HTC's not giving up on premium smartphones just yet. After last year's One M9 failed to impress and the launch of the One A9 iPhone-lookalike was essentially a stopgap, the Taiwanese tech company is back with the new HTC 10.
I've spent some time with the HTC 10, and it's everything the One M9 should have been. It's a sensible evolution of its all-metal flagship phones with a back camera that doesn't suck.
The HTC 10 feels great in the hand due to its curved back and large beveled chamfer that makes it feel thinner than it is. I wasn't sure about the chamfer at first, but after a few minutes with the phone, I started to really like it. It gives the HTC 10 a distinct identity and definitely makes it stand out from other devices.
The 5.2-inch Super LCD 5 display has a 2,560 x 1,440 (Quad HD) resolution with 564 pixels per inch. It's crisp and relatively bright outdoors. Nothing to complain about here.
Below the screen is a home button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor and two capacitive buttons (back and recent apps) to its left and right. The fingerprint sensor is the exact same one as on the One A9, which is to say it unlocks instantly with a tap (no press required). It's fantastic.
The earpiece above the screen is actually one of two BoomSound stereo speakers; the other speaker is on the bottom of the phone.
Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM power Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow overlaid with HTC's own Sense UI. It's damn buttery smooth and fast. HTC's also tightly integrated its own apps with Google's services. For instance, the camera roll goes right to Google Photos; there's no duplicate HTC gallery app.
There's also a new quirky new freestyle theme that uses "stickers" instead of app icons. As you can see in the screenshots below, instead of a grid of apps, freestyle layouts let you mask apps behind "stickers" and position them anywhere on the screen. You can hide or show the app names.
The phone comes with 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, but you can add more via the microSD card slot.
Like many flagship phones, the HTC 20 has a non-removable 3,000 milliamp-hour (mAh) battery. It supports Quick Charge 3.0 through its reversible USB Type-C port.
Ultra Pixel 2 camera
If there was any one feature that doomed the One M9, it was the camera.
Whereas the One M9's camera had 20 megapixels, the HTC 10 only has 12 megapixels -- the same resolution as the camera on the iPhone 6S and Samsung Galaxy S7. It also a laser autofocus sensor (like on the LG G5) and a dual LED flash.
the camera's pixels are larger, meaning the image sensor can let in more light for sharper photos with less image noise
But fret not, the drop in resolution doesn't mean a drop in image quality. In fact, the camera's pixels are larger, meaning the image sensor can let in more light for sharper photos with less noise. HTC's calling the new camera the "UltraPixel 2." In my brief hands-on, the camera did feel fast and image quality looked pretty great.
The camera's f/1.8 aperture should also translate into significantly better low-light performance.
On the front is a 5-megapixel camera for selfies. It's OK, but lags behind selfie cameras on other phones.
The HTC 10 is also the world's first phone with optical image stabilization (OIS) for both the front and back cameras.
The HTC 10 costs $699 for the unlocked model in either "glacier silver" or "carbon gray." Pre-orders for the HTC 10 start on April 12 with shipping in early May. In the U.S., Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile will carry the HTC 10. Each HTC 10 also comes with HTC's "Uh Oh Protection" plan, which gets you a replacement device within the the first year if the screen gets cracked or phone is damaged from water.
There's a lot to like on the HTC 10. Stay tuned for our full review.
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Topics Android
