HTC has announced four devices in their Desire series in Taiwan – HTC Desire 700, HTC Desire 501, HTC Desire 601 and HTC Desire 300. It must be noted that not all of these are brand new or unannounced handsets. The HTC Desire 601 and Desire 300 were previously announced in September during IFA 2013 at Berlin. It seems that their dismal financial performance this year, has forced HTC to rethink their smartphone strategy. No wonder these devices are targeted at the lower -mid to mid-range market segments.
The HTC Desire 700 is a mid-range dual SIM device and sports 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, with a 5 inch display. The resolution seems sub-par at 960×540 pixels. A sufficient 1 GB of RAM is available under the hood. The handset packs 8 GB of internal memory, an 8 megapixel (MP) primary and a 2.1 MP front-facing camera for video calls.
The HTC Desire 501 is comparable as the younger sibling to the Desire 700. It sports a 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with a 4.3 inch touchscreen, capable of 800X480 pixel resolution; 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal memory and 8 MP primary and 2.1 MP secondary (front facing) camera for video calls.
The HTC Desire 601 offers the best screen resolution at 4.5 inches with 960×540 pixels. Other features include a 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU, 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB internal memory and a 5 MP snapper as the primary camera.
Unsurprisingly, the HTC Desire 300 offers the least tantalizing specifications – 4.3 inch 854×480 pixels touchscreen, a dual-core processor clocked at 1 GHz and 512 MB of RAM. Internal memory is limited to 4GB and a primary camera with a 5 MP resolution.
The HTC Desire 700 & Desire 601 supports dual-SIM in dual standby mode and dual stereo-speakers with BoomSound. The Desire 501 and Desire 300 sport the normal single-speaker design, while the Desire 501 also supports near-field communications (NFC).
As stated by VR-Zone.com, pricing in Taiwan for these devices has been released. The HTC Desire 700 commands a price of 13,900 NTD ($470), while the HTC Desire 501 is priced at 9,900 NTD ($335). A price of 10,900 NTD ($368) is declared for the Desire 601, while the HTC Desire 300 will be priced at 7,900 NTD ($267).