HTC introduces Desire 816G smartphone for Rs 18,990 in India, confirms Nov launch date for Desire 820 & 820Q

Taiwanese manufacturer of tablets and smartphones HTC has further expanded its Desire range of smartphones with the launch of Desire 816G. A variant of the original Desire 816 that was launched in April this year, it sports a 5.5 inch display and runs on the Android operating system. Targeted at the mid-price range segment of the Indian smartphone market, Desire 816G is priced at Rs 18,990 and will be available for purchase starting next month.

In addition, after unveiling the same at IFA 2014 (a consumer electronics show held in Berlin) earlier this month, HTC has now put a launch date against its Desire 820 and Desire 820Q smartphones. While the company has not revealed their exact pricing, both of them will be available in the country in November this year.

Here is a look at the specifications of the devices.

Desire 816G for Rs 18,990

The smartphone sports a 5.5 inch HD capacitive touchscreen display (720×1280 pixels resolution). It is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor and runs on the Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system (with HTC Sense UI). It has 1GB of RAM and comes with 8GB of internal memory (approximately 4.3GB storage available for user content) that can be expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card.

Desire 816G has a 13 megapixel autofocus rear camera (with BSI sensor) with LED Flash that can record full high definition videos (1080p) at 30 frames per second. In addition, it has a 5 MP front-facing camera for video calling that can also record full HD videos. On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G, and comes with a microSD card slot & a microUSB port.

The dimensions of the device are 156.6mm x 78.7mm x 8mm and its weight is 158 gm. The company has provided a 2,600 mAh battery in the device, which it claims will provide up to 10 hours of talk time and 460 hours of standby time. The smartphone comes with dual-SIM capability and GPS (with A-GPS support). It also has dual frontal stereo speakers with HTC BoomSound, and will be available in black & white colours.

Desire 820 & 820Q

Desire 820 has a 5.5 inch LCD HD capacitive touchscreen display (720×1280 pixels resolution) and runs on the Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS (with HTC Sense UI). It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core 64-bit processor and has 2GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 16GB that can be further expanded up to 128GB with a microSD card.

The smartphone sports a 13 megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED Flash that can record full HD videos (1080p) at 30 fps and HD videos (720p) at 60 fps. In addition, it has an 8 MP front-facing camera for video calling that can also record full HD videos (nice!). On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G, and 4G LTE (depending on the region), as well as a microSD card slot & a microUSB port.

The dimensions of the device are 157.7mm x 78.7mm x 7.7mm and its weight is 155 gm. The company has provided a 2,600 mAh battery in the device, which it claims will provide over 22 hours of talk time and 424 hours of standby time. The smartphone comes with dual-SIM capability and GPS (with A-GPS support). It also has dual frontal stereo speakers with HTC BoomSound. Desire 820 will be available in a range of colours that include white, grey, blue and orange.

Here is an introductory video of the device.

While Desire 820Q is essentially the same smartphone as Desire 820, the only difference lies in its processor and RAM. In comparison to Desire 820's Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core 64-bit processor and 2GB of RAM, Desire 820Q offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core 64-bit processor and just 1GB of RAM. What this basically means is that Desire 820Q is a toned down (or weaker) version of its sibling, but will also be available at a lower price.