HTC Announces the Desire 826
by Brandon Chester on January 6, 2015 4:17 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- CES 2015
- Desire 826
Yesterday at CES, HTC announced the newest device in their lineup of Desire smartphones. Years ago, HTC's flagship devices fell under the Desire brand. In recent years, the Desire brand has been shifted to more budget oriented devices. This new HTC smartphone is the Desire 826, and it follows in the footsteps of the Desire 816 and Desire 820 that came before it. Although it isn't HTC's flagship smartphone, it still has respectable specifications, and in many ways is not far off from today's flagship devices. I've laid out the key specifications of the Desire 826 below.
| HTC Desire 826 | ||||||
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, 4 x Cortex A53 at 1.7GHz + 4 x Cortex A53 at 1.0GHz, Adreno 405 GPU |
|||||
| Memory and Storage | 16GB NAND + MicroSDXC, 2GB LPDDR3 | |||||
| Display | 5.5” 1920x1080 LCD | |||||
| Cellular Connectivity | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x25 UE Category 4 LTE) | |||||
| Dimensions | 158 x 77.5 x 7.99 mm, 183g | |||||
| Camera | 13 MP f/2.2 Rear Facing, 4MP UltraPixel f/2.0 Front Facing or 13MP f/2.0 Front Facing | |||||
| Battery | 2600 mAh (9.88 Whr) | |||||
| Other Connectivity | 802.11 a/b/g/n + BT 4.1, AptX, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, NFC (in select regions) | |||||
| SIM Size | Nano SIM (Dual SIM SKU available) | |||||
| Operating System | Android 5.0 Lollipop with HTC Sense | |||||
The Desire 826 has a lot in common with the Desire 820 that was released in September 2014. Both devices use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 with 2GB of LPDDR3 memory, 16GB of NAND, and 2600mAh (9.88Wh) battery. However, the Desire 826 has a maximum clock speed of 1.7GHz on its high-power A53 cluster, while the Desire 820 was limited to 1.5GHz. Being an Android 5.0 Lollipop device, the Desire 826 will also be 64-bit enabled out of the gate, while the Desire 820 had to operate in 32-bit mode due to a 64-bit version of Android being unavailable. I still believe having two clusters of Cortex-A53s is silly, but HTC weren't the ones making that decision so it's not something I can really fault the phone itself for.
There are some other notable improvements over the Desire 820. The Desire 826 has a significantly sharper display due to HTC's move from 1280x720 to 1920x1080 on the same panel size. The front-facing camera is the other significant difference between the two devices. While the Desire 820 used an 8MP front-facing sensor, the Desire 826 uses a 4MP UltraPixel sensor with an f/2.0 aperture for the front-facing camera in most markets. This should significantly improve low-light camera performance. In certain unspecified markets, the Desire 826 will use a 13MP f/2.0 sensor instead. Like all of HTC's recent devices, the Desire 826 ships with HTC's Eye Experience software for the camera.
The Desire 826 will be available in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of this month, and will expand to other markets afterward. It comes in multiple colors, including but not limited to white, purple, and blue. There is currently no word on what to expect for pricing, but it should be similar to the launch price of the Desire 820.
Source: HTC
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
40 Comments
View All Comments
patinio - Tuesday, January 6, 2015 - link
5.5 inch screen, 189 grams and only 2600 mAh battery? I don't get it why they couldn't fit a larger battery in such a big bodyjjj - Tuesday, January 6, 2015 - link
"I still believe having two clusters of Cortex-A53s is silly, but HTC weren't the ones making that decision so it's not something I can really fault the phone itself for."How is the SoC choice not HTCs responsibility? You can't blame Walmart for it but HTC is the one to blame for it's choices. Things like this compromise the credibility of the site.
Anyway, at least they go with 1.7GHz so the perf will decent. The iphone 6 Plus size is disturbing, they really need to get rid of this frame in frame design - or maybe they'll add 1 more frame to make it even more meta.
Klug4Pres - Tuesday, January 6, 2015 - link
"How is the SoC choice not HTCs responsibility?"Agreed. One of the more ridiculous comments I have seen in a review.
x748in1s - Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - link
You are right. Unless Qualcomm forced HTC to make this phone using its chips, I do not see how it is not HTC's decision that is responsible for design of this phone.I wish the reviewers had a refrain but these days all these reviewers are nothing more than predisposed fanboys with big mouths, throwing out judgmental calls as if they are playing politics and favors. Very arrogant and unprofessional.
watzupken - Tuesday, January 6, 2015 - link
I think going with the 615 is a marketing gimmick really. I read a review by Anand pointing out that 8 cores is pretty much an unspoken requirement in the China market. So I guess HTC is going along with it so that they have a chance in China. Who wouldn't at the point since it is one of the biggest market and probably not as saturated at this point.schadenfreude000 - Tuesday, January 6, 2015 - link
Being *that* guy - the OS section of the specs table should read "Android 5.0 Lollipop with HTC Sense".Fergy - Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - link
The nexus 9 and especially the denver review is the only thing I have been waiting for anandtech. iPad Air 2 doesn't even come close. Though I have already bought a shield tablet because 16GB on a $400 tablet without microsd is extremely stupid and so limiting as to be useless.Chozhan - Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - link
Does this phone support EV-DO REV B like HTC 816......can you suggest other smartphones which support evdo rev b.....thnxgigabies - Thursday, January 8, 2015 - link
Android 5.0 is Lollipop but u mentioned as kitkatnodiaque - Friday, January 9, 2015 - link
I think there's a mistake:Operating System Android 5.0 KitKat with HTC Sense
I think you mean Android 5.0 Lolipop