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HTC 10 price, release date, deals and specs
THE HTC M10 is finally official, following months worth of speculation and rumours surrounding the One M9 successor.
The smartphone sets its sights firmly on the likes of the Huawei P9 and Galaxy S7 with its premium design and ‘market-leading’ camera set up, and HTC is no doubt hoping that the handset will boost its fledgling position in the smartphone market.
We’ve rounded up everything you need to know about picking up the HTC 10. If you’re still unsure, check out our HTC 10 hands-on review.
Release dateAccording to HTC’s listing on its website, the HTC 10 is now in stock.
While HTC says that the handset has started shipping, Carphone Warehouse and Three are both listing that orders will be dispatched on 6 May.
PriceHTC has started taking pre-orders for the smartphone. It’s only offering the 32GB HTC 10 model at present, and has slapped that with a £569 SIM-free price tag.
Carphone Warehouse has also opened up orders, and is offering the HTC 10 on tariffs with EE, O2, Vodafone and its own iD network. Pricing starts at £40 per month, a 24 month Vodafone contract that comes with unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 2GB monthly data.
Three became the first operator to start taking pre-orders on its own website. All tariffs come with a £49 upfront cost for the phone, and the cheapest monthly option comes in £38 per month. This comes with unlimited texts and minutes and 1GB data each month.
EE followed suit, and is offering the HTC 10 at its online store now. The operator’s recommended tariff comes in at £50.99 per month with a £9.99 upfront cost, and comes with 4GB data each month.
Tesco Mobile has yet to start taking orders, but has told us how much it’ll cost. The HTC 10 will be available for free from £35.50 per month with 1,000 minutes, 5,000 texts and 1GB data.
SpecsMuch like the Huawei P9, the HTC 10’s camera set-up is touted as the big selling point. The handset has only one rear-facing camera, compared with the P9’s dual Leica-certified set-up, but HTC claimed that the 12MP 1.55um UltraPixel camera, which features the “world’s first optically stabilised, larger aperture f/1.8 lens”, is the best quality on the market with a DxOMark score of 88.
The camera shoots 4K video and features the world’s first stereo 24-bit Hi-Res audio recording, capturing 256 times more detail than standard recordings. This is paired with HTC’s new and improved HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition speakers.
There’s a 5MP optically-stablised f/1.8 camera on the front of the HTC 10 with an iPhone-style ‘screen flash’ for illuminating your duck-face when taking selfies.
Like its HTC One M9 predecessor, the HTC 10 features a unibody metal design with chamfered edges making it just 3mm thick at its skinniest point. There’s a fingerprint sensor, which HTC claims unlocks in 0.2 seconds, a USB Type-C port on the bottom, and a 5.2in 2560×1440 Super LCD screen. HTC claimed that the display is 30 per cent brighter and 50 per cent more responsive than on last year’s model.
It’s also tougher, according to HTC, which said that the phone is as tough as the Galaxy S7, having been subjected to 168 hours of extreme temperature tests ranging from -20C to 60C, plus over 10,000 drop, bend, scratch and corrosion tests.
The smartphone uses a Snapdragon 820 processor, despite analysts blaming lacklustre sales of last year’s model on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chip. This new, and not-so-hot chip comes with Boost+, a feature which HTC claims will make the phone faster.
For example, a feature called ‘game battery booster’ slurps less juice during gameplay, while a new PowerBotics system shuts down apps that use excessive power, improving battery life by 30 per cent.
The HTC 10 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow topped with HTC’s Sense UI. HTC said that it worked with Google to make the skin less heavy, binning duplicate apps and the usual bloatware on HTC devices.
It’s also more customisable, according to HTC, as the new ‘Freestyle Layout’ means you no longer have to stick to a grid layout. This lets you put apps and widgets wherever you want them, while removing those that you don’t want. The new App Lock functionality makes it more secure, allowing users to unlock any app they choose.
The HTC 10 has a 3,000mAh battery that charges to 50 per cent in 30 minutes with HTC’s 3.0 Rapid Charger, and 32GB or 64GB of storage expandable by an additional 2TB via microSD slot.
The HTC 10 will be available in four colour combinations: Carbon Grey, Glacier Silver, Topaz Gold and Camellia Red. µ see this video review
post by : Ariyan
