, which can only be good for Google now they have bought Motorola Mobile. They can start knocking out more “original Google brand” handsets.
mark
/ December 22, 2011phone makers will always bast….i mean change the OS’s in phones, that will never change. but saying that, the sense does look a bit better! i hated the curvy dock of the htc phones!!
h0ruza
/ December 22, 2011No No No No!
Silly animation, glass icons and candy are done to the point where it angers me when I see them.
None of these phone manufacture Co’s are actually using the OS as it was meant to be so how can they truly improve upon android?
They all need to take a break from messing up androids UI and actually put some well considered design ethics into UI IMPROVEMENTS not UI REPLACEMENTS.
Walk before you run I always say.
mintvilla
/ December 22, 2011Thats not quite fair, HTC Sense was a godsend on the original HTC desire, Android 2.1 was horrible, 2.2 wasnt much better either. Google didnt even think about UI prettyness until mat durate (the web os Guy) and 2.3 was the start of making stock android actually good.
So you cant complain when phones are updated, they cant take things away, they couldnt just strip out all of HTC sense as this would confuse the average user, who would wonder why evrything has changed, why they have no HTC maps which is powered by tom tom, no fancy weather animation on the lockscreen etc etc.
Now if you want to bash HTC sense on any new phones that come out, then so be it, but you cant bash phones that have already come out and are being upgrades
Matt C
/ December 22, 2011Good comments mintvilla.
I’m seriously thinking about which manufacture I’ll be looking at when my Desire comes to the end of it’s 24 month contract in March 2012 though. Whilst I quite like Sense, I’m not sure I’m going to want it on an ICS based mobile.
I guess it will be all eyes on what ever the NEXT phone from HTC is that becomes their flag ship. If it’s heavely customised, I’m not going to be so keen. Like wise with Samsung.
Nazar
/ December 22, 2011I loved Sense at first when I got my desire 18 months ago. Even after rooting it I stuck with sense based ROMs (ie leedroid).
My eyes were opened when I ditched Sense completely and installed Oxygen + Go Launcher. Now my HTC Desire has an extra 100MB RAM (yes ram… not storage space) and battery usage is about 3 to 5% overnight.
Wish I had gone to Oxygen a year ago.
Robin
/ December 22, 2011That is an extreme disappointment. HTC need to stop the c*** and focus on letting Google do the software side of things. I find Sense bloated, ugly, and annoying on my Sensation. Never buying anything that is not stock Android again.
MetalMickey
/ December 23, 2011Actually, come to think of it, mintvilla is bang on there.
When I first got my hands on the HTC Dream (G1) I was amazed by it, but not for the UI.Then I got the HTC Hero & that Sense UI thing really started to look good. That was the time when everyone filled their screens with fancy flip clocks & endless widgets. For me However it was the other things they added in that really made a difference, the social network integration on Sense is the best I’ve used on any phone.
It wasn’t until the Nexus One, that vanilla android started to actually look good on it’s own.
For many people it was Honeycomb that really stood out, that simplistic but elegant design finally made it look “sexy” I presume mat durate can take the credit for that too.
Google have improved on it again in 4.0 and I can see how many people looking at Sense/Touchwiz/Motoblur are thinking WTF?!?!
But you have to remember, GoLauncher/ADW etc. “stock vanilla look” are based on the 3D cube design of the Nexus One, how many of those people can honestly say they want the original UI from the G1? None I bet..