Passion a Hoax?

[CSTblank]

With quotes from HTC saying that they would never make an android version of the HD2 it leaves question as to whether or not the Passion/Dragon was little more than a hoax created by hopefuls like us.

HTC HD2 - Bigger, Better, Faster :: Articles :: www.hardwarezone.com

This article states that the HD2 is the last HTC phone to be produced this year, as well as giving you the detailed specifications about the phone and its components. If you look carefully at the diagrammed specs, it looks practically identical to the rumored specs of the Passion/Dragon (minus the Android OS). Leaving us to believe that the Passion could have just been a dream. The HD2 on an Android OS, which we know won't happen.....

Thoughts?

 

[gbelste]

I think he was just playing with words. The spy Dragon looks a lot different on the outside than the HD2, right? Therefore, he could deny the Android HD without actually denying.

Basically, all he "denied" was an actual photocopy of an HD2, with different software (android).

 

[CSTblank]

I think he was just playing with words. The spy Dragon looks a lot different on the outside than the HD2, right? Therefore, he could deny the Android HD without actually denying.

Basically, all he "denied" was an actual photocopy of an HD2, with different software (android).

The spy photo that has been released, has never been confirmed as being the Passion/Dragon.

I'm a big believer, and hope to see this phone soon, but I'm speculating that, the phone's specs are a little too close to the HD2, close enough that it coulda been a lazy attempt and making a hoax.

 

[kyler13]

Problem is, nobody knows the specs of the Passion/Dragon. The reason they're close to the HD2 is because most have just said the Dragon is the HD2 with Android which is another massive assumption. Really, it morphed from the fact that the Dragon was supposed to be a 1GHz snapdragon Android phone. Not sure how people got down the path that it would have a 4.3" display like the HD2. If we all read the same things over and over again, I guess we start filling in the blanks with what we want to believe.

 

[CSTblank]

Yeah, well hopefully it's not just make believe.

I think we should rename it the HTC Unicorn for reference purposes from now on.

 

[ocean1]

Yeah, well hopefully it's not just make believe.

I think we should rename it the HTC Unicorn for reference purposes from now on.

LOL for sure, name the whole forum section on the Passion Unicorn. I think its all coming together we were duped. Time to move on.

 

[CSTblank]

LOL for sure, name the whole forum section on the Passion Unicorn. I think its all coming together we were duped. Time to move on.

Hard to tell if you're being facetious

but I have more evidence to rouse suspicion which can be seen here as well as in the Passion News For Today thread

"This photo of some HTC device http://www.droiddog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/HTC_Dragon-3.jpg looks to have the same startup screen as the Motorola Droid (which can be seen in this video

YouTube - Verizon Motorola Droid - Unboxing and Hands-On​

.... Sorry I couldn't find a still photo of the screen.) Where the black censor bar is should say droid. Makes me wonder two things, if this Unicorn Phone is part of Verizon's Droid line, or if this photo was photoshopped. The ladder seems more likely considering that the startup screen on the Eris looks nothing like this. Also the top bar where the service tower, clock, and battery are, is very characteristic of a Motorola device."

 

[kyler13]

What a bunch of negative nancies. That start up screen is unique to Android 2.0 which right now is exclusively on the Motorola Droid. The leaked picture that's supposedly the HTC Passion simply suggests it's running Android 2.0. You're failing more at convincing yourself it's a hoax than anything else.

Here's the likey specs on the Passion, making it not quite the HD2 like everyone has morphed it into:

1GHz snapdragon, possibly underclocked
256MB RAM (HD2 has 340MB)
3.8" WVGA display (HD2 has 4.3")

It's not the modern megaphone that everyone wants to believe in, but I'll bet it's probably damn close to the true specs (not the HD2's).

 

[Aerimus]

Honestly, I'm hoping it will be slightly different as well. I'd like it to be that 3.8" screen instead of the 4.3". That'd be just fine by me.

 

[CSTblank]

What a bunch of negative nancies. That start up screen is unique to Android 2.0 which right now is exclusively on the Motorola Droid. The leaked picture that's supposedly the HTC Passion simply suggests it's running Android 2.0. You're failing more at convincing yourself it's a hoax than anything else.

Here's the likey specs on the Passion, making it not quite the HD2 like everyone has morphed it into:

1GHz snapdragon, possibly underclocked
256MB RAM (HD2 has 340MB)
3.8" WVGA display (HD2 has 4.3")

It's not the modern megaphone that everyone wants to believe in, but I'll bet it's probably damn close to the true specs (not the HD2's).

Wouldn't the startup screen then say "Welcome to Android" instead of "Welcome to Droid" (A Motorola & Verizon trademarked product)....

But specifically I was referring to above the startup screen. The white bar that shows clock, battery life, service tower, and 3g status. HTC phones don't have that, as the clock is on the homepage. That bar, is a characteristic of the Motorola Droid, which you can tell by the style (font) that the service tower, 3g status, and clock is in. Not to mention the placement of it all. Identical to the Motorola Droid.

I'm not trying to convince myself of anything. I want the phone to exist, I'm just presenting facts that could support the theory that it's fake.

 

[wonderbread]

But specifically I was referring to above the startup screen. The white bar that shows clock, battery life, service tower, and 3g status. HTC phones don't have that, as the clock is on the homepage. That bar, is a characteristic of the Motorola Droid, which you can tell by the style (font) that the service tower, 3g status, and clock is in. Not to mention the placement of it all. Identical to the Motorola Droid.

That's been discussed on the unlockr site, but I would chalk it up to HTC's first efforts to get android 2.0 on their hardware, the next steps being Sense UI and other HTC customizations.

 

[kyler13]

Wouldn't the startup screen then say "Welcome to Android" instead of "Welcome to Droid" (A Motorola & Verizon trademarked product)....

But specifically I was referring to above the startup screen. The white bar that shows clock, battery life, service tower, and 3g status. HTC phones don't have that, as the clock is on the homepage. That bar, is a characteristic of the Motorola Droid, which you can tell by the style (font) that the service tower, 3g status, and clock is in. Not to mention the placement of it all. Identical to the Motorola Droid.

I'm not trying to convince myself of anything. I want the phone to exist, I'm just presenting facts that could support the theory that it's fake.

The start up screen on the rumored Passion doesn't say anything but "Welcome to". The rest is blocked out and it's been said by the sourcing blog that it's a number to identify the particular test phone. Again, the status bar is unique to Android 2.0, not Motorola. The Droid is running stock Android 2.0. Released Android HTC phones to date are running 1.5 or 1.6. Look, I'm not trying to offend you. We're all desparately waiting for the same thing. But you're underthinking things for the sake of protecting yourself from getting your hopes up. The most credible rumor had it possibly being pushed up for a black friday or december release. Things may have changed. It may not come in December, but it's real and it's coming, eventually.

 

[RC Addict]

I sure hope the Passion/Dragon comes to fruition 'cause my Droid is really making me mad. No Bluetooth support for Visual Voicemail nor Voice Command? WHAT??? And my messenger keeps crashing. It makes me Force Close which deletes all the text threads. ARRRRRGGGG!!!!

 

[Mykpfsu]

I sure hope the Passion/Dragon comes to fruition 'cause my Droid is really making me mad. No Bluetooth support for Visual Voicemail nor Voice Command? WHAT??? And my messenger keeps crashing. It makes me Force Close which deletes all the text threads. ARRRRRGGGG!!!!

Most sites treat it as a certainty, not a rumor. Hence I believe it is coming. Just wish HTC would give a definite answer but if nothing comes by the 15th it may be time to flip the coin for Droid or Eris.

 

[sooper_droid12]

The dead give away in those "Dragon/Passion" pictures are the hard keys at the bottom of the fascia. The "Back" arrow is a poor excuse of a re-draw. And the "Menu" key is clearly a Motorola icon. Since when has HTC used anything but the word "MENU" as the key? Why resort to four horizontal lines now? I wouldn't bet against an HTC Android phone, much less one coming to VZW. But that's a hideous phone. After the HD2, how can you design a phone like that? By the way, have you seen the photo of the HD2 split-screened with that phone? The supposed "Dragon" phone's screen is way too narrow compared to the HD2, especially if it's supposed to inherit the hardware.

 

[sooper_droid12]

By the way, why would the HTC Passion be running a stock 2.0 when there are screen shots of an HTC phone running 2.1?

 

[kyler13]

The dead give away in those "Dragon/Passion" pictures are the hard keys at the bottom of the fascia. The "Back" arrow is a poor excuse of a re-draw. And the "Menu" key is clearly a Motorola icon. Since when has HTC used anything but the word "MENU" as the key? Why resort to four horizontal lines now?

Since when has HTC used capacitive buttons for these functions at all? It's clearly a Verizon theme, much like the Droid is a line of phones and not just the Motorola. That's what those button icons are telling us. Besides, snapping a picture of something off-axis like the leaked pictures requires some serious photoshopping skills to create something as convincing as this. No chance a fly-by-night scammer is pulling off something this good.

I wouldn't bet against an HTC Android phone, much less one coming to VZW. But that's a hideous phone. After the HD2, how can you design a phone like that? By the way, have you seen the photo of the HD2 split-screened with that phone? The supposed "Dragon" phone's screen is way too narrow compared to the HD2, especially if it's supposed to inherit the hardware.

And therein lies the problem. The fallacy that the Dragon/Passion is inheriting the HD2's hardware has been perpetuated so much that it's now taken as fact across the internet. When Chou said there will be no HD2 running Android, he meant it. There will be no Android phone with a 4.3" display in the planned future. The Passion's screen is in the neigborhood of 3.8".

The lack of information is driving some of you guys absolutely off the deep end with all these wild, off-the-cuff theories. It's like someone sucked the oxygen out of your rooms. Just relax.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Relax about what? I was merely saying the phone is hideous. Notice that I said "if" the HTC Android phone inherits the HD2 hardware. That being said, the point I was trying to make is that the HD2 is a beautiful looking phone and the best they could come up with is that leaked photo?

And as far as the capacitive buttons for home, menu and such, you only need to take a look at the HTC Droid Eris (also a VZW phone) and its capacitive buttons are standard HTC fare. That being said, you'd be surprised at what these photochoppers can do nowadays, even in a mere few hours of creativity.

There's a lot to consider regarding a gPhone and its feasibility. Like I said, I believe HTC will be releasing a new Android phone to compete squarely with the DROID, but I doubt that it'll be Google's all-data phone, especially if the only carrier willing to provide all-data for a phone is at&t and their spotty coverage. An all-data phone would be a bust on a network like that, or even on a 3G network as extensive as VZW.

 

[Mykpfsu]

The dead give away in those "Dragon/Passion" pictures are the hard keys at the bottom of the fascia. The "Back" arrow is a poor excuse of a re-draw. And the "Menu" key is clearly a Motorola icon. Since when has HTC used anything but the word "MENU" as the key? Why resort to four horizontal lines now? I wouldn't bet against an HTC Android phone, much less one coming to VZW. But that's a hideous phone. After the HD2, how can you design a phone like that? By the way, have you seen the photo of the HD2 split-screened with that phone? The supposed "Dragon" phone's screen is way too narrow compared to the HD2, especially if it's supposed to inherit the hardware.

Only the menu key is wrong. The rest are spot on for the keys found on Eris. It could just be to bring those 4 buttons more in line with the Droid lineup as not all Motorola phones have that menu key.

 

[Aerimus]

There's a lot to consider regarding a gPhone and its feasibility. Like I said, I believe HTC will be releasing a new Android phone to compete squarely with the DROID, but I doubt that it'll be Google's all-data phone, especially if the only carrier willing to provide all-data for a phone is at&t and their spotty coverage. An all-data phone would be a bust on a network like that, or even on a 3G network as extensive as VZW.

This cracks me up. Every phone out there today is all data. Voice is just digital data going through the tubes. Texting is just data going through the tubes. Everything on your phone is just data, going through their tubes.

It's crazy to me to think that people think this is so outlandish, the idea of an all data phone. EVERY phone is ALL DATA!

 

[kyler13]

Relax about what? I was merely saying the phone is hideous. Notice that I said "if" the HTC Android phone inherits the HD2 hardware. That being said, the point I was trying to make is that the HD2 is a beautiful looking phone and the best they could come up with is that leaked photo?

I was under the impression you were agreeing that this was likely a hoax, not simply complaining about aesthetics. Some would say the HD2 is chunky, not necessarily beautiful. I like the HD2, especially the thin form factor, but those buttons at the bottom are terrible. The look like something from the 90's and totally out of place. Awful. The leaked pictures of the Passion actually look like they borrowed the design from the HD Touch2 without the clunky WinMo buttons. I actually like the form factor and the clean look.

 

[Akshun]

This cracks me up. Every phone out there today is all data. Voice is just digital data going through the tubes. Texting is just data going through the tubes. Everything on your phone is just data, going through their tubes.

It's crazy to me to think that people think this is so outlandish, the idea of an all data phone. EVERY phone is ALL DATA!

Sir, I believe you are mistaken. They mean VOIP and requiring no voice plan, only a qualified data plan.

Although these magical tubes you speak of interest me.

 

[Aerimus]

Honestly, I'm hoping it will be slightly different as well. I'd like it to be that 3.8" screen instead of the 4.3". That'd be just fine by me.

So, umm, after watching this video I've decided to change my mind. I want the 4.3" screen!

 

[sooper_droid12]

4.3" screen @ 800x480 compared to 3.7" @ 854x480? The screen is bigger, but the real estate is the same (actually less, you lose those 50+ pixels off vertical). With the processing power it should be carrying, the ability to do HD video, you probably want the truer 16:9 so you don't get the borders. But I guess to each his own. What I'm wondering is will the new universal screen formatting of 2.0 really work with the 800x480 or will there be bugs and re-codes for apps like when the DROID came out.

 

[sooper_droid12]

So I watched the video... the whole DROID fits in the screen area of the phone! That's a frickin' big phone.