HTC Sense

HTC Sense interface

HTC Sense is a graphical user interface developed by HTC Corporation for mobile devices running Android, Brew and Windows Mobile.

Based on the TouchFLO 3D design, HTC has referred to HTC Sense as both a user interface in itself and also as a user experience layer on top of TouchFLO 3D.

Announced June 24, 2009, the first phone running Android to feature HTC Sense was the HTC Hero, and the first Windows Mobile phone to feature HTC Sense (an updated TouchFLO) was the HTC HD2, announced October 6, 2009.

History

At the Mobile World Congress 2010, HTC showed their new updated HTC Sense UI to debut on the HTC Desire and HTC Legend, with an upgrade available for the Hero and Magic. The new version is based upon Android 2.1 and has new interface features such as the Friend Stream widget (which aggregates all Twitter, Facebook and Flickr information) and Leap, which allows access to all the home screens at once.

Smartphones including the HTC EVO 3D and the HTC Sensation feature HTC Sense 3.0, which has major visual and functional changes to HTC Sense, including a new lock screen which allows users to access their favorite applications directly. Only HTC Sensation and later devices will run HTC Sense 3.0, but older devices will still get some of the new features from HTC Sense 3.0 via an over-the-air update.^{[citation needed]}

While the Windows Mobile version of Sense is the successor to TouchFLO 3D, with information featured on separate tabs, the Android version presents information through Android desktop widgets and applications, and includes launcher, app drawer, and lock screen replacements.

HTC Sense 4.0 is more minimalistic with less text and fewer icons.

HTC Sense on Android Devices

HTC Sense adds the following applications to the phone:

• Calculator: A calculator application
• Calendar: A calendar application that automatically syncs with various social networks and displays appointments, if networks are connected on the phone
• Camera: A camera application
• Connected Media (DLNA)
• Contacts (on some phones as "People"): A contacts application that automatically syncs with social networks and downloads information about a contact such as profile pictures, email, etc.
• Desk Clock: An application for phones that have a kickstand to emulate a desk clock
• Flashlight: Use of the camera flash on phones to act as a flashlight
• Footprints:
• Friend Stream: Integrates Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks
• Gallery: An application used to view pictures or videos
• HTC Hub (HTC Sense 2.0 or above): An app that features extra wallpapers, ringtones, and widgets for the user to download
• HTC Likes (HTC Sense 2.0 or above): Apps recommended by HTC
• HTC Watch (HTC Sense 3.0 or above)-Movie Store
• Internet: an internet browser.
• Mail: An email application
• Mirror (HTC Sense 2.1 or above): Use of the front-facing camera (on some phones) to act as a "mirror"
• Music: A music player
• Plurk (Asia Pacific versions only)
• Quick Lookup: A search that looks up phrases on the internet
• Reader (HTC Sense 2.0 or above)
• Stocks: A stocks app
• Transfer Data (HTC Sense 2.0 or above): Assistance of migrating from one phone to another
• Peep: a Twitter application
• Weather: An app that displays weather

Widgets for Android include:

• Bookmarks
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Clocks
• FM Radio
• Footprints
• Friend stream
• Facebook Chat (HTC Sense 3.5 and 2.1 for Messenger)
• HTC Likes
• HTC Watch
• InSing Search (Asia Pacific versions only)
• Mail
• Messages
• Music
• My Shelf
• Navigate
• News
• People
• Photo Album
• Photo Frame
• Pictures
• Plurk (Asia Pacific versions only)
• Search Anywhere
• Settings (for turning on/off GPS, data connection, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth)
• Sync All
• Stocks
• Peep (Twitter Widget)
• Weather

HTC Sense on Windows Mobile devices

The Today screen plugin is the main aspect of Sense, and consists of several tabs, which can be viewed by sliding a finger along the bottom bar or touching one of the visible icons. The Messages, Email and Calendar icons update to show the number of unread SMS/MMS messages, the number of unread emails and the current date respectively. Several applications, such as HTC Messages, are closely linked to the Today screen plugin to provide a seamless experience. The tabs to the immediate right and left of the current tab can be accessed by swiping in the relevant direction. The tabs in Sense 2.5 are:

• Home: Displays the date and time, weather, the time the next alarm is set for, missed calls, and the next appointment. It also shows three quick links to programs, contacts or bookmarks. Flicking the quick links upwards reveals all nine quick links
• People: Shows pictures of contacts in a 3x5 grid, of which the first 9 are visible. The photo can be clicked for performing the default action, like calling or sending an SMS or e-mail. The name can be clicked to open the contact, which shows the name and picture. Below is a slider for five screens:
  • Details: Further contact options like other phone numbers to call or send an sms to, e-mail addresses to mail to, and addresses to look up on Google Maps
  • Messages: All SMS / MMS messages sent between the user and the contact
  • Email: All e-mail received from the contact
  • Updates and Events: Facebook updates and new events related to the contact
  • Call History: All calls between the user and the contact
• Messages: Displays received text messages that fly on and off screen
• Mail: Displays received email messages, from up to 4 different email accounts as prints stacked on a pile. Individual emails may be flipped through, flying off the screen
• Internet: Displays a link to open the Opera web browser, bookmarks to favorite websites, and a built-in YouTube application
• Calendar: Displays a calendar in agenda, day, week, month or year view. Tapping any box will open the relevant day, displaying a list of appointments for that day
• Stock: Displays graphs and quotes for user-selected companies. If a stock is touched, a screen with additional info and graphs opens with a link to the relevant Yahoo finance page
• Photos and Videos: Shows photos and videos that can be flipped through, and buttons to launch the camera to take pictures and to record video. Placing the phone in a landscape orientation causes photos and videos to be slown in a Cover Flow-like view
• Music: Displays cover art of music that flips through in a linear format. Music can be played directly from the tab, and can be forwarded/rewound by touching the progress slider. Cover art can be automatically downloaded, and rotating the phone to a landscape orientation will cause the albums to be shown in a Cover Flow-like view. The library, which can be accessed pressing the Left Softkey, also uses the scrollbar interface to allow users to sort music by carious attributes
• Footprints lets the user geotag and add text and sound recordings to photos to create a scrapbook of places visited
• Recent Documents shows previews of, and provides fast access to, recent documents saved on the device and received as email attachments. Like the Music tab, placing the phone in a landscape orientation provides a Cover Flow-like view of the documents, and pressing the left softkey allows users to sort documents
• Twitter shows a stream of the latest Twitter tweets
• Weather: Displays weather for up to 10 cities selected from a predefined list, including a 5-day forecast. Additional cities can be added by disabling TouchFLO and editing the weather database
• Settings: Provides access to system settings

Each tab has two soft keys which provide access to functions associated with a tab or tab customisation.

Devices

Sense 4.0

• HTC One X (XL)
• HTC One S
• HTC One V

Sense 3.5 / 3.6

• HTC Explorer
• HTC Rezound
• HTC Rhyme
• HTC Sensation XL
• (Leaked) HTC Sensation (4.0.1/4.0.3)

Sense 3.0

• HTC Amaze 4G
• HTC Desire HD
• HTC Desire S
• HTC EVO 3D / EVO 4G+ (Korea Only)
• HTC EVO Design 4G
• HTC Incredible S
• HTC Sensation / Sensation 4G (T-Mobile) / Sensation XE
• HTC Vivid

Sense 2.0 / 2.1

• HTC ChaCha / Status: Sense 2.1 for Messenger
• HTC Desire Z
• HTC Desire
• HTC Flyer / HTC EVO VIEW 4G (Sprint) : Sense 2.1 for Tablet
• HTC Incredible 2 (Verizon)
• HTC Inspire 4G (AT&T)
• HTC Jetstream : Sense 2.1 for Tablet
• HTC Merge
• HTC Panache
• HTC Salsa
• HTC Thunderbolt
• HTC Wildfire S

Sense 1.0

• HTC EVO Shift 4G
• HTC EVO 4G
• HTC Droid Incredible
• HTC Aria / Gratia
• HTC Legend
• HTC Wildfire

Notes

Original Sense

• HTC Droid Eris
• HTC Hero / HTC Hero CDMA (Sprint)
• HTC Tattoo / MyTouch 3G (T-Mobile)

Espresso Sense

• T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide: Espresso Sense 1.0
• T-Mobile myTouch 4G: Espresso Sense 2.0
• T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide: Espresso Sense 3.0

See also

• List of Android devices

External links

• htcsense.com - a HTC Corporation website for backing up phone data, locating a phone, and interface customization.^{[citation needed]}
• HTC Sense interface upgrade first look