HTC has unveiled its new One M9 mobile device at the Mobile World Congress, and it appears to be banking on customizability to win over consumers, according to an article by Samuel Gibbs for The Guardian.
Many of the new device’s technical aspects – the Snapdragon 810 processor, the 20MP camera, etc. – are unsurprising, given the leak that appeared late last month. But what is news is the degree to which the device offers customization. As anticipated, the device runs on Android Lollipop, but the OS has HTC’s own “Sense 7” user interface running on top of it. That allows users to customize things like typeface, icons, sounds – “almost every aspect of the phone,” writes Gibbs. It also features a system called Sense Home, which is able to learn the user’s behaviour patterns with respect to app usage, and to anticipate what app they might like to launch in certain contexts.
It’s an interesting approach to finding some way for the company to distinguish itself from the competition. Advancing and cheapening technology has led to a flood of relatively high-tech smartphones into the lower end of the market, while at the top the major players are reaching “feature parity” and are starting to compete primarily on the basis of design. While Apple devotees will certainly continue to leave the design decisions to Apple, many other consumers could prove interested in the One M9’s customization options when the device launches in early spring.
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