14 DAY TRIAL // The sequel to the HTC One mini and, as the name suggests, the mini version of the current flagship smartphone of the Taiwanese company, the One M8, has just landed in the UK one day earlier than forecasted by retailers.
For the time being, the One mini 2 is only available for purchase via Phones4U retailer, but starting May 30, the smartphone will go on sale at additional authorized resellers.
Those who wish to grab the smaller version of one of the best-looking Android smartphones available on the market can do so now for £360 (€440 / $600) outright.
If you can’t afford to pay the upfront amount Phones4U is asking for the HTC One mini 2, you will have to wait until tomorrow until more carriers start offering the smartphone for free on select plans.
Although it’s tagged with the “mini” line, the smartphone is not small at all, on the contrary. Aside from the fact that it measures 137.4 x 65 x 10.6 mm and weighs 137g (battery included), HTC One mini 2 comes with a rather large 4.5-inch Super LCD2 capacitive touchscreen display that supports HD (720p) resolution.
The phone’s display offers around 326 ppi (pixel per inch) and features Corning Gorilla Glass 3 coating for extra protection against scratches and accidental drops.
The bad news is HTC One mini 2 only packs a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor inside, which is a bit disappointing considering its rather high price.
Anyway, the phone’s CPU is complemented by an Adreno 305 graphics processing unit, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card slot.
Unlike the One M8 which comes packed with Duo Camera, the One mini 2 boasts a single 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back, which features autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1070p) video recording.
The phone also sports a secondary no less impressive 5-megapxiel front-facing camera, which should be perfect for video calls and selfies.
Software-wise, HTC One mini 2 has been confirmed to ship with Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system out of the box.
Other highlights of the smartphone include multiple connectivity options, such as LTE, 3G HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC (Near Field Communication) and GPS with A-GPS support.
Just like its bigger brother, the HTC One mini 2 is powered by a non-removable 2110 mAh battery which should provide up to 555 hours of standby time or up to 16 hours of talk time.