At the start of 2012, HTC announced that they were going to bin their scattergun approach to smartphones and focus on making a handful of awesome devices. The HTC Desire C proves that there are different degrees of awesome in the company’s eyes.
The Desire C resides at the opposite end of the spectrum from the One X. It’s an entry-level model that is clearly built with first-time smartphone buyers and emerging markets in mind. It’s saddled with a 3.5-inch 320×480 display and a pokey 600MHz processor. The humble 5MP rear-facing camera doesn’t come paired with an LED flash, and there’s only 4GB of internal storage for your apps, music, and photos. Power is supplied by a 1230mAh battery — not stellar, but probably enough to provide the 600MHz chip and low-res display with decent runtime.
Despite those handcuffs, the Desire C is a slick-looking phone and it has got some nice selling features. For one thing, it rides on “3.5G” HSDPA airwaves. It’s got Beats Audio built in — a nice inclusion on a model like this. Vodafone Portugal will also get 10 free MP3 downloads to put that aural tech through its paces.
But most surprising of all is the fact that the Desire C will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich installed. While first-timers won’t be getting the latest and greatest hardware, at least HTC is handing out an up-to-date OS. That’s something competitors like Sony haven’t been doing much of even on top-end phones. With an estimated retail price of under 200 Euro off-contract, the slick-looking Desire C will find its way into plenty of teenage (and frugal middle-aged) pockets.
More at GSM Arena
