A new HTC J Butterfly smartphone has just made its debut in Japan, arriving as a HTC One M8-like handset but with waterproof capabilities.
The new smartphone will be available in Japan from carrier KDDI. It remains unclear at this point just how much the HTC J Butterfly will cost, but more details should become available closer to its release in August.
It's worth pointing out that this new HTC J Butterfly should not be confused with last year's handset with the same name, which launched as the first ever 5-inch smartphone with a full HD 1080p display. The new iteration sports the same panel, but is closer to the company's latest HTC One M8 flagship.
The new HTC J Butterfly comes with a 5-inch full HD display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage capacity, microSD support for up to 128GB of additional memory, dual rear cameras (13-megapixel and 2-megapixel) and a 5-inch front shooter. On the software side, Android 4.4 KitKat runs the show.
Unlike the flagship HTC One M8, however, this HTC J Butterfly ditches the dual front speakers in favor of waterproof capabilities.
"HTC J Butterfly is the fourth installment of au-exclusive models developed by HTC especially for the Japan market. While sustaining the intuitive and pleasing feel of operation that HTC is known for, this is compatible with carrier aggregation, which applies the LTE next-generation high-speed transmission standard 'LTE-Advanced,' as well as 'WiMax2+,' which has maximum possible download speed of 110 Mbps, and meets the IPX7 waterproof standard, so it can be used easily in any situation," Japanese carrier KDDI touts in its announcement on Thursday, July 31.
The newly-unveiled HTC J Butterfly will make its debut on KDDI in Japan in August, but it remains unclear at this point whether it will reach other markets as well. Last year's J Butterfly similarly launched in Japan, but eventually made its way to the U.S. as the HTC Droid DNA on Verizon Wireless. HTC may follow a similar strategy this year with the new J Butterfly, but the company has offered no details so far in this regards.
