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It’s well known that HTC are my favourite manufacturer, and I love their range of smartphones (well, most of them, anyway… I’m jot hugely keen on the HTC Titan, but that’s more to do with it being a Windows Phone), but one thing I’m not a massive fan of is their tablet range. And by tablet range, I mean the one tablet of theirs that I’ve seen, the HTC Flyer. I don’t hate it, but I don’t particularly like it, either. It’s just sort of… there.

Anyway, according to IntoMobile, it seems that HTC are going to be going back to the drawing board, in terms of what they’re going to do with their tablets, and what strategy is best for that market. So, in what brave, new direction are they taking them?

Well, HTC’s online global communications manager, Jeff Gordon, had this to say: “What we’ve learned is that we need to differentiate. We’re really trying to rethink how we approach tablets … we’re not just trying to be another voice in the noise.”

How are they going to do that, then? Well, I’m not entirely sure, to be honest. I’d say “OnLive access”, but as the source article points out, that’s an app available to Android devices in general, now, so they’d have to come up with something pretty unique, to differentiate there. Beats Audio (as seen… well, heard, really… in the HTC Sensation XE) is something that lets them stand out, though, so that’s a shoe-in for inclusion in future tablets.

The big differentiator, I’m thinking, is the Sense UI, which they already used on the HTC Flyer. Is it beyond the realms of possibility that they could come up with something new and exciting, revolving around Sense, for their tablet devices? Y’see, I love the Sense UI, but I’m so used to seeing it on smartphones that seeing it on a tablet was weird. So, maybe make a version of Sense just for tablets?

Anyway, time will tell, and I’m sure I’ll blog about it again, when they do decide what they’re doing next…

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As you know, I have a real soft spot for phone adverts that are funny, or awesome, or weird, or outright bleedin’ mental, with the high watermark, for me, being the Samsung advert with the bungee-jumping elephants bungee. One thing I’ve never seen before, though, is a phone advert starring the goddess Kali…

Yeah, many questions are running through my mind, now. Are they saying that you need six arms to work the HTC Rhyme? That Hindu gods prefer HTC phones? Is it merely an advert or is it also a cry for help? Have the creative team been consulting arcane horrors and abominations from beyond the Veil (yes, I am currently playing a Dragon Age game, why do you ask)?

I’ll tell ya what would have taken this advert into the realms of sheer, demented genius, though; if they’d made up the model to actually look like Kali, as she’s shown in all the pics. Alright, granted, they probably wouldn’t sell many phones if they did, but damn, it’d be funny…

So, if you’re a Hindu god, with six arms, then the HTC Rhyme will be the perfect phone for you. At least I think that’s what the advert’s meaning is.

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Before we begin, let me apologise for the awful joke in the title. I know it was a groaner, but I went with it, anyway. Go figure. Anyway, the point is that I’ve just seen a rather brilliant video, about the Nexus S being taken into SPAAAAAAAACE, onboard the shuttle Atlantis…

So, what was the point of sending a Nexus S into space? Simple: “explore how robots can help humans experiment and live in space more efficiently.”

Basically, they hooked up phones to robot satellites called SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites), and set ‘em to work doing things normally done by the actual human astronauts; stuff like recording sensor data and video. NASA also developed a special sensor logging app for the mission, and the best news is that they’ve made that app available on the Android Market!

I’m not entirely sure what you’d use your HTC Sensation for, that would necessitate NASA’s sensor app, but there ye go.

So yeah. SPACE!

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Now then, I’ve not paid a great deal of attention to Huawei in the past, and there are two very good reason for that. Firstly, their phones, so far, have been OEM models, which went on to be rebranded by other people, and which were basically never as nice as comparable phones made by people like HTC. Secondly, I cannot for the life of me, pronounce the name ‘Huawei’, because it’s Chinese, and I’m a typical small town Englishman. I therefore think that “foreign languages” are made up entirely of English, but spoken in a louder voice.

However, according to Engadget, I now have a reason to pay attention, because they’ve now announced the Huawei Vision, and IT… IS… GORGEOUS…

Look! All shiny, and metallic, and slim, and luvverly! And it’s got specs around the same level as the HTC Desire S (3.7 inch screen, 1GHz processor, all that kinda stuff), so it’s no slouch in the power department. That ain’t the best bit, though. No sirree, the best bit is this: if you look at the pics of it that have appeared online, you’ll see that the “new 3D interface”, that Huawei keep going on about, is actually SPB Shell 3D.

And I adore SPB Shell…

So, in short, the phone looks smurfing fantastic, but I still don’t know how to pronounce Huawei (Hwa-way? Hooo-argh-wee? Help me out here). Based on the mood this new phone has put me in, though, I’m going to simply call them “WAHEY“. Although HTC are still better, because they’re based in the Republic of China, not the People’s Republic of China. What’s the difference?

Simple, HTC live in the democratic bit…

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I’ve said it before, and because I like repeating myself, I’ll say it again; apps are the big thing that modern smartphones are judged on. Whether it’s the iPhone, or the Android-powered HTC Sensation, or one of the upcoming Nokia phones on Windows Phone 7, apps are really, really important for modern smartphones.

So, the fact that TNW is now reporting that Windows Phone 7 has 25,000 apps available is rather heartening. Granted, that figure is nowhere near the 200,000 on Android, or the half a million available on iOS, but it’s shot up from just 18,000 in May, and I’d call that quite positive.

As always, games top the charts…

Yup, as you’d expect, things like Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies (both of them now legitimate phenomena, instead of mere games) are right up the top of the Windows Marketplace download lists, and I can’t say I’m surprised. Those two games have been huge on other platforms, and with Xbox Live built-in, Windows Phone 7 would seem to be the natural home for them.

So yeah, basically, Windows Phone 7 seems to finally be gaining traction amongst developers, and quite frankly, it’s about time. I’m betting we’re going to see even more apps when the Mango update (and more importantly, the platform’s appearance in Nokia phones) actually happens.

Then we’ll see Windows Phone 7 is really capable of…

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