Introduction
HTC, the first company to launch an Android smartphone in the world, has been having a tough time in recent years. Even though it is my favorite manufacturer, there’s always something lacking compared to its rivals. This year, the company launched the 10 (supposed to be named as the One M10), a flagship to bring the company back to the place it deserved. So, is the HTC 10 the perfect 10? Find out in our review.
Oh, I Miss This Design!
As it is the flagship device, it’s not surprising to know that the HTC 10 features an all-metal unibody design. Its curve back somehow is the reminiscent of the original One M7, which is where the metal body journey started at. The additional chamfered edges on its back feels rougher and makes the device looks slimmer.
Looking at the front of the device, the iconic dual front-facing stereo speakers are now missing. It’s because HTC has chose to double up the earpiece as the front-facing speaker, while the sub-woofer is at the bottom, next to the USB Type-C port.
Next to the top speaker grill is a big front-facing camera, which comes with OIS, and above it is the sensors, while the notification LED is below it. To be honest, it doesn’t look well with the white front panel.
The HTC 10 now has three Android buttons below the display, and the home button at the center also doubles up as a fingerprint sensor, it’s non-tactile though. The fingerprint sensor is pretty quick, just rest your finger on it and your phone will be unlocked, even when the screen is off.
Once again HTC proves that the company is capable of making attractive smartphones. Even though the 10 looks a bit like a Samsung smartphone, the device still has its very own style, which improved from its predecessors.
Super LCD 5 Display
Like its predecessors, the HTC 10 uses Super LCD panel produced by S-LCD Corporation. It comes with a 5.2-inch Quad HD Super LCD 5 display covered by a curved Corning Gorilla Glass. Boasting a pixel density of 565ppi, the display is pretty sharp, and the high brightness allows for easy visibility even in direct sunlight. It also has good amounts of saturation, not as vivid and contrast as AMOLED display though.
You are able to change the color temperature as well as choosing the color profile (Vivid or sRGB). One pretty neat feature is you can even lower down the screen resolution of certain games or apps to save the battery life via the Boost+ app.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC
Powering the HTC 10 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB RAM. The performance is pretty good, especially when you can even lower down the screen resolution of certain games or apps. Additionally, you can also enable high performance mode in the developer options settings, which improves the overall performance. Do note that your phone battery life will be shorter if you enabled this mode.
No More Duplicate Apps
The HTC 10 is running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with the latest Sense UI. The latest Sense UI now keeps either the company’s own version apps, or sticks to Google iteration. As an example, Google Photos is the only gallery app for the 10, instead of having both Google Photos and HTC Gallery.
HTC Themes app allows you to create your own theme by customizing the wallpapers, textures and colors, icons, sounds, and font. You can even switch to Freestyle Layout theme, which means you can drag the icons, stickers and widgets anywhere you like.
New UltraPixel Camera
The HTC 10 is the world’s first smartphone to have OIS and larger aperture f/1.8 lenses on both front and rear cameras. HTC has improved the UltraPixel technology with a higher 12MP resolution. As for the front-facing camera, it features a 5 MP unit with wide angle lens.
The camera comes with various modes, which include panorama, hyperlapse, slow motion, and more. All modes work pretty well, and the slow motion mode is my favorite as shown below:
The HTC 10 is also capable of recording 24-bit Hi-Res, which recorded in MKV file format.
A video posted by Charles Tyk (@charles_tyk) on
In terms of image quality, the HTC 10 camera is one of the best in the world. It’s finally a dream came true that the camera is able to provide good shots consistently. The camera performs well even under low-light conditions, but the payback is less detail captured due to lower megapixel count. The front-facing camera aided with OIS definitely helps a lot in taking selfies, or maybe vlog.
3,000mAh Battery with Quick Charge 3.0
The HTC 10 packs a 3,000mAh battery, which also supports Quick Charge 3.0. Based on my test, I was able to get around 4 hours of screen-on-time with 20% of battery remaining. The wall charger with Quick Charge 3.0 provided by HTC fully charged the device in an hour and 15 minutes.
Final Words
You may find that it’s not convincing to buy the HTC 10 at the price of RM2,799, as its rivals like Samsung Galaxy S7, OnePlus 3 and even the incoming LG G5 are cheaper. However, the HTC 10 is a good flagship device we’ve been waiting for from HTC. No device is perfect, if you are more on audio, the 10 definitely is the one for you, not to forget that it has a pretty good camera as well, and the build quality is superb.
Yay
- Nice audio experience
- Impressive software experience
- Impressive camera
Nay
- Price can be lower
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