HTC One M10
The HTC One M10 is set to be HTC's new flagship handset for 2016, and we now know when its official release date. HTC has just sent through a save the date invitation for a launch event on the 12th April, confirming that the One M10 will finally be arriving next month.
It also implies that the entire unveiling will be livestreamed to the public as well, as the invite says to 'Visit htc.com' to find out more on the 12th. The event will be starting at 1pm in the UK, so all will be revealed in just over a couple of weeks time.
The invite doesn't give much away, though, so we'll have to wait and see exactly what HTC has in store for us closer to the event. Its last teaser image at least showed off a very small portion of what we think is the phone's rear bezel.
The tweet below actually reveals quite a lot about the design of the phone, with the outline seemingly showing a phone with a heavily chamfered back. The closest comparison we can think of from recent phones is the OnePlus X, as the ceramic version of this handset has a very similar kind of design. Up until now, HTC has been all about soft curves on the rear of its all-metal phones, which at first made them quite distinctive, but now they've become a bit bland.
With what looks like a huge refresh, HTC could retake its slot at the top of our best-looking smartphone rankings. This design distinction also very clearly separates it from other phone's in HTC's range, with the One X9 and One A9 now visually very different to HTC's flagship.
What you need to know, quickly
If you don't have the time to work through all the latest tidbits or rumour and hearsay then here's our quick primer of everything you need to know in just three sections.
What is it? | HTC's next flagship smartphone to replace the current HTC One M9 and go head-to-head with the Galaxy S7 and LG G5 |
When is it out? | April 2016 |
What's new? | It'll take its design cues from the recent A9, fast Snapdragon 820 chipset and hopefully an AMOLED screen |
In Detail
Release date
The phone might be being unveiled on the 12th April, but it might not actually go on sale until May. The latest news comes from king of leakers, who's stated the handset will launch to US retail on the 9th May. HTC usually has worldwide releases for its handsets, so we should expect to see the phone at the same time in the UK.
A May launch will put HTC behind its main rivals in getting to market this year, most notably the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5. This may be due to slippage in the design process, or possibly a deliberate move to give the phone some breathing space away from the competition. Either way, it's risky for HTC who may see potential customers seduced away before it's even played its hand.
HTC One M10 first leaked pic
HTC has been playing its cards pretty close to its chest when it comes to the HTC M10 but it looks like we finally have the first reputable leaked image of the handset courtesy of The picture, below, looks to confirm what we already thought was likely, that the HTC M10 is following the excellent One A9 in terms of design - at least from the front, it seems. It was always likely and follows Samsung's successful trialling of its all-metal Galaxy S6 range in the Galaxy Alpha handset first.
The picture is pretty dark, and we've boosted the brightness here already, but you can make out the metal edge and antenna pieces near the top (as on the A9) and the ridged power button on the side as well. As with the A9 the doesn't appear to be the usual front-facing Boomsound stereo speakers here, which is a shame as they really helped differeniate HTC from other manufacturers.
As expected, the button below the screen looks to be a fingerprint scanner. We found HTC's placement of this button rather confused and clumsy on the A9, though, and we’d rather keep the use of onscreen buttons and moved the fingerprint sensor elsewhere on the handset, such as the edge like the Sony Xperia Z5 or on the back as on the Nexus 5X.
^ Here's the leaked pic of the HTC M10 and below is the current A9 handset
Specifications
HTC has long used Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets in its handsets and we can’t see that changing for the M10 - especially as the promising-looking Snapdragon 820 looks set to rear its head just in time for the M10’s traditional launch slot.
The new chipset is the first to be manufactured using a power efficient 14nm process, something that should boost the battery life of the handset. There’s a new Krio 64-bit processor, which promises to provide lots of power while remaining cool. The downside though is that any phone using a new manufacturing process is at risk of delays of stock shortages should the fabrication process of the new chips not give the yields expected.
The chipset also features better 3D performance thanks to a new Adreno 530 GPU, a faster modem chip for quicker (theoretical) mobile connections, better camera image processing (with improved noise reduction) and a new audio processor for better surround sound virtualisation. For more information read our coverage of theSnapdragon 820 launch event.
Screen resolution
The last HTC One used a Full HD (1,920x1,080) display, which was quickly made to look at bit old hat by the 2,560x1,440 displays in competitor's handsets. Given the screen szie though we’re really not too fussed by the resolution jump, with Full HD providing plenty of detail for our eyes.
More excitingly, the HTC One A9 returned to using an AMOLED screen rather than an LCD. This provides improved blacks and better power efficiency, there were problems with colour accuracy on some displays but these seem to have been ironed out of late. We’re hoping that the A9 shows the way forward and HTC moves back to AMOLED entirely.
Camera
The latest news from up-and-coming HTC leaker 'LlabTooFeR' is that the HTC One M10 will come equipped with a Sony IMX377 camera sensor. It'll be a 12MP sensor with a pixel size of 1.55um, which is nice and large and should be a decent compromise between overall resolution and image clarity and noise reduction. It's interesting to note that this is the same sensor used in the most recent tranche of Nexus phones; both the6P and 5X use this sensor. This means we can have a very good guess at image quality and even provide some sample shots (see below). The camera also has Phase Detection Auto Focus for, meaning focusing should be extremely fast and accurate, making those all-important photos of fleeting moments a lot easier to take. It'll also have laser auto-focus.
So, what sort of shots can we expect? Here are our outdoor daytime shots and indoor shots from the Nexus 6P. What you get are nice, neutral and detailed images without an awful lot of fiddling required. The slightly odd camera choices of HTCs past appears to be solved, so the M10 is looking very promising in this regard.
Price
With the HTC A9 keeping the all-metal design and high price point of the M-series phones, we can’t see a new flagship handset coming in at much less than the usual £550 with £35-40 per month contract prices. With the all-metal Google Nexus 6P coming in at just £440 SIM-free with top-end specifications, the price of other flagship phones is looking hard to justify but we doubt that will change the behaviour of consumers who simply want the handset with little to pay upfront.
The Mi6 is said to have a slight size enhancement as compared to Mi5 that has 5.0”. Mi6 will have a bigger screen with couple extra inches. Xiaomi is looking to bolster the screen display quality by fitting it with 4K and unimaginable 4096 x 2160 resolutions. If these rumors hold true, then Mi6 may have a screen with a PPI of close to 700. The quality of display will be out of this world and should be unparalleled so far.