Report : Beats Audio To Buy Out Remaining HTC Stake For $265 Million

Report : Beats Audio To Buy Out Remaining HTC Stake For $265 Million
   


Reports are coming in that HTC is indeed 
about to sell its stake back to Beats. In 2010, HTC owned 50 percent of Beats, before selling half last year for $150 million. The remaining 25 percent has increased in price considerably since then, as the new deal will close at $265 million.

It seems that Beats has already taken on a new partner in the form of Carlyle Group, which is said to be investing $500 million into Beat’s expansion efforts.

“We are confident that Beats will continue to drive innovation and growth in the premium audio accessory market, particularly as the proliferation of smart phones and tablets stimulate increased consumption of digital media,” Sandra Horbach, a managing director at Carlyle, said in a statement.

Now that the partnership is ending, Beats is free to continue down the path of pushing its Beats audio technology into other products including in-car dashes, HP computers and – of course- its premium headphone line. For HTC, it means a pretty hefty cash infusion that can help the company can (hopefully) use to further facilitate growth and recovery after years of struggle. 

Founded in 2006 by rapper Dr. Dre and Iovine, chairman of music label Interscope, Beats has come to dominate the market for pricey headphones. According to the NPD Group, Beats has grabbed more than 60 percent of the U.S. market for headphones costing more than $100. Its signature headsets retail for between $200 and $400.

Read More

HTC BoomBass : A Bluetooth Subwoofer With NFC

With its dual front-facing speakers, the HTC One smartphone already provides some of the best noise you’ll get from a phone. If that’s not quite enough for you then check out the BoomBass. The HTC BoomBass is a little device that measures 64mm³ but can supercharge the sound coming from your aluminium-shod phone. It’s a rubberised unit, with the bottom layer a natty orange/red colour, sitting underneath a grey section. The lower area actually slides out to provide a dock for your HTC One, finally giving a proper area to watch your visualisations and sing along with the lyrics if you’re that way inclined. It does as its name suggests and only delivers the low bass frequencies to help give a better overall sound when used in conjunction with the aforementioned dual speakers. It has a built-in battery, so won’t drain your phone’s, and has been designed to slide out so that the phone can be popped on top, making it a sort of mini dock. Pairing is simple enough, achieved via NFC, and the low frequencies are sent from your phone to the BoomBass using Bluetooth 3.0. Supplying a discrete subwoofer and nothing more is a bit interesting, since HTC already has the Beats Pill accessory which works well. Pricing and availability are yet to be revealed.  Press Release Boosting the bass for HTC One In the HTC One, HTC redefined the smartphone sound experience with HTC BoomSound and has now raised the bar again with the introduction of a new accessory for the HTC One family. HTC BoomBass, a compact, Bluetooth-enabled subwoofer with a dedicated amplifier, provides clearer, more powerful bass when combined with the HTC Onefamily’s BoomSound. The subwoofer enables HTC BoomSound’s speakers to produce enhanced quality of lower range frequencies so, no matter what music you’re playing or video you’re watching, you are guaranteed immense and exceptional sound that can travel with you.

Read More

HTC Desire 600 Dual Sim Unboxing and Hands On

Specifications Company/Brand HTC Type Smartphone OS Android 4.1.2 with HTC Sense and Blinkfeed Price Rs. 23,700 Announced July 2013 Hype 2/5 Chipset Qualcomm MSM8625Q Snapdragon 200 Processor Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A5 GPU Adreno 203 RAM 1 GB RAM Battery Li-Ion 1860 mAh battery Primary Camera 8 MP , 1/3.2'' sensor size, 1.4µm pixel size Secondary Camera 1.6 MP Video Capabilities 720p@30fps Auto Focus Tap to focus, face detection Zoom Digital Weight 130 gms Dimensions 134.8 x 67 x 9.3 mm Main Display 540 x 960 pixels, 4.5 inch In-Built Storage 8 GB Special Features Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by) HTC is ready to bring its flagship features to the masses with the new HTC Desire 600 Dual Sim. The Smartphone running Android 4.1 Jelly bean also features the Latest HTC Sense and Blinkfeed UI. Laid out with a 4.5 inch 540 x 960 px Super LCD2 capacitive touchscreen display, it has a nimble 242 ppi pixel density. Cameras are borrowed from the HTC 8X with a 8 MP snapper 1/3.2” sensor size, 1.4µm pixel size. The front facing camera is a 1.7 MP shooter both will do 720p video. The HTC Desire 600 dual sim is based on a Qualcomm MSM8625Q Snapdragon 200 with a Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A5 and an Adreno 203, all of which according to the company can tak on any Mediatek based handset offering similar features. The Build quality and feel of the HTC Desire 600 Dual Sim is definitely great. With its rubberized grippy back panel and slim brushed steel bezel the dual sim smartphone is really worth of the brand. The box we got is not a retail box , but the usual in-box items should include : Handset Earphones USB Cable Warranty User Guide Wall Charger 1860 mAh Battery HTC has not left out on the usual Sense features bundling 25 GB Dropbox storage. Check out the unbxoing video (uploading) and stay tuned for Gaming Benchmarks and full review shortly.

Read More

Blue HTC One Spotted, Early Android 4.3 Build For The Device Leaks

A blue version of the HTC One is coming, and what was previously only a render is now a fully-fledged leaked device. A version of the device in a sea-coloured hue was spotted on a subway train in China, and was uploaded to Mobile01, a smartphone-related forum. This confirms the previous leak by evleaks and a leaked casing of the handset in the same colour. HTC must be planning its HTC One follow-up already, as the device was announced in February and released in April. Rumours of a One Max persist, with an announcement slated for early next month. At present, the HTC One has been released with 3 colour variants, Silver, Black and Red. An early build of Android 4.3 has leaked to XDA, and one developer, LlabTooFeR, has already released a custom ROM with the build as a base. Build 3.09.401.1 still uses Sense 5.0, but has a number of minor improvements, including Bluetooth LE support, improved animations throughout the OS, the ability to use your own music for video highlights and, unfortunately, a task manager added to the app drawer.

Read More