The eye and the right one? This is what promises to be the HTC Eye, this strange smartphone positioned in the top of the basket, with its price of approximately 500 euros. The device, characterized by juvenile paces, putting on a charm asset: its 13-megapixel camera on the front is dedicated to selfies and plays the record holders of the genre. Is it effective enough in photographic terms and he offers a sufficiently homogeneous overall experience to convince? That's the question we try to answer in this test.
Features of HTC Desire Eye
In technical terms, the Desire Eye has it all. It has similar characteristics to a One M8 beginning of the year in many ways, but with a lower price positioning ... but also a little less high-end finishes, plastic being preferred to the metal.
| Model | HTC Desire Eye |
|---|---|
| Android Version | 4.4.4 |
| Screen Size | 5.2 inches |
| Definition | 1920 × 1080 pixels |
| Pixel density | 424 PPP |
| Technology | Super LCD |
| Anti-scratch | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 |
| Processor (CPU) | 400 @ 2.3 GHz Krait |
| Graphics chip (GPU) | Adeno 330 |
| Memory (RAM) | 2GB |
| Internal memory (ROM) | 16 GB |
| Micro-SD | Yes |
| Camera (back) | 13 Megapixels |
| Camera (front) | 13 Megapixels |
| Video recording | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n |
| Bluetooth | 4.0 |
| Networks | 4G (Class 4800, 1800 and 2600 MHz) |
| SIM | Nano SIM |
| NFC | Yes |
| Sensors | Brightness, Proximity, Gyroscope, Compass, Accelerometer, Magnetic |
| Ports (inputs / outputs) | Micro USB 2.0 |
| Geolocation | GPS, A-GPS, Glonass |
| Water resistance | Not |
| Battery | 2400 non-removable mAh |
| Dimensions | 151.7 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm |
| Weight | 154 grams |
| Colors | Blue or Red / White |
| List Price | 499 euros |
A design oriented youth
It has a certain charm, this Desire Eye. Maybe because its colors give it a fun little side is lacking in most high-end smartphones, or through its curves. Nonetheless, in shades of blue or red and white, this smartphone will not send to everyone.
With its 5.2 inches screen, the Desire Eye is perfectly in tune with the times. He has overall look of Desire range in which it fits, especially with two colored lines located above and below the screen: the least we can say is that this phone is perfectly identifiable. But while the speakers BoomSound characterize the latest Desire, we do not mark the grid feature of the sound system. And for good reason: in order to leave space for the front camera sensor of the phone, HTC preferred to replace the regular speakers with a thin gate between the screen and the colored band around it. She has a slight tendency to collect dust, but it was expected worse.
When the phone cover offers a fairly shiny, the back of the Eye is matt polycarbonate: dark blue in our release, as saying that fingerprints were particularly apparent. One can hope that in white, the phone will mark a little less dirt.
Side connectors, there is a microphone and a micro-USB 2.0 port on the bottom edge of the phone, while on the right are a Power button (just above the middle of the edge) and an adjustment band volume and a camera shutter useful. On the left, a micro-SD slot and a nano-SIM harbor located as traps to remove the phone. If they are not particularly practical to open (and close poorly), we recognize their strong: they do not require the use of a push (or paper clip). Over the phone is finally a 3.5mm jack.
What about the Desire Eye overall? It has a cute side that will appeal to some and displease others. It is not a crazy finesse with 8.5 mm thick, is not particularly lightweight (154 grams), but it is well balanced. Its rounded edges are nice in hand, the LED notifications is visible and we appreciate the easy access to nano-SIM and micro SD cards. Yet we regret screen edges that could be refined on the sides, but also the presence of a black strip under the screen that actually serves to accommodate the HTC logo. Petit also regret the Desire Eye housing does not open, which means that in case of faulty battery, it will not be possible to change it. But, and this is a positive but: it's for a good cause, since that HTC is waterproof and can be submerged in water up to a meter deep. It is thus certified IPx7.
A convincing display
HTC showed rather stingy with information regarding his Desire Eye screen. However, not worth diving into long extension cord datasheets to see that this is a Super LCD (probably 2 or 3) treated Gorilla Glass. And quality is at the rendezvous, with angles very generous vision.Pleasantly finger slides on this screen, however, is not without fault. He might wear a beautiful display finesse with 400 dpi on the clock, and also consistent color than pleasant, it is found that white is far from his specialty. Even with the push up manually brightness, white pulls a grisailleux yellow. Indeed, in the end, it's not bad as long as you appreciate the colors a bit hot.But in absolute terms, it is a bit disappointing.
Another sticking point: the black bands of a few millimeters around the slab. We would have appreciated that HTC provides some extra effort at this level.
Performances
HTC Eye is very responsive in everyday and no concern is to report on navigation in the Sense 6.0 interface or in applications. We still turns some benchmarks and a few games, although this is not necessarily the stomping ground of this smartphone rather reserved for lovers of selfies. But who said that the game was incompatible with the photos? We then started our usual suite of benchmarks: AnTuTu for synthetic performance, PCMark to application performance, 3DMark and GFXBench for graphics performance and finallyReal Racing 3 for games. We compared the two other HTC smartphones Eye: the 2014 Moto Xand Oppo Find 7a . The reason: the three devices share the same technical basis: Full HD screen and Snapdragon 801 and references of Motorola and Oppo are good standards.
| HTC Eye | Moto X | Oppo Find 7a | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnTuTu | 40450 | 43400 | 44000 |
| PCMark | 4115 | 4050 | 4370 |
| 3DMark (Ice Storm Unlimited) | 17480 | 19600 | 20140 |
| Manhattan (onscreen / offscreen) | 10.8 / 10.3 FPS | 12.7 / 11.9 FPS | 12.6 / 11.3 FPS |
| T-Rex (onscreen / offscreen) | 24.6 / 23.4 FPS | 29.4 / 27.6 FPS | 29.9 / 28.5 FPS |
| Real Racing 3 | 32 FPS | 38 FPS | 44 FPS |
As can be seen from the summary table, the performance of the HTC Eye are good without being great . Although the three phones have the same chip and the same screen resolution, we see that the HTC Eye ranks in the bottom of the basket. But it is relative since the Oppo Find 7a is one of the most efficient terminals Snapdragon 801, like the Moto X who had defended pretty well in the Performance section. HTC Eye is a little less optimized, which is felt especially in demanding games.
Indeed, Real Racing 3, the difference in performance is 18% compared to the Moto X and 37% from the Oppo Find 7a. The explanation: the CPU and GPU frequencies that are struggling to be stable and high on HTC terminal. HTC Eye is therefore clearly not intended for players even if the terminal has good performance in all other areas, or in less demanding games.
Sense 6.0 program
HTC does not rely on the software renewal, let it be said. Sense 6 is in line with previous iterations of the interface that we knew: major visual changes will rather upon the arrival of Lollipop on the device, it is hoped fast.
On the lock screen, so there are several default shortcuts, and a lock to slide up and take you, if you turn right, towards the famous BlinkFeed. You will therefore be possible to add your custom RSS feed, choose from the selection of content (news) proposed or add to all your feeds from social networks (Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Zoe), plus recommendations of interest nearby points. A little taste of Google Now is therefore in BlinkFeed which however - unless I've missed - the pedometer function is no longer accessible via the creation of a Fitbit account as was the case in a One M8. It is always useful to note.
This is also the side of Zoe that changes are most notable. The application initially used as a system for creating automatic mini-videos, has gradually evolved into social networking powered base likes, shares and contacts that we follow. A Instagram of Zoe, somehow.
Always a good student with Sense, HTC avoids the proliferation of applications. We thus find files which are stored multimedia Google apps, productivity tools (including Polaris Office 5 and HTC Scribe, a tool for note taking false scrapbooking tunes) and tools in general (flashlight dictaphone ...). Most useful to remember certainly due to the children's fashion allows parents to leave their children to access only a small part of the phone ... what will become the norm with Lollipop.
Latest strengths of the HTC Desire Eye in Sense 6 are to be found in the notification bar. It includes a power saving mode (so you do let the brightness to maximum continuously, for example), but also a mode of extreme energy economy to pick up a few battery saving points at the end of day. If you enable it, you will be dealing with one screen at minimum brightness without vibrator, Bluetooth or GPS, with only the phone functions ,, messages, email, calendar, calculator and clock.
Photo primarily
As always, first of all try in the settings. The default is the proposed format 16: 9, or if you choose, you will get pictures "only" 10 million points. To take advantage of the 13-megapixel provided by the (s) Sensor (s) Eye, you will need to privilege the 4: 3. Anyway, the results will be more or less accurate, but the management of the brightness is the same. And on this side, it is based on a back-end BSI sensor with an aperture of f / 2.0, a 28mm wide angle lens and of course the ability to use an HDR mode. In front, same fight almost with a 13 megapixel BSI sensor, this time a 22 mm lens and an aperture of f / 2.0. Found on each side dual LED flash, and this is perhaps one of the most attractive features of the Eye: it is certainly likely to burn your eyes when you capture a Selfie but at least he can the succeed in dark environments.
In the settings or dragging your finger on the outline of your picture, you change the shooting mode.
On the software side, there is the Eye Experience: a set of easily accessible features (four small circles within a larger circle): You will find particular selfies mode, a photo booth mode and screen sharing to record a picture or a video with both sensors simultaneously. The screen is divided into two ... but quality too. We would have hoped to get the two files separately, but this is unfortunately not the case.
First, a Selfie. The atmosphere was dark, the indispensable flash: the photo is slightly blurred because telephone held at arms length, but we appreciate the wide and very acceptable colors. It would not necessarily have obtained better with a back sensor standard smartphone.
Always with the front camera sensor, we see that Gaël does not like being photographed, but also that smoothing is a bit too far. However, it is incomparable with the usual selfies on which the background is rarely clear.
A test with the "Photo Booth" that allows you to take four straight shots, automatically assembled in the format you choose, square or vertical alignment. Better a little practice not to move at the wrong time since a timer starts between each photo, and above all, we note that the definition of the picture is divided by four. Too bad. I'll spare you my other attempts at booth: night, it is imperative to use the flash, otherwise the lack of definition and a fairly average brightness management come to spoil the party.
In automatic mode, the back sensor Desire Eye offers management of similar brightness (aperture of f / 2.0). He did not come out too bad the sky level (which ranged from large clouds and blue sky) and provides an acceptable level of detail - here, the setting was 16: 9 or 10 megapixels.
Autonomy, communications, GPS
Desire Eye is doing well. Battery, a fairly average capacity of 2400 mAh, did not seem to realize part miracles. However, with a consumption of 16% battery when viewing an hour of HD video streaming over WiFi with the brightness and volume to maximum, are average.Unless you spend your days playing intensive games or take selfies with flash, you will stand without problems until evening without charger.
Desire Eye is, thanks to its Qualcomm chip, compatible with the 4G category 4. In terms of network hangs as call quality and GPS reception, no problems are reported. Also note that despite the fineness of the speakers, the sound is powerful enough.
My Verdict
DESIGNDesire Eye is not for those who take themselves seriously. Its finish is decent, despite its doors for SIM / Micro SD somewhat dubious and his love for fingerprints and is easy on the hand. But his bias colored in shades of blue or white and red it a smartphone turned to the young. One point, however, that everyone will appreciate: it is certified IPx7 so tight.
SOFTWARE
The software interface from HTC is simple and attractive, with little added applications, a relatively uncluttered style and functional BlinkFeed. Good point for the Eye Experience, this set of options to use sympathetic picture.
SCREEN
For 500 euros, you get a Full HD smartphone comfortable to hold in hand size (5.2 inches), with borders that would certainly have to be refined, but a rendering of warm colors and pleasing to the eye. Brightness and white could have been slightly better.
PERFORMANCE
HTC Eye is doing very well every day, either in the system or in applications. The Snapdragon 801 reaches its limits in demanding games like Real Racing 3 where performance is below a Moto X or Find 7a, two terminals that share the same chip and the same screen resolution. HTC Eye is a powerful phone as long as you do them kneeling with demanding titles.
CAMERA
Desire Eye attractive mainly for its real front camera, a far cry from what is done in the competition, since it is a high-resolution sensor BSI, coupled with a two-tone LED flash and supports various modes. There's something for everyone in terms of effects, which is bound to appeal. For mobile users less enthusiastic about the idea of photographing every angle, we note a small tendency to smooth out the pictures and a management perfectible brightness. It is well back as frontal, but not perfect.
AUTONOMY
Average shine without unduly, the Desire Eye will hold a day without problems, and relies on the power saving mode to improve performance.