HTC Vigor boasts vigorous Beats by Dre styling
The upcoming HTC Vigor Android blower looks set to be the G-Funk pioneer's first foray into smart phone audio wizardry.
The HTC Vigor appears to have leaked online, and judging from the cut of its clothing this Android smart phone could be the first mobile to 'rock' Beats by Dre technology.
HTC and the good doctor announced a "strategic partnership" earlier this month, the upshot of which is HTC phones will get the "iconic Beats by Dr Dre™ audio experience". Dr Dre™, for his™ part, will get lots and lots of money™.
HTC claims Beats technology, which already appears in Chrysler cars and HP laptops as well as Monster headphones, will give its phones the ability to "reproduce the full spectrum of sound captured in professional recording studios". That's a lofty claim, but we'll reserve judgement until the first Beats phone lands on our desk.
There had been rumours that the upcoming Vigor would be the phone on which HTC debuted the Beats tech, and the freshly-leaked shots over at Droid Life seem to support this: the backplate of the phone has Beats-esque red trim around the camera lens and a slightly chunky, rubbery, showy overall design. It's very in your face, much like the Beats by Dre headphones from Monster.
The Vigor's front, on the other hand, looks like pretty much every HTC touchscreen phone ever, albeit one with a very large display. It's huge, people -- this could well be a 4.3-incher we're looking at here.
The images also show the phone has HTC Sense (it's written on the back), a front camera, and a flash on the main rear camera, none of which is particularly surprising. We don't know specs yet, but rumours hint at a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and the aforementioned Beats technology will all be inside.
It's also worth noting that the Vigor is tipped to be a 4G LTE phone, and if that's the case we may not see it in the poor old 4G-bereft UK -- unless it's in a slightly different form of course. We doubt very much that HTC would release a phone in the UK with the awkward US spelling -- we're rhyming Vigor with Igor.
What do you think? Does Beats tech in a phone get you pumping? Or do you want to give Dre a beatdown? (And how do you rate Count Duckula? One of the funniest UK TV shows of the 80s for us, and tragically shortlived.) Vigorously express your opinions in the comments section below.