HTC 10 has arrived and there is no doubt that this device is a flagship phone meant to compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5 and so forth. However, every great thing has its own bad side.
In this article, we will be looking at the good side of the new HTC 10 as well as its bad side with respect to features and specs.
The HTC 10 is the successor to the One M9 released last year. With the latter device considered a huge failure as far as HTC flagships are concerned, there is no doubt that the new smartphone might hit higher heights. HTC knew its mistakes with last year’s flagship and the Taiwanese company was out to make amends with this new smartphone.
So, what’s the good side of the new HTC 10?
A high-end camera
Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge got everything right when it comes to photography. The smartphones’ camera recorded a score of 88 out of a possible 100 when put to test by DXOMark website, which specializes in reviewing all kinds of cameras. However, it seems the new HTC 10 is in equal terms or even better than what had for a short period been considered the best smartphone camera in the world at the moment. The 12MP UltraPixel snapper used on the rear of the phone is just a killer sensor, according to the review website. Still, both the Galaxy S7 and HTC 10 have the same rating of 88 as far as photos are concerned, with the latter coming in with a score of 86 with respect to video.
QHD display
HTC 10 has finally made the jump to QHD displays for its global variant. This is not the first time the company is using QHD panels. It happened with the Japanese-exclusive HTC Butterfly 3 and the Asia-based HTC One M9+. HTC has been stuck with FHD resolutions of 1920 by 1080 pixels, but the latest 10 has moved to 2560 by 1440 pixels. This resolution is packed on a screen size of 5.2-inches. Despite the jump to QHD panels, HTC still relies on LCD panels, but this time, it has a better option in the shape of Super LCD 5.
Refreshed BoomSound
HTC smartphones are famous for their quality when it comes to audio. This has been courtesy of what HTC calls BoomSound speakers that appeared on the front part of the phone, something that was made even better with the company’s part-ownership of Beats Audio. Since their introduction with the One M7, these speakers have featured on the One M8 and One M9, however, they are nowhere to be seen on the HTC 10.
Although the quality audio is still there, the implementation is different. The dual speakers now appear at the bottom and top of the phone, enabling the company to separate the twitter and woofer. In this way, the lows will be heard from the bottom speaker and highs from the top speaker. The HTC 10 also comes with high-res audio that tags along the BoomSound-based 24-bit audio quality associated with HTC smartphones.
The bad side of HTC 10
As mentioned earlier, every good thing has its bad side, at least. Despite the HTC 10 being a great smartphone, it has its bad sides too. One poor choice made by HTC is the pricing of the phone. Of the currently-released smartphone flagships, the HTC 10 is actually the most costly. Samsung Galaxy S7 costs $670 for the unlocked variant, LG G5 costs $650 for the same unlocked variant whereas HTC 10 has a price tag of $700, something that could easily scare off potential buyers given that these three devices pack the same specs under the hood and have almost the same premium quality in them.
Something else that HTC might have failed massively is the design. In actual sense, there are no significant changes on the design of the HTC One M7, One M8, One M9 and the current 10. Apart from the new physical home button, chamfered edges and missing boomsound speakers, there is really nothing much that this new device brings to the table in terms of design. Maybe HTC is sticking to the “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” thing, but for how long?
Finally, HTC 10 will not be selling until a month is over. Although pre-orders are available, the device will be available at the end of this month. This is way too long, especially when compared to the time taken by Samsung between announcing and releasing the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. To make things worse, the phone will only be sold on a handful of carriers in the U.S., among them Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. There is no room for those using AT&T; instead, they will have to get the unlocked version in order to use it on the carrier. There is no word on the phone’s availability on U.S. Cellular; however, the fact that it’s not available on AT&T could dent a huge blow in the company’s efforts to recover the 35% drop in sales experienced by the HTC One M9.