HTC 10 Gets New Look, Features to Take On iPhone, Galaxy S7

A myriad of improvements to its processor, cameras, battery and audio system give HTC’s latest smartphone lots to consider for potential buyers.

The HTC 10 features a 5.2-inch, Quad HD (2,560-by-1,440-pixel) touch-screen display that is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core 64-bit processor, 4GB of memory, 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage, and a microSD slot that accepts storage cards up to 2TB.

The HTC 10 is designed to be the Taiwanese mobile products company’s premium handset, and it is built to take on the likes of Apple’s iPhones, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 handsets, LG’s G5 smartphone and others. The new HTC phone is built to succeed the HTC One M9 phone, which went on sale in the United States in April 2015 for about $650.

Highlighting the new handset is a high-performance, 12-megapixel, UltraPixel 2 rear-facing camera that includes laser auto-focus, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), an F/1.8 lens aperture, a 26mm focal length, dual tone LED flash and a wide range of creativity features. New to the HTC’s camera is a Pro Mode that offers manual control and 12-bit RAW format support and 4K video recording capabilities.

The 4G LTE-capable smartphone, which is 5.7 inches long, 2.83 inches wide and 0.11 inches thick and weighs 5.67 ounces, also includes Bluetooth 4.2, WiFi and near-field communications (NFC) connectivity, giving owners plenty of options for using the handset for work or leisure.

The HTC 10’s front-facing camera is a 5-megapixel device with auto-focus, OIS, an F/1.8 lens aperture, a 23mm focal length, auto selfie and voice selfie features, and Full HD 1080p video recording. Both of the handset’s cameras are designed to provide improved low-light, high-resolution photos for users in a wide variety of conditions.

The HTC 10 smartphone includes re-engineered HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi edition speakers with separated tweeters and woofers and a dedicated amplifier on each speaker that provides improved audio capabilities compared with previous HTC handsets. Also included are high-quality 24-bit, hi-res audio recording capabilities and an all-new Personal Audio Profile system that creates a unique profile that’s tuned to a user’s individual hearing needs, delivering excellent sound clarity in a smartphone.

The HTC 10 includes a new fast-acting biometric fingerprint scanner for security that can read a fingerprint in just 0.02 seconds for quick device activation. The fingerprint reader can recognize a user’s fingerprint from almost every angle and position, and its smart algorithm learns to recognize a user faster and more accurately over time, according to HTC. The handset also includes a USB-C port for charging and connecting it to a computer.

The HTC 10 includes a 3,000mAh battery that comes with a new Quick Charge 3.0 feature that can provide a 50 percent charge in just 30 minutes. Also included is Boost+, which makes the phone faster while consuming less power, according to HTC. Boost+ optimizes the phone’s memory, provides a game battery booster for game play, and automatically detects and shuts down apps that use excessive power to improve battery life by up to 30 percent. An App Lock feature adds a layer of security by enabling users to lock any app as desired, while a new App Manager can give instant fixes for misbehaving apps.