Ahead of MWC 2014, we already knew that HTC wasn't planning on releasing its new flagship, the HTC One 2, but the company pleasantly surprised everyone when it unveiled two mid-range smartphones on Monday. The HTC Desire 816 and 610 both feature middle-of-the-road specifications and interesting design elements that set them apart from other mid-range handsets already on the market.
HTC Desire 816
HTC's so-called mid-range flagship, the Desire 816, comes with a 5.5-inch, 720p display and is powered by a 1.6 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. The Desire 816 has 1.5 GB of RAM to back up the processor and 8 GB of storage built in. HTC also included a micro SD card slot, so that you can expand the internal storage up 64 GB more. For a mid-range smartphone, the Desire 816 has a surprisingly incredible 13-megapixel camera on the back and a decent 5-megapixel front-facing camera for taking selfies. In addition, the 816 comes with a 2600 mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi onboard.
HTC plans to market the 816 to teenagers and 20-somethings who want a good-quality smartphone without the hefty price tag of a flagship device. The Desire 816 is made out of brightly colored plastic, much like the iPhone 5C or any number of Nokia's Lumia smartphones. The 816 features HTC BlinkFeed, BoomSound and the Sense 5.5 UI, as well. HTC stated that the Desire 816 will arrive this March in China, with a global launch date planned for sometime in April. It is unclear whether the 816 will make its way to the United States or not, but if it does it will certainly end up with pay-as-you-go carriers. No price has been announced for the mid-range device wither, but it should be relatively cheap.
HTC Desire 610
The HTC Desire 610 is more of a low-end smartphone with its 4.7-inch qHD display and 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. The 610 comes with an 8-megapixel back camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera onboard. Although the 610's cameras aren't as high-resolution as those on the 816, they are quite impressive in comparison with the 5-megapixel or lower cameras you find on other low-end smartphones.
The Desire 610 has 1 GB of RAM, a 2040 mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi installed, as well. Although HTC only included 8 GB of internal storage on the 610, that number is thankfully expandable via micro SD card up to 64 GB more. The Desire 610 features the same build quality and style of the 816, but due to its lower-end specifications, it should cost a bit less. HTC plans to release the Desire 610 in Europe this May, but did not say whether it had plans to sell the device in other markets.
