HTC announces a preview program to test new hardware and software earlier

After the disappointing performance of the One M9 earlier this year and steadily declining revenue, the company is launching the HTC Preview program. The importance of having an active community seems to be acknowledged by HTC, as the company has just released a preview program open to all, which will allow some lucky fans to receive new hardware and software before they are released, so HTC can get feedback to improve their products before they reach the market.

The HTC Preview program is officially expanding to the USA and HTC is looking for fearless souls who are willing to lend a helping hand. While getting software updates or new devices before everyone else may sound like a lot of fun, HTC is only looking for serious participants to help them with the program. HTC Preview participants are often given pre-release software updates and may also be sent pre-release devices for field testing to ensure that all bugs are worked out before the product is made available to the general public.

The AMA on Reddit wasn’t the most productive I’ve ever seen, but there were a few interesting tidbits. For US, the user has to be on one of the four major carriers in the country. If you’re using an HTC handset, the company will ask you for your IMEI and carrier. “Within the Preview Program we ask owners to provide feedback on software, and even hardware before it’s widely released”. It is important to say that by registering on the website doesn’t guarantee your spot in the program, and if you already participated on previous Preview programs, your data is already in their systems so there’s no need to register again. There might be rules in other regions, but the AMA was run by the USA team, so that’s what we’ve got the most info about right now.