HTC this morning unveiled its new flagship smartphone, the HTC One, an LTE device with an aluminum unibody and a 4.7-inch HD screen, running Android Jelly Bean. The new phone will be available in March, and carriers will include Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile USA.
And then there’s the new HTC “Blinkfeed” feature that will come with the device. Here’s the description from the official HTC blog post: “Blinkfeed brings previously hidden content to the home screen, so you can see the things that are most interesting to you at a glance, without having to open a series of apps.”
Sound familiar? Yes, that could easily be a pitch for Windows Phone. The concept is very similar, although the implementation as a unified feed is somewhat different. (Microsoft’s Windows Phone Live Tiles are still connected to individual applications, surfacing content from each on the home screen. The Redmond company actually tried more of a ‘social stream’ approach in its ill-fated Kin devices.)
HTC, which has its North American headquarters in Bellevue, is a longtime Microsoft partner that still makes Windows Phones, but branched out some time ago to embrace Android, as well, finding itself in a bit of a tough spot vs. Samsung’s strong lineup of Android devices.
The phone maker has signed up a long list of partners to supply content for Blinkfeed, which will be customizable by the user.
