HTC just launched the new Desire series in India which fall in the mid to high range of Android smartphones. The Desire 700 dual SIM, 601 dual SIM and 501 dual SIM are the latest devices by the Taiwanese manufacturer and the company claims that it wants to focus more on looks and have also added some features introduced in the HTC One smartphone including Zoe, BlinkFeed, and the BoomSound audio technology to the new Desire smartphones.
The biggest phone of the lot is the Desire 700 dual SIM which sports a 5-inch qHD display with a resolution of 540×960 pixels, a quad-core 1.2 Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage with microSD card support, and 8MP camera with an LED flash, a front facing wide angled 2.1MP camera , 2100 mAh battery and dual-SIM (GSM GSM) active support. The device features HTC’s audio technology called BoomSound and sports dual speakers with colour accents on the front, which we have seen earlier on the One series of devices. The Desire 700 dual SIM runs on Android 4.2 with Sense 5.0.
The build quality and the design of the device is top-notch and gives a premium feel. The material used here is mostly plastic but again the smartphone doesn’t feel cheap. Its price of Rs. 33,050 does seem steep at a time when a number of handset manufacturers are offering better specs at the same price range.
The Desire 601 dual SIM has a 4.5-inch qHD display with a resolution of 540×960 pixels, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM, 4GB of inbuilt storage which is expandable up to 64GB via microSD card, a 5MP rear camera with LED flash, a VGA front-facing camera and a 2100mAh battery. Just like the 700, the Desire 601 has Zoe, BlinkFeed, and the BoomSound dual-speaker audio technology and runs on Android 4.2 with Sense 5.0
The 601 dual SIM has a design that looks similar to the Desire 700 and the material used in its build also seems almost similar. The display, although limited to qHD resolution, seems crisp and bright. The Desire 601 dual SIM is priced at Rs. 24,190. The surprising thing here is that HTC decided to use a smaller 5MP camera sensor rather than the 8MP one.
The smallest and the most affordable of the lot is the Desire 501 dual SIM which comes with a 4.3-inch WVGA (480×800) display, a 1.15GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM, an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 2.1MP front-facing camera, 8GB of inbuilt storage which is expandable to up to 32GB via microSD card and a 2100mAh battery. The smartphone runs on Android 4.1 with Sense UI (Not Sense 5.0) with BlinkFeed.
The 501 comes in what seems to be a polycarbonate back with three colour options to suit your mood including light brown, light green and blue. The Desire 501 dual SIM is priced at Rs. 16,890.