HTC Desire 500 Announced

HTC Desire 500 Announced: An Entry Level Phone With Sense 5 UI

HTC Desire 500 Announced: An Entry Level Phone With Sense 5 UI

Even though HTC has just recently announced the younger brother to its flagship phone for 2013, the HTC One Mini, they have just announced a lower end device that should bring cool styling, Sense 5 UI, and the latest and tastiest version of Jelly Bean which is 4.2.2 to the entry level smartphone market.

Packing a 4.3 inch 480×800, the resolution is quite disappointing by today’s standards even for a low end device. Something closer to that magical 720p HD would have been much nicer to see on this phone. Powered by a Snapdragon 200 processor, this device should be able to suffice most of your everyday tasks but by no means is a powerhouse. This chipset is then paired to 1GB if RAM which is becoming the standard for most devices of today. Although the device only comes with 4GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot should help you alleviate that issue. There’s also an 8MP shooter on the back which is paired to an LED flash as well as HTC’s ImageChip processor which should give some pretty good photo and video results.

HTC Desire 500 Announced: An Entry Level Phone With Sense 5 UI

Also coming along with the hardware is what seems to be Android 4.2.2 with Sense 5 UI running over top of it. It has most of the favorable trademarks of the HTC One including BlinkFeed and Video Highlights, but the hardware dependent ones such as the TV Remote are absent due to obvious limitations of the Desire 500.

HTC Desire 500 Announced: An Entry Level Phone With Sense 5 UI

In terms of design, the device is quite similar to the One series of last year taking most of its design cues in the front from the One S and the rear is very reminiscent of the One SV. This also means that it ditches the aluminum enclosures of this year’s One series in favor of a more low end polycarbonate shell. All in all however, we are still fans of the design and its definitely one of the better looking devices in the low end market.

The Desire 500 will first sell in Taiwan for a heft $400 unsubsidized and then will slowly make its way into other markets. Hopefully by that time the price will be lower as well.