KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — Another year, another parade of super-flashy flagship phones. You could call them the tech equivalent of supermodels. Like fashion, the trends come and go; this year it’s glass and dual-cameras, which is why HTC’s latest flagship — the HTC 10 — seems a little quaint.
No glass here — just a solid metal build that doesn’t try to be as super-thin as Apple’s latest or Samsung’s new S7. There’s no fancy glass back, no attempt at an extra curvy screen. If you’re looking for gimmicks, you won’t find them here but that’s actually a good thing.
Substance over style
You see, the HTC 10 is all about getting the basics very, very right. It has to, for what it’s charging for it. RM2,799 is pretty standard as far as flagship prices go but with the likes of Samsung’s S7 and S7 Edge competing, does the HTC 10 justify it?
The answer is yes and no.
Specs-wise, the HTC 10 has got what you’d need and expect from a flagship: a high-end processor in the Snapdragon 820; good 4GB of RAM; either 32GB or 64GB of space; and a very good camera and OIS in both the back and front cameras.
On paper, it’s a very capable phone. The problem is, it isn’t sexy. Now, does that matter? It depends on whether you want a phone you can rely on as a workhorse or whether you want that, as well as a handsome accessory to show off.
Streamlined ease
There’s a lot to like about HTC’s take on Android. You don’t get a bevy of confusing, unused apps and instead are confronted with a simple, clean interface.
Another thing that HTC is known for is its special BlinkFeed, a window dedicated to your personal updates. Calendar, social media, newsfeeds: all in one scrollable window. It’s novel and great for those with compulsive social media habits (yes, me), saving you from looking at Twitter or Facebook for highlights.
For a full breakdown of the specs of the HTC 10, you can check them out here. But this review isn’t about the specs. Specs are always maybe one-third of the story with smartphones; it’s about how the phone actually feels like in real life.
Hello, Jeeves
I like how the HTC 10 doesn’t make you spend too much time figuring out how to use it. Notifications are to the point, no fancy tweaks of the Android interface. Calling, texting, personalising the phone with HTC’s theme choices (which are pretty sweet, by the way) are no-brainers to figure out.
When you’ve used flagships, it’s hard to get back to just “good enough” phones. Because they run so smoothly, you feel the lag and slowness of cheaper phones. There’s a polished fluidity, a near seamless transition between apps, testament to how much processing power and memory it holds.
The fingerprint sensor is on the front; I would have preferred it on the back for easy access. Still it’s fast and responsive, and also functions as the home button. The side power and volume buttons are comfortably placed and feel well built.
As for the 5.2-inch Quad HD display, it’s a perfectly bright LCD, which looks nice in most light but you wish it would do a little better in sunlight. Otherwise, colours are bright, text is sharp and video is very pleasing.
Say HTC
Now the camera is what HTC pushes the most on this phone. The 12MP camera in the rear is helped by HTC’s special UltraPixel 2 software, which apparently gives you bigger pixels. Instead of more pixels, the pixels are bigger, which HTC says promises better picture quality.
There’s also a laser autofocus and that favourite feature on flagship phones, optical image stabilisation (OIS) which HTC has managed to put not just on the rear but the front camera.
OK, enough of the specs blather, how does the camera actually do? The front camera is very sharp and HTC hasn’t included fancy “prettifying” software so no artificially smooth skin here. It also does rather well in dim light, thanks to the OIS.
The rear camera though is the star here, with good results in auto mode. If you’re a fan of the blurry background effect, the HTC 10 camera does a pretty good job at that with tight, sharp focus and good colour.
Now if you’re the sort who likes to tweak a lot of settings, you can choose to shoot in RAW as well as tweak white balance, shutter speed, aperture (but no by number) and ISO in HTC’s dedicated Pro mode.
Hear the sound
The real star of the HTC 10’s setup is the sound. It’s almost ridiculous how good the HTC’s audio tweaks are, thanks to an internal DAC that makes audio sounds better than it should on a phone.
You can even set different audio profiles, a good choice for those who want a more custom sound experience. Via a simple audio test, HTC’s software can tweak sounds adjusted to your unique listening preferences, something that will definitely appeal to the audiophile.
Take a closer look
If you’re willing to look past shiny Samsungs and flashy iPhones, there’s a very solid Android phone in the HTC 10. Like your Android smooth and not bogged down by bloat but also want a camera fit for most occasions? The HTC 10 is a mobile workhorse worthy of your consideration. It’s just a pity that its price tag might have people looking to its flashier rivals instead.
