So 2014 is done and over with, and the new year is promising to bring us some very impressive additions to the high end smartphone family, but with a price to match. While new tech and nifty gadgets are a thing all of us can end up to enjoy, it is not always exactly what we are looking for.
The HTC Desire line of smartphones has always catered to the public interested in the mid-range devices, nailing a good mix of quality and price. The new HTC Desire Eye does not falter in that perspective, and actually manages to pack a little more than usual to fit to your liking.
Overall, the HTC Desire Eye is a strong phone, no doubt. It may not be the HTC One M8 or the Galaxy S5, but it is still a vicious fighter for the end of 2014 market. And because selfies are just as normal and natural as actually owning a smartphone these days, the company decided to give this aspect of our lives a closer look. Literally.
Along with the features I’ll be describing in great detail below, the focus of the HTC Desire Eye seems to be its potent capability to take impressive selfies, including both a powerful zoom and a flash for your front facing camera. But don’t worry, that’s not where the HTC Desire Eye hype ends.
So let’s talk detail.
HTC Desire Eye: Design
The HTC Desire Eye is a pretty large phone. Not large enough to fall into the phablet category, only packing a 5.2” display, but it’s still of a considerable size. Unlike its less affordable siblings such as the One M8, it has given up on the metal exterior look, being completely made of plastic. One single piece of plastic case makes up for the whole exterior, with plastic covers protecting your memory card and micro-SIM slots.
The reason behind this is that the device has been built to withstand dips in water as deep as 1 meter for roughly 30 minutes before the condition of your phone may become critical. This is the first time in HTC history that a smartphone under this name is built to be waterproof; and hoorah for that. The HTC Desire Eye even allows you to take photos underwater thanks to this, but the touchscreen is not functional when getting wet – thus, you will be doing this via the camera shutter button that has been implemented on the side of the phone.
The look of the phone is definitely something pleasant. It comes in two versions, either white with a funky red stripe going round the edges of the phone, or blue with a teal stripe. This two-tone ordeal gives a refreshing look to the phone, without making it be taken any less seriously. It’s fun, but still sleek and elegant.
While the phone is in no way bulky, sporting a thickness of only 8.5mm, the HTC Desire Eye just feels big – possibly due to the straight angle design around the edges, in place of a curvier alternative. You will definitely be using both your hands to type texts or use it extensively, holding it one-handedly feeling slightly stranger than you would think.
One thing you will be noticing as soon as you take the HTC Desire Eye out of the packaging is the two cameras popping from both sides of the phone, accompanied by LED flashes. The front camera isn’t the miniscule pod you might be used to seeing in most, if not all other phones, but instead a full-fledged large, 13 megapixel one. Stop to think of it, this looks a little strange when looking at the phone’s front face, having the camera literally staring at you eerily but it’s a small price to pay for the quality that comes with it when taking photos using it.
HTC Desire Eye: Display & Sound
As I mentioned beforehand, the 5.2” inch display is considerably large for the smartphone family. Not only that, but it is the largest the Desire series has ever gone for so far. The display has a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution, which is the same as the flagship HTC One M8, with slightly less pixel density though – 424 pixels per inch. Even so, with the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 coating, the HTC Desire Eye display is a considerable trait of the mid-range HTC releases.
The display is incredibly bright, going to surprising levels actually – along with the vivid coloring that the display is capable of, it will turn any media into a visual delight, even if it doesn’t include any of the Super LCD panels that other, newborn smartphones in the HTC family bring to the table. Viewing angles are the least of problems on this model too, not having any issue even when viewing is done from very small angles.
The only two things that users have reported in regards to the HTC Desire Eye display are the slightly reflective screen surface that might make itself noticed even at high brightness levels and the hardly noticeable light that appears on the edges of the display, reminding us of older model phones. Other than that though, all user reviews seem to be pristine clear on the quality of the 1080p display.
While the display definitely will be giving you a run for your money, the sound is not something that the HTC Desire Eye will be boasting about. Don’t get me wrong, the speakers are by all means of a nice construction and efficient enough to get the job done. Hidden on either side of the screen, the stereo speakers along with built-in amplifiers will do well enough for most needs but end up lacking in sound depth, especially in comparison to stronger, high-end phones. As an alternative, you still have the 3.5mm headphone jack tucked neatly on the top edge of the phone for regular hands-free use.
HTC Desire Eye: Cameras & Features
So we have arrived at what is probably the most stand-out feature of the HTC Desire Eye: the cameras that it sports of both sides of the phone. The two siblings are close to identical, and both are accompanied by LED flashes to bring light and bright quality to your photos – selfies or otherwise. Both cameras have 13 megapixel resolutions, but differ slightly in focal length and angle: the front camera has an f/2.2 aperture and 22mm focal length, while the rear one went for the f/2.0 28mm length version.
Both cameras are HDR capable and go way out of their way to bring quality to your photos no matter what. Truth be told, the front facing camera seems to show some difficulty in darker environments, sort of forcing you to make use of the flash now that you have it.
Autofocus is no longer a feature we would be surprised by, but it is incorporated in both front facing and rear facing cameras, allowing you to take photos in resolutions as high as 4208 x 3120 pixels. Recording videos is no issue whatsoever either, the HTC Desire Eye being capable of shooting in 1080p at 30 frames per second.
Now, what good is a camera on your phone if the camera application doesn’t follow-up with some features to make your 13-megapixel resolution selfies even better? Considering that was the focus of this mid-range smartphone, the things that you can do with the app are pretty neat. The application includes a mode that will digitally make your selfies more beautiful by smoothing skin in the pictures you take.
Alternatively, you can now be part of the photos you take of your group of friends, although it’s a little like cheating. A mode of the camera app will take a photo of you using the front facing camera while the rear one will be used to capture your group – then proceed to plaster your face next to your friends’ by just one tap.
It eels a bit strange and makes you think of that one odd and unpopular kid sticking cutouts of himself into pictures of people he’s never even talked to in high school comedies, but I guess you could say it’s not the same.
One of the most odd, but incredibly fun things you can cook up with the inbuilt features is the merging of two people’s faces taken from two separate photos. Sounds pretty useless, and in essence it really is, but still hella fun and will definitely score one of the top past-time activities when things are getting dull.
As a final mention, there is also the video calling support the HTC Desire Eye provides through separate pieces of software that will overlap with your video calling app of choice and give you a hand when you want to share your phone’s screen with the person you are calling. And since the phone also has the dual LED flash that has been mentioned earlier, you can also use it to illuminate your face during video calls. Finally, technology!
Hardware Specs & Miscellaneous
So now that you know the visual, external traits of the HTC Desire Eye, surely there’s a will to know the follow-up to the story. Well, this particular smartphone may be no HTC flagship, but it struggles its way up and as high as it can in the mid-range smartphone zone.
Everything is run by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor that runs at 2.3 GHz speed – this is probably one the best you would get before the next gen processors that have been released at the end of 2014 and destined to be hosted by early 2015 releases. It’s the same processor that you would find in flagship devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8.
However, the HTC Desire Eye loses some ground in front of these devices when it comes to memory and storage space. Only 2 GB of RAM back up the Snapdragon 801 processor, and the internal storage is a bit of a pain. You can only get this phone with 16 GB of storage space, which means that if you’re planning on shooting a lot of videos, store a lot of photos, or even use your phone as your regular music player for when you are on the go, you will be in a pickle unless you have a micro-SD card to help you out.
But considering that HTC was nice enough to give the phone a micro-SD slot, it will be a relief to most of the people who consider purchasing this.
The battery of the HTC Desire Eye seems to be a pretty good deal for the amount of power the screen requires for such bright display. While the battery is nowhere near amazing, there is really no smartphone up to date capable of boasting about its battery life. Things just don’t work that way yet.
Nevertheless, the 2,410 mAh battery cell is pretty decent and will keep your phone going for considerable amounts of time – about 10 hours of average to high usage to be exact. Just keeping your phone on and around without tapping away at it unless you get a call or a text will keep it going for up to 3 days, which is pretty good. Then again, that’s a very unrealistic scenario, isn’t it?
The Verdict
So what things that you are looking for is it that you would find in the HTC Desire Eye and eventually compel you to purchase it? A lot of things, really. The phone packs a hardware punch in terms of stats and specs and yet does not manage to fully nail it, somehow. This keeps it firmly in the mid-range smartphone region, giving it a lot of popularity for casual all-around use.
The hip design and selfie power will probably make it very popular for younger individuals, but it’s still a very strong pick for anyone, especially considering the price you can get it at: $599.99 at Best Buy, $549.99 at Amazon, both unlocked, but as low as $149.99 on various US carriers with a 2 year contract.
Roxanne Briean
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