The best Smartphone in World

If you are looking to invest in a smartphone maker, your choices at first seem limited to Apple and a bevy of also-rans that are taking turns auditioning for the dubious distinction of becoming the next Palm.

Shares of Motorola Mobility (MMI), maker of the Droid phone and Xoom tablet, have fallen 22%. Nokia (NOK) has plunged 41% this year as investors worry that the Finnish company's partnership with Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) won't reverse the company's earnings and sales woes.

And then there's Research in Motion (RIMM). The Canadian maker of the BlackBerry and PlayBook tablet has lost more than half of its market value (and much of its credibility) this year as one earnings warning after another has investors fleeing for the exits.

But even Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) hasn't had that great of year. The stock is up only about 4%. That leads me to the best-performing smartphone maker, one that you may not be as familiar with because it doesn't trade in the United States: HTC.

HTC is based in Taiwan and trades on Taipei's stock exchange. But shares have been, much like the company's marketing tag line, "quietly brilliant." The stock is up more than 15% this year in Taiwan.

The company has enjoyed strong sales around the world with phones running on Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) Android operating system. In the U.S., HTC's Thunderbolt 4G phone for Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) has been a particularly big hit.

Motorola's uphill battle

According to a consensus of analysts that follow HTC's Taiwan shares, earnings are expected to increase at an average of nearly 30% a year over the next few years. Compare that to Apple, whose profits are expected to grow at a clip of 21% annually.

Even though HTC has more robust growth prospects, the stock trades for only about 12 times 2011 earnings estimates, a discount to Apple's P/E of about 14 times fiscal 2011 profit forecasts.

So should investors consider trying to cash in on HTC's success? And if so, how?

As fate would have it, HTC is a top holding in a relatively new exchange-traded fund of smartphone stocks: the First Trust NASDAQ CEA Smartphone Index Fund, or FONE (FONE).

That fund tracks a smartphone index which includes a large array of global companies in the mobile device business. In addition to the big smartphone makers, it also owns wireless chip companies, carriers and companies that operate cell phone towers.

But if you are looking for a way to own HTC that's more diverse than a collection of tech and telecom companies, several savvy global-themed mutual funds own the company as well. Two big holders are the Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund (ODMAX) and Thornburg International Value Fund (TGVAX).

Lei Wang, a portfolio manager with the Thornburg International Value fund in Santa Fe, N.M., said that HTC should be growing more rapidly than Apple right now since the Android operating system is still relatively new compared to Apple's iOS.

HTC shipped about 25 million phones worldwide last year. Wang said that he thinks that number could increase to 100 million within the next two years.

"HTC has done a fantastic job. Nobody had heard of this company in the U.S. three years ago and now the brand is widely recognized," he said.

So the smartphone business isn't just about Apple. And while it's still probably best to steer clear of Nokia, RIMM and Motorola -- which may or may not need to reach out to a savior like Palm did with HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) -- having some exposure to funds that own HTC is a nice way to play the Android trend.

HTC ChaCha Preview

HTC caused a stir at this year’s MWC when they announced the ChaCha and Salsa, two Android devices with their very own Facebook button. Unofficially dubbed the ‘Facebook phones’, the ChaCha allows you to easily update your Facebook status with a simple press of a button.

The HTC ChaCha is a mid-range QWERTY smartphone running on Google Android. Like the HTC Salsa, the ChaCha has a dedicated Facebook button that makes posting updates and pictures onto your Facebook profile easier. Instead of opening the Facebook application, pressing the button will bring you to a screen that allows you to compose your update and attach a picture. Pressing down the button will also allow you to check-in to Facebook ala Foursquare.

HTC recently upgraded the ChaCha’s ARM CPU clockspeed from 600MHz to 800MHz ARM. With 512MB RAM (plenty for a device of this range) and the latest Android Gingerbread 2.3.3, the ChaCha feels quick. It also comes with an accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS receiver and dual band HSDPA/HSUPA. A 2GB microSD memory card is bundled together, though the device can easily take a 32GB microSD card.

While the 2.6? LCD capacitive touchscreen display may be small, the HVGA resolution is decent. Still the screen here has already been outclassed by the recently announced Nokia E6 and Blackberry 9900, both of which offers 640×480 resolution. You will find a VGA front camera on the top of the display and a 5MP camera with auto-focus and LED flash on the back. Picture quality is decent as long as there are plenty of available light.

The device as a whole is well constructed with liberal amount of metal used on the outer shell, and at 124g, the ChaCha is reasonably light. The QWERTY keyboards are plastic in nature and provides a good amount of key travel and tactile feedback. Four directional keys can be found on the bottom right of the keyboard though I personally prefer a d-pad be placed below the screen. Behind you will find a 1250mAh battery – a decent amount for a device with such a small display, and the none-hot swappable sim and microSD card slots.

Like all of HTC’s Android smartphones, the HTC ChaCha comes preloaded with HTC Sense and an array of other HTC applications. A new lock screen similar to the one on the HTC Sensation is included. It offers a quick way on unlocking the screen by dragging application icons onto the unlock zone to simultaneously unlock the device and launch the application. The Sense installed here is version is 2.1 for Messenger and is optimised for landscape mode.

Verizon’s HTC Thunderbolt Price Cut

Amazon has started selling the HTC Thunderbolt for under $100 with data plan. As a reminder, the HTC Thunderbolt is Verizon’s first 4G LTE smartphone that features the Google Android 2.2 OS, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 4.3-inch LCD multitouch display and an 8-megapixel camera. The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network provides speeds up to 10 times faster than Verizon Wireless’ 3G network. With 4G LTE, you will enjoy simultaneous voice and data capabilities, allowing you to check e-mail, browse the web, download apps, and check directions on Google Maps while on a call

Motorola Droid Bionic Redesign surfaces showing off a qHD display

Motorola Droid Bionic was announced back at CES 2011 along with Atrix 4G, and Bionic was headed to Verizon Wireless. But then Motorola decided redesign Droid Bionic, and launch it as a completely different device. We recently showed you some leaked shots of Motorola Targa, which is actually codename of redesigned Droid Bionic. We saw a blurry shot back then, but now we finally have some clear shots of the Droid Bionic. The device was leaked twice with interesting shots and information. First batch contains back side images and an image with a laptop dock, as Motorola CEO said that there will be more devices in future with laptop dock functionality. The back side of the device is just like we saw in the image of Targa, but there is no hump like Droid X and Droid X2 on the camera side.



The Motorola Droid Bionic has gotten a slight redesign and seems to be a bit more square around the edges as opposed to its initial more round design. Simply put, the redesigned Droid Bionic seems to be very similar to the leaky Droid 3 and even a bit like the Droid 2. But enough with the comparisons, this is the Droid Bionic. The new leaks confirm the device is using a 4.5 inch qHD display and will be running the latest Android operating system version 2.3.4. The pictures also show off a bit of the devices user interface and exposes new 3D home screens which are a welcome addition to the MotoBlur skinning. These new pictures surely provide hope to anyone waiting on the Bionic to update their mobile lives and with summer right around the corner and Verizon’s LTE in full swing the launch of the Bionic is surely right around the corner. The leaky pictures of the Droid Bionic also show it sporting Webtop functionality with WebTop version 1.3 installed and ready to go. So the only mystery left is when will we get to see this little monster.



While the design of the Droid Bionic may be a bit big for most tastes, the power in which this Bionic will pack can surely make anyone forget about the size. So the leaks of the redesign have hit the airwaves, let’s take bets on launch, I say July. Let us know what you think of the newly designed Droid Bionic from Motorola.



In the second batch, the phone was compared with Atrix 4G and people, new Droid Bionic is really a monster. As you can see the image above, Atrix is like a baby in front of Bionic. Bionic features a 4.5 Inch display, an 8-MP camera with LED flash, and there is also a possibility that it will feature Texas Instruments OMAP4 dual-core processor instead of Tegra 2. It will also a bring a new 3D version of MotoBlur, and it will be running along with Android 2.3.4.

Well folks, that’s all we currently know about the Bionic. The device looks better than the old one I think, and hopefully Verizon will be launching it soon.

EVO 4G Gingerbread Update Already Rooted

Waiting on that rooted ROM for the EVO 4G Gingerbread update, eh? No worries – Viper from XDA has already got you covered. This is fully stock with the exception of it being prerooted, of course. You apply it like you would any ROM and off you are with Android 2.3, free of any of its proverbial chains.