14 DAY TRIAL // Android fans and enthusiasts in India will be pleased to know that HTC plans to launch one of its most popular smartphones in their country, the Desire 516.
The mid-range Android smartphone has been met with tremendous demand in China, where it made its debut a while ago. HTC hopes to make the Desire 516 a success in India as well, but that will mostly depend on the price tag.
If priced aggressively, HTC Desire 516 could become one of the most popular Android smartphones launched by the Taiwanese handset maker in India.
Unfortunately, there are no details on the phone's exact release date or pricing options for the moment, but we suspect that more details will emerge in the coming weeks.
HTC Desire 516 has recently been spotted at the Indian import tracking website Zauba. It appears that HTC sent 750 Desire 516 units in Pearl White color and another 750 devices in Dark Gray color.
We expect HTC to make an official announcement at some point during the following weeks, but we do not exclude a quiet launch of the Desire 516. This means that we'll keep an eye out for any new releases at the major retailers across the country.
We expect the Desire 516 to be launched in India for no more than Rs 10,000 ($165 / €120), which would be quite a deal given the smartphone's solid specs sheet.
Speaking of which, HTC Desire 516 might ship with either Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean or Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating systems out of the box. HTC has both versions launched in China, but it's unclear which one it will pick for the Indian release.
Obviously, it offers dual-SIM capability with dual standby support, along with other connectivity options such as 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microUSB and GPS with A-GPS support.
HTC Desire 516 is equipped with a 1.2GHz or 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 512MB or 1GB of RAM and only 4GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 32GB via microSD card slot.
On the back, the smartphone packs a 5-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and video recording, while in the front, there's either a VGA or a 2-megapixel camera for video calls and selfies.
The Desire 516 sports a large 5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports qHD (540 x 960 pixels) resolution, and is powered by a 1950 mAh battery that has yet to be rated by the manufacturer.
Update: The smartphone seems to have been put on sale (unofficially). More details on the HTC Desire 516 availability in India are available here.