Mid-range devices are a carrier staple. Many customers come into the store wowed by the flagship Samsung, Sony or HTC but find the price too high and, sometimes, the device too big. For these occasions, the carrier and manufacturers often have a range of lesser models (rather quaintly referred to as “mid-range”). These mid-range models aim to offer most of the features that the high-end device has, but at a much-reduced price. Salespeople in carrier stores, and of course the manufacturer, needs to understand what appeals to the potential customer and pick a suitable model appropriately. With HTC, their mid-range models have typically kept BoomSound, 4G LTE and the full version of Sense 6, but have dropped NFC, duo cameras and 1080p resolution screens.
Upleaks has posted details of an up and coming mid-range HTC handset with the current model designation of the A12 and very much classic HTC mid-range specifications. The model reads like an updated version of the Desire 601, based around a 4.7-inch HD display, presumably 720p. Of more interest is the quad core 1.2 GHz, 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, backed up by 1GB of RAM. The Snapdragon 410 is the successor processor to the hugely popular and successful Snapdragon 400 and purports to benchmark around 25% higher than the older generation processor and use less power too, thanks to an updated architecture. There’s a 1.3MP front facing camera and a rear mounted 8MP camera. Power comes from an internal 2,100 mAh battery. The software is described as Sense 6.0 over Android 4.4 Kit Kat.
The device looks like it’ll slot in below the existing HTC Desire 620 handset, with a similar chipset but a smaller display and battery. We’ve no word on BoomSound or network connectivity at the moment but I’d be surprised if it doesn’t come with 4G LTE, as this is drifting down through the ranks into the list end of the market. I’d hope that the A12 has BoomSound, too. And whilst Upleaks cites the device as being released in February on Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon, there’s no word on other markets or pricing at this time. There’s also no word on the device coming with Sense 7 and Android 5.0 Lollipop, and this is interesting as it may underscore that any new HTC handset running the newer version of Sense will arrive after February. We’ll keep you posted; meanwhile, what do you think? Do you like mid-range devices, or do you only seek out the high-end models of a line up?