As expected, HTC has officially presented the first 64 Bit Android smartphone, the HTC Desire 820 with Snapdragon 615 SoC humming inside. The new Desire smartphone is a successor to very successful HTC Desire 816 and both phones have a lot in common.
Let’s talk about the chipset first. The 64 bit Snapdragon 615 SoC ditches age old ARMv7 Architecture for new and improved ARMv8 architecture. There are 2 clusters of 4 cortex A53 cores (total 8) clocked at 1.5 GHz and 1 GHz respectively. Cortex A53 is a 64 bit equivalent of Cortex A7 cores which will enhance performance and power efficiency over Cortex A7.
However, Since Android won’t support 64 bit computing till the arrival of Android L, performance benefits will be limited. Even while running 32 Bit code, you can expect better efficiency and some performance improvement. Should the load demand it, all 8 cores can be active simultaneously as well, but that will rarely be the case.
Software is Android 4.4 kitkat with HTC Sense UI and HTC has promised Android L update as well. Design and other hardware is very similar to HTC Desire 816. You get a 5.5 Inch 720p HD display, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB expandable storage.
There is the same 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture, BSI sensor, 28mm lens capable of 1080p video recording. The 8 MP front shooter can also record full HD videos. HTC is using a similar 2600 mAh battery on Desire 820 as well. Other features include 4G LTE Cat.4 / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX and GPS.
Snapdragon 615 has been tailor made for Chinese market and will launch in Midrange smartphones. It would be interesting to compare these with high end 32 Bit Snapdragon 800 phones, several of which are expected to retail in the same price bracket. HTC Desire 820 will be launched in several color options with smart HTC Accessories around the globe starting this month.
Key Specs
| Model | HTC Desire 820 |
| Display | 5.5 Inch, 1280 X720 |
| Processor | 1.5 GHz Quad Core + 1 GHz Quad Core, 64 bit Octa core Snapdragon 615 |
| RAM | 2 GB |
| Internal Storage | 16 GB Expandable to 128 GB |
| OS | Android KitKat, with HTC Sense 6, upgrade promised |
| Camera | 13 MP/ 8 MP |
| Battery | 2600 mAh |
