14 DAY TRIAL // We reported more than a month ago on an unannounced HTC 603e smartphone that was spotted in China. It appears that HTC has just gone official with the 603e handset that leaked in early February.
However, UnwiredView reports that the smartphone has been launched in the Mainland as HTC E1 and is likely to be limited to China.
We also know that the smartphone costs 1,799 yuan outright, which is about $290 or €225, and will be available in white.
Unfortunately, there’s no telling when exactly the phone will go on sale, though it is now up for pre-order via HTC’s online store.
Even though HTC E1 has been confirmed not to be available outside China, a slightly modified version may “slip” onto other markets in the coming months, so stay tuned for more updates on this one.
Hardware-wise, the E1 can be positioned in the mid-range category, hence the affordable price. HTC E1 is equipped with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 32GB via microSD memory card.
According to the official specs, the smartphone will ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box and may receive an Android 4.2 upgrade later on, but this has yet to be confirmed by the manufacturer.
Another selling point of the HTC E1 is the fact that it offers dual-SIM capability. In addition, the smartphone sports a 4.3-inch WVGA Super LCD2 capacitive touchscreen display, along with a 5-megapixel rear photo snapper with autofocus and LED flash.
There’s also a secondary 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls, as well as a 2100 mAh Li-Ion battery that has yet to be rated by the manufacturer. Other highlights of the phone include NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, Beats Audio, GPS with A-GPS support and Wi-Fi.