The Desire 816 is the more, um, desirable of the two, and it will be on sale through Virgin Mobile USA from August 12, priced at $300 on the no-contract, Beyond Talk plan. HTC announced the phone back in February, and we got to see it during Mobile World Congress, describing it at the time as HTC’s iPhone 5C. That’s a good thing, by the way.
It has a massive 5.5-inch touchscreen with a 720p resolution, a powerful 1.6GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 1.5GB of RAM, and an impressive 13-megapixel camera. It’s not one of the One M8’s Duo Camera setups, but it will shoot 1080p video.
Related: Read about the One M8’s Duo Camera in our extensive review
Above the screen is a wide-angle, 5-megapixel camera, and HTC claims both will perform well in low-light. Android 4.4 KitKat with HTC’s Sense 6 user interface over the top is installed, and the phone also has HTC’s Boomsound speakers and amplifier.
Moving on to the Desire 610, it has a smaller 4.7-inch screen and a lower, 854 x 480 pixel resolution. The processor is a four core Snapdragon 400 running at 1.2GHz, and there’s 1GB of RAM to accompany it. The rear camera has 8 megapixels, and the selfie cam has 1.3 megapixels. The operating system and UI are the same as the Desire 816, and the phone boasts dual front-facing Boomsound speakers too. Both phones will connect to 4G LTE networks, should the service be offered.
HTC directs those interested in the Desire 610 to AT&T, where it’s available for free with a two-year contract, or for $200 as a prepaid smartphone with AT&T’s GoPhone.
