It's been exactly one week since the HTC event took place at the Mobile World Congress de Barcelona, in which I almost ended up crying. We are not going to fool ourselves: the expectations we had before the event were not too high. The company's most coveted product for this presentation was the HTC One M9, its high-end model that would replace the current M8 and about which practically everything was already known, thanks to the leaks that we had seen in the previous days.
Thus, we did not have high hopes for the conference, nor did we believe that it would be an event of special relevance within the context of the MWC. Unfortunately, it was. In the scarce half hour that the presentation lasted, the Taiwanese presented three new products, but the feeling they left was of having seen a very decaffeinated event in general. Let's go easy.
HTC One M9
As I said, at the time of the event the interest in this product was minimal. To the leaks of previous days, new ones had been added that morning, practically leaving the jewel of HTC in minor cloth. Once at the presentation, we were able to confirm each and every one of the rumors. The new HTC One follows a very continuous design that we have not liked at all. Innovation is conspicuous by its absence and the only changes that we have seen on an aesthetic level have been in issues such as the camera, the thickness of the device or its colors (with a new bubblegum pink color that is not expected from a model with these characteristics).
Inexplicably, HTC has decided to retain one of the most characteristic features of the brand and the most stupid time when talking about usability: the initials of the company in the lower front frame. This creates a "dead" zone between the screen and the body of the device that is totally useless and of no benefit. One of the few innovations presented to us at the event was the camera, which we were told had undergone a major upgrade. All this on paper, because the tests say otherwise, stating that the camera of this HTC is still insufficient for what is expected of a product of these characteristics. Even more inexplicable is that, with all the shortcomings it has, its price is $749.
HTC Grip
HTC Vive
As the thing goes about collaborations, here is another product made jointly with another company. This time it has been Valve (owner of Steam) in charge of working together with HTC to present us a new product that also opens a new category in the company: virtual reality glasses. The truth is that they are not the first, nor will they be the last, to join the virtual reality movement, a very young market, with many opportunities and through which the video game industry will sooner or later.
The HTC Vive represent a great step not only for the company, but for the entire industry in general, since it comes to stand up to Oculus Rift (and it will probably succeed), which will lead to an important advance in the rest of the companies in the sector. The bad part is that it is a still unfinished product, which will be available throughout the year for developers but we do not know when or how it will reach users.
That the presentation was nothing to write home about, we are not concerned. What really makes us pause is that it's HTC itself that isn't shining at all lately. A very poor innovation in the smartphone section, a bracelet with insufficient autonomy and unfinished glasses. This is how the Taiwanese company begins the year. Like not to cry.