HTC made a splash in the market last year with the launch of its top-end smartphone, HTC One. However, it failed to translate this into sales. Nevertheless, the company continues undeterred with the launch of a smartphone with a similar design and software features as HTC One - the new Desire 700.Desire 700 is a dual-sim smartphone with rather modest specs like low-resolution screen, just 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage and 2,100mAh battery - at a price tag of 33,000 in the country. However, the device is available We tested the new Desire 700 to see whether its performance justifies the price tag of Rs 23,000. Here's the review of the new HTC smartphone... and why it seems exorbitant even at Rs 23,000. Desire 700 takes many design cues from its older sibling HTC One. You will find the dual front-facing speakers, curved back panel and rounded edges on both smartphones. The design is pretty good but there is one key difference between the two - HTC One is made of aluminium (a premium material), whereas Desire 700 has plastic construction.
Desire 700 is low configuration at a high price point. A look at the spec sheet of the device and you will think this smartphone is straight out of 2011. It has a 5-inch screen with resolution of 960x540p; compare this to the 720p display of Moto G, priced at Rs 12,499!T resolution looks disappointing on paper, but the colour saturation and display quality are such that you get good colours and won't see any pixilation in most scenarios. It also offers great viewing angles; the phone simply does not lose colour whichever angle you look at it from.However, Desire 700's display is not without its flaws either; the issue being sunlight legibility. The brightness level of the phone is disappointing; it simply cannot hold its own in *direct* sunlight; we highlight the word 'direct' because otherwise the screen shows pretty good colours. phone comes with a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor with 1GB RAM, in a time when 2GB RAM has become staple for any mid-range smartphone. Moreover, the Snapdragon 200 chip is too old. Much cheaper Moto G comes with the newer Snapdragon 400 chipset.
Desire 700 still runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), with HTC's proprietary Sense 5.0 user interface. The three-generation old operating system is well quite old, though you get one of the best custom Android skins available in the market.
The best part of the software is Blinkfeed, which debuted with HTC One and shows news and social media updates right on the home screen. On other smartphones, we use Flipboard app regularly, but using Blinkfeed made us forget about it during the review period.
You also get a *mostly* smooth interface, with several home screen shortcuts that have been around for long. The occasional little lag is not enough to adversely impact the user experience too much; at least, it wasn't during our review period.
Desire 700 is low configuration at a high price point. A look at the spec sheet of the device and you will think this smartphone is straight out of 2011. It has a 5-inch screen with resolution of 960x540p; compare this to the 720p display of Moto G, priced at Rs 12,499!T resolution looks disappointing on paper, but the colour saturation and display quality are such that you get good colours and won't see any pixilation in most scenarios. It also offers great viewing angles; the phone simply does not lose colour whichever angle you look at it from.However, Desire 700's display is not without its flaws either; the issue being sunlight legibility. The brightness level of the phone is disappointing; it simply cannot hold its own in *direct* sunlight; we highlight the word 'direct' because otherwise the screen shows pretty good colours. phone comes with a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor with 1GB RAM, in a time when 2GB RAM has become staple for any mid-range smartphone. Moreover, the Snapdragon 200 chip is too old. Much cheaper Moto G comes with the newer Snapdragon 400 chipset.
Desire 700 still runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), with HTC's proprietary Sense 5.0 user interface. The three-generation old operating system is well quite old, though you get one of the best custom Android skins available in the market.
The best part of the software is Blinkfeed, which debuted with HTC One and shows news and social media updates right on the home screen. On other smartphones, we use Flipboard app regularly, but using Blinkfeed made us forget about it during the review period.
You also get a *mostly* smooth interface, with several home screen shortcuts that have been around for long. The occasional little lag is not enough to adversely impact the user experience too much; at least, it wasn't during our review period.
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