HTC has been struggling for a while now, and it’s partially been due to not having enough phone models in the mid to low-end spectrum during 2013. The irony of this rears it’s ugly head when you consider that HTC had far too many devices just the year prior and faced market confusion because of it. Now HTC is trying to achieve a balance, including shifting some management around to try and get a fresh new look at things, and now we’re starting to see the results of that. While HTC is of course working on the HTC M8, which is the successor to the HTC One from 2013, it’s also been working on some mid to low-end phones to fill out its catalog. The Desire 310 was posted to HTC’s website and quickly pulled, but not before the Internet noticed its presence. If you’re curious the Desire 310 is indeed the successor to last year’s entry-level device from HTC, the Desire 300. The phone itself is better than last year’s model in some categories, and just the same in others, meaning if you already own a Desire 300 this is not likely going to be something you would want to upgrade to. What’s more is that HTC has switched out the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor that was in the Desire 300 and replaced it with a quad-core 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6582M processor in the Desire 310, which marks the first time HTC has used MediaTek in a phone.
HTC has also brought up the size of the screen just a hair, from 4.3-inches in the Desire 300 to 4.5-inches in the Desire 310, and pumped the resolution up a few pixels to 480 x 854. While that won’t be the sharpest screen you’ll ever see in your life the size helps keep the pixel density up. The Desire 310 is also packing a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a VGA front-facing camera as well as having 4GB of internal storage on board with the ability to add an SD card for saving your media.
Unfortunately HTC is still shipping this device with 512MB of RAM, and to make things worse is only shipping it with Android 4.2 2 Jelly Bean. Considering Android 4.4 KitKat is optimized for devices with 512MB of RAM it would have been nice to see HTC try and ship it with that version of Android instead. The 2,000 mAh battery will likely get you through a full day’s use with these specs though, and the phone is still pretty tiny compared to some others out there, measuring in at 131.44 x 68.03 x 11.25 mm and weighing 140 grams. HTC has also included Bluetooth 4.0 support in this phone even though Android 4.2 doesn’t officially have it built in, meaning you can take advantage of all the latest fitness gadgets and smartwatches you want without running your battery down quickly. You’ll be able to choose from either white or black colors when the Desire 310 launches, but we’ve got no information on price or availability date at the moment. Keep in mind too that the above shot is actually of last year’s Desire 300, not the new Desire 310, so expect some changes from HTC, especially if the rumors of on-screen software buttons come true for more than just their newest flagship.
Source: HTC (since pulled); Via: GSM Arena