HTC’s first Full HD smartphone has appeared under a different guise in the US, launching on the Verizon Wireless network as the HTC Droid DNA.
We first met the handset not so long ago, when the interestingly-named HTC J Butterfly launched in Japan. Back then new Nexus devices were but a vicious rumour, and we thought the phone would launch worldwide as the HTC Nexus 5. Unfortunately Google crushed our hopes, though now our hopes are up again as the phone has made its way to the States.
The HTC Droid DNA is set to become the champion in terms of specifications, with no area skimped on. First and foremost there’s that gorgeous 5-inch Full HD Super LCD screen, which boasts a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. As many have pointed out since the launch of the J Butterfly, the main advantage to a Full HD screen is being able to fit more text and content into one screen’s size without the need for scrolling and panning.
Inside the phone beats a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chip clocked at 1.5GHz, coupled with 2GB of RAM for extra va-va-voom. Verizon is a 4G network in the states, so naturally the Droid DNA has 4G LTE connectivity built in and a logo on the back to prove it.
The rear camera is an 8-megapixel type with the same ImageChip processor HTC uses in the excellent One X. The lens itself has a low f/2.0 aperture too, so it should rock it in low light.
HTC Jelly Bean is the operating system of choice for HTC with the Droid DNA, and naturally they’ve skinned it with their own Sense 4+ user interface. This will include goodies such as Watch 2.0 and improved media and gallery apps.
HTC’s feature of choice, Beats Audio, is of course built in, with bolstered audio amplifiers supplying the power to match the Beats Audio processing to the earpiece and external speaker.
If you’re based in the US then this beauty comes in at $199 on contracts with Verizon from November 21st, with pre-orders starting today. Unfortunately there’s no sign of this beast coming to the UK and Europe, but with versions now available in Japan and the US, hopefully we’ll be next.
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