HTC announces the Desire EYE - a #selfie-centric device

[Guest PaulOBrien]

This is the HTC Desire EYE, HTC's big bet on the #selfie craze.

Don't let the Desire name put you off, this is a serious piece of hardware.

Its 151.7 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm, 154g double-shot moulded unibody shell packs dual 13 Megapixel cameras with dual colour flash front and back for it's headline features, but also a 5.2" Full HD screen, 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage with microSD and all the wireless connectivity options you'd expect from a top end device. It's IPx7 waterproof too, without annoying port covers (as we've seen previously on the HTC Butterfly 2).

Take a look at the image of the device, which is available in white and red ('coral reef') and 2 tone blue colours ('blue lagoon') - what's happened to HTC's Boomsound? Fear not, it's still there - there are small gaps above and below the screen which make the feature less obvious but you'll be pleased to hear the speakers are still excellent.

The EYE is much about the software as it is the hardware - the EYE software experience, which will also be coming to a host of other HTC devices, adds face tracking in video calls for up to 4 people, screen sharing, split capture for simultaneous front and rear camera images, crop-me-in for taking your picture with the front camera and pasting it into the main image, a 4 shot photo booth experience, enhanced beauty shot ('live makeup') and more. The face merge feature previously seen on the Desire 820 is present, a device with which the EYE shares a lot of look and feel.

Taking selfies gets easier too, not only by virtue of the included dedicated camera button (2 stage), but also with voice triggering - say 'say cheese' or 'smile' to take a still image or say 'action' or 'rolling' to record a video.

HTC have also announced today that the 'Zoe' application / social network has left Beta, giving EYE owners the perfect place to share their images.

I've included the full specs and some more images below... what do you think? Pricing and availability are TBC unfortunately.

• Android with HTC Sense
• 5.2 inch Full HD 1080p screen
• 2.3GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
• 16GB ROM / 2GB RAM
• 2G/2.5G/3G/4G LTE
• HTC Eye™ Experience with Face Tracking, Screen Share, Split Capture, Face Fusion, Live Makeup, Auto Selfie, Voice Selfie, Photo Booth, Crop Me In
• Dedicated camera button
• Rear camera - 13MP , BSI sensor, f/2.0, 28mm lens, wide angle, with HDR capability, 1080p Full HD video recording, Dual LED Flash
• Front camera - 13MP, Auto-focus with zoom capability, BSI sensor, f/2.2, 22mm lens, wide angle, with HDR capability, 1080p Full HD video recording, Dual LED Flash
• HTC BoomSound™
• Dual front-facing stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers
• 3 microphones for enhanced background noise cancellation
• Sense Voice
• Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS
• Digital Compass
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Ambient Light sensor
• Gyro sensor
• 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
• NFC
• Bluetooth® 4.0 with aptX™ enabled
• Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz)
• IPx7 waterproof
• nanoSIM
• 2400mAh battery
• 154g
• 151.7 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm

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[Guest Voxpop2011]

Meh, I can't get excited about another behemoth phone and the selfie craze is, in my opinion, just stupid.

[Guest PaulOBrien]

You're clearly not the target audience! :)

P