HTC gets colourful with this good-looking mid-range phone
The HTC Desire 816 is a large, colourful, plastic-bodied phone. Once
the Desire range was home to HTC's top phones, but now it has
become a lower-cost alternative to its One models.
Although we saw the 816 during a strictly a no-touching preview at
MWC 2014 , we've had a good look at the phone and had a chat with
an HTC representative to find out what the HTC Desire 816 is all about.
It's a phone that HTC says will cost a fraction of the HTC One Max's
price.
HTC Desire 816 – Design
The HTC Desire 816 is a striking phone, especially in some of its bolder
colours. HTC has caerfully selected the colour tones so that they're
bright, but have a hint of pastel to avoid becoming outright garish.
And where white plastic phones can look cheap, this one looks quite
stylish.
There's a mix of glossy and matt finishes on the phone, which be tricky
to pull off, but I think HTC has done it this time. Its massive size will
turn some off, but I think it is a lot more visually cohesive than the
HTC One Max. That's this phone's higher-end brother.
It's also slimmer and lighter than the Max. The HTC Desire 816 is
7.99mm thick and 165g – a massive 50g-plus lighter and more than
2mm thinner. It really does show up the Max.
It doesn't trade away many hardware features to do so, either. The
Desire 816 has the same BoomSound series speakers as the HTC One ,
and a rep promised that they are not watered down versions but the
same drivers used in HTC's more expensive phones. That's a huge win
for a phone that should make an excellent games and movies device.
The glossy back of the phone pops off to give access to a memory card
slot (missing from One-series phones) and a nano SIM slot. Unless this
is a typo in the 816's spec roster, it's the first time we've seen a nano
SIM in an HTC device as it normally uses micro SIMs. It could be a
sign of things to come in the HTC One 2 .
A pull-off back probably won't feel quite as nice as the unibody style
of the HTC One, but it does let the Desire 816 keeps its sides clean and
clear.
Here's the purple version
HTC Desire 816 – Screen
The screen doesn't escape compromise, though. It is 720p resolution
where HTC's larger One-series phones are 1080p. A pixel density rating
of 267ppi means sharpness will be pretty good, but a little short of
perfect.
We didn't really get close enough to assess the contrast and colour
reproduction of the panel, but there are no major viewing angle issues.
I expect this phone uses either an S-LCD2 or S-LCD3-type screen, with
similar performance to an IPS display.
HTC Desire 816 – Power and Other Specs
The HTC Desire offers a pretty good spec list, but it's one of a mid-
range phone, not a high-end one. It has a Snapdragon 400 processor
clocked at 1.6GHz, and it is the quad-core variant using Cortex-A7
cores rather than the dual-core Krait version seen in the HTC One
Mini.
You get 1.5GB of RAM and – something a mid-range phone wouldn't
have had 12 months ago – 4G mobile internet. Internal storage is a
fairly lowly 8GB, but as there's a micorSD card slot on the phone, it's
not a major issue.
HTC Desire 816 – Cameras
As part of the Desire series rather than the One range, the HTC Desire
816 doesn't get an UltraPixel camera. Instead, it uses a more normal,
but much higher-res, 13-megapixel sensor with an LED flash. Oddly
enough, this should actually get you much more detailed photos in
bright sunlight than an HTC One Max. But low-light performance and
dynamic range are likely to be a good deal worse.
The camera uses an f/2.2 lens, though, which is fairly fast. We'll assess
the camera properly when we get a Desire 816 in to review.
It's actually the front camera that's more notable, though. It has an
unusually high-res 5-megapixel sensor. We've seen advanced front-
facing cameras on Huawei phones like the Ascend P6 , but spreading
out to other major brands in major phones means it could soon
become the norm. All it means is much higher-quality selfies, but as
such things were prominent enough to become the OED's 'word of the
year 2013', it's probably tech worth investing in. Kids, eh?
First Impressions
We can't yet tell whether the Desire 816 might be let down by a
flimsy-feeling body, but my first take is positive. I like the colours, I
like the look, and including BoomSound speakers on a lower-cost,
large-screen phone is an excellent addition. We'll look to get an HTC
Desire 816 in for a proper assessment soon.

HTC's One series is the place for the Taiwanese
company's latest technology, but its midrange Desire
handsets benefit from the trickle-down effect, for a
fraction of the price. The Desire 500 has a great
look, but does its spec really justify the price?
Design
Unlike the One series, the Desire is an all-plastic
affair, but that doesn't mean it looks or feels cheap.
The rear feels solid and sturdy, and the shiny
coloured banding around the side (blue on white on
our model) gives it an air of class.
There are only two Android buttons on the front --
back and home -- so there's no multitasking button,
though you get the same function by double tapping
the home button
HTC Desire 500 HTC
No, it can't handle 4G, but that's hardly a deal-
breaker yet, until the super-fast networking
capability becomes more established. Of more
concern is the fact that there's just 4GB of memory
on board. Fortunately though you can add up to
64GB via microSD card and you can save apps to the
card too.
The 4.3-inch screen is nice and bright but the
resolution is a sub-HD 800x480 pixels, which looks a
little bit less than sharp even on a midrange device
like this one. But where once this might have been
acceptable on a phone at this price, the recent Moto
G with its 1,280x720 pixels at a much lower price
makes it seem just a bit out of date.
Android and processor
It's running the slightly older 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
version of Android, so not the very latest 4.3, but
HTC is promising an upgrade to Android KitKat as
early as next January, which will be just behind the
update for the Google-owned Moto G.
Not that it's easy to notice anyway, since it also has
the latest, fifth version of HTC's justly praised Sense
user interface which brightens up standard Android
without getting in the way. So there are handy
widgets and news feeds to help keep you better
informed, like HTC's BlinkFeed news aggregator,
with its fully customisable interface that pulls in all
your chosen news sources, including magazines,
blogs and social networks so you can get all your
important info in a hurry. It's good, and useful, but
you're also stuck with it since there's no way to
remove it.
The quad-core processor is clocked at 1.2GHz and
backed by 1GB RAM. That's not great, and sure
enough, in our AnTuTu benchmark test it racked up
one of the lowest scores we've seen for a quad-core
processor -- 11,786, well behind the Moto G or even
Acer's Liquid E2 . That's not a disaster, it works
smoothly enough for the most part, but its leisurely
switching between apps gives the impression of
budget rather than premium performance.
HTC Desire 500 test photo Dave Oliver
Camera
The 8-megapixel camera however is actually quite
good. It has autofocus and an LED flash, plus a BSI
sensor for improved shots in low light. It hasn't got
the UltraPixels you'll find in the One series, with
outsize pixels designed to absorb more light, but
picture quality was pretty decent overall, with
accurate colours and a good level of detail.
The battery gave a reasonable account of itself,
comfortably delivering about a day and a half of
steady use.
Conclusion
The HTC Desire 500 is a decent midrange phone with
a good look, but the so-so screen and processor are
starting to look a bit behind the curve for the price,
with the likes of the Moto G offering more for less.