Since the launch of HTCClassAction.org, and our initial reporting, HTC has issued multiple official responses. These responses are confusing, and at times, conflicting in nature.
The issue surrounds HTC’s implementation of drivers in the device, and resulting performance problems reported by users. Essentially, HTCClassAction.org claims that HTC did not provide key drivers to enable usage of all the features of the Qualcomm MSM CPU, present in most modern HTC devices. The result has been sluggish camera viewfinders, video playback shortcomings, and a lack of 3D graphics hardware acceleration.
Initially, an HTC Americas Vice President announced that a fix was underway, but HTC headquarters issued multiple responses to the contrary. The company’s present opinion is that their devices lack the ATI/3D portion of the Qualcomm CPU. And, as such, the drivers were never written… since there is no hardware in the device to use them with.
This has raised further controversey. HTCClassAction.org argues that HTC’s (multiple) statements have been carefully worded to avoid admitting if ATI hardware exists inside their Qualcomm silicon. The site argues that HTC is simply saying they don’t use that part of the hardware, rather than it not being there.
In either case, prior to all of this, there was no distinction between Qualcomm MSM 7200 & 7500 units with, and without ATI Imageon hardware. All chips in the series were advertised with the multimedia enhancements provided by the ATI-powered additions. In fact, HTCClassAction.org cites that Qualcomm has deleted documents from their web site pointing to this fact, evidence that Qualcomm and HTC are working together to cover tracks.
The devices affected by this scandal are broad ranging, from the AT&T 8925 Tilt, to the Verizon SMT5800 and XV6800 as well as Sprint Mogul and Touch in the United States. Some users have even resorted to comparing old HTC devices against newer, Qualcomm based HTC devices. As the video shows, HTC devices years old outperform the modern HTC units in video drawing performance.
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HTC should just fix the the problem, but if they wont why doesn’t the phone companies
who brand these phones do something about it?,
or how about Qualcomm and ATI, seems like none of the big companies
(who have really deep pockets) are doing a thing, and so the consumers are getting screwed yet again.
How can HTC lie so blatantly. The chipset has ATI hardware built in. The HTC press release simply says “they don’t use the ATI hardware”…as in..smoke and mirrors…should be read “while we are NOT telling you that the hardware isn’t included, what we are TRYING to spin to you is that we didn’t include the drivers to access the ATI hardware, therefore we can lie and accurately say that HTC does NOT use the ATI hardware”…and so playback is slow and choppy, scrolling up/down emails slow, because the processor is processing all the graphics…instead of the separate graphics ATI hardware being fingered for graphics, and the processor for the programs….and so the class action lawsuit. Make the drivers so we can have the damn phone we were all led to believe we were buying.
yup! the article is saying the truth. i still have my cingular 8125 also known as the wizard and i’ve seen huge difference that let me revert back on using my older 8125 than my kaiser. evethough the older one has only half the power of the kaiser, it still plays movies better. it’s somehow not worthit to carry the kaiser around because of this dissapointment. the kaiser is heavier, slower, and eats up battery faster compared to 8125 which is the very opposite
You know, if we just showed up outside of their headquarters in Bellevue, WA–which is only a short drive from my house in Seattle–and protested, media attention would come. That usually makes big companies do what they ought.