Unhappy HTC owners to sue over poor graphics performance

HTC is taking two steps backward for every one forward, according to a bunch of disgruntled users of the company’s mobile products. Indeed, so annoyed are these users that they’re intending launching a class-action lawsuit to force HTC to act.

What’s the problem? Well, the band behind HTCClassAction.org claims that some of HTC’s costliest gadgets and gizmos are “grossly underperforming”. The group reckons that HTC handhelds like the innovative TyTN II operate slower than two-year-old products from the same firm. 

HTCClassAction.org says that HTC phones based on the MSM7200 and MSM7500 chipsets are afflicted by “missing or poorly performing” drivers.

The MSM7200 chipset, for example, is based on ATI’s Imageon technology, which can deliver hardware acceleration for most handheld graphics operations. However, HTCClassAction claims that this ability is “hardly used” on the implicated HTC devices, leading to ropy performance and diminished battery life.

The same pressure group also takes issue with what it says is a pre-existing driver problem relating to the touch-screen on the same HTC handhelds.

HTCClassAction.org states that some HTC devices “slow to a crawl” when the screen is touched. It compares the experience with running Windows in Safe Mode with the generic VGA driver.

HTCClassAction.org argues that though HTC doesn't state anywhere that it will supply well-functioning, hardware-accelerated drivers, the company’s older products do provide “some or all of these drivers”. Because of this, the group complains, users would expect “at the very least” for a new device to provide the same performance of an older example.

It is also miffed by the fact that the chipset manufacturer, Qualcomm, apparently has ready-made hardware-accelerated drivers for the MSM7200 and MSM7500 designs.

On the lawsuit, HTCClassAction.org says that it has “several people in several countries” working on it. So, watch this space…

[ HTCClassAction.org]