After a failed attempt to regain market share and secured some foothold in the smartphone market with the HTC One A9 and One M9, the Taiwanese manufacturer has launched the HTC 10 after finally dropping the One name from their current flagship. The company says “10” is a magical number as it represents the perfect score!
Specs & Design
The HTC 10 has an iconic design, a fully metal jacketed phone. At the Heart of the phone is a Snapdragon 820 with 2 of the custom Kryo cores clocked at 2.15 GHz and the other two lower clocked cores at 1.6 GHz.
This powerhouse is coupled with 4GB RAM for better memory management and Adreno 530 as the GPU. The 5.2-inch QuadHD display has a pixel density of 564ppi with 30% better colour reproduction.
At the bottom, the home button housing the Fingerprint scanner is flanked by two backlit capacitive keys. There will be two storage variant, the 32GB and the 64GB variant with microSD card expansion up to 2TB.
There is the presence of a BoomSoundTM HiFi speaker but without the previously grilled speaker output. The camera on the HTC 10 is said to be the best smartphone camera by DxOMark. The Primary camera is of 12MP UltraPixel with 1.55µm pixels size and f/1.8 aperture.
It also sports second generation laser auto focus and has a dual tone dual LED flash. The front “UltraSelfie” camera has a resolution of 5MP with a similar f/1.8 aperture. Both the camera has HTC’s OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) built-in.
The device is being powered by a 3000mAh battery which comes with Quick Charge 3.0 capabilities via the Type C USB 3.1 port. There is also another variant of the HTC 10 with lower specs dubbed as the HTC 10 ‘Lifestyle’.
There is a SoC shift to Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 with 3GB of RAM but the other specs remains intact. It is available in 3 colour variants – Glacier Silver, Carbon Grey, and Topaz Gold. And the phone is water resistant with IP53 certification. The HTC 10 runs Android 6.0
Marshmallow with HTC Sense UI on top, which has a close resemblance to Vanilla Android. HTC says that it had worked alongside Google to prevent duplication of apps.
Price
The HTC 10’s pricing is available for a few of the Western countries like USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc. In the USA, the unlocked version of the phone is available for $699. It is also available on AT&T and T-Mobile but without any subsidy options. The Gold variant is not available at the moment.
In the UK, all three colour variants are available for £570, but there are no carrier details. For Germany, its €700 and €750 for Rest of the countries above. There are no pricing details available for India.
Offers
There are no such offers at the moment even from telecom partners. The only offer on the HTC 10 is being provided by the official HTC site for the sim unlocked version. The ‘Trade in Offer’ allows the customer to exchange their old devices to get a rebate on the new HTC 10!
Buying from the official site also ensures less pre-loaded software and warranty for one year which includes bootloader unlocking. The company is also offering free ‘UH OH Protection’ for one year which includes water damage and free replacement of a cracked screen for the same period.
Accessories
HTC Ice View: It’s a flip cover for the HTC 10 which is similar to the HTC Dot View cover. It enables the user to interact with the phone, even when the cover is closed as the cover is see-through. The users can take photos or read text switch songs or adjust the volume and much more.
HTC High-Res Audio Earphones: Great audio cannot be experienced without great earphones. This Hi-Res audio certified earphones featuring 13mm speakers are made of aerospace-grade polymer diaphragm so that it can deliver twice the frequency range (10Hz-40kHz) and comes with 24-bit audio support.
HTC Rapid Charger 3.0 & USB Type-C Cable: The HTC Rapid Charger 3.0 is fully compatible with the Quick Charge 3.0 and can recharge the HTC 10’s battery up to 50% in approximately 30 minutes.
Availability Details
The HTC 10 is already up for pre-order on the official site in US, UK and few others countries with shipping starting in May. There is a rumor that the 64GB variant won’t be launched in the USA.There is also a special Red edition, but no details have been released on that matter.
As for India, the device has not been launched in the country, and there is confusion whether the HTC 10 Lifestyle edition or the HTC 10 will be launched.
