14 DAY TRIAL // Both HTC Desire 610 and 816 are available on the market since this Spring, but Android fans in the United States haven’t had the chance to purchase one from their country.
However, beginning today this is about to change as HTC USA has just announced both smartphones are now available for purchase via HTC.com.
In addition, customers in the US will be able to purchase the HTC Desire 816 at Virgin Mobile for only $300 (€225) on any of the carrier’s Beyond Talk no-contract plans, beginning August 12.
On the other hand, the HTC Desire 610 is now available for purchase via AT&T for $200 (€150) outright. The smartphone can also be had for free on two-year agreements with the same carrier.
The smartphones are pretty different in term of specs, hence the different price tags. Those who wish to have a mid-range smartphone that can do more should choose the Desire 816, whereas the Desire 610 is the lower mid-range handset aimed at those who don’t need high performance.
It’s also important to note that both Desire smartphones will ship with Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system out of the box, but the Desire 816 runs HTC Sense UI 6, while the Desire 610 is packed with Sense 5.5 instead.
Hardware-wise, HTC Desire 816 is equipped with a 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, an Adreno 305 graphics processing unit and 1.5GB of RAM, while the Desire 610 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU and features only 1GB of RAM.
Both mid-range smartphones pack 8GB of internal memory, but they both carry microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 128GB).
Another difference between the two mid-range handsets would be the fact that HTC Desire 816 boasts a large 5.5-inch Super LCD2 capacitive touchscreen display that supports HD (720p) resolution, whereas the Desire 610 sports a smaller 4.7-inch qHD (540 x 960 pixels) display.
On the back, the Desire 816 has an impressive 13-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording, while in the front there’s a no less impressive 5-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls.
HTC Desire 610 comes with a more than decent 8-megapixel rear camera with similar features, as well as a much lower 1.3-megapixel camera in the front.
When it comes to connectivity, both smartphones offer LTE support, but NFC (Near Field Communication) is dependent on carrier.
Last but not least, HTC Desire 816 drains energy from a high-capacity 2600 mAh battery, while the Desire 610 is powered by a slightly smaller 2040 mAh battery.
