HTC Signs 3-Year Exclusive Nexus Manufacturing Deal: Report

There have been recent reports about HTC manufacturing the next Nexus device this year in collaboration with Google. Now, a new report from China claims that Google's parent company, Alphabet, has signed a three year contract with HTC to make Nexus devices. If this comes out to be true, we may see HTC unveiling its Nexus devices as platform lead devices for the upcoming Android N version, as well as Android O and Android P in next two years.

The Chinese publication claims that the deal with HTC includes manufacturing the Nexus phones only but we may see a change later. It's worth noting that the Taiwanese company launched the Nexus One - the first Nexus device - in 2010, and had also worked with Google for the Nexus 9 tablet.

Considering that LG has already revealed that it won't launch a Nexus device this year, we may expect HTC to replace the South Korean maker. To recall, LG launched the Nexus 4 back in 2012, followed by the Nexus 5 in 2013. The company took a year's break, and came back with the Nexus 5X in 2015.

Based on preliminary leaks, HTC is likely to add the 3D Touch like display feature in its rumoured Nexus smartphone this year. A report from January suggested that the Taiwanese company in collaboration with Google is expected to unveil two Nexus-branded smartphones this year.

Google is likely to reveal its next mobile operating system, believed to be called Android N initially, at the I/O conference from May 18 to 20 in Mountain View, California. Much like Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Android N can be expected to be launched later this year with the new Nexus hardware.

Virtual reality set to transform filmmaking

Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard

Explained: Camera Improvements in the New HTC 10

With the HTC 10, the Taiwanese company is promising to undo the past wrongs in the cameras of its previous flagship phones. The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. At first, HTC sacrificed image resolution in the M8 and made the size of individual pixels larger to capture more light (what HTC called Ultrapixel). But the resulting 4 megapixel images were often fuzzy, especially when cropped or enlarged. To fix the issue, in its next flagship - the M9 - HTC went with smaller individual pixels in a 20-megapixel camera last year, but it still underperformed in extreme situations, such as indoors and close-ups. In the HTC 10, the company attempts to strike a balance with larger individual pixels (1.55µm), but not as large as before and a 12 megapixel sensor in its camera coupled with a ƒ/1.8 lens. HTC accepts that in the imaging performance in the M9 was not up to the kind of spec of what they really like to see in a flagship. HTC is giving a slight boost to the selfi...

Freedom 251: 30,000 Units Sold, Components for Up to 2.5 Million Will Be Imported

Ringing Bells, the makers of the Rs. 251 smartphone - the Freedom 251 - confirmed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it has still only accepted payments for 30,000 units of the phone. It also added that the components for these phones will be imported, and only assembled in India, not made here. Ringing Bells stopped accepting orders on February 19, and claims to have received over 70 million registrations. The company President and Director both repeatedly stated that the price of the phone would be made possible through economies of scale, and making the phone in India to cut out import costs. Economies of scale? However, in a discussion with Gadgets 360 the company revealed that it had only sold 30,000 units of the phone on day one. The company has now confirmed that it has not sent out the payment emails to anyone else who registered - "we were working out details of cash on delivery, which we are announcing now, so we will be sending emails to the first 2.5...

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