MWC 2014: HTC announce the Desire 610, 816 and 'Power to Give' initiative

[Guest PaulOBrien]

HTC have announced the Desire 610, their new mid-range flagship the Desire 816 and an effort entitled - 'Power to Give' - harnessing idle processing time on your device for grid computing efforts.

First up the Desire 610, which was not actually covered at HTC's event yesterday, but was under an embargo that lifted at the same time.

The 610 features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz Quad Core CPU, 8GB ROM, 1GB RAM, LTE support, a 4.7" qHD screen, nano SIM (a first for HTC), Bluetooth 4, NFC, 2.4GHz b/g/n WiFi, Boomsound (with a discrete amplifier), an 8 Megapixel main camera that supports 1080P video recording and a 1.3 Megapixel front camera, all powered by a 2040mAh battery. Styling is very much in the vein of it's bigger 816 brother, perhaps marking a new design language for HTC mid-range devices. At 9.6mm the phone isn't massively thin, but it does wear it's size well!

The Desire 816 should have been the real star of the show yesterday, but sadly the device itself was largely a no-show, with only dummies on display with a video-looping sample in a perspex box, but hopefully we should be able to get some proper time with the device today.

With an initial launch in China, it's no surprise to see an ample 5.5" 720P screen. Like the 610 the 816 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Quad Core CPU, clocked at 1.6GHz here and with 1.5GB RAM. Connectivity is as on the 610, with the cameras bumped to a 13 Megapixel rear unit and an unprecedented 5 Megapixel sensor on the front for high resolution selfies. A 2600mAh battery is on board to give a decent running time with that big screen.

The device is 7.9mm thick and, like the 610, is available in a variety of bright colours, the orange being my personal favourite. Of course. :)

The final announcement yesterday was HTC's 'Power to Give' initiative. The Power to Give software runs when your device is connected to power, wifi and is idle to carry out computation tasks as part of a grid network, helping to work on computing tasks such as the SETI at home project or disease research and the like. A very commendable goal, but it remains to be seen what effect this might have on device power consumption, longevity or temperature. We're a bit apprehensive about whether this will catch on (or whether HTC should be doing it at all), but time will tell.

So, this is HTC's latest assault on the midrange. Let us know your thoughts!

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[Guest The Soup Thief]

"power to give" is a nice initiative. Given that it only takes effect when the phone has access to wifi and is on charge I'd guess it's a bit of a winner. If hundreds of thousands of mobiles were each doing their tiny part for 8 hours a night then I reckon that would add up to enough processing power to have a flying car designed and in my driveway by next year. Else it's a nice gimmick. There are a few apps in GPlay exploring the same idea at the mo eg https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ucb.gemcloudsaint2

These phones look nice. Now let's see some sensible pricing