2016 has been a nice year for smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE, Galaxy Note 5 , LG G4, G5 and Huawei P9 Lite have all been great devices and now, it’s the turn of HTC. After the poor year of 2015 – both the HTC One A9 and Desire 530 disappointed – I can reliably say that ;The Taiwanese company is back’.
The HTC 10 is an amazing device. Possibly, the best HTC has ever created. It connects a lovely build with a strong set of software features to make one of the best Android devices.
HTC 10 – DESIGN
When, the HTC 10 takes the brand’s flagship smartphone in a new design direction, it’s still very common. The front is displaced from the previous One A9, and the back is a tweaked and tuned version of the backward casing from the earlier One M9.
It’s far from the starting and looking at it face-on you’d be forgiven for mixing it with Samsung Galaxy S7. However, for me, it’s the excellent mix of style and element.
First off, this phone is clearly manufactured from metal – and proud of it. The backward is cool to the touch, with a beautiful curve that helps it sit easily in your hand. This curve flows into some heavily chamfered edges that attach a bit of much-needed ability.
Along the side, you’ve got the general combination of a volume rocker and sleep/wake button, the latter of which is beveled and easily identifiable even if the phone is in your pocket.
Most other phones have switched to a single tray that organizes both the Nano SIM and a microSD card, but the HTC 10 yet has one tray on each side. I’d like to see this combined to make everything smoother, but it makes a slight difference in reality.
Flip the phone over and the HTC 10 is one of the cleanest and neatest devices around. HTC has even moved away its brand logo – a minimum change that makes a big difference.
There’s now a capacitive home key sitting below the display that is not only a button but also a touchpad. Like pretty much every excellent Android phone of 2016 it features a fingerprint scanner inside , but coming from the Samsung Galaxy S7 it feels strange not to get that satisfying ‘click’ when I press down.
HTC has also changed to capacitive Back and Recent Apps keys, as exposed to on-screen versions, and these sit each side of the home button It’s all down to personal choice whether you choose physical or virtual buttons but it does free up that additional bit of screen real estate.
The phone comes in gold,silver and black.
While LG took plenty of ventures with its funky modular design of the G5, HTC has played it comparatively safe here. That’s not a dig, although. In fact, I’d say that HTC 10 is my most favorite phone so far when it comes to the overall look and feel.
It nearly matches the Samsung Galaxy S7 for size, but it’s marginally taller and noticeably weightier. It seems reassuringly expensive and compact , which is something I can’t say about the LG G5.
It’s the accuracy, though, which wins it for HTC. Everything is well-formed , with the camera, headphone jack, sensor and USB-C port , all in line with each other.However, I would have preferred to see that headphone jack port on the bottom, but that’s just a minor complaint.
Regarding its history, it’s no surprise that HTC has designed a beautiful looking phone. It hasn’t taken ventures and opted for something more out there, but it still has charm and is a pleasure to use.
HTC 10 – SCREEN
HTC has updated almost every part of the One M9 for its successor.Moreover, the display is no exception.
It’s grown slightly to 5.2″, but the bigger upgrade is the resolution. It’s enough pixel-dense now, thanks to the (2560 x 1440) quad-HD resolution, and it covers 99.9% of the sRGB color scale. It’s a powerfully impressive panel, though as it’s LCD(5th-generation), to be specific – it does lack a little of the vibrancy of Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen. It’s not far off, and it’s difficult to notice except you have both phones sat next to each other.
It’s a nice display to look at. Colors are punchy and clear, without being oversaturated, and they’re perfect, too. The wide color range is great for watching a video as it was originally intended and correctly editing snaps, making this a great media machine.
The HTC 10 is abstaining a feature both the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 tout, which is an Always-On mode. This smart method of displaying your current notifications when the display is apparently off is far from necessary, but it’s a helpful extra that I’ve grown to like after using those two phones. LG maintained it with an LCD screen, so I’m not sure why HTC hasn’t tried anything comparable.
What it does offer over its competitors is increased brightness. Well, in some situations. In regular use, the maximum brightness on the HTC 10 is sufficiently brighter than that of the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7, though it doesn’t feature the trick used by those two where it can increase brightness even more in direct sunlight. Still, the HTC 10 is quite usable outdoors. COMMA What it does offer over its competitors is increased brightness. Well, in some situations. In regular use, the maximum brightness on the HTC 10 is sufficiently brighter than that of the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7, though it doesn’t feature the trick used by those two where it can increase brightness even more in direct sunlight. Still, the HTC 10 is quite usable outdoors.
