Selfies are an important social currency on Twitter and other networks, so it’s no surprise to see phone makers produce new selfie-focussed phone designs. Today HTC announced their effort, the Desire Eye. It combines a massive 13-megapixel front-facing camera with a beautiful, water-resistant design and strong internals. Let’s take a closer look.
The selfie master
The Desire Eye comes with the largest front-facing camera on a smartphone, with a 13-megapixel sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 28mm focal length, autofocus, dual LED flash and 1080p video recording. All of this tech should add up to one of the best-looking front-facing cameras ever: just the thing for social media butterflies.
HTC are making use of that upgraded hardware with some new camera modes. You can take photos with the front and rear cameras simultaneously or merge your face with another person’s face to create a combined ‘mutant’ selfie. You can take selfies or record video with your voice; there’s also an automatic selfie mode that takes a picture once your phone is still and your face is in the right place.
Beautiful and water-resistant
The Desire Eye comes in a double-shot polycarbonate body, which is available in two-tone white/red or blue/navy colourways. The 5.2-inch display makes the phone a little larger than the One M8, but it is 1.35mm thinner and weighs 154 grams. The body is water resistant thanks to internal gaskets and short protection, with an IPX7 rating. That means it should be able to withstand immersion in 1 metre of water for up to 30 minutes, all without the annoying flaps that come with most water-resistant phones.
Surprisingly capable mid-ranger
Internally, the Desire Eye has much of the same hardware as their flagship One M8. You’ll find a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage plus microSD and a 5.2-inch 1080p display. The only differences are a smaller battery for the Eye (2400mAh vs 2600mah) and no Duo camera on the back (instead we have a standard 13-megapixel unit).
In terms of software, we’re looking at a near-identical loadout (apart from those unique selfie features mentioned earlier). That includes Android 4.4 Kit Kat and HTC’s Sense 6 UI.
The most desirable Desire for some time
The Desire Eye looks like a really strong phone on paper; it’ll be interesting to see the first reviews and impressions come in. The phone is scheduled to be released in October, and should cost around the same as the One E8 – around £350 sim-free.
Here at Mobile Fun, we’ll be providing a wide range of HTC Desire Eye accessories – including cases, chargers and other necessities. We’ll have more details on these in the weeks ahead.
Are you tempted by the Desire Eye’s selfie credentials and other strong features? Let me know in the comments below. You can also reach us on Twitter @mobilefun.