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HTC's Sense Android skin was revamped at MWC with Sense 4.0, a lighter version of the UI that focuses on the phone's camera and audio. Now, HTC chief product officer Kouji Kodera admits that the redesign was meant to fight the creep of unnecessary clutter into Sense. "From the original Sense up to Sense 3.5 we added too many things. The original concept was that it had to be simple and it had to be easy to use and we had that philosophy, but over time it got cluttered," said Kodera. "Even on the home screen we had four or five icons before consumers got a chance to add things themselves. For the HTC One range we have taken it down to Sense 2 again."
Kodera also said that HTC was trying to incorporate more of the original Android design into Sense 4.0. "What we've done right now is a good mixture of keeping Sense and Google's Ice Cream Sandwich element in a good balance. We haven't tried to change everything here." With the company planning to pare down its focus to "key products" in 2012, hopefully the new version of Sense on its flagship phones will prove lighter and faster than previous iterations.
