IFA 2014: HTC Desire 820 hands-on

HTC Desire 820 hands-on

The HTC Desire 820 is a big handset but feels light, even if it doesn't look it. It comes in a bunch of paint jobs: Marble White, Tuxedo Grey, Santorini White, Milky-way Grey, Tangerine White, Saffron Grey, Flamingo Grey, Blue Mist, Monarch Orange - all but one of which made of glossy plastic. The Tuxedo Grey is the sole exception - it's matte.

HTC Desire 820

The display of the HTC Desire 820 is quite good overall. It has wide enough viewing angles and we like the way colors pop when you're viewing it head on. Brightness is pleasant and the only thing we aren't completely sold on is sharpness - at 267ppi it looks sharp enough at arms length but pixels are visible if you look closely.

The MicroSD card and nanoSIM slots are located on the left of the phone under a very large flap. On the right you'll find the volume rocker and power/lock button.

HTC Desire 820

The glossy finish makes fingerprints an issue. The glossy plastic got smudged incredibly fast and looks hard to clean. The matte variant should be immune to that.

The camera lens protrudes from the otherwise slim body and we found ourselves touching the lens all the time. That mainly because it's quite big and takes up a lot of space at the back. The camera is a 13MP unit and has a single LED flash under it. We like the color accents.

HTC Desire 820

Here goes a video of the HTC Desire 820. As you can see the phone runs smooth on Snapdragon 615, Sense 6.0 acting quite fast and fluid.

We ran a couple of benchmarks on location. The Snapdragon 615 didn't really blast through AnTuTu 4 but did a fine job besting its peers in Basemark OS II.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 816
  21580
• Sony Xperia T3
  20282
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  18829
• HTC Desire 820
  18514
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  18047
• Sony Xperia M2
  17808
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  17753

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• HTC Desire 820
  605
• Sony Xperia T3
  535
• HTC Desire 816
  520
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  495
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  452
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  419
• Sony Xperia M2
  298