All New One Video Leaks, HTC Confirms Legitimacy via Twitter

A lot can happen on a Sunday. While the world was busy watching/making fun of the Oscar’s yesterday, it seems that a conflict over the All New HTC One smartphone—the follow-up to HTC’s flagship One handset, which will be officially unveiled on March 25—erupted on Twitter. Over the weekend, a kid named Roshan Jamkatel got his hands on and created a video review of the All New One. Then that video got posted on his YouTube account, earning the ire of HTC Senior Global Online Communications Manager, Jeff Gordon, who inadvertently (or covertly?) confirmed the veracity of Jamkatel’s video in the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivOspWGlMdk#t=32

The video, now taken off of Jamkatel’s YouTube channel and reposted elsewhere, reveals details about the high-quality dual-lensed rear camera, as well as a micro SD card slot, which has been missing from most of HTC’s recent phones. The screen also very big and bright, and the HTC Sense UI seems to be working nice and smooth.

But while leaks like this are generally mixed with portions of doubt, this particular video seems to be the real deal, as evidenced by Gordon’s threats against young Jamkatel. It’s likely that he wouldn’t bother with him if it weren’t the real deal. After hearing from Gordon, Jamkatel back-pedaled on the veracity of the phone in the video, saying it’s a fake. His YouTube channel is called “Straight Up Pranking,” for whatever that’s worth.

Since then, he’s also denied having a YouTube channel, even though he links to a YouTube channel in his Twitter bio, and both show his face. Then, even more weirdly, Jamkatel seemed to acknowledge that his parents worked for HTC, and then were fired as a result of the leak—even though there seems to be no evidence that his parents actually work for the company in the first place.

In all? This is a weird little development. But one thing is clear: HTC’s All New One is making headlines on the web at a time when most people should be talking about the already-confirmed Samsung Galaxy S5. That the handset can get this much buzz after Samsung’s reveal last week can only work in HTC’s favor when it’s finally debuted later this month.

[Sources: TechCrunch, NDTV Gadgets]