HTC Desire U

HTC DESIRE U REVIEW

Ever since its flagship release, the HTC Desire series has always had something desirable for crowds of various types. One of HTC’s recent releases, the dual-core HTC Desire X for the mid-range market, has found a pretty yet less powerful sibling in the HTC Desire U. Packing a 4.0-inch WVGA (800×480) Super LCD screen, the HTC Desire U’s display is a pleasure to the eye. It may not be the Full HD experience that you’d get from certain high-end Android phones, but with a pixel density of 233 ppi, the display appears very crisp and sharp.The colors are rich and realistic, which may appear subdued and lacking in intensity and saturation compared to those on AMOLED displays. The Desire U’s own package doesn’t specify which particular chipset model is in use in the device, but it does mention that a Qualcomm S4 is powering the phone. It’s a single-core processor ticking up to a maximum of 1.0 GHz. System info apps also report that a Qualcomm Adreno 200 GPU is onboard. The Desire U comes with only primary camera. There is no secondary camera so you can’t make video calls and that is the huge disappointment. The 5 MP of primary camera provides the resolution of 2592?1944 pixels and features with autofocus and LED flash. You can take pictures in low lighting with LED flash. The camera also provides geo tagging feature. You can record video of the WVGA quality. You can enjoy the music with 3.5 mm jack and loudspeaker. The smartphone uses Beats Audio sound enhancement technology that provides adorable audio and video experience. The Desire U supports vibration, MP3 and WAV ringtones for alert type. The smartphone also support MP3, MP4, eAAC+, WMA and WAV. The Desire U provides 4 GB flash with 512 MB RAM. The internal memory is expandable. You can extend the storage capacity by microSD card up to 32 GB. For wireless connectivity the smartphone uses Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Wi-Fi hotspot. You can also use other connectivity features like 2G/3G, microUSB 2.0, GPRS and EDGE. The Desire U supports GPS with A-GPS capability. The smartphone also support NFC but it is optional. You can hold it in your palm and access using one hand. The smartphone has light weight with the weight of 114 gram. The size of HTC Desire U is 118.5 x 62.3 x 9.3 mm. Support for live wallpapers seems missing on the Desire U. The usual way to choose a live wallpaper is through the wallpaper selection dialog in Settings > Personalize > Wallpaper, but the list on the Desire U doesn’t include “Live wallpapers.” But, when I installed live wallpaper apps from the Google Play Store and launched them, I was able to set them as default homescreen wallpapers. So, live wallpapers function after all, although HTC appears to have prohibited the unwary user from setting live wallpapers. The keys of the virtual keyboard are cramped and can be hard to use in portrait orientation, but with the help of the keyboard calibration tool, I was able to “teach” the keyboard about my finger touch patterns. Plus, spelling correction and word completion tools also help a lot, especially since the small keys make mistyping frequent. Trace typing (similar to Swype) is also available, if you don’t feel like tapping. Or, you can use voice-to-text input, but this one needs an active Internet connection. For security, you get the usual fare of screen lock types (lock ring, pattern, PIN, and password). Face Unlock is not available. SIM card lock is also another security option, as well as storage encryption. By default, installation of apps from non-Play-Store sources is disabled; this one’s a security feature, too. The smartphone operates on Android 4.0 ice cream sandwich operating system. The Icecream sandwich OS uses HTC’sense UI to provides the rich quality of user interface. Nowadays the Android Jelly Bean is more popular and Android icecream is outdated OS. The smartphone is powered on 1 GHz processor. The sensors are Accelerometer and proximity sensor. The smartphone powered by Li-Ion 1650 mAh battery. The HTC Desire U is an entry-level phone. It is a budget phone designed for people who don’t need the greatest, the biggest, and/or the fastest. This is not for folks looking for a phone to enjoy the bliss of HD, feel “smarter” with multitasking, or capture hi-def videos and photos. Rather, this is for people needing the basic smart features of an Android phone (e.g., SMS, phone calls, email, Web browsing, social networking, etc.) packaged in an attractively designed phone.

SPECIFICATION & FEATURES

HTC DESIRE U PRICE

Price in USA $317

Price in UK £200

Price in EURO €230

Price in PAK Rs.34,500

Price in INDIA Rs.15,000