Review HTC Desire SV
Introduction
HTC recently launched a couple of dual-SIM smartphones, of which
the HTC Desire SV is the only model also officially available in
Europe (at the time of writing Germany, Switzerland, Poland and Turkey). The Desire SV is
also sold via the regular channels in India and Russia, and advertised
in general in the Middle East and South East Asia.
Being a dual active SIM phone, this means both SIM cards can be
called without having to manually switch from one SIM to the other.
Once calling, the other SIM card is temporarily unavailable. For
people who don't want to carry around two mobile phones,
this type of dual SIM phone could be an ideal choice.
It has to be noted HTC produces various dual SIM phones, which are
primarily intended for Asian countries. Quickly summed up, for
single core 4" smartphones, there are currently the Desire
U, V, and VC models. On the mid-range, dual core front, there are the Desire
XDS, and SV, and the HTC One SC, SU, and ST, which all are
4.3" except for the Desire XDS, which is 4". At the
high-end spectrum, there are two quad core phones, the Desire 600
Dual SIM, and the HTC One Dual, which are 4,5 and 4.7"
respectively.
With the HTC Desire SV, which now entered the western hemisphere,
this could well be the best dual SIM smartphone that's
currently available. The HTC Desire SV is compared to other
smartphones in the HTC range quite pricey though, but for some
people the benefit of having dual SIM capability might compensate
for this more than enough.
What are the advantages?
- Dual SIM capability (dual active)
- HTC Sense User Interface
- Look and feel, responsiveness
The Desire SV, which is also know as model T326e, feels
responsive. Opening apps, scrolling through the phonebook, browsing
and emailing can all be done without lag, thanks to the dual core
processor and graphics chipset used. The user-interface of the
phone also poses no problems. The touch-screen has adequate
resolution, is very sensitive, and the volume and on/of buttons
have good position and tactile feedback. The keyboard with it's
swipe technology is also very practical during use.
The phone feels pleasant and durable to hold, thanks to it's
soft-touch backplate and weight, although the 4.3" size is
considered by some to be a bit on the large size. For browsing and
things alike, the screen size snugly fits into the sweet spot
between being too small and too large for a smartphone. The camera
scores well enough on the front of resolution, sharpness, and color
saturation, but noise levels are a bit on the high side.
The disadvantages
- Micro SIM
- Battery size
- Price tag compared to single SIM phones
Although there is room enough underneath the backplane, this
phone uses micro SIM cards instead of standard mini SIM cards,
which may mean contacting your operator to exchange your mini SIM
card for this smaller sibling SIM card. The battery is somewhat at
the small size with 1620mAh. Regarding this, your mileage may vary.
Some reports show that under heavy use, the battery doesn't
last for one complete day, but compared to using the phone
primarily for making calls, it lasts about 4 to 5 days.
Worth mentioning here, is that the phone had an auto reset once. Watch
this review for updates on this. It is expected that a future upgrade to
Anroid 4.1 which is rumoured for this phobe will increase stability.
Overall verdict
For European consumers, this Android smartphone is the best dual SIM model that cautiously entered the European market, and will satisfy the average smartphone user who wants to pay a little more for this functionality. There are apart from battery life no big letdowns for this phone. Heavy users of smartphones might want look for high-end phones which are available especially in Asia. In Europe, there are however no plans from the major manufacturers to expand the range of dual SIM smartphones to the high-end spectrum of the market. HTC so far showed most courage with the introduction of this phone in some European countries, and we therefore hope to see more from HTC regarding dual SIM models.
Specifications
- Dual micro-SIM quad band, with dual band 3G Support on SIM 1. GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100 MHz.
- 4.3-inch WVGA (480 x 800) display
- 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon with 768MB RAM
- 8-megapixel camera, 28mm equivalent, F2.2 aperture, flash
- Android 4.0.4 with HTC Sense 4.1
- 4GB Storage, extensible with micro-SD Card
- GPS
- Bluetooth and 802.11 b/g/n/ Wi-Fi
- 3.5mm stereo jack on top, Beats Audio, headphones
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