"The strength of the Desire Eye isn't in its 13MP cameras but its
unibody design and flagship-baiting specifications. The excellent screen
and front-facing speakers mean this handset punches above its weight."
- Fast battery charging: 60% in 30 min (Quick Charge 2.0)
- Google Drive (50 GB cloud storage)
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- MP4/H.264/WMV player
- MP3/eAAC+/WAV/WMA player
- Document viewer
- Photo/video editor
- Voice memo/dial/commands
It's
pretty clear from the outset that HTC is targeting the Desire Eye at
the selfie-loving young 'uns that might not have the means for an HTC One M8 or an iPhone 6. The front-facing 13MP camera is given top billing as HTC proclaims this the ultimate selfie phone. HTC is no stranger to pioneering mobile photography. The Taiwanese company came up with UltraPixels for the original HTC One
and then the Duo depth sensor for the One M8. There's a clearly
identifiable trend with selfies, so it's no surprise HTC wants to grab a
piece of the action. Other manufactures have tried similar tricks. Samsung and Sony brought out the Galaxy Grand Prime and Xperia C3 earlier this year each marketed on the strength of their selfies. But HTC has gone one better and is determined to prove it. Photography
may be what HTC uses to lure you in but even though this is a Desire
phone, it still boasts some pretty impressive components. There's a full
HD 5.2-inch screen, a Snapdragon 801 processor with 2GB of RAM and of
course the 13MP cameras with dual LED flash. These kinds of specs make
me question where the phone sits in HTC's line up, as on paper they put
it square with the HTC One E8. What
I'm trying to say is that this is a good deal for the £350 ($550,
AU$640) HTC is asking for. In the UK, you'll be able to pick up the
Desire Eye for £29 on a two year, £38 per month contract with all you
can eat data and all you can eat minutes.
Waterproofing is a welcome feature - even with an exposed charging portThe
starkest difference between the Desire and One ranges are the design
materials employed. The Desire Eye doesn't boast a premium metal
chassis. Instead, it's built with a polycarbonate
unibody that gives it both colour and, more importantly, IPX7
waterproofing, meaning the Desire Eye is water resistant up to 1 metre
for up to 30 minutes, just don't use it while it's submerged. Just
because it's not metal, doesn't mean there's not as much quality in the
craftsmanship of the Desire Eye. The polycarbonate body is matte and
soft to the touch and feels really sturdy.
The HTC Desire Eye feels very sturdyAlso,
with a 5.2-inch screen, the Desire Eye is a big phone. It's larger than
both the HTC One (4.7-inches) and the HTC One M8 (5-inches) and
therefore won't appeal to everyone. Overall dimensions for the phone are
151.7 x 73.8 x 8.5mm and the bezels, whilst not enormous, are
noticeable. Using the HTC Desire Eye with just one hand
is very tricky and I couldn't reach my thumb across to the other side of
the screen while typing. The silver lining to that problem is that
because the Desire Eye has a solid, waterproof chassis, I didn't feel
any need to add extra bulk with a shell or case for the phone.
At 5.2-inches, it's tricky to use this phone one-handedThe
screen itself is a beauty though. Having a Full HD display on a phone
is old news now, but I was particularly struck by the brightness of
HTC's screen. The top and bottom of the phone are free
from any buttons as they're all located along the right edge of the
phone. There's the volume rocker, power switch and a dedicated shutter
button for the camera.
The phone's buttons are all along the right hand sideAll you'll find above and below are the 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB charging port. On
the left side of the handset are the two slots for the NanoSIM and the
microSD card. As I mentioned, both of these are covered with flaps to
maintain the waterproofing. They're tricky to get off, but better that
than non-waterproofing in my opinion.
Flaps cover the microSD and SIM slots to keep the water outEven
though it's really nice, there are two tiny problems with the
construction. The flaps covering the SIM and microSD are the first. The
second issue is that the lovely matte casing isn't very grippable. On
three separate occasions the phone slipped out of my hand. Although
as a side note, the inclusion of a microSD card slot is a big plus –
the Desire Eye only comes with a 16GB configuration, 7GB of which is
already used by the preinstalled software. The back of
the HTC Desire Eye is clean and uninterrupted. The company has put the
camera lens in the top left-hand corner, rather than centrally like on
the One M8. The same isn't true on the front of the phone – HTC has put
the front-facing 13MP sensor right in the middle of the top bezel.
The large lens on the front of the phone is obviousThe
"Eye" moniker is fitting, this phone is constantly looking at you. Next
to the lens is a small notification light that flashes when you've got
an email or message. It also indicates when the phone is fully charged. Despite
the giant lens, HTC has kept its front-facing BoomSound speakers which,
it's fair to say, have become a really popular feature. They're located
between the black bezel and the white chassis above and below the
screen. I'll delve more into the performance of these
speakers later on but suffice to say it's good to see that HTC hasn't
overlooked it. My only concern is that having them sunk into the chassis
means there's a possiblity for dust and grime to accumulate there.
HTC's kept the BoomSound on boardThe
HTC Desire Eye comes in a choice of two different colours, either the
red and white of our review model or a navy/light blue blend. Both look
nice although I have to admit that the white and red configuration is
the one that stands out to me. HTC uses a double shot moulding process
that seamlessly integrates the two colours into the one unibody design. The
Taiwanese company has constructed a really nice piece of consumer
technology here. The size of the device is a subjective issue, but the
build quality and durability are excellent. Even for a phone that isn't
meant as a flagship device, I really feel it stands out when it comes to
design.
Key features and media
Front-facing camera
Let's jump right into it. This
phone's centrepiece is the front-facing 13MP camera that promises you
the best selfies on the market. Except, well, it doesn't.
Not quite. There are several features that HTC has debuted with this
phone, which I'll deal with in depth later. Right here though, I want to
talk about the camera's performance.
HTC's got its Eye on youIt's
sufficient, but really not the groundbreaking feature HTC wants it to
be. We picked up the early signs during our initial hands-on test of the
phone. It's not as good in low light as the iPhone 6 or the HTC One M8.
The extra megapixels pick up greater detail but the colour isn't as
well balanced and leans towards a whiter, washed out appearance. This
can be alleviated somewhat in darker situations with the dual-LED flash
that HTC has added to the front of the device. It's an addition that
sets the Eye apart as few other smartphones – the Acer Liquid E3 is an exception – can offer a front flash.
Just a guy taking a picture of himself taking a selfie...Video
calling is handled at 1080p Full HD quality and I found the Desire Eye
was always accurate with its face-tracking ability. Even as I moved
about the room, it kept my face in focus. Other
features, like split selfies are well integrated and add value to the
device. But since HTC is planning to bring them to other phones in its
line-up in the future, the uniqueness is kind of lost here. More on that
later, though.
Waterproof unibody
HTC uses a
double shot injection moulding process to build the polycarbonate casing
for the Desire Eye. The process means there are no gaps or seams for
water and grime to get stuck in and the Eye really shines for it.
Everyone I showed the phone made a positive comment about its
construction. It's not impervious though. My review
handset now boasts a small scar next to the power switch from one of the
times it slipped out of my hands. Something I have yet to tell HTC
about, actually. While the One M8 and LG G3
were rightly praised for their gleaming aluminium bodies, I often felt
the need to wrap them up in some kind of case to protect them. That
meant I rarely appreciated exactly how well made they are. Not so with
the Desire Eye, it feels capable and sturdy and I think that's one of
its strongest features.
The build quality is great, and you've got two colour options to choose from
Sense 6.0
HTC's
Sense UI really helps to differentiate it from its Android brethren. It
runs smoothly and brings with it several unique apps and widgets that
vary in terms of usefulness. Some are great, like BlinkFeed and Zoe,
which is now a separate app that lets you create "stories" around your
photos and videos. Some are not so good: it's unlikely
you'll use stocks unless you're a trader by profession while HTC News
requires you to set up an HTC account in order to view a news feed about
the company. Frankly, you'd have to be a pretty massive HTC fan to
bother with it. There are several themes and wallpapers
to take advantage of and, while it's nice, there are plenty of
downloadable alternatives on the Google Play store. But enough of that
here, click over to the next section to read more about the HTC Desire
Eye's interface.
Media
The HTC Desire Eye isn't
going to let you down when it comes to media. The rounded edges and
matte design give it a comfortable feel when you're holding it in
landscape to watch a video. And audio is well served by both the
BoomSound front-facing speakers and the 2.5v amplifier inside the
headphone jack. The biggest constraint you're going to
get with media is the 16GB storage inside the Desire Eye. And even that
can be worked around because HTC has added a microSD slot that'll boost
the storage by up to 128GB. If you're going to watch
video on a smartphone, then a 5.2-inch, Full HD display with a 424 pixel
density isn't a bad way to do it. The Desire Eye will go up to an
impressive level of brightness, although you can expect that to take a
chunk out of the battery.
Google Play Movies wants to sell you films from Google's online storeThe
phone arrives with Google's Play services which means you can download
or stream music and video to the device from the competitively-priced
online store. Every now and then you get sales and reductions to take
advantage of as well. One small annoyance is the lack of a
pre-installed video player that'll let you watch your native files.
Since the HTC Desire Eye runs Android, you can attach it to your PC and
drag and drop over any video files you fancy. But all you get when you
boot up the phone is Google Play Movies which tries to force you into
streaming. I gave up trying to find my standalone media
through the app and downloaded MXPlayer from Google Play instead. It's a
small point, but one that needs to be made – why isn't there a standard
video player installed already? HTC's music player, by
contrast, is a solid offering and will catalogue your music and display
the album art where available. There's also a cool visualiser and the
ability to download lyrics to your songs as well. These are fringe
benefits of course, but they can come in handy if you want to practice
your karaoke.
The Desire Eye handles music playback with aplombThe
actual audio is crisp and nicely balanced. And even though the Beats
partnership is long gone, there's good range across the spectrum
including the bass. HTC has yet to add active noise cancellation to its
handsets and it's not been added to the Desire Eye. The
size of the Eye might not be optimal for tapping out messages, but it's
great if you like to use your smartphone for gaming. I'd like to see HTC
shrink the bezels slightly on future handsets but it wasn't long before
I was sunk into Modern Combat 4, Real Racing 3 and Sonic the Hedgehog.
The first two test out graphical power whilst the third is all about
speed.
The Desire Eye offers a great gaming experienceI
didn't have any problems (besides battery drain) while gaming on the
Desire Eye and the extra screen size is great for squeezing in more of
the action. Additionally, the handset kept cool even during extensive
sessions. I've found that previous HTC handsets,
especially the original HTC One, tended to get quite toasty when put
under a lot of strain. That's not the case here and, as I mentioned
before, it's also really comfortable to hold for long periods.
Interface and performance
The HTC Sense interface has set the brand aside from other
Android handsets for some time now and the company has worked
continuously to improve it. The Desire Eye comes with Sense 6.0
overlayed onto Android 4.4 KitKat.
Sense UI is one of Android's better skinsAlthough
HTC has said it will be delivering Android 5.0 Lollipop to its flagship
handsets within the next 90 days, there's been no mention of the Desire
range. Sense is anchored on the HTC BlinkFeed news
aggregator app. You can disable it if you want but I've consistently
found it to be a really useful feature. It exists as a homescreen all
its own and delivers tiled news content based around your own curated
interests. You can throw in Twitter, Facebook and other updates as well
if you fancy.
Blinkfeed is HTC's curated news appIt'll also sync nicely with your calendar, so you can see at a glance if you've got any important commitments each day. Swiping
away from BlinkFeed gives you the traditional homescreen app layout and
the option to add widgets and group apps together into folders. There's
still the app drawer, which you can get to by hitting the small grid
icon between the four anchored apps. Swiping down from
any point gives you the notification panel and the option to quickly
access the settings or dismiss the notifications altogether. It's a
simple interface to get to know and anyone familiar with Android won't
be put off by it. But if you prefer the stock Android experience of the Nexus 5, then HTC's offering might be a touch overbearing for you.
Performance
There's
a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU inside the HTC Desire Eye,
giving it more muscle than you might think for a mid-tier handset.
Although the chip has been surpassed by the Snapdragon 805, many of
2014's flagship handsets, including the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z2, shipped with the 801. The
speed is clocked at 2.27GHz and HTC has also matched the 2GB of RAM in
its current flagship, the One M8. It means the Desire Eye has plenty of
speed when running multiple apps and games.
Performance is one of this phone's strongest pointsI
ran the Geekbench 3 benchmarking test and the Eye returned a 2713
multi-core score and a 954 single-core score. This puts it on a par with
the likes of the Sony Xperia Z2 and the LG G3 which scored 2765 and 2561 on the multi-core test respectively. In
real world terms, the phone coped really well with demanding 3D games
like Modern Combat 4 or Real Racing 3. It relies on an Adreno 330 GPU
for gaming and other visualisations and in this case, having a larger
screen really improves the experience.
The Eye can handle complex 3D gamingThere's
not much that this phone won't be able to handle. I had all the
connectivity switched on, multiple tabs opened in the browser and music
playing and it still kept the speed up. The only thing to keep in mind
is that with only 16GB of storage, you're apt to run out of space
quickly.
Battery life and the essentials
The battery on board the phone is a 2,400mAh non-removable
lithium ion one and, as ever, screen size is going to play a big part in
battery life. However, HTC has done what it can to give you options to
preserve the battery life. You can view the battery usage
details through the settings tabs and choose whether or not to engage
power saver mode to optimise battery life. There's also a sleep mode
option that'll turn off the data connection during extended inactivity.
You can check your battery's status and use ultra power saver mode if neededIf
you're getting dangerously low then you can use the extreme power
saving mode. It'll shut down all but the bare essentials – calling,
messaging and emails – in order to conserve power. To get
an idea of the Eye's battery credentials I turned on everything I could
(Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi), threw the brightness to full and played a 90
minute HD video, the usual TechRadar test. It dropped the battery down
from 100% to 73% which, all things considered, isn't too shabby. It's
worth pointing out as well that Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 processor
features integrated Quick Charge technology that, the company says,
results in 75% faster battery charging than those without said
technology. And while the Desire Eye's battery performance wasn't
anything special, I did notice that it charged up nice and quickly. I
used the Eye for a few days to check out how it performed with general
usage. I count that as regular messaging, a few phone calls, some
downloads, game playing and music playback. And, like most decent
smartphones, it comfortably lasted an entire day but not much more than
that.
The essentials
Calling
The 5.2-inch
size makes the HTC Desire Eye an interesting proposition when it comes
to the essentials. It's not too big that you'll feel stupid holding it
up to your ear, but if you have small hands you're going to struggle to
reach across the on-screen keyboard. Making calls on the
Desire Eye is as you would expect from a noted manufacturer like HTC.
The company's been making phones for the last fifteen years or so and
knows how to do it. I found call clarity and volume were both fine, even
when talking with plenty of background noise. None of my recipients
reported any issues on their end either.
There's good call quality from the Desire EyeSignal
strength never posed a problem and HTC is well versed in presenting a
clean, simple contact database. You can import from your SIM or an email
account and the phone will pull in profile pictures for incoming calls
if you've synced your numbers with your Facebook account. I
frequently put my calls on speakerphone when chatting to people at home
so I can do it while cooking or tidying things away. In this case, the
BoomSound speakers gave my calls plenty of volume and I was assured the
microphone was picking up my voice even when across the room.
Messaging
HTC's
keyboard gets the job done although, as I mentioned before, the size of
the Desire Eye can make typing one-handed tricky. The word prediction
is, for the most part, accurate. Once or twice it seemed to stagger over
applying the caps lock for certain words. Predicted text appears in a
small banner above the keyboard showing multiple suggestions. It
doesn't have the swipe-to-text feature that you'll find on other
manufacturer's keyboards but thanks to Google Play you can download
SwiftKey to sort you out. I only had one spot of trouble
with messaging on the Desire Eye when, one evening, it wasn't able to
send messages through even though I had signal. I reset the phone and
the problem persisted, although a full shutdown and restart seemed to
sort the problem out.
Browsing
Like pretty much
every other Android handset out there, the Desire Eye comes with two
browsers – a standard HTC one and Google's Chrome. Both are equally
adept and surfing the web, letting you tab pages, save bookmarks, browse
incognito and view your history.
Chromeward boundIt
comes down to personal preference but I like the look of Chrome and the
option to carry my bookmarks over from my desktop browser. With both
browsers you can pinch to zoom and rotate the page to view it in
landscape. It's an obvious benefit of having a larger screen that you
can see more of the website. You can also set the Desire Eye to
automatically favour mobile or desktop pages depending on your
preference. What would be easiest though is if we could save the space and just have a single browser installed. One day, perhaps.
Camera
HTC is making the Desire Eye all about the camera. The company has dropped the 4MP "Ultrapixel" route it took with the One M7 and One M8 and opted for a 13MP snapper instead. Two, in fact. Both
the front and the back cameras are supported by a two-tone dual-LED
flash and are capable of shooting 1080p video at 30fps. The front-facing
camera has a slightly wider lens so you can have group video calling as
well. HTC's face-tracking software does a good job of
keeping everyone in focus, although I'm not sure how often you're really
going to use a smartphone for a team video conference.
Is the camera as good as HTC makes it out to be?Unfortunately,
as I mentioned earlier, the front-facing camera just isn't quite as
good as HTC wants it to be. It picks up a lot of light and the result is
a whitening of the images that's noticeable when looking at skin tone.
Then again, in low-light situations without the flash the camera
struggles and isn't as good as the HTC One M8. Obviously
the increase in pixels does have an effect and the front camera on the
Eye will pick up plenty of detail. Although amusingly, it comes with an
adjustable "beautification scale" that will smooth out the imperfections
the camera has picked up in your skin.
13MP on the back...and on the front tooTo
be clear, the quality of the front-facing camera is a big step up from
the 5MP cameras we're used to seeing on phones and tablets, but just
isn't enough to beat out the flagship models. I do just want to mention
the dedicated shutter button, though. On most Android handsets you can
use the volume rocker as a makeshift shutter button, but it's always a
pleasure to have a proper one built in. The rear-facing
camera is a solid enough performer, but it still won't best the very top
phones. The sensor produces an image that's ever-so-slightly darker
with a better contrast. If you really want to get into
the nuts and bolts of the camera then HTC has given you the means to do
so. There are several ways to adjust the ISO and white balance, as well
as applying filters and post-snap crops and edits. There's
no Duo sensor here like there was on the M8 so you can't re-focus the
picture after you've taken it. HTC has also left out its Zoe mode that
combines a high-res burst mode with a 3-second video snippet.
There are a few camera options to play withYou
can shoot a 360 degree panorama or use the photo booth mode which acts
as a surrogate burst mode for Zoe. Perhaps the most interesting feature
though is the dual-capture mode that shoots simultaneously from the
front and back cameras – splitting the screen in two. HTC's
promotional video showed this in use on a mountain bike ride –
capturing both the direction of travel and the commentary from the
rider. It's a pretty neat feature that shouldn't by any stretch be a
reason to buy the phone, but you'll have fun creating things with it.
Selfie styleThat's
about the best way to sum up the cameras on the Desire Eye. The
features are fun to play with, but don't buy the phone on the strength
of the camera alone. Click over the page to see some examples of
pictures taken with the Desire Eye.
Camera examples
A daytime shot on full auto reveals a lot of noise around the background and an overly white pictureClick here for the full res image
The same shot with HDR mode enabled gives a better colour contrast - note that the sky is now blue rather than whiteClick here for the full res image
Here's the split selfie mode. It's fun, but not much more than a gimmick. Again, skin tone looks very whiteClick here for the full res image
Comparisons
Nokia Lumia 735
Nokia might have been consumed by
Microsoft, but the Lumia brand has always been known for its strong
built-in cameras. The Lumia 735 – one of the last to bear the Nokia name
– has a powerful 5MP front-facing camera to try and lure in the same
selfie crowd as the HTC Desire Eye.
Nokia's Lumia range is known for its camerasLike
every Lumia, it comes in a range of colours and feels like it can
withstand plenty of knocks. When it comes to performance though, the
Lumia 735 gets pasted by the Desire Eye. The processor on board the
Lumia is a Snapdragon 400 backed by 1GB of RAM and the 4.7-inch display
is a mere 1,280 x 800 resolution. If it's performance you're after,
definitely go for the Desire Eye. If, however, you're
just after the best selfie device, the Lumia 735 puts forward a good
case. There's a 5MP front-facing sensor with a single LED flash and
decent colour reproduction. Nokia's Lumia Selfie app lets you add in
filters, should you wish. In terms of contrast, it's on a par with the
Eye – although HTC's handset can lay claim to capturing more detail.
Acer's
not known for making smartphones, and it shows with this model as soon
as you try and make a call. Call quality leaves a lot to be desired even
though the rest of the phone isn't too bad – especially given its £128
($210, AU$237) price.
Good camera, not such a good phoneAcer
is keen to make much of the camera features of the Liquid E3. It's got a
rear-facing 13MP camera and a front-facing 2MP one aided by an LED
flash. There aren't many settings to play with though and although the
output is decent, pictures are still a long way from the quality of a
top-end Samsung, Sony or indeed HTC handset. For selfie
fans there's face detection and a self timer, but in practice the Liquid
E3 struggles with balancing light. There doesn't appear to be a manual
way to engage the forward-facing flash either. So unless you're really
after a budget selfie phone for your next purchase, the HTC Desire Eye
remains the better choice between the two.
Huawei's
Ascend P7 is perhaps more of a threat to the Desire Eye than either of
the two previous handsets. It's got a 1.8GHz quad-core processor, Full
HD 5-inch display, 2GB of RAM, microSD slot, a front-facing 8MP camera
and a favourable €449 (around £370, $625, AU$690) price point.
A strong alternative to the Desire EyeSelfies
on the Ascend P7 aren't bad to begin with, but then Huawei has added
plenty of features to play with including the beauty slider scale. Like
the Desire Eye it promises to remove the imperfections in your face but
ends up looking a bit ridiculous. There's also a front-facing panorama
option to squeeze even more people into your selfie. Huawei
has clad it all into a well designed package that is smaller and
thinner than the Desire Eye, although it doesn't feel quite as robust.
What's more, the Emotion UI that Huawei uses isn't as good as HTC's
Sense overlay. Gun to my head, I'd pick the Desire Eye over the Ascend P7 but it's still a worthwhile handset given the price.
Verdict
I liked the Desire Eye. Which surprised me. At first I
thought it'd be too plasticy and too big – and I think there's still
something in the second reason. A 5.2-inch smartphone is going to be too
big for some, no matter how well it's made. But trust
me, it's very well made. In fact, HTC's got the promotion of this device
all wrong. It shouldn't be about the 13MP cameras, which aren't better
than you'll find elsewhere, but about the build quality.
The shift to a polycarbonate chassis doesn't diminish quality
We liked
HTC
has always nailed design. The metallic premium casing of the One series
was very well received and I'd be surprised if the Desire Eye doesn't
get a similar reaction. The construction of the phone's chassis is
excellent. It feels comfortable in the hand, it's durable and waterproof
and it looks really good. Then there are the specs.
Suffice to say there's a lot more power here than we've ever seen from
the Desire range before. It's on a par with some of the flagships from
earlier this year certainly makes a case for surpassing those from last
year. We're looking at the HTC One in particular. HTC
Sense is also a good way to differentiate the company's phones from the
other Android offerings and some features, like BlinkFeed and the
battery saver, are really useful.
We disliked
For
a phone sold on the strength of its cameras, they're really not all
that great. The rear-facing camera doesn't offer a knockout feature like
OIS and the lens is easily obscured by your finger. The front-facing
camera meanwhile chooses a wide angle over better low-light performance.
They're not bad cameras, by any means, but they're definitely not the
reason to buy the phone. Storage seems like a bit of a
weak point to pull the Desire Eye up on, considering it offers a microSD
slot – but I'd still liked to have seen a 32GB option. Likewise,
it seems like I'm labouring the point a bit, but this is quite a large
phone. Not just the screen, either. It's got a bulky chassis that, while
excellently designed, isn't going to play nice with skinny jean pockets
and small handbags.
Final verdict
Rather than
pushing the camera features, HTC should have focused on the fact they've
crafted a handset with great build quality and specifications
approaching most flagship phones. The front-facing camera doesn't cope as well in low light as the HTC One M8 or the iPhone 6.
But then the polycarbonate casing looks good, the phone won't break if
you drop it in a sink full of water and it's not as expensive as the
flagships. It's difficult to know exactly where to put
the Desire Eye because of this. It's certainly one of the best "mid
tier" handsets I've ever seen. Don't believe the marketing HTC is
pushing on you, but do consider it if you want a good all-rounder at a
reasonable price.
