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29 March 2024

HTC Desire 816 large-screen monster for lefties

Published
By Joseph George

The first week of August saw the HTC unveil its Desire 816 in the UAE and the region. Following the release of HTC Max last year, this is HTC’s 2014 version of a phablet and here’s our take on it.

The HTC Desire 816 is a perfect phablet for a price conscious buyer, for whom a device is measured in terms of its performance, rather than its outer shell.


The Desire 816 is priced at Dh1,349, that is its main advantage. We believe the review of the features should be based on the price point of the phone and not in comparison with a device priced almost twice. In that sense the Desire 816 is a winner.

It is very clear that HTC’s main idea was to concentrate on improving the phone in terms of performance, and concentrate less in terms of design -  there’s always the One M8 with its metallic finish for those who want a great looking device, provided you can shell out the extra Dh1,200.

To start with, the Android phone comes with a 4.4 KitKat and HTC`s Sense 6 user interface. HTC users familiar with the Blinkfeed will know the advantages of having a news and social media feed aggregator right on the homepage.

The 5.5 inch phone has a plastic body, shiny at the back and a matte finish on the sides and is designed with a slightly rounded corners. The Desire 816 is still not difficult to hold in one hand but just that it has to be your left hand. The device is not very heavy to hold and weighs about 165 grams, 13MP rear and 5MP front camera.


The display resolution cannot be termed as mind boggling, but still manages to show off vivid colours thanks to a 720 x 1280 pixels screen  (267 ppi).

Unlike any of its previous models, HTC has decided to fit in the volume and power buttons on the top corner of the left side of the phone -  making it extremely unfriendly for a right hand user, unless he decides to use both his hands. Otherwise the phone is better off in your left hand rather than the right.

The speakers are placed in the front and clubbed with the HTC Boom Sound offers an impressive performance. On the top left side is the front facing camera.

The Desire 816 is impressive on the camera front too, although missing from action is the dual ultrapixel camera of the HTC One (M8), taking away to an extent the ability for night time photography. However it still managed to take some impressive images. The rear camera is equipped with a 13 MP sensor. The front camera is placed on the top left side and comes with a large 5 MP sensor and is also capable of Full HD video recording. Like other HTC devices the Desire 816 comes preinstalled with HTC Zoe that creates a video presentation straight out of the pictures and videos saved in your album. Recently HTC released the Zoe app on all android devices.

In terms of hardware HTC has prepped up the device with features such as 1.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400, 1.5GB of RAM and is LTE enabled. The 2,800 mAh battery enables the device to last for more than seven hours of continuous usage.

However, be ready to invest in expandable storage as the device comes with just 8GB of internal storage.