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Not to be outdone by its nameless cousin with a set of four capacitive buttons, another HTC slate has made its way into spy shots – the one without the buttons we uncovered a couple of weeks ago that many guessed could be a placeholder device inside of the HTC Sync application. Such wasn’t the case: this device is as real as the HTC DROID Incredible it’s setting next to.
It’s another hefty one in terms of screen size. It lacks a front-facing camera, but has a DROID-ish-looking camera on the back. Its battery door also resembles that of the original DROID Incredible. We’ve almost completely written off the Incredible HD as we figured that’s what the Thunderbolt was, but is it safe to say that the Incredible HD was something totally different all along? [via Engadget]
Iphone much?
The silver accent in the front indeed makes it look like the iphone :/ but still its a nice looking device
@Mr.G2 : do you like panda?
Bah, that silver running round the outside. Too iPhones-like.
yeah looks way to much like an iphone and no ffc?
Reminds me of my vibrant when i still had the bobo ass bodyglove case
OK, for the visually impaired folks above, It’s clearly not a piece-o-crap iPhone. The silver is just a thin accent ring at the rim of the casing. It’s not a wrap around pretending to be an antenna. As for calling this a slate – hardly. The screen would have to be at least 5″ or larger for that category and this looks to be no bigger than a Droid X. While that’s nice, it makes it a large phone and not a slate. No capacitive or hardware buttons means taking up valuable screen space for normal functionality – Not off to good start. The iPhone sucks for this as well. Now let’s see the rest of the specs.
It clearly looks as if the buttons were photo shopped out. Think about it…why have that space below the screen if it’s gonna be an all-screen face? Why not use that extra real estate at the bottom?
@Null
Accent or not it is a copy off the iphone whether you say the iphone is crap or not its simply a true statement
SoKal gesture area? Didn’t one of HTC’s older WinMo phones have one?
My guess would be that there have to be buttons that illuminate once the phone is booted. Currently, there isn’t any Android OS or custom ROM that I know of–save Honeycomb which is currently tablet specific–that has the buttons displayed on the screen. How else could this work? New HTC Sense? Honeycomb to be released on the phone?
@NuLL.nVoiD I seriously doubt they were refering to the iphone 4 so pull out your tampon and chill. It does resemble the older ones thanks to the ring. And as far as buttons go I don’t think they were photo shopped but say maybe capacitive? It does look like alot of wasted space so I agree there must/ should be something there, or else it really is an odd waste of space.
The back is horrible
how is this a tab? there is a incredible sitting 4 inches from it on the right edge of the photo. It is hardly dwarfed by this thing
How will this be any different from the thunderbolt? If anything it might or might not be lte. HTC is starting to make To many phones a like. Different names same game.
Thinking about the empty space below the screen, anyone consider that they may just be capacitive buttons that are only visible when backlit? – ie, when the phones not in use, the butons aren’t visible for a “cleaner” look. It would explain the purpose of the empty space (which I wouldn’t consider big enough for a “gesture” area). Furthermore, considering the somewhat gaudy silver trim ring, I think they’re going after the iPhone-y, trendy, minimalistic look here.
@b3n no one called it a tab. I called it a slate. The definition of the word “slate” in modern technology has evolved to include devices which have nothing but touchscreens on the front. Particularly for the mobile phone industry, we’ve been describing large phones as slates since the HD2 was released.
it may be like the epic 4g where the capacitive touch buttons are nearly invisible unless the lights are on
Also, to those of you who think this is seems too much like the upcoming Thunderbolt – two considerations for you:
1. Since there doesn’t seem to be a FFC, this could very well be a 3G device. Not everyone will want to get a 4G phone (that will most likely have a more expensive data plan) especially since many people won’t have 4G coverage for a while.
2. No Android buttons and no display means no way to identify just what OS this thing is running. We may actually be looking at a WP7 device here – Verizon’s supposed to be getting some sometime this year, and HTC is producing them.
@bigdav it clearly says HTC sense on the back. Which hints towards android.
Im simply impressed with the bent (broken) USB plug in the background!
Clearly the Incredible HD. The back resembles the old Droid Incredible, with a more polished look. I agree the buttons on the front are most likely dim and will illuminate when touched. (much to small for a gesture area) Not a WP7 because of the HTC Sense designation on the back as Justin just pointed out. What’s left to speculate about?
Hope it is the hd have the first incredible would love to get that one
@Justin
“it clearly says HTC sense on the back. Which hints towards android.” – I stand corrected. Good spot!
Its the incredible 2. Just look at the first incredible the one to the left of the first picture. And nw the back of number 2, same.
All I see in that first pic is the Denver Broncos logo… just me? Crazy illusion.
Um check the right top corner of the phone does that not look like a front facing camera to anyone else?
I’ve said this a thousand times, so I’m sorry – but oh well: I’m no longer excited about HTC phones given their complete lack of decent accessories – namely, the Droid Incredible. In that department, Motorola definitely trumps HTC. It’s just too bad.
The picture of the back gives the impression that they have finally allotted space for a bigger battery out of the box!!! This would be a huge plus.
if you look close it does looks a teeny distorted where the buttons should be.or is it just me?
windows phone..seen the htc rep with it
That dude’s USB end thing is all bent!
Hopefully it is using one of those dual core snapdragon successors, whatever they’re called…scorpion or something?
As far as the silver outline, I’m not a fan, hopefully it is just a bad angle with some ridiculous reflection going on. Either way, if the hardware is there, I’ll get one.
As far as the back, I’ve always liked the back of my Droid Inc.
I’m liking the back of that phone… the lens cover on my DI keeps getting beat to hell. Also, looks like you could put 2150 mAh in there without having to get a new backcover.
The camera lens looks beefier than the one on my Dinc. Is that just the way the back wraps around it? Or is that due to it’s HD capabilities? Either way I’m stoked!
@iamsteventucker is right, it’s a windows phone coming out on verizon
Its not a WP7 phone, the images for this device are found inside the HTC Sync 3.x software, its how i leaked the original tip to Phandroid, it even has the newest Desire with the front facing camera, and confirms the Merge is still coming. HTC Sync is ANDROID ONLY.
What’s the dont at the top right of the screen? Looks kind of large to be a light sensor or proximity sensor.
D’oh! Dot, not dont.
@v8dreaming, if you recall, the Droid Incredible has 2 little dots to the left of the Verizon logo, they are the proximity sensor and light sensor
@NCX, I know. I have an Inc. I was stating that the dot on the phone in the picture appears to be larger than the dots on the Inc.
I also see that it doesn’t say “with google” anywhere on the phone.
@v8dreaming, when the original droid incredible first got leaked it was completely different, but had the same back. the original leak consisted of red buttons for the volume rocker, and the back was all orange with a brown hue to it. it only had the HTC logo with the Verizon logo in the place of the “With Google” logo.
http://nexus404.com/Blog/2010/03/11/htc-incredible-leaked-htc-incredible-pics-hit-web-verizon-happy/
@v8dreaming, oops, forgot the orange back.
http://www.v867.com/topic/htc-incredible-leaked-photos-and-details.html
Doesn’t the absence of hardware buttons make anyone else think handset honeycomb?… I mean assuming this is a real device or mock up of one.