Gadgetory

as is the trend flagship devices are given the shrink-ray treatment and the result is at the very least a more accessible version what gets shrunken down on the inside is what matters even further though and in the smaller version of HTC's hot smartphone we look at just that hey it's Joshua regard from Android authority and this is the HTC One mini - for the most part you're looking at quite literally just a smaller version of the HTC One m8 but key differences can be cited as reasons why it does not bear the m8 moniker off the bat you will notice the size difference this is definitely a smaller device compared to many of the flagship devices we have now but in terms of the actual dimensions well this phone actually comes more in line with last year's flagships mostly because the extra girth at the top and bottom or will make it a little bit more comparable to let's say the HTC One m7 the front house is the four point five inch screen but also has the expected boom sound speakers at its top and bottom these are basically what add to the extra surface area come around the sides and you'll find one of the main reasons why this is definitely more a mini device rather than in EM a plastic lip goes all the way around the screen and breaks up the aluminium found on this device unlike the m8 this phone is made of aluminium pieced together rather than made from one complete block so that border does return here in the second version of eight the HTC One mini and while it might be more recognizable in the silver version which is not the one I have obviously the black lip on this gunmetal grey edition blends in a little bit better than the white one on the silver edition of both the original mini and the Mini 2 while the volume rocker and micro SD card slot are on the right and the SIM tray are on the left the power button remains up top as always undoubtedly the power button on this edition of the HTC One is a lot easier to get to because you can just pinch the phone and just reach up top to turn on the screen so really just it's placements is what makes the power button still just a little bit awkward at least in my opinion and finally around the back is the aluminium slab with a hairline brushed look and feel characteristic of only the gunmetal grey edition the polycarbonate black lines show you where the phone has been pieced together and the main glaring difference found here is the lack of a dual camera a feature left for the flagship instead handling is the most refreshing part of any mini device and especially one compared to current large smartphones this one doesn't disappoint being able to pinch the sides and easily get up to the power button helps since the waking gestures are not available in this version of the HTC One and the noticeable narrow profile of the phone is also on hand here as it is easier to reach the other side of the screen with your thumb in one hand then on similarly sized phones like flashes flagships in the end HTC signature style comes back once again only this time in a slightly more miniaturized size and if aluminum is your deal being able to more easily handle this version of the HTC One might be worth the price of admission for you already a smaller display often leads to lower resolution and this is definitely the case here as the 4.5 inch display comes in at 720p resolution and 326 pixels per inch while some screen nuts out there might want higher resolution we've generally come to the conclusion that 720 is still very enjoyable and at a smaller screen size overall the difference is really not that noticeable Super LCD 2 is the construction here and it lends itself to good brightness and colors as well as good viewing angles text is still more than workable with the lower pixel density and in the end provided really no issues as media consumption is rather expected obviously with the boomsound speakers being on the docket I will say that larger displays tend to be a little bit more fun for watching videos YouTube or whatnot but on this device with its smaller screen it is definitely far from unbearable it's not often that we see phones maintain top level processing packages when shrunken down and that trend continues in the HTC One mini 2 with the Snapdragon 400 the 1.2 gigahertz quad-core processing package backed by the audrina 305 an one gigabyte of RAM now while going really hard on the gaming for example might provide a little bit of slow down general tasks were really no problem on here thanks to the minimalistic design of HTC Sense I never doubted the 400 as the mid-range processor found in the snapdragon family but I will admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the snappiness of the mini for everyday tasks like playing music taking pictures doing some navigation and watching the occasional YouTube video for example I had no reason to complain about this phone's performance in the hardware aspect the one mini does bring some good extras to the table we'll get the boom sound speakers out of the way immediately as I can tell you they provide a very enjoyable experience still in comparison with the larger speakers found on the m8 the sound on the mini falls in line with its smaller stature with mostly just a lower level of volume overall the general bevy of connections are available here including NFC but the sensor suite that allowed for waking the m8 through gestures does not return here call quality was also good made even better if you prefer speakerphone obviously because of the front-facing speakers and as far as storage goes 16 gigabytes is what you get here expandable via microSD cards of up to 128 gigabytes of capacity as far as battery life goes I found the 2110 milliamp hour unit found in the HTC One mini to pretty much par for the course I did a lot of camera shooting I used the GPS navigation for about an hour and I played a lot of music and that pretty much comprised up about four hours a little bit over that of very heavy usage and that was able to get the battery down to about half life once tapered down to more general usage and back on Wi-Fi I easily made it to the 9 hour mark this makes the battery life more or less average but with power saving modes on I'm sure you can get through and pass that 12 hour workday in a pinch the extreme power saving mode can also save you when you're down to those single digit percentages now the camera situation on the Mini 2 is a bit of a peculiar case not because it doesn't have the duo camera of the original instead of the usual four megapixel affair you get a more conventional 13 megapixel shooter in this one now before you sound off on your support of such a choice in either direction let's talk about the app which has been somewhat given the shrink ray treatment while holding the same general look as at the m8 s camera app it no longer has the Zowie camera as well as the Pan 360 mode keeping only the regular camera with its various settings and modes the video recording mode and a selfie front-facing camera mode there are standard options available for changing the exposure the ISO and the white balance but a few modes like sweeping panorama and HDR are still available along with live features off the bat some of you may consider the higher megapixel count as an obvious marker of higher quality photos and it certainly does have its advantages having larger photos lends to better cropping and while the noticeable drop in sharpness can be observed crop still yielded a pretty usable image text was rendered with decent crispness though colors did tend to remain quite vibrant throughout and dull photos were readily avoided great photos are certainly possible with this camera it might not be the best camera out there but one thing is clear it is certainly a more than decent performer so here are some comparison shots with the ultra pixel shooter of the m8 low-light performance did fare much better in the ultra pixel category which does put a feather in the m8s cap so in the end while the loss of detail in crops is more pronounced in the MH for obvious reasons that makes this a bit of a toss up better natural low-light performance on the Big Brother versus the high resolution pictures of the Mini as we make it to software we also find that it is probably the only place you'll find the most abilities retained from the original m8 the only main aspect missing is the ability to turn on the phone using gestures because of the lack of that sensor package underneath but for all intents and purposes otherwise Sixth Sense is what comes along here in a smaller screen the same simplistic design HTC has achieved well in their operating system helps make it one of the most accessible versions of Android of course blinkfeed is the most important facet of sense and brings along the simplistic tile design for all of your news and social media feeds it is one of the best second screen second home screen experiences out there with a curated but very robust list of sources and a pretty easy way of customizing the experience to your liking speaking of customization sense is also ready for colour changes as the theme engine will change the colour of various elements in the interface primarily to show you what area you're currently working in the recent apps screen of HTC style returns as well showing you your 9 last applications in the neat grid format and finally after that the enhancements of Android KitKat like the quick settings are here and the familiar though vertically presented app drawer backs up the classic home screen experience found to the right of blinkfeed HTC specific apps also come along zowie is built into this device though this version is not quite ready for primetime yet nonetheless it will allow you to share your built zoe's in the social cloud for friends and public to enjoy and as always are still in the built-in gallery where pictures and videos are created in tonight's packages complete with music you may not have the short burst Zowie camera anymore but you can still build zoe's no problem so in the end send six brings you one of the easier to use iterations of Android made possible by HTC style you get pretty much anything that you need often on a monochromatic background but in the end it prioritizes function over being eye candy and in the end you also get the benefit that minimalistic takes on Android often have the fact that when you keep it simple you keep it fast currently we know that the HTC One mini two will be made available in European markets in June an early pricing reports state that it can come in around 500 euros making it a pretty premium price point we don't know what it looks like for the states just yet but we want to be surprised if the price tag was pretty steep here as well main competitors in the mini game currently include last season Sony Xperia z1 compact also found at a premium price point but sports one of the most powerful performance packages available on any smaller device the Moto line comes to mind as smaller device offerings though the Moto X is really the only one that stands as even close to equal to the Mini 2 with a very optimized and catered processing package that has proven reliable for plenty of users and so there you have it the HTC One mini to form does lend itself to function as HTC has created yet another very attractive aluminum clad device that comes in at a smaller stature than its flagship while it might not offer the same raw power underneath the hood it is still more than viable for even somewhat above the average users and a more conventional 13 megapixel rear camera despite having its own limitations has already done its part to attract a few users on its own still sporting a more than capable media consumption experience with the boom sound speakers and expandable storage the HTC One mini 2 is yet another example of how the mini genre of phones is more than just a fad it's a wholly viable market for people who know they don't need the biggest or the baddest to enjoy the smartphone experience especially when it still manages to look this good as always thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the HTC One mini 2 there are plenty of reasons to like this device not the least of which is its looks really it is a smaller version of the m8 both inside and out and it you want the raw power of course you have the flagship available but for plenty of average users out there even somewhat above-average this version should work just as well for you so keep it tuned to Android Authority for all of the best coverage including our future coverage of the HTC One mini two and for all of the flagships and all the mini devices that are coming in the following months keep it tuned here and watch content from my brothers in Android Joe Jace Kevin the tech ninja and lawn don't forget to hit that like button hit that subscribe button and to hit up Android authority comm once 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