Gadgetory

what is going on guys long hair from Android Authority and typically when we think of mid-range devices we think of devices with lesser specs lesser performance lesser build quality pretty much lesser everything but HTC is looking to redefine the mid-range game with a device that doesn't necessarily feel all that mid-range and that you can still have a great device without the latest and greatest specs this is the htc desire 816 alright so before we dive into the device itself let's go ahead and do a quick unboxing and as you can see is your typical HTC packaging that we've become pretty used to by now but inside the box you get the device obviously and everything else is pretty standard you've got your micro USB charging cable a wall adapter and the usual paperwork unfortunately this phone doesn't include any ear buds or any other extra accessories but here is the desire 816 itself and in terms of build quality this thing is very solidly constructed it's a plastic unibody design with a glossy back that can be pretty prone to fingerprints and a matte finish on the size in front which I thought would get dirty pretty easily but it seems to have held up pretty well so far it's no HTC One m8 with its aluminum construction but the desire 816 still feels very premium and could give other major flagship devices a run for their money it is a pretty large phone and feels a little bit slippery but it's probably no bigger than a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 so if you're used to phones that size you shouldn't have any issues but it is larger than the Nexus 5 and definitely much larger than the Moto X despite its size though it's a pretty thin phone coming in at only seven point nine nine millimeters on the top you've got your 3.5 milimeter headset jack with a noise cancellation microphone your a microUSB port on the bottom and then on the right side is a pretty large flap that covers your two SIM card slots so yes this is a dual SIM device and then you've got your micro SD card with support up to 128 gigs and then finally on the left is your volume rockers and a pretty awkwardly placed power button that took some getting used to I like that HTC put the power button on the side but I would have preferred it to be on the right side or at least a little lower on the chassis so I can easily power the phone on without having to shuffle the device in my hand if you didn't notice by now on the front of the phone is HTC's boomsound speakers which HTC made very popular with a1 and trust me when I say this there are no compromises here when it comes to the speakers they're loud and produce a very clean and crisp sound with a nice amount of bass and the size of the phone actually helps create a nice stereo effect when watching videos or listening to music and landscape they're also very aesthetically pleasing and have a pretty unique look to them so the speakers are probably one of my favorite parts about this phone also on the front is that 5.5 inch display coming in at 720p resolution and even though this isn't the most high resolution or pixel dense display it's still a really nice looking display I would say it's every bit as good as the m8 - the resolution obviously but it's got great colour reproduction great viewing angles and pretty deep blacks deep for an LCD anyways the bezels around the display are pretty large and you still get that bottom bar for a dedicated HTC logo just like you do on the One m8 but honestly it didn't really bother me all that much or really detract from the viewing experience overall I really like this display and it's great for media consumption like watching movies and playing games specs wise the desire 816 is rocking a Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.6 gigahertz backed by 1.5 gigabytes of RAM and Adreno 305 GPU and 8 gigs of internal storage no this doesn't have the latest on the greatest specs but with android 4.4 kitkat having lower system requirements this thing doesn't need it it's still plenty fast in day-to-day usage and it seemed to handle everything I threw at it with relative ease apps open very quickly web browsing performance was great and I had no problems playing graphically intensive games like Shadowgun deadzone or dead trigger - so it's been a pretty smooth and responsive experience so I really have no complaints now onto another part of this phone that I really like and that is the 13 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash and besides the boom sound speakers the camera is probably one of the best parts about this phone the first thing you'll notice is that this is not the new sense 6 that's not necessarily a bad thing the sense 5 camera is still pretty good and it will be very familiar terra-tory if you've ever used the original HTC one it doesn't have instant shutter but it's still pretty quick and there's a lot of shooting modes and options to really get the shot that you're looking for it takes really sharp looking photos and that's such a high resolution your going to be able to zoom and crop without losing any detail which is really important to a lot of people color reproduction is great as photos come out looking very nice and vibrant and it's got pretty decent dynamic range for the most part it does a pretty good job of balancing out the lights and darks but every once in a while you'll get that shot where the lights are completely blown out or everything gets lost in the dark at an aperture of f-22 though it does have pretty good low-light performance oh and that 5 megapixel front-facing camera takes pretty decent selfies too but overall I really like this camera and dare I say it but I think many people would have liked to see this in the one m8 as far as the battery is concerned it is a 2600 milliamp hour battery which happens to be the same size as the One m8 it is completely sealed in so you can't remove it which isn't a big deal to me but I was actually pretty impressed with the battery life overall on my first full day using it I got over 24 hours before I had to recharge it which wasn't until early afternoon the next day and I wasn't taking it easy on this phone either I was doing my usual stuff like checking social networks texting browsing the web watching YouTube listening to Google play music and taking a lot of test shots on the camera also just to really get an idea of how good the camera is and the only thing I really did to manage the battery life was to keep my screen brightness low but other than that I pretty much just used it the same way I used any other phone now onto the software and the desire 816 is running on 4.4.2 kitkat which is the latest version of Android with Sense 5 plus what you might have figured out from the camera software and it's got on-screen buttons just like the m8 I was pretty surprised to see that it wasn't running sense 6 especially considering at MWC HTC didn't allow anyone to turn the phone on because it was running new software and it is it's running 4.4 cat but it's still running sense five plus which we already saw on the original HTC one but the experience here is pretty much exactly the same as the one lineup you still get Zoe's video highlights and blinkfeed which I actually wasn't able to use because all the new sources were actually in Chinese if you're wondering about connectivity this phone does support HSPA+ and LTE but you'll want to be careful as there are two different models floating around out there there's one made for European and Middle Eastern markets and then there's one made specifically for China which is the one that I have here and they both support slightly different bands I'm currently using this phone on t-mobile's network and I do get HSPA+ but I don't get LTE so if you don't mind using HSPA+ then you shouldn't have any problems using this phone on t-mobile or ATT's networks and if you're looking to get one for yourself the desire 816 can be found for 370 to 400 euros and in the United States the only place I've managed to find it so far is on eBay for a little over $400 which honestly isn't that bad of a price for the phone that you are getting so there you have it for the desire 816 overall I really like this phone and although it's considered mid-range I never really felt that way my entire time using it it's got great build quality a great display you still get HTC's boomsound speakers and it's got a pretty awesome camera too but that's pretty much it hopefully you guys enjoyed this video and if you did don't forget to give it a thumbs up and also subscribe to android authority down below so you don't miss out on any future videos we got a lot of great content coming and also stay tuned for the written review as well that should be up pretty soon but that's pretty much it and as always keep it locked on Android Authority as we are your source for all things Android