HTC has been working hard to develop a significant market share in Android space (and failed Windows Phone system), however, the company’s new direction has gained some good attention. HTC 10 is the company’s flagship and Google has some similarities to the pixel, but it is also trying to make their mid-range desires more profitable by design, while hardware.
The latest addition to the lineup is the HTC Desire 10 Pro, a dual-sim phone with a 5.5 inch full HD display. We used the phone for over a week as the primary phone and here’s how the phone fared.
Specifications: 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display | MediaTek Helio P10 octa-core processor| 4GB RAM+64GB storage (expandable upto 2TB)| 20MP rear camera with OIS, 13MP front camera | 3000 mAh battery with Fast Charge| Android 6.0.1 with HTC Sense.
What’s good?
HTC Desire 10 Pro is a mid-range smartphone from HTC, but the device out-of-the-box, you will realize that this can also be a flagship. Build quality is amazing, the soft sandblasting surface feels very upscale and the gold line running along the beveled edge really makes the phone stand out from the rest of the device in the market. Screen layered Gorilla glass some of the inner peace, but in any case we recommend toughened glass screen.
The HTC Desire 10 Pro comes loaded with Android Marshmallow layered with HTC’s own Sense UI. While we’re generally vary of customised flavours of Android, HTC has done some really good things with it. For starters, it takes customisation to a whole new level with HTC’s Freestyle Layout, which allows for a really unique visual layout. The OS also comes with HTC Themes if you’d like to keep things simple. Frankly, if you like to change things up every now and then, there’s practically limitless possibilities with the HTC Desire 10 Pro and you’re going to love it.
Then there’s the camera. The primary camera has a resolution of 20 megapixels on a BSI sensor. There’s optical image stabilization to ensure stable shots paired with a wide aperture of f/2.2. The stock camera app offers plenty of shooting modes along with a Professional mode. The primary camera performs good all round, partly thanks to the fact that it can shoot in RAW.
There’s laser assist for the phase detect auto-focus, which works well. It stutters a little in low light, but it isn’t poor by any means. The photos are a little over-saturated for our taste, but this is purely a personal preference and is something that can easily be fixed by either shooting RAW or just editing the photos to have a lower saturation level. The front camera offers a panoramic selfie mode, which helps when there’s a large crowd demanding to be photographed.
Last but not least, HTC Desire on Battery 10 Pro performs as expected. In using this phone as our main equipment, we can easily squeeze out the use of the day, only to be charged before going to bed. Realistically, the normal day begins at 10 am and ends at midnight.
During the odd day of excessive gaming and binge watching Big Bang Theory (to drain the battery) we found that using the supplied charger allowed the phone’s battery to go from 0 to 100 per cent in a little over 90 minutes. More importantly, the phone charged up to 40 per cent in about 35 minutes. This is impressive, but normal for phones equipped with some form of fast charging or the other. Nonetheless, we’re glad HTC decided to include Fast Charging on the HTC Desire 10 Pro.
What’s not so good?
HTC Desire 10 Pro uses a Helio P10 octa core processor paired with 4GB of RAM. As a mid-range device priced at Rs 26,490, we feel that HTC could have used a beefier CPU, given that Xiaomi and Lenovo both do so at similar (or lower) price point. While the P10 chip doesn’t result in any performance hiccups with regard to average day-to-day activities, you do see the phone struggle while gaming. Playing Asphalt 8 is mostly smooth, except when you’re in the game’s menu, which takes about half a second to respond after a tap or when you finish a race and the camera switches, resulting in very noticeable lag.
While the camera is overall good, there is one component that leaves room for significant improvement and that is the Professional mode. When taking photos using the Professional mode (with RAW capture enabled), there is a noticeable lag in the camera interface. Tapping on the screen to focus responds after a split second. However, what’s worse is that the shutter button also takes a little time to respond, resulting in an image which reflects a moment other than the one you had tried to shoot.
A lot of the times for us, while trying to take a photo of our dog, we’d tap the shutter button, but the photo would be taken a split second later, often resulting in subject movement. This behaviour did not occur while shooting JPG (or at least not as noticeably), so it would seem that the CPU is having a hard time managing the RAW data.
Should you buy it?
If you are looking for a cell phone that emit a flagship of build and elegance, yes. If you need a high-resolution camera (front and back), then the HTC Desire 10 Pro is a good choice to see this segment of the price competition does not provide similar. The price, HTC’s Android experience, provides an excellent good camera and audio output with battery life in line with expectations.
Unfortunately, it does not provide a performance row. Do not be surprised if you notice that dropped frames are heavy during the Olympic Games with asphalt and modern combat 5. Every day the drivers work and some minor entertainment, the HTC Desire 10 professional is not less than the rival’s light watching movies or browsing the web.
