Overview, Design & Features

Overview

HTC has been pretty quiet for some time now. Aside from its recently announced HTC U series that was first shown to a select number of media at the CES 2017 in Las Vegas, it’s undeniable that the company has been having difficulty gaining back the same level of fame and attention as they did when they were still considered one of the major players of the game.

But rather than throw in the towel, HTC has instead shifted most of its smartphone development efforts to the midrange smartphone market segment (and to a relative degree, the same target market of its Vive VR headset). This shift in focus led to a barrage of different phones released under its Desire series, and more recently to the release of its new Desire 10 Pro.

Design and Features

HTC Desire 10 Pro specifications

Launch SRP	RM1,699
Network	Up to 4G LTE
Operating system	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Processor	MediaTek Helio P10
Built-in memory	4GB LPDDR4 RAM
Display	5.5-inch Full HD
Camera	Rear: 20MP , f/2.2 with laser autofocus Front: 13MP, f/2.2
Audio support	HTC Boomsound
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band Wi-Fi Direct A-GNSS (GPS + GLONASS) Wi-Fi Miracast Bluetooth 4.2 DLNA Google Cast NFC
Storage type	64GB internal storage (expandable up to 256GB via microSD)
Battery	3,000mAh Li-Ion
Dimensions	156.5 x 76 x 7.9 mm
Weight	165g

As it is with this writer, we begin this segment with the same question we put to all smartphones that cross our palms for review: at RM1,699, what exactly do you get with the Desire 10 Pro?

If we’re to be honest, our first impressions of the phone dangerously erred towards it being a smartphone sporting a cheap design, accented by equally cheap-looking gold linings that practically outline the diameter of the main camera, along with the outline of the phone’s back and antennas. To be fair, we should point out that the gold linings only stand out that way because due to what we attribute to the Polar White variant of the phone. That said, we do think that the Stone Black variant of the phone looks evocative and sexy.

However, if there is one physical gripe that we have about the phone, it would definitely have to be the fingerprint sensor at the back of it. Typically, the feature is carved and designed to blend in seamlessly with the overall design of the phone. Yet, upon close inspection, the fingerprint sensor looked misplaced. At certain angles, it actually looked a little lopsided.

But look past the phone’s aesthetics for a moment, and you’ll find that specs-wise, the phone is actually packing some pretty beefy hardware inside of it. The Desire 10 Pro’s display measures in at 5.5-inches and supports Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution.

Underneath, the phone runs off a MediaTek Helio P10 SoC, a processor brand that has since become the brand of choice for manufacturers who are in the business of manufacturing midrange smartphones. What is more intriguing is the massive amount of memory installed: the Desire 10 Pro comes with a whopping 4GB of RAM, an amount of memory that is on par with many high-end smartphones currently out in the market, and we ascertained that that was what helped with the phone’s overall performance, as you’ll see in the next page of this review.

The other feature that stands out on the Desire 10 Pro is that big, protruding, 20MP camera that can be found as the back of the phone. Having long progressed from its Ultra Pixel camera technology, the few pictures that we took with this phone’s main camera were actually pretty impressive (which you’ll see on the camera performance page). On that note, the front-facing camera isn’t lacking as well, sporting a 13MP camera that takes decent photos.

As it is with the majority of today’s phones, the Desire 10 Pro is a dual SIM smartphone. More specifically, it uses a dual Nano SIM and microSD card hybrid slot, meaning that you are forced to choose between having a second number while overseas (or strictly for mobile data use), or a convenient storage point for all your photos, movies, and FLAC files.

The phone’s OS is your typical run-off-the-mill Android 6.0 Marshmallow. At the time of testing, Android 7.0 Nougat still had not rolled out for the phone, but rest assured, it’s only a matter of time until the company begins rolling out the latest Android OS for its Desire lineup.