The HTC midrange handsets, the HTC Desire 816 and the HTC Desire Eye, have experienced the sweet taste of the Android 5.1 Lollipop after months of waiting, though it is not clear, if the two smartphones would still be able to get the firmware update Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, or just proceed to Android M, when the latest mobile OS rolls out later in the next few months.
After getting the Android 5.1 Lollipop in Taiwan, HTC UK announced on April 14 the official rollout of Lollipop for the HTC Desire Eye and the HTC Desire 816.
Although the smartphone was released in the market on March 2014, the HTC Desire 816 is considered one of the best midrange smartphones ever produced by HTC. It was originally launched with Android 4.4.2 KitKat on it before HTC came to a decision to update the Desire 816 to Android 5.0 Lollipop.
It is noticeable that HTC is continuously integrating the Android 5.0 Lollipop mobile operating systems to its well-known models. It was also in April when the company decided to roll out the Android 5.0 Lollipop to HTC Desire 8 and HTC Butterfly S, though the flagship smartphones HTC One M9 and HTC One M8 already had it earlier.
Leaked reports suggested that the Taiwan-based company will also update its other models to Android 5.1 Lollipop such as HTC One Mini, HTC One Mini 2 and HTC One Max. Due to changes in the operating system, the Material Design UI will become more colorful and animated. There are some advancements that would bring improved battery life. Because of the Android Run Time (ART) feature, the applications can open faster.
HTC might have overlooked releasing the information on the size of the update for the HTC Desire Eye but according to LlabTooFer’s Twitter update, it will weigh 1008.9MB while its ROM version is 2.19.709.1. On the other hand, HTC Butterfly S will weigh 708.86MB with ROM version 5.16.709.3. The Twitter user gave a hint that there is a big chance for models like the HTC One M9, the HTC One M9, the HTC Desire Eye, and HTC Butterfly 2 to receive the Sense 7.0 UI.
Accordingly, the Taiwanese company is continuously boosting the phablet’s chance in the market as it becomes more competitive compared to other midrange phones. HTC Desire 816 was priced $200 in the US when it was released in March last year, and it is still available in the market up to this day. The smartphone is considered as one of HTC’s best Desire models in history as it displays an impressive screen capacity of 5.5 inches with 720 pixels high-definition resolution. It also features a five-megapixel front-facing snapper and a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, both with BSI sensors. Both cameras can also record a 1080-pixel video. The smartphone also provides good sound, with its pair of stereo speakers in front of the phone with eight holes on each side.
With a dimension of 156.6 x 78.7 x 7.9 mm, the HTC Desire 816 is considered slim and stylish but at the same time, it is light as it only weighs 165 grams. Compared to the Note 3 Neo’s 7.9-millimeter thickness, the HTC smartphone is obviously slimmer. Additional features are also included like the phone’s 8GB expandable internal memory, 1.5 GB RAM, Sense Voice and an HTC BoomSound. The smartphone is using Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor that functions at 1.6GHz with quad-core central processing units. Thus, the HTC Desire 816 can be used efficiently to watch YouTube videos and to play game apps on mobile phones.
Moreover, the phone is quite stylish with its plastic unibody design that can be switched into six different colors initially. Later on, the company added two more color variants, namely: yellow and pink. It utilizes advanced technology as it includes an internal GPS antenna with GLONASS, a digital compass, and a 2600 mAH battery that powers the smartphone to last 21-hour talk time and 737-hour standby time.