HTC is planning to bounce back from a challenging 2015 with the launch of a new smartphone – the HTC 10 – a bold, feature-packed device with a focus on design and features.
The company hit a bit of a slump last year but the HTC 10 may just be the product that heralds its comeback.
It has a 5.2-inch quad HD display with curved-edge Gorilla Glass and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor.
On the design side, HTC unveiled an impressive look and feel with a gently curved back panel and a chamfered contour.
It has 32GB of storage onboard, 4GB RAM as well as a microSD card slot to expand the memory further.
It is 9mm thick and weighs 161g and will be available in Topaz Gold, Carbon Grey and Glacier Silver.
The device can also be secured with a fingerprint that can be read through the physical home button in 0.2 seconds.
It has a 12-megapixel UltraPixel 2 camera with fast laser auto focus that provides 135 per cent more light than HTC’s previous flagship handset so it can capture superior pictures in low light.
The front facing 5-megapixel camera shares the same OIS (optical image stabilisation) as the main camera – a first for a smartphone.
It can shoot 4K video and also capture 24-bit hi-res audio as well.
In fact, the HTC 10 camera received a DxOMark score of 88 – making it one of the highest quality smartphone cameras on the market.
On the audio front, one of HTC’s signature features – BoomSound – is back on the HTC 10 to offer superior hi-res audio output through the speakers and the included high performance earphones as well.
As far as the user experience goes, the HTC 10 has a sleeker feel to it with no duplicated apps and bloatware that was evident with its previous HTC Sense UI (user interface).
This time out, the HTC 10 has a cleaner, more faithful and tighter integration with Google’s Android operating system.
The aim here is to give the user more control as well as allowing them to customise the device to their taste.
They can even create their own layout for their apps with stickers replacing icons.
A new Boost+ feature provides a dashboard to manage housekeeping and junk removal to ensure the HTC 10 is performing at its best at all times.
And with a 3000mAh battery, HTC says the device has the potential to run for two days before it needs a recharge.
When it comes time to recharge, users will discover another handy feature – rapid charging which provides a 50 per cent battery refill in just 30 minutes.
The HTC 10 is expected to go on sale in Australia in May with Telstra already committing to offer the device to its customers.
Pricing has yet to be announced.
Stay tuned for a complete review of the HTC 10 on Tech Guide in the coming weeks.
