HTC has officially unveiled its new Desire EYE smartphone at its Double Exposure event in NYC, introducing the ultimate selfie phone.
The long-rumored HTC Desire EYE is quite an impressive handset that aims to blur the lines between mid-tier devices and high-end smartphones, coming as a "category-shifting phone" and the company's latest "premium mid-ranger."
"This year has seen the evolution of the HTC Desire family. Today, we unveil our new, top-of-the-range Desire model, the HTC Desire EYE," the company touted in a blog post on Wednesday, Oct. 8. "Featuring the best front-facing camera available on the market today and software that puts you at the center and looking your best, the HTC Desire EYE is the phone for capturing big and small moments in perfect clarity."
HTC Desire EYE Specs
In terms of hardware specifications, the new HTC Desire Eye is very similar to the One M8 flagship and its plastic variant, the One E8, with a big exception in the camera department. The latest Desire smartphone ditches the UltraPixel sensor of the flagship for 13-megapixel cameras, gracing both the front and the back of the device.
Under the hood, the HTC Desire EYE packs a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.3GHz and paired with 2GB of RAM. This is the first time that HTC has used a Snapdragon 801 processor for a Desire smartphone. Other specs of the Desire EYE include a 5.2-inch LCD display with a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, an IPx7 rating for water resistance (up to one meter for up to 30 minutes), and a 2,400 mAh battery to keep things up and running.
The front camera is arguably the most impressive aspect of the HTC Desire EYE, as it boasts an impressive 13-megapixel sensor, dual LED flash, as well as wide-angle lens. In fact, the smartphone's front and rear cameras are nearly identical in specifications, albeit the rear shooter has a larger aperture.
HTC EYE Experience
The hardware specs of the cameras are even more impressive when paired with the HTC EYE Experience, which consists of a slew of neat software features designed to take full advantage of the smartphone's capabilities.
A face-tracking feature, for instance, aims to ensure that the faces of up to four people stay in focus at all times during video calls and conferences. Split Capture will allow users to combine images and videos from both the front and the rear cameras, while the neat Crop-Me-In feature allows users to take an image of themselves with the smartphone's front shooter and crop it into an image taken with the rear camera. Selfie-friendly features are also on board, as simply uttering "smile" or "action" will prompt the HTC Desire Eye to take a photo or start recording, respectively. Features borrowed from the Desire 820, such as Face Fusion and Live Makeup, are also on board, as is the widely popular HTC Zoe.
Availability
The HTC Desire Eye will be available through carriers and major retailers across the EMEA, Asia, and the U.S. starting later this month, but the company is yet to provide exact pricing and availability details. The smartphone will come with a two-toned plastic design and will launch in white+red and light blue+dark blue color options (see image above).
