HTC Launches 2 New “Desire 10” Phones

The last time we got a new Desire phone was the Desire 530, HTC had basically speckled it with paint in the name of fashion. It did look pretty cool but now the company is trying something a little different with the new Desire 10 Lifestyle and Pro. HTC’s midrange work is getting wrapped up in a classy new look, and it’s a pretty impressive change. The Lifestyle is set to hit certain markets this month, ahead of the more expensive Pro model in November.

HTC Desire 10 Pro

As you’ve probably noticed, the Pro is the most powerful of the Desire 10 twins. That’s mostly thanks to the octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 chip inside, assisted by either 3GB or 4GB of RAM. The 3GB model comes with 32GB of storage, and 64GB on the 4GB edition. That should be plenty of power to render things on the 5.5-inch, 1080p IPS LCD screen and keep everything moving at a respectable clip. Just above that screen is a 13-megapixel camera (with a software-powered wide-angle selfie trick to boot), while a 20-megapixel camera sits on the rear. Below that you’ll find a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, a nice touch that you don’t often see in midrange devices.

All of that (plus a 3,000mAh battery) is packed into a handsome frame, with a matte plastic body that features gold-colored antenna bands. The tight tolerances and sturdy feel definitely give the 10 Pro a more premium air, and HTC’s color choices don’t hurt either. The phone will be available in black, white, navy blue and a light blue the company’s calling “Valentine Lux.”

HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle

You’d be forgiven for thinking the Desire 10 Lifestyle is a barely different variant. After all, the Lifestyle looks basically identical to its pricier sibling despite its more modest spec sheet. There are some tell-tale signs, though, like the lack of a fingerprint sensor and a smaller flash setup under its main 13-megapixel camera. Once the Desire 10 Lifestyle is on, the phone’s lower-end ambitions are confirmed by the 5.5-inch, 720p Super LCD screen. It’s still decently bright and vivid, if not the crispest out there. The rest of the differences are under the hood: There’s a slightly pokier Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset clocked at 1.6GHz, either 2GB or 3GB of RAM, 2700mAh of battery power, and 32GB or 64GB of storage.

There is one other big deviation from the Pro, however: The Desire 10 Lifestyle packs support for 24-bit high-res audio like the flagship HTC 10. Sure, you’ll lose out on a crisper screen and the fingerprint scanner but the lure of improved audio is still pretty tantalizing. That’s also the sort of feature that rarely pops up in lower-end smartphones, so here’s hoping that trend keeps up for a while. And beyond that, HTC’s build quality impresses even when it comes to less expensive hardware (think around £249 in the UK). From a distance, there aren’t any discernible, physical differences between the Pro and the Lifestyle.

As usual, HTC is leaving most of the pricing and availability details up to the carriers and retailers themselves, but if you’re in the US, you can just put your wallet away. It’ll be a least a little while before either version of the Desire 10 winds up around these parts, and probably longer still if the Desires turn out to be hits and supplies get constrained. After a short time spent with HTC’s new devices, it was clear to me that the bar representing “good enough” smartphone performance has gotten pretty high. Then again, even the “best” phones aren’t guaranteed successes: The 10 was the best device HTC had built in years, and even its quality and performance couldn’t drive huge demand for it.

Source: | GSMArena |

– Image Credit: | The Verge |