HTC has just launched its latest budget device, the Desire 210 in India for a price of Rs 8,700. The Desire 210 is HTC’s answer to the budget droids from the Indian and Chinese smartphone vendors and the fast emerging budget Lumia devices (read as 520 and 525). The launch was the global launch of the device which pretty much explains the importance of the device for emerging markets like India. We got to spend some time with the device at the launch event and here’s what we think about it.
Design and Display HTC Desire 210 Quick Specs
- Display Size: 4 inches, 800 x 480 pixels
- Processor: 1 GHz dual core Mediatek MT6572M
- RAM: 512 MB
- Software Version: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with HTC Sense
- Camera: : 5MP rear camera
- Secondary Camera: 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing camera
- Internal Storage: 4 GB
- External Storage: MicroSD support up to 32 GB
- Battery: 1300 mAh
- Connectivity: 3G, 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX and GPS.
HTC Desire 210 Hands on, Quick Review, Camera, Features, Software and Overview HD [Video]
Design and Display
HTC has gone the old school way when it comes to the design of the Desire 210 and it looks familiar at first glance. HTC has gone ahead and used good quality plastics on the smartphone in order to make it look better than the rest of the budget handsets and it surely feels durable enough as well.
Desire 210 has 4 inch LCD WVGA display up front which is what you get in the range but we would have appreciated a slightly brighter screen. Sunlight legibility is just average and it performs decently in terms of screen. You might not appreciate the viewing angles as well as the colours get washed out easily.
Camera and Internal Storage
The camera unit at the rear of the Desire 210 is a 5MP one without a flash and if we were to sum it up in a single word, disappointed would be the term. HTC has missed the mark in this one and the camera fails to impress even for a budget handset. The front snapper is a VGA unit and it won’t win you any awards in the selfie competition as well. So the camera is best suited for the ones who hardly use it.
The internal storage capacity of the Desire 210 4GB out of which we believe around 2.2-2.3 GB will be accessible for consumers. You can expand it by 32GB with the help of a microSD card and that is pretty much what you have on offer in this segment so no complaints in that regard.
Battery, OS and Chipset
The battery unit is a 1,300 mAh battery unit which we doubt if will last around a day. Given the entry level specs, it should last a little less than a day. HTC could have bumped it up a bit and made it slightly better. It runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Sense UI on top and features a light version of Blinkfeed (we believe its because of the 512 MB RAM) and we really appreciate that. Blinkfeed is a pretty useful feature and HTC has brought the basic functionalities of the same to the Desire 210.
The Desire 210 has a 1GHz dual core MediaTek MT6572M processor under the hood. All its competitors have the same processor under the hood and you can expect similar levels of performance.
HTC Desire 210 Photo Gallery
Conclusion
HTC has made an attempt to combat the devices from the likes of Micromax, Karbonn, Gionee and some renowned manufacturers like Nokia and Samsung. We feel it is somewhere between a hit and a miss in terms of pricing and features but it makes up for the same with the build quality. Do let us know as to what do you think about the device.
