HTC has officially launched its latest smartphone the HTC Bolt, named after Olympic gold medal-winning Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
On Friday, Nov. 11 HTC officially confirmed the HTC Bolt, which has a great design but a not-so-great set of specs that has failed to impress many technophiles.
Specs
The HTC Bolt sports a 5.5-inch LCD screen with a display resolution of 1,440 x 2,560 pixels and 534 ppi.
The latest HTC offering comes running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and 3 GB of RAM. This leaves many customers disappointed with the processor and the RAM capacity of the HTC Bolt as most of the top-end phones launched this year include the faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip and at least 4 GB of RAM.
The HTC Bolt will be available with only a 32 GB internal storage option. Although customers have the option to expand the storage capacity to up to 2 TB with a microSD card, many mobile phone enthusiasts would have preferred the handset to have 64 GB or 128 GB on-board storage capacity.
The 3.5mm audio jack has been a staple in many smartphones for years. However, some phonemakers such as Apple have stopped including the hardware. Apple's latest iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus do not have the audio jack and many people have complained about its omission.
"This will be the first time I don't own an iPhone. Outside of just being obnoxiously annoying, I own a pair of $300 and $600 headphones. I'm not buying Apple headphones and I'm not buying an adapter. They've lost me," complained a redditor.
It seems the HTC Bolt will be facing the same scorn from consumers, as it too has ditched the headphone jack. It does have a USB Type-C port where users can plug in the compatible earbuds that will be shipped with the device, but it means they can't use their favorite headphones unless they have a port adapter.
The HTC Bolt is IP57-certified, which means it has some protection from dust and is water- resistant if submerged in water 1 meter deep for a maximum of 30 minutes. Many other mobile phones are either IP67- or IP68-certified, which makes them completely dust-tight.
Unfortunately, the HTC Bolt may not attract customers who often take their smartphone outdoors.
Exclusive To Sprint
The HTC Bolt is exclusive only to Sprint in the United States, which means customers on other networks can only experience the device if they switch carriers.
Price
Sprint is selling the HTC Bolt at a full retail price of $600. It is worth noting that the latest 32 GB iPhone 7 is priced at $649, which is just $49 more than the HTC Bolt.
The OnePlus 3, which has better specs than the HTC Bolt, has a price tag of $399. The handset is also one of the best smartphones under $500.
HTC will hope that the latest HTC Bolt will attract customers; however, the presence of a Snapdragon 810 processor instead of Snapdragon 820 chip, 3 GB of RAM, lack of audio jack and a steep price tag may deter many customers from buying the phone.
