HTC Desire C

HTC DESIRE C REVIEW

Now, a new model called 'Desire C' has launched to refresh HTC's budget line-up. It is the latest attempt of the manufacturer to offer something to those users, who aren't willing to spend a fortune on a phone, but would love to experience some HTC love. Let's see what the Desire C has in store for us. The screen gets a slight boost on the Desire C, growing from 3.5-inches, although it still keeps the HVGA (320x480) resolution of the Wildfire S. The camera on the back offers a 5-megapixel sensor, hitting a point on the spec sheet, but it is fixed focus and lacks flash, so isn't going to give you the best results. The camera interface benefits from HTC Sense's recent tweaks, offering both photos or video at the press of a button. Video is also limited, not only by the lack of focusing, but the maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. This is fine for sharing, but won't stand up on a larger screen and these days looks pretty shoddy on the likes of YouTube.  The Desire C reflects many of the design trends that the flagship One X offers. For example, the sleek front features micro-drilled holes for the ear speaker, rather than a grille. The same is true on the back. The choice of materials is good too - the tactile matte finish to the white review sample we had looks and feels great. Pull off the back cover and you'll find that HTC has been up to its own tricks, making the innards of the Desire C bright red. The plastic inside is red, as is the battery, and you'll find a touch of red detailing around the Micro-USB port, a nod to what lies within. It's perhaps a small detail, but you can't help feeling that HTC is having a little fun here. The positioning of a phone in the Android world often comes down to the hardware configuration and the HTC Desire C quickly shows it's true colours. A 600MHz single core processor with 512MB RAM powers it, although the 4GB of internal memory can be expanded thanks to the microSD card slot. Otherwise, usability is good with the three touch sensitive buttons under the screen being responsive and easy to use. The top mounted power button is also an easy reach as this is such a small phone. Call quality is also not good. Even in a very quiet room, the person on the other end of the line sounded muffled to me. Outdoors, with background noise to contend with from traffic and people, I found it really difficult to hear the person on the other end, missing chunks of the conversation in the process. The volume simply didn't go loud enough to compensate. The person I was speaking to also had trouble hearing me so if you're hoping the Desire C will at least be an awesome telephone, think again. I also found typing on the diddy keyboard cramped. Unless you have child-sized digits, turning the phone on its side is almost a pre-requisite to use it. And there doesn't appear to be a Swype-style alternative to make typing in such a small space a little easier. There's just two physical buttons on the HTC Desire C, a volume rocker switch on the right hand side and a power/lock key on top, which sits opposite a 3.5mm headphone jack. Finally on the left hand side there's a microUSB slot to connect the Desire C to a computer or charger. Usually lower spec phones bring an advantage with them and that's battery life. Hardware that doesn't draw so much power and a smaller display usually means you have a phone that will last you through the day. The 1230mAh battery in the HTC Desire C sounds sizeable enough to do this, however it didn't. We like the HTC Desire C it's cute, it looks nice, it works as a basic Android phone and we've had no problems carrying out our daily core functions with it. But the battery life is a concern for us and the camera isn't terribly exciting.

SPECIFICATION & FEATURES

HTC DESIRE C PRICE

Price in USA $164

Price in UK £99

Price in EURO €120

Price in PAK Rs.18,000

Price in INDIA Rs.9,190