There had been quite a number of rumours and leaks on the HTC 10, and looks like most of it was on the dot, as HTC has confirmed today. Looking at the design of the HTC 10, we can see that HTC has taken a new approach to design, as they have replaced the smooth rounded curves seen in most of its flagship devices with bold contours and chamfered edges on what looks like a solid metal body, giving it a slimmer look and feel. How slim is it? Well, the HTC 10 is 145.9 x 71.9 x 9mm in dimensions, and weighs about 161g.
The HTC 10 sports a 5.2-inch Quad HD 2560 x 1440 Super LCD 5 display made of curved-edged Gorilla Glass. The volume rocker is on the right side with the power button just below, with the power button being of different texture so finding it without looking is much easier. Now, according to HTC, this time they’ve put the device under even more duress in order to create a build that can withstand everyday bumps and scratches. So what they did was put the device to over 168 hours of extreme temperature tests, ranging from a freezing -20’C to a scorching 60’C, plus over 10,000 drop, bend, scratch and corrosion tests. Must’ve been a sight to see.
On the inside, the HTC 10 sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM, internal storage in 32GB and 64GB options, with extendable storage support up to 2TB with Flex Storage support. Just like the HTC M9, the HTC 10 features a fingerprint sensor on the front part of the device placed just below the screen, with capacitive buttons on its sides. Personally, I wish HTC would’ve changed the design of the fingerprint scanner/button-lookalike to look different from the ones found on this popular Korean brand of smartphones.
Let’s now talk camera. According to HTC, they believe this time they’ve delivered the best smartphone camera available in the market today. It is the world’s first optically stabilized, large aperture f/1.8 lens on both the front and rear camera, with new larger sensors, a new generation of UltraPixels, and faster laser autofocus for the main camera while the front camera offers wide angle lens and screen flash using UltraSelfie camera. One thing HTC offers with its HTC 10 camera that is pretty unique is the Pro Mode, with advanced functions such as shooting in RAW format.
If you are into recording videos with your smartphone, then check out HTC 10’s new offering as it allows you to record videos in 4K. On top of that, it records with 24-bit Hi-Res audio, which captures 256 times more detail than standard recordings with twice the frequency range.
Are you an audiophile? Then maybe the Hi-Res audio and Personal Audio Profile system on the HTC 10 might interest you. You can create a unique profile that is tuned to your personal preference and on top of that, this system dynamically adjusts specific sound frequencies to each ear, playing it how the music was originally intended to be heard. Fitted on the HTC 10 is its BoomSound HiFi edition speakers, as is usually seen in other HTC devices, however, HTC has re-engineered it for the HTC 10 with the same familiar separated tweeter and woofer design.
The HTC 10 is fitted with a 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 capabilities, featuring improved thermal management in order to charge the device up to 50% in just 30 minutes.
HTC has also reduced duplicative and bloatware (hurray), and integrated the best of HTC and Google to offer a better user experience. With HTC’s new Freestyle Layout, you can exercise your creativity for your desktop by dragging icons, stickers and widgets anywhere you like. You can layer them, group them, link stickers or remove all screen icons if you like – it is all up to you.
The HTC 10 will be available in two different Qualcomm Snapdragon processors to cater to different market needs. It will be available in the market in April 2016 in four different colours: Carbon Grey, Glacier Silver, Topaz Gold, and Camellia Red.