HTC has launched two new smartphones in India in an attempt to strengthen its grip over the mid-range and upper mid-range. It has launched the HTC One E8 for Rs 34,900 which is the plastic clad sibling of the HTC One M8 and costs about Rs 10,000 less. The other smartphone that has been launched is the Desire 616 Dual SIM for Rs 16,900 which will be a budget octa core offering from the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer.
HTC Desire 616 (Rs 16,900)
HTC Desire 616 Specifications:
- 5 inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels
- 1.4 GHz Octa Core Mediatek MT6592 processor
- Mali 450 – MP4 GPU
- 1GB RAM
- Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Sense 5.5 UI on top of it
- 4GB of internal storage which can be expanded by another 32GB with the help of a microSD card
- 8MP rear camera with a LED flash and a 2MP front camera
- 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with aGPS and Dual SIM connectivity
- 2,000 mAh battery
- Dark Grey and White colour options
- Rs 16,900
The smartphone runs on a pretty old operating system and there’s ambiguity around its KitKat update too. The recently launched Xiaomi Mi3 makes a lot more sense than the Desire 616.
HTC One E8 (Rs 34,900)
HTC One E8 Specifications
- 5 inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on top of it
- 2.5 GHz quad core Snapdragon 801 processor
- Adreno 330 GPU
- 2GB RAM
- Android 4.4 KitKat with Sense 6.0 UI on top of it
- 16GB of internal storage which can be expanded by another 128GB with the help of a microSD card
- 13MP rear camera with a LED flash and a 5MP front camera
- 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, GPS with aGPS and Dual SIM connectivity
- 2,600 mAh battery
- Misty Grey, Maldives Blue, Electric Crimson and Polar White colour options
- Rs 34,900
HTC seems to have got the pricing of the HTC One E8 bang on. This is the cheapest device in the country to have Snapdragon 801 under the hood and makes sense as a value for money device. The Samsung Galaxy S5 which is selling for Rs 35,000 is its prime competitor but it still manages to look a well-priced device in front of it.
