After a dream run, HTC has become a long-lost player in the entry-level smartphone market. The company has launched a slew of flagships, but when you have just three numbers separating them, it becomes really dubious to tell which one is better and which one is not! Having that said, same goes with HTC Desire 626, the successor of 620, promising an improved set of specs with distinct looks.
So, what does HTC Desire 626 exactly has on offer? The phone looks really impressive on paper, but can it deliver on those “highly touted” specs and come together as a cohesive performer? If yes, then it would be a completely different picture, something a lot better than the Desire which we have seen all these years!
Design and Form-factor- Leading with Perfection
No matter how good a phone performs, the first you’ll see in it is the element of design. It’s a major USP, where luckily, HTC nails to perfection. The latest Desire 626 flaunts a seamless and unique unibody that you’ll hardly find on any smartphone. The phone doesn’t look very premium or classy, but there’s something that makes this device uncommonly beautiful and charming. The curved edges, pearlescent back, and six different colours make a great package with full attention to the details. On whole, the look and feel of Desire 626 is a real treat. It feels sturdy and doesn’t slips out of your hand while holding or carrying around!
Display Quality
The 5-inch screen bundled with this handset looks pretty decent on paper, but the quality isn’t that great. It’s a high-definition panel which renders broken images with improper detailing. Indoors or outdoors, everything looks weird on the display of Desire, even at maximum brightness level. Clearly, HTC’s move of sticking to 720 x 1280 high definition has backfired quite unexpectedly. The text looks fairly balanced but if you’re expecting heavenly detailed lifelike images, you’ll be in utter disappoint!
Better Innards
Thanks to HTC’s strong ties with Qualcomm, Desire 626 runs on a quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor instead of a MediaTek. The Taiwanese giant never gives amazing specs, but in this case, the 2GB RAM and Adreno 306 certainly ensure smooth and lag-free performance. When running multiple apps or playing a high-end game, the phone got a little warm but handled all major tasks quite easily. In fact, it never really went out, and worked smoothly each time we tried something new to test its capabilities!
In addition to this, HTC Desire 626 also includes 16 gigs of inbuilt storage with an added option of expandability up to 32GB via microSD card. It offers more than enough room for keeping a humongous set of data, even on-the-go.
Software and OS
On the software side, HTC Desire 626 runs Android 4.4 based Sense UI out-of-the box. The version 5.1 might come soon, but apart from Android iteration, there are quite few tweaks that draw our attention. First, HTC’s BlinkFeed looks quite congested. The trademark feature from HTC doesn’t look as impressive as we expect, and pulls newsfeed and updates from Social Media accounts you connect to it.
Next comes customization, where it all gets exciting. HTC Sense gives access to hundreds of user made themes, and allows you customize the handset anyway you like. There are dozens of categories to choose the perfect theme for your phone. The heavy amount of bloatware is quite annoying, but all other elements make a fairly solid software package.
Sharp Camera Output
The camera packed with Desire 626 is not just fast, it gives you sharp and well-detailed images as well. In a well-lit environment, the power-packed Desire performs majestically and delivers sharp and vibrant images with rich colour output. It’s 13-megapixel rear autofocus shooter eliminates graininess from images, while 5-megapixel front-facing snapper produces crisp wide angle selfies with reduced noise.
Along with this, the camera app on this device adds more fun with a plethora of options to play with. Several filters and easy to use options on camera screen makes photography fairly and interactive. Overall, lowlight performance can be a small issue, but in day light, Desire 626 goes neck and neck with Moto G Gen 3 and all other player in competition.
Outstanding Battery Life
Speaking of power efficiency, the 2000 mAh battery bundled with Desire 626 works perfectly for gamers and movie-buffs. Once it’s 100% charged, you’ll hardly need a charger for at least 15-16 hours. The handset handles heavy usage quite easily, and gives you sufficient juice for an entire day of work and play. You can definitely expect this battery to deliver, but lack of fast charging tech is something that we can’t really ignore!
Pricing and Availability
In Indian market, HTC Desire 626 is hitting the shelves online and offline. The phone is currently available at Rs. 13,290 via Flipkart.com, but you can easily find a better deal by checking price listings at 91Mobiles. Sometimes occasional cashbacks and discount offers might also come handy!
The Final Verdict
Considering previous Desire phones, we can definitely say, HTC has done a great job this time. The company has made an ideal contender for Moto G Gen 3 with good looks, seamless performance, and most importantly, a tempting price tag. The Desire 626 is a decent starter for buyers on a fixed budget.
On this device, the software and camera performance makes a clear difference, especially the customizations on several user-made themes. Apart from display quality, nothing really lets us down, not even its battery life.
In a nutshell, all of this clearly suggests, HTC might find its way back into the entry-level smartphone market. The company has finally created a solid device to get the job done, but there’s still a long way to for the company! In order to challenge players like Samsung and Motorola, a lot needs to be without waiting even a tad longer!