You may not have noticed this Easter egg, but in all of the advertisements and displays of any HTC phones, be it Android, Windows phone or any other Sense flavored, the clock in the background always reads the same time: 10:08. Android fans of the hardest variety may have been clueless to this fact but the question still remains as to why they picked the seemingly random time of eight minutes passed ten. Is that what time they wake up? The time they take their lunch break? What could possibly be the significance of 10:08?
HTC clock widgets display 10:08 in ads because of aesthetic purposes
The answer is actually very simple. This time on a digital 12-hour clock is the time where the highest number of cells is lit up. Clearly, this is wrong as 88:88 would be the most as every cell would be lit, but this time doesn’t exist (at least in the world I live in). Additionally, most clocks only have two cells for the first space, as only a one can be in this position. Therefore, 10:08 is the fullest modern phones can get.
Well in all honestly the modern phones don’t have to worry about cells because of high def pixels and innovative technology, so why would HTC keep doing this? Nothing is revealed on HTC’s official site, but it probably has something to do with the fact that the Original HTC Touch that was released in ’07 ran a TouchFLO interfaced which featured a digital like user interface that we are familiar with.
This traditional use of 10:08 is actually not native to HTC, advertisers have been using the time in marketing purposes for decades. The biggest reason is the aesthetic appeal of symmetry in addition to giving more space for showing their logo. I know you had a lot of questions, and I hope by answering this pressing question that you will probably sleep better at night. You’re welcome.
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