MUMBAI: The HTC Desire 820 was one of the most successful models from the company last year. This year, the phone has been upgraded into a dual SIM model with some software tweaks too. The phone looks unmistakably like something from the HTC Desire family.
Specs:
5.5-inch (720x1280p, ~267 ppi) display | Octa-core 1.7 GHz Mediatek MT6752 processor with 2GB RAM | 16GB internal memory upgradeable up to 32GB | 13MP rear camera with 8MP front camera | 4G LTE dual nano SIM | Android Kitkat with HTC Sense 6.0 UI
What is good?
The HTC Desire 820s offers a really good crisp HD display that has good viewing angles. It is also a really large as 5.5-inches. That is money well spent.
The camera combo is still among the best among mid-range. Not many other phones can offer a 13-MP rear camera with an 8MP front clicker. The phone will find favour with selfie addicts as they will get more pixels to record those duck faces.
The big change in the phone is under the hood, as the 820s uses a MediaTek processor unlike its predecessor which had a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615. Like with other new MediaTek powered phones, this one too packs a punch when it comes to processing power. It also shows in the benchmark scores which are now closer to flagship phones. In fact, the Antutu score was better that the HTC One M8 and just under the One Plus One. And despite all this, the phone does not heat up unnecessarily.
What is not that good?
The phone has the best camera configuration in the price band. But the camera is not really up to the quality that fans have come to expect from HTC. Of course, it is what better than what you might get for this price, but the pictures appeared a bit too sharp for my liking.
The glossy back cover could be a problem for some users and use cases. The glossy rear might pick up scratches over time.
The phone should get the HTC Sense 7.0 version soon; however till then it is stuck with an Android KitKat-based UI. Not a great thing to put on your spec sheet in March 2015.
Should you buy it?
Yes, if you are looking for a very powerful phone for around Rs 25,000. However, if you can compromise a bit and don’t really need dual SIM, the older version HTC Desire 820 is available for about Rs 3,000 less.
