14 DAY TRIAL // The next device in the Butterfly series leaked a few weeks ago, though we did not have any details regarding the smartphone’s exact release date or official announcement.
With only a few weeks left until IFA 2014 trade fair is set to kick off, HTC has taken the wrap off Butterfly 2, also known as HTC J Butterfly HTL23.
The smartphone will be available in Japan through major carrier KDDI, as well as Taiwan via Chunghwa Telecom and Hong Kong at CSL. According to HTC, the Butterfly will reach other carriers in Asia as well, but no additional info has been provided for the moment.
“Our consumers always pursue perfection. Therefore, we chose the partner that we know will offer the best smartphones in the market. Since the HTC J series was released, it has become the most popular phone in our product portfolio,” said Takashi Tanaka, president, KDDI.
The sequel to the HTC Butterfly, also known as HTC J Butterfly, this smartphone will be available in the Asia market starting with Taiwan on September 2. However, the Butterfly 2 will also go on sale in other Asian countries including Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. No word on price tag yet.
“HTC Butterfly 2 follows HTC’s iconic design and globally acclaimed user experience. Its elegant appearance and fantastic performance will certainly provide consumers with the best experience ever,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.
HTC Butterfly comes equipped with the latest HTC BoomSound technology and packs dual stereo speakers in the front. It also features a Duo Camera that packs a 13-megapixel sensor, a dual-LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording.
There’s also a 5-megapixel photo snapper in the front that can capture state-of-the-art photos. The Duo Camera also includes a depth sensor in addition to the main 13-megapixel camera, which is meant to capture depth info from a scene and enable a range of effects that would improve images taken like never before.
HTC also confirmed that it has partnered with HARMAN to include “LiveStage Signal Processing Technology,” Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and exclusively designed JBL in-ear-headphones in the Butterfly 2.
Hardware-wise, HTC Butterfly 2 is armed with a powerful 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, an Adreno 330 graphics processing unit and 2GB of RAM.
The high-end smartphone sports a 5-inch full HD (1080p) capacitive touchscreen display, and either 16GB or 32GB of internal memory that can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card slot.
Moreover, HTC confirmed the Butterfly 2 is IPX5 and IPX7 certified, which makes it both water- and dustproof. The phone is powered by a high-capacity 2700 mAh battery, which should provide up to 24 hours of talk time or up to 645 hours of standby time.
When it comes to software, HTC Butterfly 2 runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system out of the box, as well as HTC Sense 6 UI.
While the smartphone does not seem to support dual-SIM capability, it does offer 4G LTE support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0, HDMI, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS and NFC (Near Field Communication).
