HTC 10 review: a metal marvel

HTC 10 goes out on a limb with a new design. Will it be regret or reward for HTC? This is what we think.

HTC One M9 was something of a hiccup for the Taiwanese-based smartphone company. Sure, it was powerful and eye-pleasing, but it didn’t quite differentiate itself enough from previous, more popular models, like HTC One M7 and M8.

So it’s possible that HTC felt a little more pressure than usual this year, to make up for lost ground. Though, if that was the case, it didn’t show, because HTC 10 – which ditched the ‘One’ and ‘M’ – has hit the ground running, despite stiff competition of Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5.

As the latest flagship from HTC, it’s of course packed full of exciting new technology, and, learning from last year’s mistake, has adopted a new and improved design. Speaking of which…

Design

HTC has always had a flair for beautiful craftsmanship, and HTC 10 is the pinnacle of said skills. Cased in a single piece of aircraft grade aluminium, with chamfered edges and precision laser-cut lines, HTC 10 looks and feels like one of the best on the market.

HTC has more or less taken the best aesthetic qualities of the One series, and seamlessly blended them with the beautiful façade of HTC A9, which, unfortunately, is no longer available on the market.

Screen

The display on HTC 10 offers a bump in pixel count, seeing HTC take its first step out of the confines of 1080p, and join the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7 with a 2K (Quad HD) unit. As you can imagine, such a staggering number of pixels results in images as sharp as a hedgehog’s bristle.

At 5.2-inches, HTC 10’s display is spacious enough to watch movies comfortably, made better by a striking colour balance and a strong level of brightness. Simply put, this is one of the best screens on the market.

Power

As with most flagships released this year, HTC has opted for a Snapdragon 820 processor, Adreno 520 GPU and 4GB of RAM combination.

The result is a near flawless performance when doing the things you need your HTC 10 for, like multi-tasking, web browsing and playing demanding games. All of which is fuelled by a large 3000mAh battery, full of enough power for nearly two days’ usage.

Cameras

Something we know will delight users, is the improved set of cameras. HTC 10 claims an industry first, featuring a front-facing 5-megapixel camera that’s complete with optical image stabilisation (OIS – to counteract shakiness) and UltraPixel technology. The upshot – your selfie game will reach new, untold heights.

The rear camera offers 12-megapixels and features laser focus, OIS and a wide-angle lens. Both cameras promise incredible capture and image replication so you can be sure to secure those magic moments in fantastic quality.

Sound

Known for being one of the best in the business for audio output, HTC has done it again with a new take on HTC BoomSound; featuring a mini tweeter and woofer, HTC 10 is an audiophiles dream. Chuck in 24-bit DAC jack output and you have yourself one heck of a music maestro.

Software

Running Android 6.0.1 straight from the box, HTC has implemented its Sense UI on top, to smooth out, speed up and enhance Google’s stock offering. The software boasts lots of custom extras whilst retaining the clean, clutter-free nature of Android stock OS.

Extras

Aside from the usual collection of mod cons, such as GPS, NFC, Bluetooth, USB Type-C and 4G LTE, the HTC 10 also comes with a whopping 32GB internal storage that can be expanded using MicroSD cards (up to 200GB), and a nifty fingerprint sensor.

Verdict

Wonderful to look at, incredible to hold and even better to use, HTC has put last year’s disappointing performance behind it, and, once again, created a masterpiece of a smartphone. Without question, this is one of the finest money can buy, reminding us that HTC is back to its best.