Gadgetory

it's the same old song and dance new phone comes out we all go crazy reviewing it then a couple of weeks later we're all moving on to the next new thing our phone ages is as important as that initial out of the box experience so let's do something about this HTC had a rough year in 2015 alongside LG - very promising flagship phones were burned by the negative press surrounding welcomes processors 2016 became something of a rebuilding year and early reviews were largely positive now nearly six months later how has our review unit aged under aggressive use it's time for our HTC ten after the buzz full disclosure this phone has not been in my keep apparently if you really want a torture test a phone you should send it to pocket now editor Adam doubt considering the number of undie twisted cranky comments we get about fingerprint smudges I can only imagine what people will say about the numerous scrapes scratches and dents here it helps us check in though if you're hard on your gadgets what might you expect it's now pretty easy to slide a fingernail in between the front glass and the bottom edge by the USBC port also the vibration motor on this phone is toast it's now a wheaty floppy buzz instead of a tight vibration thankfully though we can see this is taking a corner drop the bottom speaker hasn't been affected and otherwise this phone is still running strong handling the black version I personally prefer the silver HTC especially in how these wide faucets reflect light and that scratches and blemishes will be better hidden also I'm still not the biggest fan of home button mounted fingerprint sensors and having hardware navigation buttons means you can't customize the order of your back and multitasking keys but it's not overly egregious getting used to the standard layout if you're coming from a Samsung HTC redeemed its reputation here for performance the 10 remains a snappy and as responsive as when it was new the scent skin is leaner than in years past and that helps though we'd certainly like to hear more on when we might expect an update to Android seven early rumors pointed to an October launch which seems increasingly unlikely we definitely like to play with the improved notification shade and split screen apps on this phone the main camera doesn't quite crack into the same tear performance as a Samsung but it's easily the best we've ever used on an HTC and falls just a bit behind for manual controls HTC is also one of the only manufacturers to offer high quality audio recording so this phone still tops our list with the v20 for people who like to record live music we hadn't started our real audio review series when this phone was released so circling back here the 10 speakers are a very different take on mobile audio the top earpiece responsible for mids and highs the bottom tackling lower frequency sound but both sharing duties to spread out info it's a different experience than standard stereo speakers but it's a sound we still very much enjoy detailed crisp nuanced and plenty of range games and videos sound great and moving over to the headphone jack HTC delivers one of the best performers of the year the 10 produces the lowest noise floor and widest dynamic range we've ever tested on a phone easily besting our fee okay one USB DAC and just edging out the LGV 20 with lower distortion numbers and less stereo crosstalk where HTC falls behind LG is on the amp which will arguably be more noticed by folks comparing these two when using consumer grade headphones they're neck-and-neck but on higher impedance solutions the v20 easily pulls away with louder output we're looking at the best of the best for 2016 though and if you want high quality audio you can't really go wrong with either the main weakness we can point to is battery life six months later performing our media test streaming 30 minutes of HD video over Wi-Fi at 190 Lux the 10 drained 8% of its battery which is higher than we'd like to see compared to a galaxy s7 with a similar battery capacity it is still the fastest phone we've benched for recharging though and you should be able to get plenty of runtime if you need to top off quickly in the middle of the day so let's wrap this up how do we feel about the HTC 10 six months later what we have here folks is the most underrated flagship of 2016 it's really a shame that the 10 didn't receive more fanfare it's hands as a satisfying alternative to the Apple Samsung duopoly attractive design great multimedia features and a solid camera understandably after a rough year HTC would need to take some time building its reputation back up customers wandered away after the one m9 but if HTC continues improving and manufacturing phones like this we think consumers will be game to give them another shot just if you do buy one promise me you'll take better care of it than Adam did I mean damn man as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe for more reviews like these and help us out with some sharing on your favorite social networks for pocket now I'm Juan Carlos bag now so I'm gadget guy on Twitter and Instagram and I will catch you all on the next review you