Smartphones may be getting most of the attention in the mobile phone industry because of the amazing features that are constantly being introduced by phone manufacturers. But feature phones are not entirely dead yet. In fact, feature phones are still selling at a very impressive rate.

Nokia has recently announced that it has sold its 1.5 billionth feature phone – a Series 40 model. The company also said that they sell 12 similar phones very second. More →

A newly released report by research firm Nielsen has significantly shown that Apple is still the top dog when it comes to the smartphone market. The report revealed that Apple is still the top smartphone manufacturer with the largest share in the market. But this position is slowly being threatened by other manufacturers who are making Android smartphones.

The Nielsen report – which compiles data taken from August through October of 2011 — showed that Apple has a strong 29 percent share of the smartphone market. The second top smartphone manufacturer is actually HTC, which has a 21 percent share. Coming in at third (surprisingly, at least to me) is RIM – the manufacturer of BlackBerry phones – which enjoys a 17 percent share of the market. Fourth place is occupied by Samsung and Motorola, which both have an 11 percent share of the smartphone market. More →

HTC has made it more enticing to buy one of its Android phones over others. The company, the leading Android phone manufacturer in the world, has announced that it has partnered with Dropbox to provide free cloud storage for HTC phone users.

With the partnership, HTC now offers its phone users 5GB of free cloud storage. The new add-on for HTC phones was announced in HTC’s official Facebook page. The official statement explained that all Android phones from HTC will now come pre-installed with 5GB of storage. More →

A few days ago we reported about the class action suit filed against Microsoft for the Windows Mobile Phone 7’s data logging feature that continues to record data even if the user turns it off. Similar problems were encountered by Apple and the Android OS but these were eventually resolved and fixed with future patches, as in the case of the Apple iOS.

These problems with data logging should serve as a lesson for other tech manufacturers but, sadly, privacy issues are still happening with various devices. One example is HTC. The mobile phone manufacturer is a strong player in the market and has a number of strongly performing products. But according to some HTC users the new updates for the HTC Evo 3D and Sensation (both are Android OS phones) now log all of the user actions made on the phone. The culprit is an HTC app called CIQ that was given an additional feature with the new update. The new feature is called User Behavior Logging and what is does is record all of the things that a user does with his HTC phone – from pressing the home button to opening an app. The logs are then uploaded to HTC’s servers.

HTC has addressed the issue by explaining what the whole process is for. According to the company the data is collected only for error logging and that it is an opt-in feature. But users have reported that it is not so.
HTC should be making a savvier move to address the issue and assuage the fears of HTC phone users. If they don’t, they’ll surely face a bigger problem in the horizon.

In their quest to take on Android and the iPhone, Microsoft is preparing to release a slew of Windows 7 phones later on this year.

While Samsung is rumored to come out with an “iPhone clone,” it looks like HTC went the creative route and instead outfitted the speaker.

In case you needed any more evidence that AT&T is going all-in with Windows Phone 7, take a gander at this little beast, a phone known only as the HTC T8788 at this point (rest assured, you’ll get a snappy, memorable, trademarkable name by the time it’s on shelves). Though it’s a landscape slider, it doesn’t slide to reveal what you’d normally expect — a keyboard, that is. Instead, you get a speaker, an unusual (though not unprecedented) concept that should make this a decent media device… and the kickstand around back should help with that, too. (via Engadget)

There is still no word on when HTC will release this phone to the masses, although thus far it looks like the company is making the same mistake as the Blackberry Torch by launching upon AT&T (the iPhone’s exclusive US carrier).

Carrier choice aside, the phone does look impressive, and hopefully we will receive some more tech specs in the future (either from HTC or Microsoft).

(via BGR, Image Credit: Engadget)

Like their iFoes before them, it looks like Android lovers will finally have a lighter phone to compete against the ever so elusive white iPhone 4.

HTC is releasing a white EVO 4G phone, which may appeal to the geeks who want to stand out from the masses and appear “hip” at the same time.

Now available in black and exclusive white online and in select stores.

Get ready for a rich, mobile Internet experience at Sprint 4G** speeds. The feature-packed HTC EVO 4G gives you the power to quickly download music, photos, files or videos in seconds. Stream video or create your own content and upload your creations to your favorite social network. (Best Buy)

Emphasis: Mine.

Unfortunately it looks as if HTC may be suffering from white smartphone shortage (something Apple is dealing with) which may have something to do with demand or material (or perhaps both?).

While many of my Android friends will probably clamor over this beauty, personally I find white smartphones (regardless of manufacturer) more of a irritation due their ability to attract “stains” due to their lighter color.

Either way its good to finally see HTC attempt to match Apple’s white iBeauty in the wild, even if the former lacks FaceTime.

Despite the fact that Apple’s iPhone 4 is still outselling its green robot rivals (despite Cupertino’s design flaw), it looks like HTC’s embrace of “all things Android” is starting to pay off (quite literally).

HTC has posted revenues of NT$ 23.858 billion (US$741.392 million) for June 2010, up 66.68% from a year earlier. Second-quarter revenues totaled NT$60.532 billion up 58.45% on year. (DigiTimes) More →