htc titan II

Telstra officially announce HTC TITAN 4G Windows Phone

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 11:53

It's official, Telstra has announced the HTC TITAN 4G, which will be the first Windows Phone to make use of the faster network speeds. After weeks (if not months) of speculation and anticipation from Australian Windows Phone fans, the carrier has finally released details surrounding the HTC monster device. It's actually the HTC TITAN II that launched in the U.S., but will be branded as the HTC TITAN 4G.

This is great news for those who are awaiting for a 4G Windows Phone as this beast of a smartphone not only packs 4G speeds, but a 16MP camera, which we positively reviewed. Will Irving, Group Managing Director, Telstra Business comments:

"Windows Phone fans will soon be able to surf the mobile web, respond to email and access work documents faster than before on the HTC Titan4G – Australia’s first 4G Windows Phone which launches next Tuesday on the Telstra Mobile Network.” In a clear pitch to business users and enterprise customers. Australian small businesses have embraced smartphones to help them work where they want and to stay responsive to customers and new business opportunities.

The launch of the nation’s first 4G Windows Phone means small businesses can perform even more advanced tasks from the palms of their hands – like handling larger emails on the go, capturing and sending high-resolution images and video and accessing emerging cloud-hosted services direct from their smartphone screen. Best of all, Windows Phone is incredibly easy to navigate and immediately familiar to anyone who uses Microsoft’s popular Office software."

So we know it's the bees-knees, what about pricing? You can get your own for free on the $79 Freedom Connect plan (after using an included MRO bonus), which includes $800 worth of voice calls and MMS, unlimited SMS and 2GB data. The phone will be available outright for $888, should plans not be up your street.

Business customers can pick up the TITAN 4G for just $8/mo after using their MRO bonus on the $70 Business Mobile Advantage plan (24 months). This includes unlimited SMS, free voice calls to eligible mobiles, and 1GB data.

Source: WPDownUnder

Playing with the HTC Titan II's 16MP camera. Low-light and macro samples.

Submitted by Daniel Rubino on Wed, 04/11/2012 - 19:58

Earlier today, we compared and contrasted the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II on AT&T and each featuring 4G LTE. Both phones have their strengths and weaknesses but if there is one thing we can absolutely agree on is the impressive rear camera on the Titan II (review).

Featuring a back-side illuminated (BSI) sensor for excellent low-light performance, 16MP for high resolution, f/2.6 lens with dual LED flash, the Titan II has arguably one of the best cameras on a phone today (well, definitely on a Windows Phone). In fact, HTC in general has been investing heavily in cameras as of late, including their new flag ship Android phone, the One X (review), which has an 8MP BSI sensor with a jaw-dropping f/2.0 22mm lens.

There's no debate about it: the Titan II's rear camera crushes the Lumia 900's (review) That doesn't make the Lumia 900 a bad phone at all, in fact we find that the camera performs quite well in well-lit conditions and we're throwing down $450 on April 22nd for a glossy-white one to back up our opinion. But if photos matter to you, then the Titan II deserves a serious look. And if you have 4G LTE in your area to send those massive pics, it will certainly helps for those uploads.

Besides the exceptional camera hardware, HTC have done some really great work with the Titan II's camera software too. For instance, it's the first Windows Phone that we know of that has smile detection in addition to face detection. There's also an impressive red-eye reduction built in, burst mode for rapid shots and the familiar anti-shake option (ramps up ISO for non-blurred shots).

Those are very impressive and useful features but there's more. There's also 18 "scenes" including more obscure things like "Backlight portrait", "Night portrait", "Text", "Beach", "Foliage' and even a special setting for "Food". Yup, there's a pre-set mode for taking pictures of your latest meal. If you don't want to bother choosing your scene, just use the "Intelligent Auto" mode to automatically choose one for you (and yes, it's smart too). You even have some built in effects like "Vintage warm", "Vignette" and "Blue Tint" which can also be used for video. That's on top of what's built into the optional Photo Enhancer app by HTC.

But enough talk, lets see some photos. We walked around the streets of Manhattan snapping a couple of pics as well as some macro and regular shots for you to peruse and yes, we're linking to the full resolution pics for your pixel peepers out there. These photos have not been altered in any way except to remove some EXIF info like GPS from our home pictures. The dual LED flash was not used for any pictures.

Jump past the break to take a look...

HTC TITAN II available on AT&T April 8th for $199

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Mon, 03/26/2012 - 10:46

AT&T has officially announced availability dates for both the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC TITAN II in a press release sent out today. The TITAN II is also set to join the 900 and be launched on April 8th, for $199.99 on contract. Should you be on the network and awaiting solid second generation handsets, the choice of the TITAN II or Lumia 900 is certainly an intriguing one.

The HTC TITAN II, a 4G LTE Windows Phone, packs a 4.7" LCD display, 1.4Ghz chip, 16MP rear camera, 512MB RAM and 16GB storage space. The handset is also heading to Telstra in Australia in early April as well, with some UK stores removing the original TITAN from product lists - we could be seeing a global rollout later in April.

Source: AT&T

HTC TITAN II destined for Telstra in early April

Submitted by Daniel Rubino on Tue, 03/13/2012 - 00:40

Though we still don't have a confirmed release date here on AT&T for the HTC TITAN II with its 16MP camera (rumored: March 18th) and we haven't heard officially that it's going overseas, WPDownunder reported last week that Australia will be grabbing the device very soon.

Now however, we have a time-frame for release: Telstra will begin advertising the device on March 27th with an anticipated release date during the first two weeks of April. That's even ahead of the Lumia 900 (unlocked) which is expected to ship at the end of April (no word yet on a carrier release, though mid-year has been talked about).

It will be certainly interesting to see if Australia does indeed get the TITAN II this early. We reported yesterday that the first TITAN had been removed from some UK online stores, perhaps in anticipation of the TITAN II's launch--things do seem to moving in that direction.

Source: WPDownUnder

HTC TITAN II 4G Windows Phone coming to Telstra

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 06:39

WPDownUnder has reported that Telstra staff have received confirmation of the HTC TITAN II making its way to the Australian shores and onto the network. With the Lumia 800 being stocked at multiple sources across the country, as well as on Telstra itself, the situation is starting to pick up with regards to available hardware.

At an event last night, it was revealed that the HTC TITAN II (as well as another unnamed Android 4G handset) will be launching on Telstra this coming April. Even some lucky members of staff attending the event got the chance to take home a Lumia 800 with door prizes being handed out.

WPDownUnder expects the TITAN II to be available on the $79 /mo Freedom Connect plan, using the MRO bonus (no handset fee), and would total $1896 across the 24 month contract. Although, the site notes that should the HTC Velocity be anything to go by, then the TITAN II may also be available on the cheaper $59 plan, with a $5 /mo MRO free, totalling $1536.

What's more is that Nokia has reported that they're still in talks surrounding the introduction of the 4G international Lumia 900, which would further strengthen Australia's range of Windows Phones. Who would have thought last year that we would be seeing prosperous moves from both Microsoft and manufacturers in Australia?

Source: WPDownUnder; thanks Sheeds for the tip!

HTC Titan II coming to AT&T on March 18 for $200?

Submitted by Seth Brodeur on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 14:23

It looks like BGR isn't quite done with the leaks just yet. After reporting that the Nokia Lumia 900 would be coming to AT&T on March 18 at a price of $99, the tech site now sharing that HTC's Titan II will also be arriving the same day. However, don't expect the same alluring $99 price tag as the Lumia 900. Rumor has it that the mammoth HTC handset will run you double that, $200, with a 2-year contract. There's no mention of where this info came from, so as always, treat it as a rumor, and not set in stone.

The Titan II, which recently made an appearance in Entertainment Weekly, has the same 4.7" screen as its predecessor, but comes along with a whopping 16MP camera. It also packs a 1.5GHz CPU, 16GB of storage, and of course 4G LTE.

Source: BGR

Photo samples from the 16MP camera on the HTC TITAN II

Submitted by Daniel Rubino on Mon, 01/09/2012 - 20:55

So did you hear? The HTC TTTAN II features a massive 16MP camera--one of the highest we've heard of on a mobile phone. We're still pretty blown away by it. HTC doubled the "old" TITAN's 8MP camera in less than six months.

Now yes, megapixels aren't everything, in fact compared to the sensor and lens, megapixels are near the bottom. Still, for cropping and detail (resolution), we'll take a 16MP on our phone, thank you.

Our favorite thing about this feature on the TITAN II is that there's no difference in performance: they process just as fast and the camera just hums along like it was shooting at 8MP. No lag whatsoever, which we're very happy about.

How's the over all quality? Hard to say as we only had a few moments on a very, very bright day. Above are a couple of samples resized for our site. But we'll do you a solid and provide the untouched originals for you to download. That way you can tinker around. Cool? Only the best for you guys...!

Links after the break...

A few notes on LTE with Windows Phone (HTC TITAN II)

Submitted by Daniel Rubino on Mon, 01/09/2012 - 20:17

Howdy folks, we're still rocking it here at CES and we figured we would catch up on a few things. First off, is LTE and Windows Phones--how's it work?

More specifically, is there a "toggle" to turn it on or off? Short answer is 'no', there is not. At least when we searched up and down the HTC TITAN II (see hands on) there was certainly no switch outside of the generic "data" toggle under the Phone settings. When we asked HTC about it, they said a few things:

You'll need a "LTE SIM card", meaning you'll have to have your account set up for this. (This is also the beginning of GSM carriers locking in people to their networks, by the way)
The phone will use LTE when it can and switch to 3G/HSPA+ when it can't. In keeping with the "simple" motif of Windows Phone, the user will not have to manage this
What about battery life? The TITAN II certainly has ample battery and since this is the 2nd generation of LTE chipsets, battery life should be significantly better than our current Android counterparts. Plus, Microsoft looks to have aggressively attacked this issue. Still, proof is in the pudding, so we'll see in a few weeks.
Is it fast? Hard to say at CES as all the networks are congested here today. We easily hit between 3-6Mbps which sounds not very impressive but when you consider how taxed the network is here, it's actually pretty good. In fact browsing the web was quite enjoyable. But we'll know more up on release, when we can test on a "normal" day
Oh and our initial impression of the TITAN II: we liked it, a lot. The new curvy, unibody design is really top notch. It actually feels nicer in the hand and that chin helps when typing in landscape. Plus the that 16MP camera.

Anyways, hope that answers some of your questions...