HTC Desire 510 review

HTC Desire 510 review

 

We're not far from the time when the smart in phone will be implied. Prices are falling, market share is climbing - it's near impossible to keep track these days of all the new entries in the low end and the midrange. HTC's Desire lineup is no exception - pulled out of the freezer a couple of seasons ago to carry the affordable, mass-market devices of the brand, it has been growing rapidly.
We're at a point now where it's hard to put a face to every name. The digits usually help and the new HTC Desire 510 is easily linked to a predecessor. If you think though that it's a simple and straightforward upgrade of last year's Desire 500, you're wrong.
The Desire 510 is among the very first to bring 64-bit processing to the lower ranks thanks to the new generation Snapdragon 410 chipset with four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.2GHz, Adreno 306 GPU and 1GB of RAM. Its display has a 4.7" diagonal, a size that has pretty popular promoters these days in the Galaxy Alpha and the iPhone 6. Fortunately, the Desire 510 keeps a healthy distance from those two in terms of price. It's an affordable, LTE-enabled phone - the kind that should be in greater demand in the coming months. Let's see what it has to offer.

Key features

• 4.7" FWVGA capacitive touchscreen, 208ppi
• Android 4.4.2 KitKat with HTC Sense 6
• 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU; 1GB of RAM; Adreno 306 GPU; Snapdragon 410 chipset
• LTE connectivity
• 5MP fixed-focus camera, HTC Zoe mode
• 1080p video capture, 30fps
• VGA front-facing camera
• 8GB of built-in memory; microSD card slot up to 128GB
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated microphone
• 2,100mAh battery; Extreme Power Saving Mode

Main disadvantages

• Low screen resolution with low ppi ratio
• Fixed-focus camera
• No LED flash
• MicroSD slot isn't hot-swappable
• Thick and heavy (1cm and 158g)

HTC obviously had some tough decisions to make with Desire 510. The chipset got an impressive upgrade - compared to last year's Desire 500 - and the LTE connectivity is a huge point in favor too, along with a still relevant Android KitKat, skinned with Sense 6.
The flipside is a sub-HD display - which is probably the most prominent line on that list of weaknesses. A low-end camera - 5MP fixed-focus, no flash is something to warn against, but not a huge letdown if the price is right and the competition hasn't got an offer you can't refuse.