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HTC's 'flagship mid-range' Desire 816 packs a large display, decent cameras and LTE (hands-on)
That HTC "Desire 8" you've been seeing lately? It's finally unveiled as the Desire 816, a "flagship mid-range" phone that promises to be competitively priced, while also offering LTE (for EMEA and Asia) and HSPA+ (up to 42 Mbps). This pretty phablet comes with a large 5.5-inch 720p display, a 1.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage (capacity may vary), microSD expansion of up to a staggering 128GB and a fixed 2,600mAh battery. You'll get a decent multimedia experience courtesy of the BoomSound frontal stereo speakers (with dedicated amplifiers), along with the 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera (with Zoe mode in HTC Sense 5.5 UI) plus the 5-megapixel f/2.8 selfie camera. These are all tucked inside a 7.99mm-thick, 165g body, which is pretty good for the size. Interestingly, this will be the first HTC phone to take a nano-SIM, which may be able to lure a few iPhone 5c users. Ultimately, it's all about the price, and we should know very soon given the China launch next month (likely March 18th), followed by a global launch in April. Update: We now have some hands-on photos. Enjoy!
HTC set to unveil mid-tier Desire 8 on February 24th
Though we were quite smitten by leaked photos of HTC's upcoming mid-range Desire 8, it's always prudent to hold out for something that's actually official. Now HTC has all but confirmed the phone's existence on its Weibo page with the same image, but a different announcement date of February 24th in Beijing. So far the rumor mill has pegged it as a 5.5-inch handset with on-screen buttons and 13-megapixel rear/5-megapixel front cameras, which seems to jibe with a "super-super" camera tease (after the break). There's no pricing or arrival date outside of China, but at this point, each new product seems critical for the beleaguered company.
Daily Roundup: Lumia Icon headed to Verizon, the Galaxy S 5 and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
HTC's leaked 'Desire 8' mid-ranger looks big and beautiful
Despite HTC's recent blast of Desire phones, the company admitted that it still needs to push harder in the lower price tiers. Lo and behold, here's a leak of an upcoming "New Desire 8" series mid-range device, courtesy of Chinese site MyDrivers and with confirmation from our own sources. This dual-SIM phone will reportedly pack a 5.5-inch display of unknown resolution, which will make it the largest non-flagship HTC phone since the Desire 700. There will also be a 13-megapixel main camera (not UltraPixel), along with a 5-megapixel front imager with beautification mode. We're assuming that this is a plastic body -- available in white, red, yellow, orange and cyan -- with stereo front-facing speakers, which is now a signature feature on many HTC phones. But where are the Android buttons? Chances are this Desire model is joining the M8 flagship to embrace on-screen keys, despite their absence in this render. The screenshot mentions "March 18th" plus Beijing, so unless Peter Chou is messing with us here, we'll be making ourselves available that day for the launch event in China. Having said that, we might also get to see it at MWC in two weeks' time, so stay tuned. Update: A reliable tipster sent in the original image, so we've updated this article with it.
