14 DAY TRIAL // As expected, HTC has just unveiled the long-rumored Desire 601 mid-range Android smartphone. Previously known as HTC Zara, the smartphone has been made official a few days ahead of IFA 2013 probably because the Taiwanese company won’t have any press conferences at the trade fair.
The official announcement lists most of HTC Desire 601’s specs and, to no one’s surprise, it coincides with the info leaked over the past few weeks.
This means that the Desire 601 will be powered by a 1.4 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB of RAM.
Although we know that the smartphone runs the Android operating system, we’re still waiting for a confirmation that Desire 601 will ship with 4.2.2 OS. In terms of software, it brings HTC’s most important apps and services, including BlinkFeed and Zoe.
Another previously rumored spec that has just been confirmed following HTC’s official announcement is the 4.5-inch qHD capacitive touchscreen display that supports 540 x 960 pixels resolution.
On the inside, the phone will pack only 8GB of internal memory, but users will be able to further expand storage up to 32GB via microSD memory card.
According to HTC, the Desire 601 offers Cat 3 LTE support for blazing fast music and video streaming. The smartphone features dual frontal Boom Sound stereo speakers and built-in amp booster.
Other highlights of the phone include 5-megapixel UltraPixel rear-facing camera, VGA front-facing camera for video calls, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity, as well as HTC Sense 5.0 UI.
HTC Desire 601 will be available for purchase in select markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa beginning October. No word on the price tag yet, but this one shouldn’t be that expensive.
Although the Taiwanese handset maker did not list North America among the first markets to receive the Desire 601, word is that the smartphone will reach the United States as well, but we’re still waiting for confirmation.