HTC has added to its Desire smartphone portfolio and has announced two new handsets: the Desire 601 and the Desire 300.
The successor to the Desire 600, the mid-range HTC Desire 601, is a "powerful value smartphone for everyone" and will come with LTE support. It will also tout some of the features found on the flagship HTC One such as HTC Zoe, BoomSound and BlinkFeed. The HTC Desire 300, on the other hand, is an entry-level smartphone.
"Changing the face of the mid-range, the HTC Desire 601 introduces 4G LTE speeds and innovative features from the flagship One family, including HTC Zoe with Video Highlights and HTC BoomSound. Setting a new standard for entry-level smartphones, the HTC Desire 300 offers a powerful, large-screen browsing experience and HTC BlinkFeed," touts the company in its press release.
The HTC Desire 601 had been in the news of late as HTC Zara. We recently reported that the smartphone would launch as the Desire 601 and not HTC Zara. With two new mid-range and entry-level Android handsets, HTC would look to further strengthen its position in the hotly-contested smartphone space.
"For the last 17 years HTC has challenged the mobile industry to develop innovations that change the way in which people use their mobile phone. Now we're not only changing the way people view the mid-range and entry-level market but setting the bar even higher when it comes to our premium devices and capabilities," noted Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. "We are committed to offering the most innovative portfolio of products on the market. Our Desire family has become synonymous with affordable quality. Offering some of the most advanced capabilities of any smartphone, these phones truly represent premium quality in a more affordable price bracket."
HTC Desire 601
The mid-range HTC Desire 601 looks to offer premium features which consumers would normally not expect in a mid-tier handset. The device features the dual front-facing speakers found on the top-end smartphones from HTC, which basically means that the Desire 600 too would work with the new BoomBass accessory.
Weighing just 130g, the Desire 601 sports a 4.5-inch qHD screen with 960 x 540 pixels resolution. Under the hood, it packs in a dual-core Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.4GHZ and 1GB of RAM. The device has 8GB of on-board storage, as well as the option to expand the memory further (up to 64GB) via a microSD card.
The 4G LTE-enabled Desire 601 also has a 5-megapixel primary camera and a 2100mAh battery. The smartphone will be available in three color options: black, white, and red. It is expected to be available in "select markets across EMEA" from October. HTC is yet to announce pricing details of the HTC Desire 601.
HTC Desire 300
The entry-level Desire 300 will look to bring some features of the top-end handsets consumers' way, but at a affordable price point.
The Desire 300 features a 4.3-inch full lamination display, a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel primary camera and 4GB of storage (expandable via micro SD). The smartphone is not 4G LTE enabled and does not have the camera-specific features found on the Desire 601 such as HTC Zoe and Video highlights, but it has HTC BlinkFeed and Sense 5.
The HTC Desire 300 will come in black and white options and will be available in "select markets" from October. The pricing of the smartphone is not known at this juncture.
