New Delhi: HTC Desire 816 smartphone is now available in India for Rs 23,990. It is currently listed on Infibeam with a higher price tag of Rs 24,450. On Flipkart the phone costs even more at Rs 24,999.
The Desire 816 is a sleek and stylish phone. It has clean lines and healthy symmetry which makes you forget that it is a big smartphone. The phone features 5.5 inch HD IPS screen display and comes with Dual Nano-SIM functionality. Though the phone many appear big in hands, it would prove to be a hit with people who are passionate about photos, music and videos. The screen offers a resolution of 720x1280 which might be stretched thin over the 5.5in screen, but the resulting 267 pixels-per-inch is dense enough to deliver a solid viewing experience.
The phone sits perfectly in the hand because of its soft curving corners and sides which are 8mm thin. The 816 is mostly plastic and weighs 165g — that's 5 grams more than the aluminum clad One (M8).
HTC Desire 816 runs Android Kitkat (4.4) featuring all new Sense 5.5 with Blink-Feed interface. The device comes with 8 GB of internal memory which could be expanded up to 128 GB via a MicroSD card along with 1.5 GB of RAM.
The smartphone comes with a 13 megapixel rear camera and a 5 megapixel front camera, both of which will record videos in Full HD resolution. Pictures taken in daylight are clear and posses very little or no noise. Moreover, in low light conditions the 816 is no slouch either. At times, it performs better in low light than some higher priced phones too. The only negative point is that recorded 1080p video loses some details.
The handset is powered by a 1.6 GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and supports HSPA+ connectivity along with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS and Bluetooth 4.0 radios.
Built into the smartphone is a non-replaceable 2600 milliamp-hour battery. In comparison to big smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One (M8), the battery in the Desire 816 does not score well, given its more demanding hardware.
The device comes equipped with dual, front-facing BoomSound speakers which have built-in amplifiers to be extra loud.
Overall, the 816 brings the much needed breath of fresh air to budget smartphones. It is designed to be a desirable phone as the plastic body didn't disappoint; the 720p HD screen and speakers also make it pleasure to watch video and surf the web. Our only real gripes are with the positioning of the buttons, and somewhat a small battery life.
