HTC used to be one of Android s brightest stars. Back in the day the company could do no wrong. Hell, it even made the first ever Nexus phone. My first Android phone was a HTC phone as well the HTC Hero, if you re wondering. But those heady days are now well behind the company and the immediate future does not look good. HTC s financials are, well, terrible. The company s revenues during Q1 2016 plummeted 64% year on year which is obviously very bad for business, investor relations and the overall viability of the business going forwards. Questions will be asked. Questions like: is it worth it anymore? Can HTC compete in this space? Why are repo men knocking at the doors of our building? Viewed in this context, the HTC 10 could well be the last handset the struggling Taiwanese company makes. I know, I know that sounds a bit drastic. But so too is a 64% drop in revenues year on year. And what’s more, HTC has publicly said that if its fortunes don’t pick up it will leave the smartphone business. Financially speaking, HTC is on the cusp of oblivion. But it is still limping on and the HTC 10, alongside the HTC VIVE, are the two products the company hopes will engender some positive change in its financial outlook for 2016.
But will they? Recovering from a 64% dip in revenues is a tall order. Plus, HTC could not have picked a worse year to begin imploding. After a super dull 2015, LG, Samsung and Huawei have all come to the table with excellent, well-marketed Android flagships and the competition is just going to get fiercer and fiercer from here on out with the arrival of the Galaxy Note 6, OnePlus 3 and iPhone 7. For this reason and more HTC had to come to the table with something very impressive. It could not afford to have another HTC One M9 on its hands, as that simply would not do in 2016 s marketplace. At launch, HTC was bullish about the HTC 10; it said this handset was the best thing it had ever created. It also maintained the HTC 10 would have market-leading battery performance, audio and overall performance.
HTC 10 Sales Figures DO NOT Inspire Confidence
Despite fairly unanimous reviews that the HTC 10 is a solid Android phone, HTC isn t doing all that well with respect to overall sales and profitability. Even when its awesome HTC VIVE is factored into the mix. According to the company s Q2 2016 financial report, overall revenues are down 37.4% year on year, which is odd considering just how poorly received the HTC One M9 was it also doesn t bode well for the rest of 2016/17. I mean 2015 was bad, but it looks as if 2016/17 is shaping up to be even worse.
But it isn t just HTC that is struggling to sell Android phones. LG is in a similar position; it made a great handset this year and has, so far, struggled to sell it in significant numbers, leading to big losses across the board for the Korean technology company. This is a reality inside the Android space right now. Making coin has never been harder as more and more people simply follow the herd and pick up phones from Apple and Samsung. Innovation it seems is not enough in 2016/17. You either need to be Samsung or Apple to ACTUALLY sell phones, and that kind of sucks because the HTC 10 and LG G5 are two of the best phones we ve seen in the Android space for quite sometime. The G5 especially. Will OEMing this year s Nexus phones turn around HTC s fortunes for the latter part of 2016? Doubtful. But it definitely won t hurt, as the company has no halo products in the pipeline until at least Q1 2017.
HTC is attempting to carve out a niche for itself within the audiophile space by introducing HD audio in the handset as standard. This is a great move too and something I have been wanting inside a phone for a long time. And, unlike the LG G5 you will not need a separate module to achieve this — it s just there and it works right off the bat. Chuck this in with the handset s specs and hardware and the HTC 10 starts to look like a serious contender. Whether or not you love the HTC 10, however, all may not be lost for HTC after all. Persistent rumours suggest the firm is in cahoots with Google on at least one or two Nexus handsets for launch inside 2016. Allegedly there are both 5in and 5.5in models being worked on by HTC, which seems a bit strange with only 0.5in between them, however, these are not the only Nexus phones in the works, as Huawei is believed to be working on a Nexus 6P successor for this year as well. On top of this, another persistent rumour claims that HTC has signed a three-year deal with Google on the Nexus project, meaning it will be contributing not only to the Nexus family inside 2016, but also 2017 and 2018 at the very least. Some analysts are optimistic that such a move could benefit HTC in the same way that the Nexus 4, Nexus 5, and Nexus 5X has helped LG gain a foothold, and the Nexus 6P also aided Huawei’s rise to prominence. Let s crack on with this review and find out whether or not the HTC 10 has the chops to compete for the top spot in 2016 s ultra-competitive Android space.
HTC 10 Review: Design
HTC has a decent reputation when it comes to industrial design. At least it used to, anyway. Remember the original HTC One? That handset launched in 2013, back when HTC was a force to be reckoned with, and it took the Android space by storm. No one else at the time made handsets quite as good looking. And throughout the year the HTC One racked up awards and glowing reviews across the board. But that was three years ago and since then HTC hasn t really done anything noteworthy in the design department. But I don t think this is entirely HTC s fault. Not really, anyway. Put curtly, I don t think HTC has the financial freedom it once had and this has directly impacted the development and overall quality of its flagship phones. Just look at the HTC One M8 and HTC One M9 basically the same thing and then look at HTC s financial reporting for the past 24 months. You ll see what I m getting at.
If you were hoping things with the HTC 10 would be different, well, you re in for some bad news. The HTC 10 is very similar to what came before. The are differences the most obvious being the large chamfered edging that runs around the sides of the phone s aluminium chassis but mostly it looks and feels very much like the HTC One M9, which, looked and felt very much like the HTC One M8. What you re looking at here is the front from the HTC One A9 and a slightly reworked back panel from the HTC One M9. The HTC 10 is still premium and it is still made from excellent build materials, but so too is everything else these days. Everybody s caught up in this regard even LG and in an the increasingly competitive Android space of 2016 it s becoming increasingly difficult to see where HTC fits in. Even more so when you factor the rise of brands like Huawei and OnePlus in the UK and elsewhere.
The HTC 10 features a Samsung-like physical home button which doubles as a fingerprint scanner. HTC claims this scanner is the world s fastest; that it can read and respond with 0.2 seconds. And it is rather speedy in every day operation. I just kind of wish it was on the back, which is now definitely my preference thanks to prolonged used of the Nexus 6P and LG G5. Despite its familiarity, the HTC 10 does look very sharp. I got a lot of comments from friends when testing it; they loved the size and proportions of the display. And after a couple of weeks with the phone, I happen to agree. The HTC 10 is a wonderful size for a phone; the 5.2in panel is definitely the new goldilocks standard for me. The HTC 10 is available in three colour schemes: Silver, Gold and Carbon Grey. The latter of which is my favourite. Obviously, this is subjective but I would 100% recommend seeing all three models in the flesh before pulling the trigger on any purchase just to be sure.
Whatever colour you go for, though, a case is definitely required. As is ALWAYS the case with HTC handsets, the aluminium chassis, while stunning to behold, is a magnet for scratches. This is just a reality with aluminium phones; if you want to one day sell them, or, just want to keep it looking good, you will need to invest in a decent case. Keys, coins, lighters and the occasional drop will, over time, ruin the flawless finish of the handset. DO NOT wait until you have a scratch across the back to find out buy a case with the phone and put it on right away. Fortunately there is an official HTC 10 case available, which not only protects your metallic beauty from nicks and scratches but also adds in some pretty novel notifications as well. It s called the HTC 10 Ice View Case and it s available from Mobile Fun here in the UK. It looks pretty smart, too. Though it is a smidge pricey at 39.99.
So what do you get for the best part of 40? Simple: ICE VIEW, which is a means of delivering notification updates to the case cover in a unique dotted manner. It also features Sleep/Wake support, so when you open or close the case the phone automatically boots up or shuts down. All the ports are accessible and everything sits very snuggly indeed. The Ice View case will 100% ensure your HTC 10 stays in pristine condition. Personally, I prefer something a little less bulky — I usually just go for a back cover as I don t like having my display covered. I also like to SEE the design of the phone as well, so for me the Spigen basic HTC 10 case sufficed. It s also A LOT cheaper at under 15 — whichever one you choose though will depend on your individual needs and wants. Have a look around, though, there are plenty of cases out there. And most of them are very decent.
The power/unlock key and volume controls are located on the right hand side of the HTC 10. Both are very clicky and easy to locate without looking. On the bottom you’ll find a speaker and a USB Type-C port. On the very top of the handset sits the headphone jack, dead centre.
BoomSound is still there, it s just been engineered differently in order to accommodate design changes to the HTC 10 s chassis. It is now called HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition and it features the same separated tweeter and woofer design as audio systems you d normally find around the home.
There are still speakers at both ends of the HTC 10, the top one is just now secreted away inside the ear speaker and sole purpose in life is as a tweeter. It does look different, though, so the experience of using it in a live setting is kind of different. But it still very much packs a punch it s clearer, louder and more precise than what came before and this is a very good thing indeed. This has never been a big deal breaker for me, if I m 100% honest I prefer headphones and I despise people that blast music from their phone on public transport. But for those that watch a lot of videos on their phones, BoomSound has a special place and the version inside the HTC 10 is just as good as what came before. It just doesn t look the same is all.
HTC 10 Review: Display Technology & Performance
HTC has finally made the switch from 1080p to QHD panels, joining the likes of LG, Samsung and Google. What you re looking at here is a Quad HD 2560 x 1440 resolution Super LCD 5 panel with a protective layer of Gorilla Glass 4 and a pixel density of 564ppi. This is a very impressive panel, pretty much across the board, as the numbers suggest.
It reached a maximum brightness of 449cd/m2 in our tests and managed to cover 99.8% of the sRGB gamut. This places the HTC 10 s display right up there with the best of them in 2016. It is brighter than what you get on the LG G5 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 but under closer scrutiny it does lack some of the detail present in the latter, which manages to cover 100% of the sRGB gamut. Personally, I do tend to prefer the look and feel of AMOLED panels as well. And the one Samsung has inside its Galaxy S7 is simply sensational.
The display inside the HTC 10, as mentioned earlier, is perfectly sized as well at 5.2 inches. This makes the phone ideal for media viewing and web browsing, but not impossible to operate one-handed unlike the slightly larger 5.5in handsets on market. I ve been using 5.5in handsets for a long time now, but found the switch to the HTC 10 like a breath of fresh air; it s not a massive difference but it is one that brings with it a lot of utility, so hat s off to HTC for finding the sweet spot here and proving you don t have to go big just because everybody else is.
HTC 10 Review: Specs & Hardware Performance
Like all flagship Android phones releases this year, the HTC 10 is kitted out for one thing and one thing only performance. The handset is blisteringly fast, easily on par with the LG G5 and Galaxy S7. Qualcomm s Snapdragon 820 has proved itself as one hell of chipset already and things will only get better as new software updates arrive. The HTC 10 is outfitted with a Snapdragon 820 CPU alongside 4GB of RAM. The handset is available in either 32 or 64GB configurations and both models support microSD, as well as Android s Adoptive Storage (AKA: Flex Storage), which lets the user tag external storage in this context, the SD-card to the phone s internal memory. Both LG and Samsung left this feature out of their respective 2016 flagships.
Generally speaking, things are as you d expect. Applications run smoothly, animations are buttery soft and there s little to no lag when operating the phone. It feels a lot faster and snappier than the HTC One M9 and user s of that phone will notice the difference even more so if you re coming from older hardware. However, there are some pretty serious issues with the HTC 10 at least there was with my review unit. The most notable of which is its Wi-Fi performance, which is just terrible pretty much across the board. Connections show full strength but applications and content will not load and refresh; this affected ALL applications. Cast functionality was also hindered by this as well, obviously, and pretty much forced me to use 4G for the entirety of the test period and my Huawei P9 for casting music and other media around the home. This could be an issue specific to my review unit. I admit that, and I will update the review accordingly if that turns out to be the case. But for now it has to be noted because this is a 500 phone that cannot do Wi-Fi and in this day and age that is simply not acceptable it hinders the overall usability of the handset and makes things like Casting media around the home impossible. Let s hope this can be resolved with a software update!
This is a real shame too, because outside this issue the HTC 10 is a solid performer that can handle pretty much anything you throw at it. I also LOVE what HTC has done with its Sense UX, which is now in its 8th generation, I think. Personally, I still prefer stock Android – that goes without saying – but for what it s worth HTC s Android overlay is definitely one of the slickest, cleanest and most useful in the Android space.
HTC 10 Review: Android with HTC Sense
HTC has always been one of the most consistent players in the Android space in this regard. Over the years it has tweaked its software, listened to grumbles from its users, implemented changes and has always strived to make Sense as useful and as seamless as possible. And this build is the best yet by quite a margin. Packed with useful features, optimisations and a minimal amount of bloatware, Sense now looks more like stock Android than ever before. HTC worked closely with Google on Sense in a bid to reduce the number of duplicated apps things like Calendar apps, for instance and the net result here is a pretty egalitarian mix between the two that effortlessly integrates Material Design across the board with no applications looking our of place.
The notifications menu is also very close to what you get on Google s Nexus phones. Ditto icon design and the colour schemes throughout. BlinkFeed is still present, of course, though you can switch it off if you like, as is HTC s Sense Theme engine, which let s you completely change the look and feel of the entire UX. This aspect is a tinker s dream because the customisation options available here are basically endless. But, like all good things, if it s not your thing you d never even know it was there.
All in all the software package HTC has come to the table with here is mightily impressive perhaps even the best of all current Android OEMs. It s consistent, easy to use and so well integrated with Google s Material Design everything just flows almost as well as it does on pure Google phones like the Nexus 6P. It also perfectly caters to fans of Sense, those that don t like it and want something cleaner, and those that like to REALLY jazz their handset s software up. In this context, all bases are covered.
HTC 10 Review: HD Sound DAC-quality Without A DAC
One of the big reasons I was really excited by the LG G5 was because of its B&O DAC module. I spend a lot of money on headphones, so having a phone that can upscale the quality of audio is a HUGE plus for me. I thought I d need the G5 for this, but the HTC came along and bloody included it inside the HTC 10. And all without the need for an expensive module! So what s the deal here? Simple: the HTC 10 will upscale audio from any application be it YouTube or Spotify to DAC-like quality. The HTC 10 supports 24-bit/192kHz hi-res music, and has upscaling tech on board for 16-bit files, which makes the type of sound you re used to sound a hell of a lot livelier. The headphone amp inside the HTC 10 also delivers twice the power of a conventional one.
Another feature I liked about the HTC 10 s audio capabilities is that you can tune your headphones to your exact tastes. It judges this on your age, how long you listen to music for and the type of music you prefer. Once you ve gone through all of this the settings are preset for that pair of headphones. You can add more headphones as well, meaning you can make the sound different for your earbuds and over ear bins. The audio quality here is A LOT better than what you get with the B&O DAC for the LG G5, which just didn t get loud enough. It s also better than what you get with Apple, Samsung and any other player currently making phones in the mobile space. Here you have huge power, great sound quality, precise separation and the inclusion of Dolby processing which creates a bolder, more in your face sound when activated. HTC NAILED this aspect of the HTC 10.
HTC 10 Review: Camera & Imaging Technology
HTC is not usually a name you associate with imaging prowess. The company has tried bloody hard in the past, though no one can deny that. In some respects, HTC was the pioneer of the recent trend that s seeing big brands like Samsung reducing megapixels in favour of bigger and better sensor technology, as well as the push for dual-sensors. HTC first attempted this with the HTC One s UltraPixel camera way back in 2013, but that initiative was an unmitigated disaster reviewers and consumers were not impressed. The same happened with its first dual-sensor phone, the HTC One M9. HTC has good ideas, it seems, it just executes them poorly. It flip-flopped a couple more times on the road to 2016 with the HTC One M8 and HTC One M9, but has now finally seen sense and outfitted the HTC 10 with far more traditional shooter. Though it still carries the UltraPixel brand, don t let that put you off because it is just that branding. Under the hood you ll find a 12-megapixel rear camera with a Sony sensor offering large 1.55 m pixels. There is a nicely wide f/1.8 aperture as well as optical image stabilisation and laser autofocus. Basically, par for the course these days. The results are very good too, much better than what we ve come to expect from an Android flagship from HTC. This is the best camera HTC has ever produced. It features EVERYTHING you d expect from a topflight camera and, in most respects, it performs like one as well, producing excellent point-and-shoot results across the board, inside and outside the home. The colour balance can be a little washed out in good lighting, while low-light performance, providing you have some light, say, street lamps, is adequate with minimal noise and plenty of detail.
You also have access to RAW files as well, which is a nice touch because the HTC 10 likes to process images rather heavily. It adds in a lot of colour saturation to make the finished goods appear more vibrant. This is fine, too. Most phones do this. But for more professional shooters it isn t always ideal, especially if you plan on editing post capture. This is why more and more phones let you export RAW files it gives you a degree of control over the final result you simply cannot get with processing done by the phone itself.
Like much of the interaction with the HTC 10, operating the camera is a joyful process. Everything is laid out in a logical and intuitive manner. You can tell the company has focused heavily on every detail inside the HTC 10, and the net result is as seamless an experience as you could wish for. Navigating around the camera UI is simple, obvious and well sign-posted, just as a camera application should be. The inclusion of Manual mode is also welcomed, though the on-screen controls take up WAY too much screen space, which makes it hard to properly frame shots. Still, HTC is making all the right moves in this department and has clearly been watching and listening to what users want from their cameras in 2016.
There are niggles here and there, though. The laser autofocus, on occasion, falls over itself and simply refuses to work or, when it does it takes far too long. Zoom isn t great, owing to the lower megapixels, with quite a lot of noise in shots and the HTC 10 isn t great with big scenes or vistas details just kind of get lost, almost like it s unsure about what it is meant to be capturing/focusing on. In this respect, it is behind its two main rivals, the Galaxy S7 and LG G5, which are both strong performers across the board. The front-facing 5MP setup is excellent, though. Like, really excellent perhaps even the best selfie camera available, dare I say. It features OIS, a great touch, especially for those that make VLOGS. It also features HD audio recording abilities as well, making it an ideal choice for those that do A LOT of video-calling or like to use phones in their YouTube VLOGS. All in all, the HTC 10 s camera is impressive especially when considered alongside the company s previous releases. In the grand context of the Android space as of right now, not so much. The LG G5 and Galaxy S7 and Huawei P9 are all superior. But the important thing here is that HTC is now making very capable and feature-packed phone cameras. It now has a very solid foundation from which to build on. There are some easy improvements HTC could make and I believe they will with software updates over the next few weeks. Once these are in place, things will look A LOT better.
HTC 10 Review: Battery Life Performance
Has the switch from 1080p to QHD display resolutions affected the HTC 10 s battery life? This is a big question for a lot of people because HTC has always been fairly middle of the road when it comes to battery performance. At least, this used to be the case but now thanks to Qualcomm s Snapdragon 820, more RAM and improved software, as well as Android s advancements bad battery life is a thing of the past. The HTC 10 is an example of what can be done when you NAIL the software aboard a phone, fine-tuning it for the exact spec inside the handset and cutting out any fat. I know Android Marshmallow s back-end advancements have helped, but HTC s efforts are palpable the HTC 10 just goes and goes and goes. It s better than every other phone I ve tested this year, including the iPhone 6s Plus, Galaxy S7 EDGE, LG G5 and the Huawei P9. In fact, the only thing that really gives the HTC 10 a run for its money in this regard is the Huawei Mate 8, which, up to now, was something of a freak of nature in the mobile space. It could do a couple of days with moderate use, easy, but so too can the HTC 10 and not just with moderate use, either. This thing will do a solid day and half with pretty intensive use. And that is kind of unprecedented in today s space; even with handsets like the Galaxy S7.
This is my experience with the HTC 10 and while we like to be as scientific as possible, if you look at the below benchmark for battery performance you will see the Galaxy S7 EDGE is WAY out in front of everything else. I like benchmarks. They re great for comparison s sake, but the are never truly tied to the real-world. In the benchmark below, we run a video on a loop, with maximum screen brightness, with everything switched on, until the battery dies.
This is more of a drain-test than anything else but it is useful to see how a handset consumes power during on the most intensive tasks it can perform running HD video content. Nevertheless, the actual result of this is not something I found to be true in real-world testing; it s just an arbitrary performance test designed to show how ALL handsets function when put under the same strain. The HTC 10 is the better of the two out in the real world, in my experience. I have read reports about the battery performance being temperamental, but in my experience the HTC was always consistent. The only gremlin in my review unit was the one that affected Wi-Fi, as noted earlier in the review. The HTC 10 also has QuickTime charging built in as standard, so when your juice does get a little low, you can top it up to 100% within an hour, or thereabouts. All in all very impressive stuff from HTC. The firm promised excellent battery performance and it has delivered something spectacular. Once again it is a very good time to be a consumer in the Android space. Things just keep on getting better and better.
HTC 10 Review: Verdict
I was worried about testing the HTC 10. I have been worried about HTC for a long time. The company was my first big love when I started doing technology journalism. They made my first Android phone and, for the longest time, was the driving force of innovation in the mobile space. Back in the day HTC was THE Android phone maker. No one else came close. Things have changed a lot since then and HTC has been through a lot of ups and downs. A lot of my worries still exist as well because whatever you think about my opinions one thing is certain: HTC, as of right now, is running on fumes and this can only go on for so long before something eventually gives. I hope it does not come to this. The mobile space would be a lot worse off without HTC. Thank god, then, for the HTC 10 this is the handset HTC needed to make. It does everything the other big players do and even surpasses them in some regards; battery performance, for instance. Personally, I do prefer the LG G5 but I REALLY do love that phone. Still, for those committed to the HTC brand, the HTC 10 is a big turn out for the books. In many ways, this is the handset HTC should have made last year, but I digress.
The HTC 10 is a solid performer and the only real issue I had was the Wi-Fi bug that simply could not be solved (yes, I updated the software, and, no, the unit I tested was not pre-production). This alone though is not enough to spoil what is essentially one of the strongest, most well thought out Android handsets on the market at present. But this isn t enough these days. It takes more than just solid performance and excellent software to sell phones; just look at what happened to BlackBerry 10. HTC needs to ensure it gets this phone out in front of everybody and REALLY push the marketing. I get the impression that the HTC 10 is the company s last shake of the mobile stick before, well, something bad happens. For this reason and more HTC needs to go hell for leather with promotion because the HTC 10 is good enough to compete with the best of them. It is just a case of whether it can make itself heard in the increasingly competitive and ultra-interesting phone space that 2016 has become.