HTC has announced the launch of the HTC Desire 826, which is the company’s latest smartphone in the Desire range. Years ago, HTC’s flagship devices fell under the Desire brand. In recent years, the Desire brand has been shifted to more budget oriented devices. The Desire 826 is a sibling of, and possible successor to, the Desire 820 which Launch reviewed in November. The new Desire sports a 5.5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixels and runs on a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. Aesthetically, the Desire 826 borrows a lot of features from the HTC Desire Eye, which launched a few months back.
HTC Desire 826 Smartphone Features & Specs:
At CES 2015 event, HTC has just announced HTC Desire 826 powered by the new Snapdragon 615. HTC Desire 826 features a 5.5 inch Full HD 1080p display and is powered by 1.7 GHz 64-bit Qualcommn Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor along with Adreno 405 GPU and 2 GB of RAM. The phone runs Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box and would be the first phone in the desire series to run Lollipop.
The Desire 826 has HTC’s signature BoomSound speakers and like the Desire Eye they are cleverly hidden beneath the screen and the top/bottom bezels. Spec wise the device looks similar to HTC Desire EYE and it comes with 13MP rear camera and a 4 Ultra pixel front facing camera for selfies. This means that you should be able to take high quality selfies in low light situations. The rear camera is a more conventional 13MP unit with a f2.0 lens.
HTC Desire 826 Full Specifications:
- 5.5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixels
- 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz
- Android 5.0 with Sense UI
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB storage, expandable via micro SD card
- 13MP rear camera, 4 ultra pixel front camera
- 2600mAh battery
- 4G LTE
- Adreno 405 GPU
- Dual SIM support
- HTC BoomSound, Dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers, Dolby Audio
Camera:
Moving on to the camera configuration, there is a 13 MP rear-facing unit, in addition to a 4 MP UltraPixel snapper at the front, which was last seen in the flagship HTC One (M8). Moreover, this handset also gets the Desire EYE software suite of camera-specific features. It also supports features like LED Flash, Video Calling & Auto focus.
This is the first time HTC has included the Ultrapixel camera for the front cam which should be interesting as more and more OEMs are now focusing on selfie camera.
Connectivity: 4G LTE support, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, Headphones, USB
Dispaly: In classic HTC fashion, the phone is attractive with Display only. HTC Desire 826 sports a 5.5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixels screen resolution. The dimensions are 6.22 x 3.05 x 0.31 inches (158 x 77.5 x 7.9 mm).
Battery: A 2,600mAh battery is pretty midrange for a phone this size. Performance will really depend on how efficient that chipset proves to be.
Audio: The 826 still features items like BoomSound – an HTC staple that still, we feel, is an amazing inclusion – now including Dolby audio enhancement as well.
Hardware:
The powerhouse pumping life into the gizmo is the 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor clocked at 1.7 GHz. There is also 2GB of RAM available along with 16GB internal memory (which is expandable by virtue of memory card) and Adreno 405 GPU (Graphics processor)
Storage: In terms of storage, there is 16GB of flash and support for a micro SD card. The Desire 826 will be a dual-SIM device (except for in a few countries) and supports 4G LTE.
Software:
The good news is that it runs Android 5.0 with HTC Sense on top, so you won’t have to wait for HTC to make the upgrade to Lollipop. The phone runs Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box and would be the first phone in the desire series to run Lollipop.
The fact that HTC has decided to update the previous generation so quickly is due to the fact that the company is changing its release cycles. CFO Chia-Lin Chang said that the Desire 8 series will have two new models each year.
Price and Availability:
The HTC Desire 826 will be available with cellular operators and major retailers in Asia-Pacific at the end of January 2015 in two-tone colors including White Birch, Blue Lagoon, and Purple Fire. It comes in multiple colors, including but not limited to white, purple, and blue. There is currently no word on what to expect for pricing, but it should be similar to the launch price of the Desire 826.
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