HTC Verizon

Verizon appears poised to bring HTC's first 5-inch Android smartphone to the U.S.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the HTC DLX for Verizon, since officially named the Droid DNA. A few rumored details recently emerged about this upcoming (and as yet unannounced Android smartphone, and tonight we're able to bring you the first pictures.

The codenamed HTC DLX (pronounced like "deluxe," we're told) is notable for several reasons. For one, it will (assuming it comes to market; that's not always a given) be Verizon's first HTC One smartphone since the line was announced at Mobile World Congress way back in February in Barcelona. That the United States' largest carrier didn't pick up any of the three devices announced then has been a sore spot for months. 

Then there's the size. Along with the Japan-exclusive HTC J Butterfly, the Droid DNA marks the manufacturer's first foray into the 5-inch display category, known to some as "ridiculously large." But consider our curiosity piqued, our appetite whetted. We -- and you folks as well, we know - have been waiting on Verizon to sport new HTC kit for the better part of a year now.

Enough preamble. We've got more pictures, specs and a few thoughts after the break.

More: HTC DLX forums

To recap: We recently saw some specs tweeted by fan favorite Football, and we're looking at a full 1080p HD display, apparently confirmed by another of our pics below. No surprise as to the screen resolution. Anything less would be laughed out of the room. Our source says the display is beautiful, so we'll presume Super LCD 2, which HTC's been using in a number of phones.

The camera specs we have listed on our picture don't quite match up though -- ours says 8 megapixels, Football's leaked specs note 12 megapixels out back. (HTC's 8MP camera on the One X is so damn good, though, we might not care about one over the other.) The leaked specs and our pic align at 2 megapixels on the rear camera.

Verizon HTC DLX.

Football's leak of a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor (running at 1.5 GHz) appears solid, though our pic only says "quadcore." That's a fairly safe tech bet though. Our pic shows 2 gigabytes of "memory," which we'll consider to be RAM.

Our source notes 16 gigabytes of on-board storage (same as the leak), and the rumored 2500 mAh battery is not removable. (No surprise there, either.)

Our source also says the back is reminiscent of the Droid Incredible 2, so figure soft-touch over polycarbonate. Visually, we're seeing the same dark red highlights Verizon has used for years, including on the camera housing, bezel and volume rocker. The rear speaker has the same design as the One X. Also of note: We're told the power button is centered on the top bezel, not off to one side like on most HTC phones. (It's not visible in our photos.)

The Verizon HTC DLX has physical buttons. If you were hoping otherwise, it's not happening. HTC has them in its usual back-home-recent apps configuration.

Verizon HTC DLX.

Software wise, this guy's got Android 4.1.1, with Sense 4+ (see our hands-on), same as what was just announced on the HTC One X+, and what are scheduled to hit existing HTC One devices this month. Note that Beats Audio is on board, as you'd expect. Note the 4G LTE logo as well, not that it's a surprise.

So there's that. Nothing official from Verizon or HTC on this one yet, so keep that in the back of your heads, but we're told this may see a launch around Thanksgiving. One way or another, this one's got us a wee bit excited.

Thanks, anon!


Reader comments

This is the Verizon HTC Droid DNA


+9000 And this is coming from someone that had 2 extended batteries for the S3. As useful as they were, I realized that I didn't need them. Just ordered a 8800 mah battery pack from Amazon and that will help me if I'm out and start to run low on battery. I think extended batteries would catch on if there were more options for cases to go with them. But, with battery tech getting increasingly better, and with processors becoming more efficient, the "ncecessity" of buying an extended battery is probably going down amongst people that actually use them, in my opinion.

why extended?

i just go with the original battery, they are about $20 which is dirty cheap.

i have 1 extra for my galaxy note in my bag and use it once every 2 or so weeks.

every 2 weeks i just use the other to keep them fresh, but its perfect and all i ever need.

i would never get a fatter large battery that changes the shape of my back cover.

WooHoo Quad core on lte, WTG HTC! Finally HTC making phones I like for the first time ever this year! Give me this as a Nexus, or with pure vanilla android.

and all coming from people who own out dated phones that have no idea what the newer tech can do.. or they are just being dumb. My one s can go a day+ (24 hours) of moderate usage. If i am gaming and using it heavily, i can go all day and not have to charge til night usually... what else do you expect??

this phone is going to be amazing... however, when is HTC going to learn that carrier exclusives are NOT GOING TO GET THEM TO THE TOP!!! HTC one x and X+.. hands down IMO the BEST phone on the market... why isnt it as successful as the GS3??? AVAILABILITY!!

I can go to ANY major carrier and a lot of regional carriers and get the exact (almost) same GS3... if i want a One X, its AT&T or nothing. I am dont changing carriers for a phone. I like where i am at, and they are the best value around where i am with great service (tmobile). If HTC really wants to get back in the game, they need to end these stupid ass exclusive phones!!!!

...YOUR ABSOLUTELY RIGHT...HERE I am admiring other phones at AT&T,, ,like the HTC One X+ ,,, when I'm with Verizon... :/ still waiting for HTC Faithfully to do something nice for a Change!!! :[

I'll have absolutely nothing to do with smartphones
that have non-removable batteries!!! I like to have extra batteries.

You're increasingly in the minority... Not many users purchase separate batteries for swapping throughout the day anymore.

I myself own the Galaxy S3, I use it pretty heavily throughout the day, but with the ubiquity of micro-usb chargers, there isn't anywhere I go the phone cannot be charged (school, work, car).

If better build quality and design is achievabe with a solid large battery that gives at least on average a days use, it's fine.

If after a year or two the battery gets to the point that it doesn't hold a charge well, I'll open it up and see if I can swap.

He is not in the minority. I don't know where you are from, but most people here in the USA prefer to still have a removable battery. I also have a GS3. My battery lasts me throughout the day, but when I travel, I need an extra battery. You have to take into account signal strength,depending on location and carrier, and usage. When I travel I need an extra battery because I tend to take more pictures which means battery usage. I think you get the point. I will not buy a phone without a removable battery. The reason I did not buy the HTC EVO LTE. Just my opinion.

I don't see why people do not care about removable batteries. The argument that you are able to charge your phone anywhere is a bad one; if I wanted to keep myself tethered to a wall I would've kept my land line phone. The only way that I think the non-removable battery argument would be valid is if the phone will last a full charge while having the screen on time be 8 hours or more. And if anyone thinks that is too much, that's the point; Li-ion batteries last longer with 50% discharge than a complete 100% discharge between recharging. So with a removable battery I am able to purchase a extra large extended battery that will allow me to have that capability.

You don't see why? Do you know people? 99% of people with smartphones don't give a crap about removable batteries or sd cards or what version of android they have. They don't know and don't care. It's cute how you think It's an issue that anyone but a handful of android spergs would care about at all.

+9000 Hell, the majority of my friends with Android phones don't even think about their phones that much to use an extended battery. They just use their phones during the day and charge them at night if they need to.

Majority of Android phone users probably have no idea they have an Android phone. They just know they don't have an iPhone.

Personally, I have never used a second battery and I have an old X. And I have not been tethered to a wall as someone else commented on. Then again, I'm like the majority who do not watch movies and use the phone for calls. surfing the internet once in a while during the day and email.

And for a 8 hour screen on phone, I guess the Razr Maxx or HD Maxx might be just what the doctor ordered.

Screen on time of 8 hours or more is not really needed with a stock battery. Don't get me wrong, the more battery power the better. With my S3, the screen on time is 6 hours or more. I use my phone A LOT. With moderate to heavy usage (I know, that's subjective), I can go a day and a half without a charge. My point is, the masses only care if the phone can make it through their typical day. A removable battery is nice to have though. But, I think in the next year or two, battery tech will get to the point where removable batteries start to become obsolete. Just my opinion.

I also live in the USA and I only know one person who has bought a reusable battery.
What part of the USA are you from?
I guarantee you that the majority (50+%) do not buy extra batteries for their phones.

YOU might need an extra battery, and sure it might be convenient to have one. But I assure you the majority of Android phone owners out there more than likely don't carry around spare batteries with them. I have my car charger, and and my standard wall charger work, and at home. The battery on my S III, easily lasts the entire day. By the time the juice runs out, I'm already home so it doesn't matter anyway.

Have you ever heard of a powerock? They are an external battery source that can charge any device via usb. A powerock magic stick runs 39.99, cheaper than some external batteries, and gives you 2600mAh out. It's like having an external battery for any device. You just charge it up like a spare battery and take it with you. I'd say they are essential for anyone with a smart phone, but definitely for those with non removable batteries who don't want to be limited to wall charging.

no kash, don't you see? those dozen people MUST have a removable battery. Otherwise they won't buy it! who cares about external batteries if you can't remove the actual one inside the phone, they must buy from ebay and change it out! otherwise it's useless!!1!111 /sarcasm :D

Point proven, but that's a bit much for a 2600mah external battery. The Anker 8800mah external battery I just bought from Amazon is the same price.

The majority don't care about removable, battery. It's the developers and theme flashers, like myself that prefer a removable battery just for the reason of battery pulls and entering boatload mode. With technology though, (if the new phone is capable of unlocking boatload), there will be other ways to enter fastBoot, hboot, recovery, etc...if needed for the developers and fellow themers or flashers and doing nandroid backup's

You're smoking crack dude not to mention your whole argument collapses on itself when at the end you say that after a year or so when the battery stops holding a charge you'll open it up for a swap. How do you propose you do that if the phone is unibody and the battery isn't accessible? Removable batteries are here to stay. Mobile device manufacturer's aren't going to give up making all that extra money on selling replacement batteries. Making a phone with a non removable battery is a bad design choice that only benefits the OEM because after 400+ charge cycles you'll have to replace the whole handset after it stops holding a charge.

been using my blackberry for 4 years and the original battery is fine. I'm also not about the pop off the case and back cover to replace a battery, ever. I think the majority of people not from tech websites will agree with me.

Umm... You ca go to an Electronics store and tell them to swap the battery out. That's how people with iPhone's do it..

Um no. The fact that I have replace my battery on my Galaxy Nexus in 2012 is the problem. You can say everything bad about Iphones and i'm cool But Battery life is something we can't touch yet.

The point is we shouldn't be changing out our battery. It's nothing to be proud of knowing that I'm carrying two batteries in my pocket.

Every cell phone battery can be replaced. If you've ever had a phone without a "removable" battery, the user manual usually says that if you ever have an issue with the battery, send it in and they will replace it. When I had my Droid 4, I looked at quite a few videos on how to replace the battery. So, its entirely possible.

As to your other point, look at how Apple has never used a removable battery. Do you think they are losing any money? Removable batteries are slowly on their way out. Apple started the trend, HTC and Motorola are slowly following. Hell, even Google is following the trend with the Nexus line if the rumors about the Nexus 4 having a non-removable battery turn out to be true. Don't be so close minded bud. And don't worry, battery tech will continue to improve as this trend continues.


Well by then , I am ready for a new handset

Exactly! These people commenting on these tech blogs don't think like everyone else (the majority), and assume people carry batteries with them. In the real world, most people i know would never, ever, replace their phone battery mid day. They'd just find a charger or let it die then go home n charge it.

With correct recharging, batteries last a lot longer than they used to. I'm still using the original battery from my blackberry, works fine.

If there is one thing about which "most people" would probably agree, it is that it would be nice if individuals would stop saying they know what most people want, or conveying they are speaking for everyone else. You are speaking for yourself and that is it. Beyond that is simply arrogant presumption that an individual "knows" what everyone wants.

or you could simply use common sense, or just look around and figure out that normal people don't open their phones to change batteries as part of their daily lives. This includes.. oh.. you know.. all the iphone users? all those non tech savvy people (*gasp* most people)?

it doesn't take much to figure out why the removable battery is one of the least important aspects of a phone.

I wonder how many non-techie people would take advantage of replaceable batteries if they actually even knew that you can buy 3 batteries with twice the life of stock for $30 bucks. Its stupid to say that the average user prefers to be forced to wait to charge their dead phone rather than have the option to just switch.

I wouldn't think it too much of a problem had they put at least a 3300 may battery in it. But instead they went with a puny 2500 may. When you consider the screen alone, that battery won't last long.

Also - iPhone users opinions dont matter in this situation. They are forced with a non user-replaceable battery, they've never actually had an opportunity to make a legitimate opinion. Just cause the big kid on the block is doing it doesn't mean its right. Besides, the price to get a battery replaced is enormous compared to an upgrade phone.

It's not as simple as just 'swapping it out' you have to manage those spare batteries and charge them up when they're depleted. Also, once you charge your main up you then have to remember to charge up your spare battery. Too much to remember and worry about when most people just want to plug their phones in and leave it.

Even me with a Galaxy Nexus I just charge it instead of swapping batteries and I am very techy and flash all the time so yea I think swapping batteries is dying if the battery is good enough to get the through the whole day then its fine I do like the note 2's size and battery but I also do like extended batteries as well I don't mind extra bulk if I can power use my phone I had the RAZR maxx and I made that die every day on just normal usage I charge my nexus 3 timed a day lol

+9000 If you go outside and ask everybody you see using an Android phone what they think about battery life, and if they used or even knew about extended batteries or spares, you would find that the majority of the people you surveyed would say that their battery lasts as long as they need it to. And for those that think their battery life could be better, they still wouldn't care to buy a spare or extended battery, because more than likely they're almost always near a charger. Of course, no one can speak for everyone, but like you say, it's common sense.

Is your stock response to everything to point to the iphone as justification for your position? If so, why not just buy an iPhone? Just curious, I thought we were here to talk about Android, not just say, "don't be so foolish, Apple does THIS, so Google should follow their lead"

you do realize that having a non-removable battery lowers the resale value of your phone after 1-2 years by.... A VERY LARGE PERCENTAGE.

many of these phones can still be sold for $200-$300 dollars 1-2 years later.

the whole reason they make the non-removable battery is to force people to buy new phones and no used older ones.

why would you ever buy even a 1 year old phone with a non-removable battery? what if the user just had it sitting uncharged for 6 months? or vice versa?

you will buy the device and have 2 hrs of battery life and most users arent techy enough to take apart a smartphone and replace the battery inside themselves.

Androids, because of their rapidly evolving specs and quick release rate gave a much worse resale value than iPhones do.

My wife is ready to give up her Droid Razr Maxx for another phone with a smaller but removable battery. In my experience, no phone lasts all day under heavy use in this 4g world, and the Razr Maxx takes too long to recharge. The flexibility of a removable battery is certainly at the top of my list when selecting a phone, as is removable storage.

You might have a problem picking your next phone then: all major players switched to non-removable batteries in their flagship devices (HTC, LG, Apple, Motorola, Nokia). Only Samsung devices have removable batteries.

Then Samsung it is. Could this be part of the reason for their success? That, and removable storage. Why of course it is. I would like to give the historically memory slacking HTC another shot. But then from my perspective, they come along with another glitch. I always run with an extended battery, and a spare one to boot. My life moves hard & fast, and I have no time to even consider a re-charge between 6:00am & 9:00pm. Not to mention some long weekends of cycling, boating, snowmobiling, skiing, racing, or camping.

I have better things to do, then to worry about juice in my mobile computer, that just happens to make phone calls too. My business depends on it. Whether I am in the minority, or the majority does not matter to me. What does matter, is that I have the option to buy what fits me best. 6 days from now, that will the Note 2. Samsung has it right.

no the reason for success is because of their competitors failures.

Chou and HTC has had how many mea cuplas in the last 2 years? "we so sorry!"

even they acknowledge that they fell asleep at the switch and failed to innovate for the last 2 years. they got caught up in gimmicks and bloat and that's precisely why they got left behind. and i'm a former launch day OG EVO owner.

The reason for Samsung's success is they are building what Andoroid consumers want. HTC is losing money and market share because they abandoned the features that Android consumers want and decided to copy iphone's worst features instead.

Nonsense. For example, there is really nothing better or compelling about the GS3 compared to the Evo LTE except that one is available on several carriers and the other is only on one; and that they saw a dozen ads for it, building the hype.

Advertising and carrier availability. Those are the primary reasons.

The notion that you can just advertise and sell people a product that lacks the features they want is utter nonsense. That's HTC's downfall - they just keep making excuses instead of addressing their failure to design to meet consumer demand.

GS3 was huge because Samsung built the perfect product to match consumer expectations for 2012. HTC keeps hamstringing every product with at least one fatal flaw. If DLX comes out with a small nonremovable battery and no expandable storage it's going to lose to Note 2 and GS(4?) in a huge way in 2013.

He said advertising AND carrier availability. Carrier availability, in the US and abroad, coupled with advertising, contributed to the S3's success. Don't get me wrong, having a removable battery and expandable storage also played a factor. But, don't be surprised if Samsung follows the trend of non-removable batteries in the future. Samsung will capitalize on the fact that other OEMs are using non-removable batteries until the difference becomes negligible.

Bos1- you missed my point completely. The current breed of HTC phones is just as good (better in some ways, worse than others) than the current breed of Samsung phones. BOTH are what consumers want. But they *BUY* what is available for their carrier of chose and what they see in ads and being pushed in the stores.

Having a non-quick-swap battery is not a "fatal flaw". About half of all current model smartphones are that way now. Apple, Motorola, HTC, LG, Sony, they *ALL* are doing it.

I'm not disagreeing with you that carrier exclusivity is the kiss of death for something that's supposed to be a flagship device. But poor design choices can be too. Of the manufacturers you listed only Apple is selling a lot of phones. They may *ALL* be doing it, but most of them are failing. Moto and HTC are in a freefall and seem completely out of touch with what the market wants. They're headed in the wrong direction. And how much of the market do LG and Sony hold?

I do disagree with the previous poster who thinks Samsung will follow. Why would they change a proven design that's mopping the floor with the competition?

No need to carry on this argument. I'm just venting because I'd much rather carry around a 5" than a 5.5" device, but am probably going to end up with Note 2 by default since everyone else is omitting key features.

The reason Samsung succeeds is because they do not leave out any features:

Physical home key = check
removable battery = check
large storage = check
sd card slot = check
unlocked bootloader = check
best screen = check
fastest cpu = check
all the ram you need = check
good camera = check
good sound = check

you notice this list piling up?

almost all other phones are missing at least one feature here, or have a SUB-PAR version of it.

this is the same thing HTC did with windows mobile 6 years ago.

they felt that selling a $600 dollar smartphone with no 3.5mm Headphone jack was okay!

well sorry, could not spend $600 dollars on a smartphone / media player for which i would need a mini-usb headphone jack adapter.

maybe HTC should try that again.

HTC DLX doesnt need a headphone jack, who cares about that?

I totally agree. I have 2 phones, a dumbphone (Kyocera ruggedized phone) 4 voice, and a smartphone (HTC EVO3D) 4 data (each 1 sucks at the others task). And each 1 has a consumer replaceable battery.

I much prefer HTC to Samsung due to quality and customer service, but I will NEVER buy a non-replaceable battery! I replaced the pointless <1800mah "battery" (in quotes since at < than 1800mah, it isn't worthy of the name "battery") with a STILL inadequate 4000mah Seidio. It, at least, will last a few hours b4 needing charging, but would NEVER last a whole day.

I have a 200plus apps (my right to have that many) and have the screen at 100% brightness when on, so that is where the power goes.

These reviewers who test phones and squeal like little girls with a new toy, over mere 2500mah batteries and such, are FOR SURE not filling the phone up with a jillion apps and turning the screen up to max to REALLY test battery life--thats for for sure. The highest I've ever read that they turned it was a piddly 40%! That's why they think these puny little "girly-man" batteries, that are non-replaceable besides-AND THEREFORE also non-upgradeable are just fine for everyone! That's like testdriving a pickup truck around a lowspeed neighborhood block--while NOT towing anything besides! The pickup could have a 50 horsepower/80 lb feet of torque engine and a five gallon gas tank, and it would seem "just fine" under such conditions.

As for the dingleberries who thought (mistakenly) that they have any right to push for NON-replaceable batteries to be forced on the rest of us against our will on cutting edge phones--hear this (and hear it well!) If YOU do not WISH to ever replace/upgrade/or yank to reboot YOUR removable battery--THAT is YOUR perfect right! You can have a phone with a battery that you CAN get to--which you NEVER have to see! The obvious solution for YOU is to: (drumroll please--I'm about to say something profound-which the anti-replaceable battery people have never heard of before)


Please take a moment to contemplate the profundity of that statement. And if it is over your head--read on--for I have broken it down for you in sentences that, hopefully, even you can digest.

YOU. Do not EVER. Have to do ANYTHING. With YOUR battery! You. Can leave it ALONE. YES!!! Just because you CAN replace it. Does NOT mean. That you MUST replace it! You do NOT. Have to do. What WE do. Just because you CAN! Do you not. Understand this? If the battery. Is NOT. Consumer replaceable. WE. On the other hand. Can Not. Do what WE like to do. Which is. Replace. Our. Battery. Throughout. The. Day. Or. As I. Have done. Replace. The USELESS. Small milli amp hour. Battery. With a. Much LAAAAAAARGER BATTERY!! So I. Can get. Through MYYYY. Day!!

Now. Do YOOOOOU. UuuunnderStaaaaand. The words. That have come. Out of my fingers? Or are the sentences. STIIILL too loooong?!?

To the rest of you who already understood the fact that replaceable batteries are, in no significant way, a detriment to those who NEVER want to even look at their battery I apologize.

I have tried to simplify the understanding of the issue for the "small of mind" and "hard of understanding", by breaking the explanation of why the entire market of cellphones must have consumer replaceable batteries, into bitesize, if grammatically incorrect, sentences. I doubt it will do any good. But at least I tried.

Another thing I would like to point out (to HTC et al, if their representatives are reading here) is. There is a huge completely un-served market for cutting edge phones with a cutting edge PHYSICAL keyboard.

There is, as yet, no such thing as software keyboard that can match a physical keyboard in any particular or parameter, except for customization.

I use Thumb Keyboard, which has better customization than any other keyboard I have tried, but which STILL is inferior to the physical keyboard of my old Samsung Moment (a phone I otherwise hated, but which I bought instead of the HTC Hero, due to that very keyboard, which the Hero lacked).

Another, totally intractible, limitation of an onscreen keyboard is--(another drumroll please!)

It takes up screen space! I may be strange about this next thing--but I actually like to READ what I type BEFORE hitting send. I like to correct mistakes. I know having the courtesy and patience to correct ones own (or more likely the on-screen keyboards) mistakes is almost a lost art these days. But I have this craaaazy notion that it makes written things more understandable. Feel free to tell me how wrong that is folks (sarcasm).

Anyway--a physical keyboard FREES up space to see what you type. In fact, while writing this comment, I had to finally give up on the stupid Android Central comment box, & cut/paste it into a note app of mine. That was the ONLY way I was able to type this.

Another related point is, HTC et al, need to completely abandon the "thin and light" fetish group. This is a goal of inherently diminishing returns anyway. And so far has resulted in slippery,unholdable, very fragile phones, with no space for an adequate battery to run them for a day, and a seeming push by at least HTC to go towards non-replaceable batteries, since they can shave few cubic millimeters that way. And a complete non-existence of bleeding edge phones with a physical keyboard.

I have called HTC about this, and they are courteous, but it goes in one ear and out the other I think. They worship at the false alter of "thin and light" which like I said, is coming to its natural and inevitable end.

In conclusion, if this otherwise desireable phone ever comes to Sprint, I will NOT be buying it under ANY circumstances! This is due to the non-replaceable battery. And I am very loathe to buy a non-physical keyboard phone either. I bought this Evo, despite the incomprehensible lack of a physical keyboard, and after using it well over a year, I'm sad to say that I loathe an on-screen keyboard as much as I thought I would--despite trying many different ones out. I would've GLADLY paid as much as $150 to $200 MORE out of my pocket for an identical phone that had a physical keyboard, if a keyboard had been an option. The only major thing, aside from the fragile micro-usb (more on that later), that I outright hate about the EVO 3D is the lack of a physical keyboard!

I like cutting edge phones, and I want one with ALL possible features! I don't like to compromise. And I have the money to pay for it!! Contract or no contract!! I can buy any phone I want--money is no object HTC! I have 2 phones with unlimited everything on both of them (Sprint!)--a ruggedized dumbphone just because smartphones suck at voice calls (no physical buttons/complicated to answer and hang up), and a smartphone because dumbphones suck at everything BESIDES voice. And also because I like having a backup on me.

So, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG et al, listen up!! There are PLENTY of us out here who do NOT worship at the false "Alter of Diminishing Returns" known as "thin and light". In fact for whom, the phones are TOO thin and TOO light already. And a lot of us also have disposable income in an amount that allows us us to buy ANYTHING we want!! But we can not purchase it, if YOU do not design and sell it.

So HERE is what I personally want. A cutting edge phone, with NO bezel whatsoever, 5.5" to 6" screen (with bleeding edge specs all the way around and a kickstand behind the screen) which I can stick in my shirt pocket if I wish (with no bezel that would be possible). Ruggedized or semi-rugged & water proof or resistant! An optional built in physical keyboard, perhaps one that slides 2 ways--first out, and secondly right-left so it ends up twice as wide as the phone is long (titanium instead of plastic of course :) for ruggedness coupled with thin and light, lol. And the keys should "click"--make them a miniaturized version of the old mechanical type (if possible)--that type lasts longer and is far more tactile and user friendly. But any kind of physical keyboard would be better than these accursed on-screen keyboards that I hate worse than a virus. But, sigh, make it optional somehow in the design, since there are those who don't like that.

And give it WIRELESS recharging, so we don't have to use these accursed micro-USB "crap-cords" that are the FIRST thing to malfunction in a phone. I have had 4 phones with micro-usb, each one a different brand--and in each one the FIRST thing to physically fail was the micro-usb port. The freaking micro-usb port!!! FOUR g-dd--m phones!! Different brands, all of them!! The SAME freakin' part!! The ONLY possible conclusion is that micro-USB is a defective design!! Get RID of it NOW!! OR if wireless induction charging (with 6 foot/2 meter range) is not ready to go big time yet, then at least put TWO micro-usb ports in each phone so we have something to use when one goes out (as it inevitably will). And ruggedize each of them as much as possible!!

And lastly, put a 10,000 to 20,000 mah battery in the damn thing for crying out loud!! I have a 4000 mah battery in my Evo, and that is not nearly enough! I do NOT carry extra batteries around, and because of the nature of my job, I can NOT replace my battery at will, and can NOT be without my phone at any time. Besides no one should EVER have to yank a battery when it is inconvenient for them, just because the battery ran down. They should NEVER run down! At least in a day of use, no matter if the screen is at 100% and you have a bunch of apps and use the heck out of the phone all day long. There should be phones that support that kind of serious use (or abuse if you want to call it that, lol). And those of us who type long letters (yours truly obviously) should never have to fight constantly with an inherently inferior on-screen keyboard, constantly correcting it, while writing something.

Oh, and one more thing Android Central. PLEASE drop this stupid "log in/username/password" crap! All you are doing is locking out the good guys. You are not locking out the bad guys. They are going to find a way around anything you do! You need to moderate them away! Not get in the way of readers who want to comment but despise setting up accounts that they will never use again--just for one comment. Which is what I've done here. I won't remember this username/password tomorrow, haven't written it down, and will likely never use it again. I am among the majority of people on this planet who do not, and never will use Facebook/Twitter or any of that other crap that is usually used for sign ins. We are in the majority, and always will be, and all you are doing is locking us (the majority who are NOT on Facebook) out of commenting. In fact I almost didn't create this account, I rarely do, except that I feel very strongly about the design of smartphones.

Holy Christ! This is the longest, & coincidentally most ridiculous reply I can remember on this site.

A little tip. After the 1st paragraph nobody is going to read any further. Such a waste.

Your case is extreme! I only run about 40-50 apps and leave the brightness to auto on my RAZR and everyone that I know (even the people with iPhones) are about the same! Leaving the Brightness at 100% constantly is just uncomfortable for most people (including me) which makes auto the best pick (and the best for battery life as well).

As for removable / replaceable batteries they are slowly going away! Its honestly easier to just keep a spare charger in the car or on the desk at work instead of trying to keep track of a spare battery. I used to say the same thing "Removable Batteries are the only way for me" Heck I even had 4 different stock batteried for my Thunderbolt and Rezound! But once I got the Razr I have realized it's 100000 times easier just to keep a charger in the car and it's even easier to use an app like SmartActions ( I believe the one for non-Motorola phones is Tasker? not sure tho) to automatically control settings / apps via variables such as location, percent of battery left, or even based upon when you plug your headphones in!

P.S. Next time you might want to summarize to under 3 short paragraphs!

Even tho we disagree, yours is the only intelligent and truly coherent and cogent response so far (hope that changes soon), so I will respond to your critique of my admittedly overlong comment.

Firstly, I did make the point that it is my right to choose how many apps to have, just as it is your sole right to choose how many apps you run. And actually, I have fewer apps than I thought. "Only" 145 installed apps, not "over 200" as I stated.

I DO run task killers (3 of them currently, including 2 paid ones--they each have different strengths), and have experimented with many others. While I could remove a few apps that I rarely or never use, I couldn't remove enough to make a real difference. And while buying the pd versions (when available) would remove ads & therefore save some battery, I really don't use most of them enough to justify paying for them, yet I do use many of them enough to still keep them, & with the others that I DON'T use, I'm watching them to see if they improve enough to start using.

However, according to a systemwatcher I use, the screen is the big user of juice, and also my "active use" of the internet. So all the apps combined are still only small potatoes. The screen & web use are the biggies.

Yes, I could set it to auto, and yes 100% is sometimes (tho rarely) too bright. But my memory of auto was that it usually was a smidge too dim. Personal choice.

As for centering myself and my life around the availability of chargers and/or limiting my use of my phone, rather than expecting the manufacturers to conform and support my needs, I say "NEVER"! And you should too. And here's why.

Folks like me, are the "canary in the mine". "We" keep "you" safe!

You should support us, since if the manufacturers succeed in ignoring our "more extreme" needs, they will come after yours next.

If they lock us all into their limited proprietary batteries today, then who knows what they will make proprietary tomorrow--and force "YOU" to accept it.

As the old saying goes, "First they came for the Jews, but since I was not a Jew, I said nothing..." And so on.

"We" are "your" canary in the mine! We must ALL stand together, in solidarity, on our pro-consumer choice principles--or they will divide us out by groups, and hang us all--separately!! We must make the manufacturers bow to OUR collective will, not us bow to THEIR will!

If there are others who worship at the altar of thin and light, then that is their perfect right. But I do not and never will. And they have NO right to try to force a limited phone onto me. Thin & light is good up to a point, but beyond that, it morphs into "fragile & unstable in the hand & limited in various capacities". A pickup truck or minivan is not "thin and light" either, but one can do things with it that can not be done with a "thin & light" little car--such as the one I have. I drive what I drive, & put up with it & work around its limitations. But I won't do that with a phone, at least not cheerfully.

If there are those who can not afford a phone such as the one I described, then I understand that. Been there, lived that, it sucked!

There SHOULD be phones such as the DLX, with a few high-end specs electronically, but with physically low-end specs to cut costs. I do understand limited budgets. There are things that I can not (or will not) afford even today, but a perfect "high-end phone" with 5 figures of milli watt hour battery, is not one of them. I am not alone. If they build it, we will come (in more ways than one B-) ..). Besides, a physically & electronically high-end phone, such as I & many others want, will end up driving down the cost of the physically low-end (but electronically high-end) phone that others want, B-) . So it helps those who disagree with me, to push for the manufacturers to make physically high-end phones that they don't want, in order to drive down the costs of the lower phone, such as the DLX, that they DO want.

To get back to main point, the battery life, and most importantly "user choice" in battery size, is a bright red line that I (and millions of others) will NEVER cross!!

And, BTW, it is NOT going away, anymore than "unlimited data" is going away. Consumers have spoken loudly on both subjects! Just as limited data has turned the corner recently & is coming back (just wait till Sprint has completely built out their network in 14 months B-) )...proprietary batteries are going 2b a phone manufacturer wet dream that won't last either. Like I said, "thin & light" is a clear case of "diminishing returns", & has limits, so it will NOT last!

Well that's enough. Lets see how many "one line" mental midgets, who self-admittedly don't have the brains or fortitude to read my whole post, and respond cogently, "point for point", have their puny little girly-man feelings hurt by my latest looong and uncompromising post.

Go ahead--girly men--lay into me if you can! I will read your ENTIRE comment, no matter how long it is, IF it is intelligently written, whether I agree with the premise or not, I promise! As for the rest of you, with your little meaningless one line, ad hominem ankle biter "attacks", lol. I am like the Hulk, and you are just little pretty, white, curly haired Fifi dogs with red bows on your necks--going after my toes with your "butt hurt one lines", that don't say anything specific, except that it butt hurts you to read long, in depth, comments, lol. HA! Have at it! Chew on my toes! Hulk eat puny little Fifi dog for breakfast!

[And for the other dude--"WHY" should I, or you, or ANYONE, have to sign in to express an opinion ANYWHERE? Usernames and passwords are out of control all over the web, and pointless besides, unless it's a bank, and even then it should be biometrics already! Get your head out of the '90s and smell the '10s, --please!]

Lol at "mental midgets, who self-admittedly don't have the brains or fortitude" this coming from the same person who can't remember a login and PW.

Dear Volcanic Mental Midget,

For your information, the issue is with the antiquated username/password paradigm. It should be abandoned as an affront and impediment to free speech! If people such as you had, had their way 200 some years ago, the Founding Fathers and other writers of the Federalist Papers and other great documents, including our great Constitution and Declaration of Independence, would've had to use a username and password password before writing anything to each other. Of course they put up with FAR greater inconveniences than that, but the point is--it is an impediment, antiquated, without purpose; and therefore unnecessary!

If YOU like unnecessary impediments to typing an opinion, feel free to spill Elmers Glue all over your keyboard, and attach all ten of your fingers, to all ten of your toes with Chinese finger puzzles--and type with your nose! As for me, I prefer unfettered convenience. Please don't get in my way as I lobby for that--right...there's a good lad!

If we let just anyone comment we'd have to wade through more like this one. 

Repeat after me -- it's just a website about phones...just a website about phones...

Again....PLEASE SUMMARIZE YOUR MAIN POINTS! A college length essay is NOT required or wanted!

I honestly don't see any real positives among having a user removable / replaceable battery! Considering you pay for the device ($600 off contract) and then for an extra / extended battery you would be paying an extra $30-$50! For that price you could buy 5-10 STANDARD (not proprietary) mUSB chargers!

Oh and also task killers are kind a a no-no on any ICS+ device!

Fair enough. How is this for a summary? (1) If you can not see the benefits of having greater consumer choice of batteries (either multiple standard ones OR a big honking one), as well as the ability to merely replace a dead battery for a few dozen dollars, so as to save the bigger $$$ for a new dream phone later that year or next. Then you are as blind as a Hellbat with its head up its arse!

(2) Since when are YOU the Determiner of how one keeps ones phone charged? All I want is GREATER choice for both YOU and ME. If you choose NOT to use that choice--that is YOUR choice! Please don't presume to deny it to others!!

(3) For $30-$50 you can get 5 to 10 of the shortest corded, piss-poorest quality micro-USB's on the planet--or perhaps 1 or 2 good ones. But that will do me no good, or any of the others who want replaceable batteries!! When you are NOT near a plug in or have NO time to wait for it to recharge, where do you propose to plug your 5 to 10 chargers into??...Well, I can tell you "where" YOU personally can plug them into. But the mods wouldn't like it, so I won't.

Uh buddy, I think you don't know how to use your phone. At least you sure as he'll don't know what your talking about. Nobody, nobody nobody nobody uses their screen at 100% all day. Secondly, it is not an inconvenience to charge your phone. Everyone gets breaks at work(you are supposed to by law). Charge in the car or at a wall on a break. Also ads inside of apps and games do not use additional battery. You are a extreme moron.

Dude, I probably use my phone for more things in a day than you do in a week. And not a one of them is Facebook or Twitter and rarely video games or music. Mostly serious stuff. So, while I am sure there IS a lot I don't know about phones (anyone would be a fool to claim otherwise), I do keep up generally.

And, BTW, yes--ads in apps and games DO use battery power. They use it to run themselves (the ad program itself), collect info about you, and send and receive data from the web. Or do you contend that they violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics?? Pray tell!

As for your contention that "nobody uses their screen at 100% all day", in the 1st place, I doubt you've asked them all. And secondly, I never claimed the screen was at 100% EVERY second of ALL 24 hours of the day. However, when it is on, it is always at 100%, and that is often at night! I like a bright screen. Again MY choice--not yours.

By the same token, if you have a phone with a replaceable battery--and it offendeth thee, then by all means--pluck it NOT out! Leave it in, never look at it, never even remove the cover! If it goes bad, DON'T save money by replacing the battery. By all means--replace the entire damn phone!! I had a comic book as a boy, in which Scrooge McDuck threw away his whole damn Rolls Royce--because the clock ticked too loudly. It was funny as hell to me then--and didn't offend me in the least, because what Scrooge McDuck did, didn't affect me. So replace your WHOLE phone, by all means, because the battery swells up or won't charge right. I DON'T CARE! Just leave me, and the rest of us out of it. Please don't encourage the OEM's like HTC to reduce consumer choice by agreeing with their selfish asinine moves! The phone is good, but it could've been far better with consumer choice over the battery, as well, IMO, with an optional physical keyboard. What's wrong with a good phone being made better??

The carriers could make make a LOT of money by offering 2, 3 or 4 possible battery upgrades at the point of purchase. You, and others who like small batteries, could buy the stock battery. Folks like me could buy a big honking 10,000mah or greater battery. Folks in the middle could buy a 3-5000mah battery. What could POSSIBLY be wrong with that? As long as the choice is benign--why shouldn't people have it??

The is why they sell larger "replacement" batteries for just about every phone. I guarantee this will get some kind of mod for a bigger battery. A "special use" person like yourself shouldn't have a problem doing the extra work to mod. Your points are moot because it is only YOU who wants these "features". (No one on this thread has replied in agreement with you, this this is all a personal problem for you my friend). BTW enjoy your mom's basement for the rest of your life!


I pity your eyes. Even 50% would be too jarring for me.

Jesus Christ who is this dipshit? Does it tax you to login for all if 4 seconds? Does it spam mail you crap? Does it track your location? NO, so quit bitching to the great guys here and go back to your iPhone blog

I think that this HTC DLX is still aiming at being a large high end phone, while the Note 2 is aiming at the phablet niche that they have prospered with.

If you look at the physical specs, the DLX is closer to the GS3 than the GNote 2 and is only a touch larger than the Evo LTE, assuming the DLX will be the same size as the J Butterfly.

HTC J Butterfly H=5.63" W=2.8"
Galaxy Note 2 H=5.95" W=3.2"
Galaxy S3 H=5.39" W=2.8"
HTC Rezound H=5.12" W=2.6"
HTC Evo LTE H=5.30" W=2.7"

I'm kinda hoping that this DLX will make a nice upgrade from my Rezound without being too large to handle. I've played with the Note, and it is just too wide for me to comfortably use, just feels awkward. For me, if I can't hold it and reach across the screen with my thumb with the same hand, then it's too big. That's my test, if I can't use it one handed, it'll just frustrate the piss outta me.

wow 3 big players in the 5"+ Phablet wars at Verizon -

G-Note 2 vs. LG Intuition Vu vs. HTC DLX

who wins?

is this Phablet trend sustainable? i say yes.

I say yes as well! I honestly don't see how competitors (i*hone users) can live with 4inch displays! I have the Droid Razr which is only 4.3 inches however looking at the specs it seems the DLX is only subtly different in the hight (its almost the same in the width)!

I can't wait to one up my iPhone 5 wielding friends with a 5" display (THAT'S FULL 1080P!!!!!) AND Google Now!

This is my next phone, always wanted to try an HTC and I don't see a better phone to start on. I'll always have my GNex if unwanted pure Android.

I want this phone too but only if it is a nexus or it gets AOKP /CM support. The Gnex has been the best mobile phone of all time and that is because it has 100x more development support and instant os updates than any other phone. It flies on jb 4.1.2 and AOKP. It's smoother than the sgs3 with touchwiz so any phone I ever get has to be a nexus or a phone with a ton of development support so I can put vanilla android or aokp/cm on it

I'm on the same boat. My upgrade comes next month and since it doesn't seem likely that Verizon will get the new nexus I'll probably be picking between this HTC and the new Motos and the Note 2. I'm leaning towards the Note 2 since it'll probably be cool having a stylus and the added features in TouchWiz seem like they could actually be useful. But I'll definitely be keeping my G Nexus too.

On the Htc J spec sheet they note the cameras sensor to be CMOS so that's probs why :DDDD I'm soooo getting this off contract and just swapping it in place of my gnex it's a beaut

Uh the Incredible LTE came out a few months ago. So this wouldn't be HTC's first Verizon phone this year.

Why would you say that they were talking about the One series -- the article says:

"The HTC DLX is notable for several reasons. For one, it will (assuming it comes to market; that's not always a given) be Verizon's first HTC smartphone since the HTC One line was announced at Mobile World Congress way back in February in Barcelona."

There has been an HTC smartphone released on Verizon since the HTC One line was announced in February -- it was called (as the poster above says) the Droid Incredible 4G LTE and it was announced on May 7th and came out a few weeks later.

The author just forgot about it for a minute (which is easy to do because it was so lacking in specs and performance compared to the One line announced for other carriers.

Why is this an One-esque device? There are so many things that are different about this phone I wouldn't even consider this a One-esque device.

Then you aren't really familiar with what makes a One series device an, ahem, One series device.

This has the design, ImageSense/Chip, and software features that identify the One devices. It is as closely related as you could get.

Uh, no, I don't think you have. I quote:

"For one, it Verizon's first HTC One smartphone since the line was announced at Mobile World Congress way back in February in Barcelona."

Maybe it just hasn't shown up yet, but you probably want to double-check that.

Maybe it's just me, then. Funny, I just looked at it in Incognito Mode, and it still said "...first HTC One smartphone..." Very weird. I switched to desktop view, but still no change. I guess I'll have to give you (codiusprime) and Phil the benefit of the doubt and suppose that what I see is just a fluke.

And I'm gonna take this opportunity to jump on the bandwagon and say Phil probably meant to say Super LCD3 instead of Super LCD2.

Furthermore, why is this still at the top of AC when other articles, including Phil's excellent weekly editorial? Maybe it's just another weird fluke that's only affecting me, but still.

Now, if this thing was coming out on Sprint, It would hold me off of the Galaxy Note 2. DAMN! Well, I suppose Verizon deserves to have a decent phone after the crap (Save for the GS3) they've been putting out all year.

Oh, and Phil, didn't the Droid Incredible 3 come out on Verizon after the One X was announced? If so, that would make your point about this being the first HTC phone to hit Verizon since the One X announcement invalid...

Keep in mind it's pushing 4x the amount of pixels compared to any other phone. The Note 2 will probably perform better in most situations.

Well, you are comparing OLED and LCD displays. LCD are limited in terms of response time. OLED displays typically have response time less than 1ms. Theoretically it's like 0.01m or even less. That's like 100 times less compared to 1ms response time.

F yeah I'm grabbing this beast but not on launch day. My GS3 will do fine for a few more months. This is my dream phone though.

As I've said repeatedly to your ignorance, any ICS+ device can disable any system application, without root, through Settings>Applications. Your point is moot. And you talk of being "in the know when it comes to technology"... *rolls eyes*

yes, great! A 5" screen is really a 5" screen. I went and played with the Moto Razr HD and it's 4.7" screen and with the keys on the screen for 90% or more of the aps, internet, games, text, email, etc it was no larger and displayed no more content than my Droid X with a 4.3" screen. That is the biggest, maybe only reason, I left it on the shelf. I prefer hard keys. I can go soft keys, but anything under 4.7" is not going to work for me. Hence, this phone with or without soft keys would work. But hard keys are a win for me.

Yea a Extended bodied EVO. People say Samsung Doesn't make great phones but HTC makes the same phone with different names. I believe that this will be a great phone but style wise its nothing great to look at. I am a Samsung fan so it is a biased opinion.

This is absolutely nothing like the Evo. Or did the two extra cores, .3 extra inches of screen size and polycarbonate body not make that clear?

Looking at it as it is pictured from behind, It has the camera in the middle with a red Rim, It has the flash on the side. My Wife's EVO looks just like that. Nothing a wrote states they use the same materials or the same screen side. Looking at Samsung, The Evolution of the Galaxy line, you can see there some big differences "IN DESIGN" Where as unlike the One X, This has the more straight then curve corners just like the EVO and a lot of HTC phones has.

Will this phone be a great phone sure. That doesn't mean it doesn't still look like an EVO to me. Don't know if you read my post right.

Sorry, but it looks nothing like the current Evo.

* Evo is a metal unibody, this phone is all plastic
* Evo has a silver band around it, this phone doesn't
* Evo has the trademark kickstand, this phone doesn't
* Evo has an SD slot and removable antenna cover, this phone doesn't
* Evo has a camera button, this phone doesn't

Yeah, they are both mostly black and have a rectangular screen with rounded corners and a camera on the back. That describes most phones.

It is actually more like a black "Extended bodied One X".

1080P on a Phone.. Choices are REALLY heating up Note 2 / Nexus 4.... :-)

I think whoever can come up with a great "Full Retail Price" can win a lot of sales.. These Top Tier Phone's are Are now going to be so strong ( I feel for those that jumped way too soon on an S3..) That folk are also going to take E.T.F.'s to get one.. Note 2 / Nexus 4/ HTC 1080P... Damn.. Quad-Core 2013 Beast! What a Battle Royale this is going to be..

Looks nice, but pass. My top two specs on a phone are software keys, no capacitive, and a RGB LED. Sounds stupid and probably is, but it's what I like and value most.

Sadly, the only phones I see with all the features you named besides the Nexus are the latest Motorola phones.

Hey Phil, I think the 1080p displays from HTC are branded as SLCD 3, as compared to the 720p SLCD 2 on the One X.


Hey Phil, can you clarify us whether SLCD2 or SLCD3 as it is the case with Japan's version of HTC Butterfly DLX.

I read "...first five inch..." and then immediately lost interest. Stop making phones bigger please. I really hope I'm not in the minority here.

Nope, you're not. At least not for those of us with white collar jobs who wear dress slacks to work and not Old Navy cargos with backpack sized pockets. Or those who don't want to look like an idiot with a shirt, tie, dress slacks and a ham radio clipped to your belt.

At least they have been releasing solid 4.2/4.3 inch phones even if tech media calls them mid-range.



Try only speaking for yourself please. I wear dress slacks all week and I can't wait to get my hands on this phone. Just hope a version comes to Sprint. And no, I won't be clipping it to my belt.

I'm not sure which argument is dumber, however. The "too big for my hands" one or "too big for my pocket" one. At least the hands argument doesn't make you look like an elitist jerk like this guy.

Nice but its on Verizon! And we all know how verizon ruins every phone. Would love this on a 4.5-4.7 in screen for sprint. Its definitely going to be a good year for top tier android phones

Your comment on Verizon is actually frighteningly true. I have been sitting on my crappy Thunderbolt for far too long, and it's left such a bitter taste in my mouth with HTC that I feel afraid to even try again. And when you toss Verizon into the mix? Yeah, destined to have serious problems for people who like to root and ROM.

I'm expecting a fully locked boot loader that cannot be broken.

One of the advantages of Qualcomm's chipsets was that they had the modem part included. And many phone manufacturers raised this fact as an advantage when comparing to competition's, non-integrated solution and saying it makes battery life longer and generally that it's better because of this or that.

The chip in HTC J Butterfly is APQ8064 (, so we can expect the same in DLX. It doesn't have the modem built in. A step backwards for me, but unfortunately, as for now, Qualcomm doesn't have any S4 PRO chip with quad cores and modem inside. 2-core MSM8960T with modem would be perfect I think but then some "specific group" of users wouldn't be happy because "it wasn't 4-core".

Wow, that's one sweet looking phone. I didn't think I was coming back to htc after being disappointed with DIN2 and Rezound, but this device might make me think twice when my upgrade is up. Currently sporting Moto Maxx. By the way, that's a removal sd card, right?

I prefer the body style design of the Butterfly J, this "One" looks tired and boring. I personally never cared for the design of the One X myself so this doesn't help that fact.

I thought the butterfly had an LCD3 display, so why would this get LCD2? You would think that they would use the same display on this phone

I'd be interested in seeing if they've done anything special with the extra screen real-estate. Samsung is getting this right on the Note 2 with their dual-window option. They've also added a number of stylus-centric functions. I like having the stylus on my Note, the added functions make it more useful. It looks like HTC has the extra size of the Note 2 and the 1080p, but nothing else.
I'll stick with Samsung at this point.

Oh, on the removable battery. I'm one of those who still want it. While I don't usually have to swap batteries during the day, I recently had to replace the battery on my daughter's phone. What would be a major operation, and one left to the tech folks at the store for warranty reasons, was a simple operation that I could do myself.

Thank goodness for Holidays, seems Vz isn't releasing anything till end of year, and I've been waiting for some HTC 5", was leaning toward Note2 (old eyes) but I'd really prefer to go with HTC (Tbolt so I'm not worried about battery, I have plenty of chargers) I feel their build quality and feel is premium though I still need to give it a run thru when it comes to stores. HTC did say SLCD3 would be on future phones so I can hope. What would let us know if this was more in a butterfly build vs onex would be the battery placement, I believe Jerry mentioned to achieve slimmer design they sandwiched the batter between the LCD and mother board on butterfly or it maybe the 'standard' going forward design for all HTC phones we will see.
Lots of goodies coming for us either way... Thanks Phil for the update

Phones sure get bigger with each version huh? Hopefully they'd stop at 5" max, it's probably the max size for me to fit phones in my pocket. But oh well, I bet smartphones will eventually get up to 6.. 7" or even 8".

that's the beauty of Android. it's not a "one size fits all" proposition. they are not mutually exclusive. freedom, choice, and open always wins.

Why is that flap there covering a part of the screen? I'm liking this. Making my holiday choice harder and harder :-)

This is my next phone. No doubt about it. All the hardware goodness of the Nexus 4/Optimus G blown up to giganto 1080p with HTC's sweet Beats and LTE thrown in. Hopefully this is the Super LCD 3 that the J Butterfly has, not the SLCD2 that Phil mentioned. Glad to see they went up to the 2500 size battery, which is the same size as my Extended battery on my Thunderbolt (which this will replace) which lasts all day if it's not running Hotspot.

NOW: Will we get the sexy red version of the J Butterfly (HTL21) or are we going to have to import it???

my first foray into android was a htc incredible, then thunderbolt and my last htc phone the rezound. with each phone i had to buy $100 worth of batteries. Now that i have the sg3 i brought 1 battery and switch it out during the day because i'm a real heavy user. I can never buy a phone without being able to swap my battery its just dumb. my whole family had htc now we all have samsung better tech and better batterys.

Being a fan of HTC and Sense (yea, I know) since the days of the Eris, it's good to see an actual top-line phone from them back on Vz. Got me thinking upgrade.

HTC lost me long ago. i like the G-Note 2 much better than this clunky EVO/Incredible Rehash XL with Bloated Sense and Gimmicks Beats.


All the battery stuff aside. What does the DLX do besides having a "big" screen? The Note II's screen is bigger and it has a stylus. The screen may not be 1080 but the stylus seems like it could be very useful.

Seems like HTC is playing catch up again. I thought they had a good idea with the flyer and jet stream they just needed to refine it.

My other gripe is Verizon. I hate exclusive phones, especially ones on Verizon. I won't consider it at all.

90+ comments and nobody has asked the first thing that came to my mind.. With this, I have to wonder (given past experiences), will Big Red now pass on the Note2?
I'm not saying they will, and but if history teaches you anything its Verizon knows how to drop the ball.

I like these phones (J Butterfly included), removable battery or not, however is 16bg of storage all there is or is it expandable? I guess not giving the rest of the "One series" isn't. Too bad, rest looks/sounds awesome.

I'm sure Verizon will eventually lose the logo. But with their history, every time you press a button or change screens, it will scream VERIZON out the back speaker at full volume to remind you.

Loved my original Droid Incredible, loved my G Nexus, and I love my current phone the S III. Was thinking I'd get the Note II, but suddenly a new contender emerges. Might be fun to go back to an HTC device for a little while.

That looks awkwardly similar to the Rez. With a few things like front cam and back cam moved around a bit. I love my Rez though so it'll be a very tough decision whether to use the upgrade on the fam plan on this or the upcoming new Nexus...ahh 1st world problems.

"The Verizon HTC DLX has physical buttons."

Technically, they're capacitive buttons, not physical. Physical would be like what's on the Droid X/X2 or Charge. (just bustin' chops :D)

Myself, the non-removable battery is a deal-breaker. I simply don't care to ever tether my phone to a charge unless as a last resort. I want the CHOICE of having extra batteries at my disposal to just swap and go at any given time.

Excuse me sir, but I need a fixed internal battery not some replaceable gimmick. Why should I conform to your hippocritical standards. The most popular phone in the world the Iphone 5 doesn't have one, why should android devices? Do you ever hear Iphone users complain about it, no I didn't think so. Every time I remove my HTC thunderbolt battery cover my iphone havin' friends glance at me with disdain, what about the dust effecting internal components they say? what about your finger grease damaging some important antenna they wonder. I mean you got be kidding about this right? That is alot of misguided thought on your part, I do respect your opinion though. Please respect mine OK!

This looks good! I expect Verizon to 'DROID!' this thing to marketing hell...even if it isn't a Motorola device.

And here is my call for an EVO+ on Sprint. (Please?)

This phone looks so much like every other HTC phone. Sure there are subtle differences but this reminds me of Apple in wanting to make everyone be the same. I'm not knocking the phone itself but damn, put a little effort in being able to distinguish them apart....

This and the Note II are on the top of my list right now. More real estate and better screens. The idea of the split screen on the Note just blows me away. Of course this assumes VZ doesn't get a new Nexus soon. Decisions, decisions.

Now I like this phone but no way in heck am i going to VZW for this. My GSM Gnex is still running great. Now if HTC and the rest of the OEM's are going to make Nexus then I'll look at them first. Will say though it is a sweet device.

Everyone is ripping the Battery like it's something new. No one seems to be mentioning the 16Gb of space. That is the true limiting factor here, it had better have an SD slot to make up for it. The One line doesn't have an SD slot but VZW may have added it in.
Also the assumption of Super LCD 2 may be wrong. This looks alot like the Butterfly J and that is going to have Super LCD 3. We can only hope we get the same.

After having the OG EVO (great phone), 3 Evo 3D's, and 2 Evo 4G LTE's, I'll take LG, or any other manufacturer over HTC anyday. Lately I've been favoring Samsung but almost ready to give LG a try in the new nexus. Every phone lately has had quirks that erk me and starting to get used to it, but Idon't have to settle. That's why I isn't a fanboi of any brand....

what the hell???? I've noticed every time an HTC device comes out you guys favor the HELL out of it....let me tell you something: HTC SUCKS!!!! HTC does NOT deserve to be bumped every time a new post is made just to keep it at the top of the page!!!

Let me repeat that for those of you too retarded to know a good device if it were shoved up your ass.....


enough said.

Jees dude, take it easy. If you don't like HTC articles don't read them. No need to insult random people for having different tastes than yourself.

It's not a matter of taste...It's a matter of every HTC flagship getting enormous fan-fare from the mods and editors on this website over every single other manufacturer's devices. When Samsung (for example) releases a new device, they go through the motions, do a review, write an article or two, and call it a day. When HTC releases a device, they write 5 reviews, talk about it for 3 months, bump all the articles so they stay on top for the whole day, host an image gallery 5 miles long, post video reviews, have podcasts dedicated to it, etc. It's obnoxious....especially when the device is HTC.

II don't know. I love HTC but with some of the software features of the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Note II. I thinly I would still pick a Samsung over this.

This looks way better then the butteryfly J also everyone's tripping out about the screen and battery but I've seen more then enough news about the s-lcd 3 tech to know that it uses about 25-50% less battery then current s-lcd 2 screens used in today's one x. Battery not holding a charge as long doesn't seem like a killer issue if you don't have to charge it as frequently. Relax, do some googling for a bit first before you start flaming something you know nothing about because you read 2 sentences on a blog about the battery only being 2020. There's direct comparisons of the s-lcd 2 vs. s-lcd 3 screen tech demod and tested on a 7 inch reference that should be the equivalent of comparing the same tech to 5 inch screens that show it

Ref :

I, too, prefer removable batteries. I do know a lot of people who don't have removable batteries, and guess what, they frequently have dead phones, or are searching for the nearest outlet in a Starbucks, or the such, or have to "conserve" their battery by not using the phone much, so it can last until they get home....all that, while I just switch my battery out and keep it moving. Until extended battery life is mastered (outside of the Droid RAZR MAXX), it's just simply smart to have a spare battery if you can, especially if you are constantly on the run. One who spends a lot of time in their car, or at a desk, or doesn't travel much may not find it important, but those, who don't drive, travel often and spend a lot of time away from a desk, and especially those who have long days, definitely appreciate a removable battery

Then buy a different phone! You described a type of person who doesn't need a removable batter in your own post. It doesn't work for you, that's fine, get a different phone. That's the great thing about Android, CHOICE!

It's always funny, all the love /hate for various devices. It all boils down to your luck with the devcie, ford /chevy htc/samsung. Pick what works for you and as always ymmv.

Let me also add that a non-removable battery, for me, means no battery pull ability when things get weird with the device. Also, does this change how one boots to the service menu for rooting, updating/flashing, etc.?

Just like a PC, hold down the power button to turn the device off. Also, you can still power it on / off, so entering any sort of recovery shouldn't be an issue.

Wish it had a dedicated camera button and removable stoage card. Im already out of space with a 64gig card in the LTE EVO. Why do you always have to settle in the world of android? Its either a phone with all the features you want BUT on a terrible network or its a great network but a phone with half the features.. AGGHH

looks like a nice device but ive been burned by htc too many times. how long until s-off? 6 months after release?