Engadget Daily: The FCC’s new net neutrality rules, HTC’s One Mini 2 and more!

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

FCC votes in favor of new Net Neutrality rules, leaves room for ‘fast lanes’

Today, the FCC voted on a new set of Net Neutrality rules, and not surprisingly, the outcome was a split decision. Thankfully, nothing’s set in stone just yet. The final vote will take place later this year.

HTC’s One Mini 2 is an awkwardly named, cut-down version of the excellent One M8

The HTC One Mini 2 is here, and surprise, it looks just like the One M8. But despite its similar appearance, this miniature handset has been downgraded in almost every department. Even still, the Mini 2 remains a great option for those on a budget who want that premium feel.

How a water bottle gave birth to a whole new world of self-healing products

Sometimes great things happen by accident. Read on and learn how a Dasani water bottle and laboratory error lead an IBM researcher to develop the tech behind a self-healing and flexible polymer.

Wearhaus: If you love your social headphones, set them free

Social headphones you say? A company called Wearhaus wants to empower over-ears with the ability to wirelessly share music with anyone. Our own James Trew loves the idea, but fears it won’t catch on.

Filed under: Misc

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HTC One Remix is coming to Verizon

HTC One (M8) is HTC’s flagship and pretty much everyone knows that, however HTC is dangerously stepping into Samsung’s territory by pushing HTC One brand on a bunch of devices.

HTC already announced HTC One (M8) Harmon Kardon edition, we’ve had some leaks of HTC One (M8) mini and now HTC One Remix name has surfaced. HTC looks eager to push as many devices they can with the HTC One brand. There’s not much to go on here, all it says in the leak is “HTC One Remix” and “coming to Verizon” but it has plenty of credibility considering it’s coming from @evleaks, considering their track record of course, plus there’s a “HTC One Remix” entry in USPTO filing so the device is definitely a reality.

What do you think/hope this device will turn out to be, another music centered device or maybe something unexpected, a hardware change perhaps? We can only guess, until then you can find our HTC One review here, David did a great job on it and confirmed it’s one of the best smartphones around.

SOURCE: @evleaks, USPTO
VIA: Pocketnow

The post HTC One Remix is coming to Verizon appeared first on AndroidGuys.

HTC’s One Mini 2 is an awkwardly named, cut-down version of the excellent One M8

There’s a lot riding on today’s announcement. A smaller, cheaper, perhaps more mainstream version of the lovely (but long) HTC One M8 could be a good thing not only for phone buyers, but also for HTC itself, which urgently needs to capitalize on the M8′s momentum. Well, the HTC One Mini 2 is here, and yes, its 4.5-inch display makes it significantly easier to hold in one hand, and it’s certainly going to be more affordable (although we don’t have exact pricing just yet). But this size-reduced handset is fundamentally different to the M8 in other ways too, especially on the inside. That’s why HTC has deliberately avoided calling it the “M8 Mini,” for fear of over-hyping it — a decision that probably deserves some praise for its honesty, but which has resulted in some pretty clumsy branding. We’ve just been hands-on with the European LTE version of the phone (the only variant that has so far been announced), so go ahead and read on for our initial impressions and the key specs.

On the subject of whether smaller phones necessarily ought to be lesser phones, it’s clear that HTC doesn’t agree with Sony, and it doesn’t want to tread the same path as the high-specced Xperia Z1 Compact. The One Mini 2 is aesthetically very similar to its larger sibling, which is a good thing, but internally it has been downgraded in every major department, not least in relying on a quad-core Snapdragon 400 chip (with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage) instead of the extremely battery-efficient Snapdragon 801 in the M8. On the other hand, those upgrading from a last-gen HTC One Mini might seem some improvement in performance, but the older phone’s chip was only dual-core, not quad.

The One Mini 2 also drops the M8′s secondary depth camera and Ultrapixel sensor in favor of a more bog-standard, 13-megapixel module — not a bad switch, perhaps, to those who regard HTC “Duo Camera” as a gimmick, but to our minds it’s a serious compromise that results in obviously worse low-light performance, and frankly we’ll miss the M8′s fast and enjoyable selective-focus effects.

Then again, other key parts of the HTC One experience are very much present and correct in this smaller model. That includes the generous dollop of aluminum that makes up much — although not all — of the phone’s chassis, and which is a huge help in giving the phone a premium air. The 720p LCD display (not 1080p like the M8) stood up well during our limited time with the phone, and the pixel density is fine. There’s room for a microSD drawer (phew!) as well as front-facing BoomSound speakers that provide audio quality you simply wouldn’t expect from a phone of this size. A healthy 5MP front-facing camera will take care of your selfies using HTC’s well-designed camera app, and of course you’re also going to get the same friendly, useful Sense 6 skin on top of Android, including Zoe Highlight Videos and BlinkFeed.

Expect to see the One Mini 2 in European stores from the end of this month, with the same three color options as the M8 (gunmetal gray, glacial silver and amber gold), and stay tuned for news of a US variant, which must surely be inbound soon. Meanwhile, we’ll get to work on a full review to test out things like battery life — the One Mini 2 only packs a 2,100mAh battery, but raw figures never tell us everything.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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