HTC 10: A hint of brilliance?

Photos: Rahin Sadman

HTC has been having quite a rough time the last couple of years with their flagships. All were pretty enough to warrant a space in a gallery, but go past that, and you would feel like you are using dated tech. This year though, HTC hopes to turn all that around with their new flagship; the 10. So will that name reflect on the review score? Let's find out with this hands-on review:

Design 

Design is purely HTC territory as they have been churning out metal phones long before Samsung decided to adopt fancy materials. However, after the silly reheated dinner approach for the design of the M9 didn't float with customers, HTC decided to go back to the board and see if they could improve upon perfection. The front received similar thoughtful changes such as removing the useless HTC bar, adding capacitive buttons, fingerprint scanner and a bigger, higher resolution panel.  The phone feels fantastic in the hand, although it is massively slippery thanks to the new metallic finish, and it is quite a chunky phone, thanks to the 3,000mAh battery, so one handed usage will be tricky. 

Display

For those hoping for a change of screen tech, sorry, but that hasn't happened. The screen is a 5.2" Super LCD 5 and Quad HD. The colours are surprisingly punchy and have good contrast and blacks, depending on how you tune it in the settings. The screen does suffer from colour shift if you were to look at it from an angle, but then again, you can look at it as a security feature in that no one will be able to see what you are doing.  

Software & Performance

With this new flagship, HTC has decided to walk the road of less is more for their software; and it shows. This is the leanest version of Sense ever. All duplicate apps from HTC have been dropped and are now using Google's apps instead. There is no HTC music player or gallery; there is only Google music and photos. This version of Sense is sticking as close as possible to stock android as possible, and that shows in the day to day usage. The user experience of multitasking, gaming, browsing, etc. are a breeze. It also includes theme support, so that you don't have to suffer the monotony of the same looking interface, so good job there.

Camera

This has always been the Achilles heel for any HTC device. Despite bringing along the concept of dual lens, and bigger pixel sizes, they just haven't been able to capitalize on it. The 10, however, represents a leap forwards for HTC. Colours are a bit lacking, as is the contrast. While it does have a manual mode, it doesn't feature HDR there, that it seems is exclusive to Auto mode. And there are no manual video controls to speak of; the only choice at hand is changing resolutions and Time-lapse. But the biggest problem, by a mile, is the autofocus speed. We found it woefully slow.  

The 10, however, has one of the best front cameras out there, with a clear intention of improving your selfie game. Sure 5 MP doesn't sound much compared to the 8's and 13's from the oppositions, but the sensor here is better with bigger pixels, and OIS equipped, a smartphone first.

Audio

This is pure HTC territory ever since the introduction of the M7 blew away anything that was in the market, including the much coveted Apple, and happily, that tradition has continued in all their flagship lines, right down to the new 10. 

This year, thanks to the fingerprint sensor, HTC had to rethink the Boomsound speakers. Their solution; spilt the frequency and make it a two-way speaker, the front facing one dealing with higher frequency while a bottom firing one deals with the lower frequencies. It is, by no means, louder than the M8 or 9, but it's still better than single speaker setups of other devices. It carries a lot more depth than other speakers too, including its predecessors.

SPECS

Display: 5.2 inches, 2560 x 1440 pixels (565PPI),

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (64-bit) 

GPU: Adreno 530

OS: Android OS v6.0.1

ROM: 32GB

RAM: 4GB

Camera:  Rear -12 MP, f/1.8 Front - 5 MP, f/1.8               

Battery: 3000 mAh

Sensors: Proximity sensor, Gyroscope sensor, Ambient Light Sensor etc.

Price: Appx Tk.50-53,000/-

VERDICT

This is by no means a phone aimed at camera enthusiasts. The S7, P9, and the G5 do a better job if your priority lies with the camera above all else. However, if you are looking for an all- rounder with great eye catching looks, or a music companion, then look no further than the HTC 10. The improvements that separate it from last year's M9 are vast, and heading towards the right direction. It is by no means a perfect device, but the innate charm this phone has can, and will, get under your skin.