HTC New Eden Project

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Hi everyone! It's Jason, the concept maker.
A lot of powerusers seemed disappointed by recent HTC devices, so I think the best course of action is to let HTC, and a lot of other companies in general, get to know what we want better.
This is where this project comes in. In the same spirit as the Nokia Design by Community project, the New Eden concept will be a platform for what we want in an HTC smartphone.
BriefMobile.com will be hosting this project as it develops. What we want are simple, practical, suggestions on this forum for what you, the poweruser, want in an HTC smartphone.
More details are on this BriefMobile page.

Jason and BriefMobile would like to invite users to participate in the Eden concept project by suggesting possible specifications for the dream device. Suggestions should be practical and possible, but be imaginative! We’ll be updating this post as ideas flood in from the forums and comments below. The end result will be a pseudo-petition to HTC for a revolutionary mobile device.

Comments could tackle anything ranging from appearance, to software, to materials, or even colors. Heck, even a name change suggestion is good with me.
If you're idea will be used in the final concept, you will be PMmed.



PS: If you have a good rendering box, could you please PM me? My computer is really struggling with putting quality images in a timely fashion.

This screen.
1GB+ RAM.
Dual-core CPU with decent graphics performance (if need be, look to suppliers other than Qualcomm) - that screen will need a fair amount of processing clout to back it up.
A big-ass battery.

Nice looking

For me:

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I'd like a device where I wouldn't have to touch the screen to scroll. Maybe a reactive sensor built into the case that I could slide my hand and scroll the screen. Not a wheel or buttons, but something integrated into the screen or case. See the red line in the pic.

too much wasted real estate on your design.

Use the HD2 as a starting point and improve from there.

Originally Posted by Step666

This screen.
1GB+ RAM.
Dual-core CPU with decent graphics performance (if need be, look to suppliers other than Qualcomm) - that screen will need a fair amount of processing clout to back it up.
A big-ass battery.

Wow that screen is impressive! The concept pictured has a 4.0 in display, but that can definitely change to accommodate this. Very right about the processor thing.

Originally Posted by silentP

I'd like a device where I wouldn't have to touch the screen to scroll. Maybe a reactive sensor built into the case that I could slide my hand and scroll the screen. Not a wheel or buttons, but something integrated into the screen or case. See the red line in the pic.

Ah, like a capacitive jog-dial. Now you're thinking!

Originally Posted by lude219

too much wasted real estate on your design.

Use the HD2 as a starting point and improve from there.

I know, but at a 4.0 in device, this still has smaller dimensions than the Nexus S from all sides. The overhangs are a way to disguise the extra space needed for components, including the battery, camera module, and board. On a 4.3 in device, those overhangs can be removed due to the used surface area by the screen. It's all about device volume.

I do have 2 4.3 in concepts you might like

Concept 1
Concept 2

Your concept 2/HD3 one is what I'm talking about. Very industrial and sleek. Though for the capacitive keys at the bottom, I think a better design would to get rid of the bottom row, and instead, incorporate a hardware button on the side to toggle the onscreen/virtual buttons (menu, search, back, etc). Of course, having a realistic design is one thing, but for a concept, I think the future will do away with front buttons for a more cleaner look and thus having an effective full size screen from corner to corner with 3-4mm of bezel in between. I mean, looking back 5 years, you have hard keys gradually evolving into soft keys and it's only a natural evolution to have no keys at all. Virtual keys would be the new thing.

Originally Posted by lude219

Your concept 2/HD3 one is what I'm talking about. Very industrial and sleek. Though for the capacitive keys at the bottom, I think a better design would to get rid of the bottom row, and instead, incorporate a hardware button on the side to toggle the onscreen/virtual buttons (menu, search, back, etc). Of course, having a realistic design is one thing, but for a concept, I think the future will do away with front buttons for a more cleaner look and thus having an effective full size screen from corner to corner with 3-4mm of bezel in between. I mean, looking back 5 years, you have hard keys gradually evolving into soft keys and it's only a natural evolution to have no keys at all. Virtual keys would be the new thing.

Ahhh I know what you mean. A bit like this without the bezel on the side?

exactly! Though I know it's not for everyone, but if the intention of the idea/concept is to create a high-end smartphone for the future, everything has to be big, sleek and seamless. For instance, god forbid if I say this, but the iphone4 is heading toward that direction. You have a phone that doesn't have odd buldge from the camera or a hump in the back for the gps and whatnot and it's just a wonderful design sans the screen size. Rumor has it that Apple might be getting rid of the round button at the bottom and will probably utilize some sort of switch on the side to toggle the onscreen buttons/menus.

Originally Posted by lude219

I think a better design would to get rid of the bottom row, and instead, incorporate a hardware button on the side to toggle the onscreen/virtual buttons (menu, search, back, etc).

That's something I've pondered about from time to time, except I envisaged a secondary layer to the screen using some form of transparent LCD/OLED tech that the function buttons would appear on, so that they were completely disconnected from the main screen and would still function if, say, an app had frozen, in the way that proper buttons continue to work even if what's happening on screen has started to mess up.

There'd still need to be some hardware buttons other than the power button though, otherwise how would we boot into recover/bootloader etc?

Originally Posted by lude219

exactly! Though I know it's not for everyone, but if the intention of the idea/concept is to create a high-end smartphone for the future, everything has to be big, sleek and seamless.

Well, in that case, can't we do one better than Apple?
Especially if it's just going to be a concept...

Imagine a phone with completely rounded-off edges, kinda like two iPhone 3GSs placed screen-to-screen, only thinner of course.
You could have the screen cover the entire front half of the phone, including the front of the the curved areas. That'd be truly seamless.


Of course, that's just if you're limiting yourself to a semi-conventional design.
Given the potential advances in flexible displays in the next couple of years as well as recent breakthroughs in creating flexible circuitry, future smartphones could be very different indeed...