HTC Desire 820 Review

HTC's new Desire 820 packs 64-bit processing power and an 8MP selfie-snapper – does this mid-range phone have the clout to stand alongside the flagship HTC One (M8)?

We've gone hands on with the plastic fantastic phone – but is it an object of desire? Here's what we thought of it in the flesh:

PLASTIC ALL OVER

There's no solid aluminium build here; the 820 is plastic through and through. That doesn't mean it feels cheap, though; HTC stresses that its two-tone manufacturing technique offers a solid build that won't creak or fall apart over time.

The device does have a pleasing heft in the hand, and we particularly like the colour contrast design and the funky protruding rear camera ring (stealing a march on theiPhone 6's rumoured camera design).

It's extremely slippery however, and given its larger size, could result in quite a few accidental drops.

HTC's dual front-facing BoomSound speakers are also present, as is a microSD slot and dual SIM slots (presumably intended for Asian markets).

LARGE SCREEN, LESS PIXELS

The Desire 820 packs in a large 720p 5.5in screen; at this size, that low resolution is a little bit disappointing. It's not an absolute disaster and text is perfectly readable, but our eyes have been spoiled by both full HD and even 2K screens over the past year; on a screen this large, that 720p resolution is a little too stretched for our liking.

It should help battery life however, and given that the 820 has a fairly small (for its size) non-removable 2600mAh battery, it'll need all the help it can get.

A CAMERA MADE FOR SELFIES

We'll need to wait for our full review of the Desire 820 before we can properly test out its rear 13MP snapper; but we can report that it focuses quickly, and shots appear to be detailed when viewed back on its screen.

The real story here, however, is the Desire 820's 8MP front-facing camera – which is clearly aimed at the booming selfie generation. While taking pouty self-shots isn't our cup of tea, there's no denying that for the market HTC is aiming at, a souped-up selfie camera will sound very appealing.

With no front-facing flash, though, shots will still suffer in low light. Our pictures looked reasonable in a relatively well-lit room, and the face morphing feature - which lets you blend two people's faces into one - works very well. It's a great way to see what two people's future children could look like, and the results are impressively creepy.

There's also an automatic photo booth feature which combines four separate shots into a collage, and a beautification mode which smooths out your skin and makes you look like you're wearing far too much foundation.

HTC's decision to cram a 64-bit octa-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon 615 processor into this mid-range device is a little perplexing.

While it future proofs the Desire 820 for Android L, its 2GB of RAM won't take advantage of the 4GB+ RAM that a 64-bit processor is able to support.

64-bit Android apps will take a while to arrive; by the time they do, will the 820, as a mid-range device, still be relevant?

Those questions aside, lag and stutters aren't a problem – when swiping through the menus at least. Again, a full review will reveal how its processor holds up, though we don't expect to see any major issues.

SENSIBLE SOFTWARE

HTC's excellent Sense 6.0 UI makes another appearance, which means plenty of BlinkFeed magic for news and social network updates at a glance.

The tap-to-awaken screen function that's present on the One (M8) appears to be absent, which is a shame, but at least the funky Dot View case will be wrapping itself around the 820 when it lands on shelves.

INITIAL VERDICT

The Desire 820 is an attractive, well made (albeit slippery) handset, cherry-picking useful features from the One (M8) including its front-facing speakers, Sense 6.0 software, and Dot View case.

The 8MP front-facing camera and fun face morphing feature should make it appealing to selfie-snappers; and while we're certainly not complaining about its 64-bit innards, we're a little confused as to why HTC has chosen to make one of its first 64-bit phones a mid-range handset.

A larger battery and a full HD screen are sorely missing from the spec sheet, but we'll reserve our full judgement for when the the Desire 820 lands from the end of September for around €330 (£265).

UK pricing has yet to be confirmed, but stay tuned for our full review where all will be revealed.

HTC Desire Eye Review

The Good The HTC Desire Eye is the first smartphone to feature a front-facing flash to illuminate your selfies. Its screen is bright and bold, it has plenty of power and its colourful body is waterproof.

The Bad Although the front camera has 13 megapixels, images still suffer from noise and blur, particularly in low light. Focus is far from perfect too, even with the flash assistance.

The Bottom Line Although its flash-equipped front camera is eye-catching, its image results aren't as impressive as I'd hoped. Still, the flash will illuminate your face where other phones can't, and the Desire Eye comes with fun software, is well-specced and waterproof too.

Taking pictures of your own gurning face and plastering it over the Internet is unquestionably the best thing you can do with a device that has the entire wealth of human knowledge only a tap away. The front-facing cameras that enable such a noble pursuit on most phones, however, tend to be low-resolution and lack the flash you find on the back.

Not so with the HTC Desire Eye.

This 5.2-inch Android phone separates itself from the rest of the Android world by virtue of its 13-megapixel front-facing camera, which also has a dual LED flash to illuminate your dazzling smile in even the darkest of places. It's the first phone to have such a potent front camera. It is, in fact, the same camera that you'll find on the back of the phone as well.

Other features include a colourful, waterproof body, a full-HD display and the latest version of Android KitKat.

It's due to go on sale in the US later this month, although specific times, or indeed prices, are yet to be announced, as are any details on an Australian debut.

The Eye will be on sale in the UK on 7 November, exclusively on network Three, on a range of price plans. The cheapest is £29 per month, with a £29 upfront charge for the handset, which will net you 1GB of data and 600 minutes. That's marginally cheaper than the One M8, which is £28 per month with a £49 upfront charge on the same plan.

Design

As part of HTC's more affordable Desire range, the Eye eschews the all-metal design of the flagship One M8. The body is made from a single piece of plastic that's been given a two-tone design, which I think looks great -- it's much more fun to look at than plain grey and black slabs.

It's a big phone, due to cramming in that 5.2-inch display, but it's slim and easy to fit into a pocket. You'll certainly need two hands to type on it properly though, unless you have thumbs as long as pool cues.

It feels sturdy to hold and I'm sure it can take a few knocks and bumps without showing up too much damage. There's no question, however, that it feels like a much less luxurious device than the all-metal One M8. If you want a phone that feels so good to hold you'll happily just sit and stroke it, the M8 is the phone for you.

The Eye, however, is the first waterproof HTC phone -- something the M8 cannot claim. It can survive in up to 1 metre of water for up to 30 minutes. That means it's safe when you accidentally spill a glass of wine over it or drop it in the bath.

You can also take photos underwater, thanks to the physical camera shutter button on the side (the touchscreen won't work when wet).

It doesn't have the huge speaker grilles at the top and bottom of the face of the phone like the One M8, but it does still carry the "BoomSound" brand. The speakers are there, but they're only tiny slits between the screen's glass and white surround. I'm not convinced by this -- it's such a slight gap that it looks like a manufacturing fault up close, almost as though the screen simply hasn't been made big enough to fit in the chassis.

The speakers themselves are reasonably good though. They don't have the same volume as the M8's speakers -- which shouldn't come as a surprise, given they're much smaller -- but their forward-facing position means the sound is directed towards you, so you can hear the audio more clearly. I was able to cook in my kitchen and comfortably hear a podcast over the sound of my shopping.

Around the sides you'll find the 3.5mm headphone jack and micro-USB charging port -- both of which have been made waterproof so don't require rubber flaps covering them -- and the SIM and microSD card slots are tucked in little pull-out trays. I recommend getting a microSD card too, as the 16GB of built-in storage will fill up pretty quickly if you're really into your games or keep loads of music stored locally.

Display

The display has a full-HD (1,920x1,080-pixel) resolution, which is the highest we've so far seen on the mid-range Desire series. It's the same resolution as the flagship One M8, in fact. The M8's display is 5, rather than 5.2 inches though, so it has a marginally higher pixel density. Side-by-side however, it's difficult to tell any difference.

The Eye's display is very bright and it has good colours -- I found that glossy Netflix shows like "Breaking Bad" looked great.

Viewing angles are excellent too, although I did find the screen to be quite reflective, which sometimes caused me to stare back at my own reflection (the horror!), even when set to maximum brightness. I've seen worse, sure, but it's worth bearing in mind if you plan on spending most of your time with the phone under the midday sun.

Two cameras

On the back of the phone is a 13-megapixel camera with a dual LED flash, but it's the front-facing camera on the Eye that's most exciting. It too is a 13-megapixel affair, which is the highest resolution front-facing camera we've so far seen on a phone. It has a dual LED flash which, again, we haven't seen before on a front camera.

Typically, most phones use a much lower quality camera on the front than the back, but with a near-identical camera unit on both sides, you can take selfies with the front camera with the same quality as you can with the back. I say "near-identical" as the front camera has an f/2.2 aperture and 22mm focal length, a wider angle than the f/2.0 28mm on the rear, allowing it to capture more of a scene at once.

HTC Desire 816 Review

The Good The HTC Desire 816's plastic body is well built. The brilliant 5.5-inch HD display has excellent viewing angles, and the quad-core processor runs smoothly, with hardly any lag.

The Bad The glossy plastic rear is a fingerprint magnet, which is especially noticeable on the darker models. The lack of a removable battery is disappointing, given its relatively small capacity.

The Bottom Line The HTC Desire 816's combination of solid design and quality performance strikes all the right chords to make it a compelling phone for its price.

Meant to be a best-in-class midrange phone, HTC's Desire 816 lacks the fancy aluminum body of its more expensive sibling, the One M8. But this plastic-clad beauty keeps most of the style and a good share of the features too. Like theOne Mini, it only cuts the right corners, ditching a few fancy extras that add to a smartphone's price, while keeping the essentials that make a mobile reliable, attractive, and useful.

Announced earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, HTC's Desire 816 was a real surprise. In fact, HTC itself seemed somewhat caught off guard -- the Desire 816 phones on display at the company's booth in Barcelona were non-functional prototypes. But now, almost three months later, the Desire 816 is ready for prime time.

The Desire 816 delivers a lot for a reasonable price -- around $400, £300 or AU$400 without a contract, and $299 in the US with prepaid carrier Virgin Mobile . For now, HTC is only releasing the Desire 816 in Europe and Asia, but you may be able to buy it in other regions online. It's expected to go on sale over the next month, with UK retailers listing early June as the expected date.