HTC unveils NFC remote control for Butterfly smartphone

The HTC Mini “provides a whole new way of human-computer interaction” says the phone maker, enabling users to make calls, text and access stored media with the tiny device while keeping their smartphone in their pocket.

HTC has introduced the HTC Mini, a “remote control” for its high-end Butterfly smartphone that enables users to perform a range of functions on the smaller device while leaving their mobile phone in their pocket.

HTC Mini

The HTC Mini uses NFC to pair with a Butterfly phone. Users can then use the Mini to make and receive phone calls, view and send texts, check their calendar and control music, photo and video playback on the main phone. Users who connect their Butterfly to their TV using the smartphone’s HDMI port can also then use the HTC Mini to control what is shown on the TV.

The device “provides a whole new way of human-computer interaction,” says HTC.

The HTC Mini is currently only available in China, on a limited edition basis, and only with the HTC Butterfly. A video, in Chinese, shows the concept behind the HTC Mini and how the company envisages the Mini being used:

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4 comments on this article

  1. This is sickening!! Already the HTC ButterFly which comes with NO NFC in Malaysia, cost a bomb (RM2299/= or US$750). Are we to pay another RM600/= or US$195 for this extra gadget?

    How can this gadget works with the Malaysian/Singaporean version of HTC Butterfly when it has NO NFC?

    Surely this article refers to the USA version of the HTC J ButterFly, (or HTC Droid DNA) not the HTC ButteFly here.

    1. The Butterfly is another of those phones which has different features in different territories. We try to make sense of it here.

      As for the mini, HTC says it is a China-only product.

  2. The usage model on this is wrong for me. My smartphone is in my pocket, I don;t want an add-on device that I also have to carry, becuase that would end up in my pocket as well. What I really want is these capabilities on my wrist. I think Pebble Watch has it right, but I want Apple to create this, so the usability is great. If they can do it for $159 to $179, then I think I’d buy it. This device is just something else I’d need to carry.

    1. Yes, to each his own, I think. Certainly a small add-on device like this (be it a mini-phone, a watch or a headset) makes a lot of sense as the size of the host device increases. I’d certainly be happy to use something like this with, say, an iPad-sized tablet/phone.

      In fact, it would be great to build a camera into something like this too, so that we don’t have to put up with people holding up iPad-sized tablets and blocking the view at just about every public event.

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