“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” seems like a fitting phrase to describe HTC’s roller coaster ride in the smartphone industry year over year. It feels like every other year HTC is either on the cutting edge of technology or making some sort of decision that nobody but HTC understands. But when you take those “off” years out of the equation and focus on only the good, you have to admit that HTC has implemented some pretty great features, two of which have been retired, and two of which I strongly feel should be re-implemented in future HTC phones: the kickstand and the dual front-facing speakers.
I’ll start with my defense of the kickstand. When the HTC EVO 4G first launched, its 4.3-inch display was largely considered too big. When compared to the 3.5-inch standard on the iPhones at the time, it certainly seemed that way. Of course, as we can see, we adjusted just fine to that screen size and then some. Along with its large display, one of the more understated features of the EVO was its permanent metal kickstand on the back of the device.
The kickstand was great for a number of things for me: watching movies on the EVO’s “big” screen, propping up on my nightstand to use as an alarm clock, and also setting it up for an optimal mobile gaming experience with a controller. Now that media consumption on smartphones is at an all-time high and screens are bigger than ever (and still growing thanks to shrinking bezels) I feel like now is as good of a time as any to bring the kickstand back. Not a kickstand case, mind you, but a fully integrated kickstand.
Arguably more iconic than the kickstand, HTC’s introduction of dual front-facing speakers on the original HTC One was one of my favorite aspects of the phone because it just made sense. When you’re watching videos, your phone is facing you; when you set your phone down and play music, it makes sense for the speakers to face up and into the room for maximum volume and clarity. Front-facing speakers just made more sense than putting them anywhere else, so I was a bit baffled when HTC ended up removing that feature in the HTC 10.
I believe that reimplementing these two features could boost enthusiasm for HTC. The aluminum unibody thing worked for a while until everybody else started using it, and now HTC devices look about as generic as they can be. But a kickstand? Dual front-facing speakers? These are features that no other smartphone is going to have. Especially with so many manufacturers allegedly focusing on smaller bezels, the market for front-facing speakers is going to be wide open – and I feel like that’s a feature that could still be milked. I think there are a surprising amount of people that don’t give a hoot about bezels that could be sold on other useful features like front-facing features and the kickstand (which, by the way, nobody else does).
I wrote an article not too long ago regarding how I considered HTC 10 the most forgettable phone of 2016, which was a shame because it was actually a pretty great phone all things considered. While dual front-facing speakers and a kickstand might not remedy that on its own, I do think that bringing back some unique features couldn’t hurt.
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