HTC One M10 will arrive in April, but it’ll be called the HTC 10 after all
We’ll admit it, we kinda hate in-development handset names, sorry, we just do. We hate ’em because 99% of the time they’re frankly ridiculous sounding, and there’s just no need for that, then you have the fact that some manufacturers can’t seem to make their minds up; one minute a phone has one name, then the next it has another, then back, then around, and on, and on…
With its latest flagship HTC has gone down this indecisive route, even before we knew much of the spec it felt like every new rumour of the next HTC phone brought a brand new name. First it was the HTC One, then the HTC M10 or One M10 or some variant thereof, then the ludicrous HTC Perfume, then back to HTC M10. But now, it seems, it’s settled nice and firmly on HTC 10, and HTC itself has released several teasers under the #powerof10 hashtag, so we think it’s now pretty solid.
HTC has released another teaser onto Twitter on April 7 and it seems to be of no coincidence that it immediately follows the unveiling of Huawei’s impressive P9 smartphone and its dual-sensor Leica Summarit camera – yes folks, this new teaser is all about the imaging. HTC isn’t being modest here, the firm is setting the stakes pretty high by stating that the HTC 10 will be “the best ever smartphone for shooting photos and videos.” Although the video features some shots which appear to have been taken on the HTC 10, there’s no way to reliably assess the quality due to it being a video of a photo, and then the layers of video compression needed to get this thing up on Twitter. Still, the Huawei P9’s camera showcase was pretty damn incredible, so if HTC still isn’t phased by that then it must be onto something pretty good…right? It must be a little bit annoying, however, to have been one of the first OEMs to market with a dual-sensor phone, only for everyone to poo-poo it, and then find that subsequent designs by rivals (such as Huawei) are better received. But then again, if the setup had been good on the older HTCs then people would have liked it.
We’re obsessed with perfecting every image and video experience. You’ll see it. 4/12.#powerof10https://t.co/P2fWmNHatX
— HTC (@htc) April 6, 2016
April 5 has seen HTC take to its official Twitter account to give us another video teaser, again themed around its “we’re obsessed” angle and with the #powerof10 mantra, this time the video focuses on audio, specifically the new BoomSound setup.
See what we’re obsessed about on April 12 onhttps://t.co/NMJMew9UvA.#powerof10pic.twitter.com/J3ZFCALvUx — HTC (@htc) March 22, 2016
Promises are somewhat lofty, with HTC saying it’ll be “the best BoomSound yet,” with “the highest-quality sound possible” and “flawless high fidelity on your phone.”
As of April 1, the HTC 10 has been spotted at the US FCC certification authority, not all that surprising considering the launch date is this month. The filing also reveals that there are, in fact, two editions of the handset, although it’s not clear what the difference is; it’s possible that one may be a particular carrier variant or similar. Still, we have two model numbers: 2PS6200 and 2PS6500.
As a bonus, we’re also hearing talk of an HTC 10 Mini bound for a launch in September (though it’s April Fool’s day, so take it with liberal doses of salt) – word of the Mini variant comes viaAndroid-news.at. Interestingly, the report says the new mini model will use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 823 processor (with an increased top speed of 2.8GHz) and 4GB of RAM, meaning that like Samsung, it seems HTC has also finally caught up with Sony’s lead on packing high-end specs into compact editions. It’s thought most other specs will be comparable to the full size HTC 10, although with that said we expect the battery may be slightly smaller as this is fairly normal on compacts even with high specs. Display size is believed to be 4.7in.
A white-coloured variant of the HTC 10 has leaked as of April 4, showing up via Techz.vn, sadly being a frontal shot there’s not much to see other than the bezel and the top and bottom panels, the rest is just a black void of powere-down display glass. Still, gives us an idea though right?
HTC has now confirmed it will be launching its new flagship handset on April 12. We even have the invite for the event which is taking place in New York, London and Taipei and will trend under the hashtag #powerof10 — so there’s the hint that it is 100% about the HTC M10.
A couple of new leaks and a new teaser has emerged, as of March 30. First off, the official teaser from HTC itself on Twitter plays once again into the #powerof10 campaign, this time relating to performance, with the tagline quite simply reading “Performance10“. Of course there isn’t much that can be shown on the teaser to demonstrate this, so instead HTC has gone for a close-up shot of the handset’s base, with the fingerprint scanner flanked by two capacitive control keys.
There’s also an accompanying blurb saying “Not all phones are created equal. The fastest and smoothest Android. You’ll feel it.”
The first leak is also related to this performance teaser, in the sense that it’s a spec leak courtesy of the GFXBench suite, pretty much confirming all the previously leaked hardware, but nice to see nonetheless:
Last, but by no means least, some tentative pricing details have emerged courtesy of a Romanian webstore putting the handset up for pre-order a bit early – this being the case we’re not sure if the price is accurate for the launch RRP, but it’s good to have a ballpark figure even if somewhat vague. Quickmobile listed the handset with 32GB onboard storage and silver, gold, or grey options at 3,300 Romanian leu (RON), which is roughly $830(USD), €740 (EUR) or £581 (GBP).
Yet more cheeky snaps have popped up online as of March 31, showing the rear panel of the HTC 10 – two handsets actually, side-by-side, both the silver version we’ve seen a lot of and a black model alongside it.
A big batch of images showing the HTC 10’s design has spilled onto the internet, a combination of official-looking renders and live hands-on photos.
The press/product renders come, as these things so often do, from @evleaks:
Meanwhile the live photos come via @onleaks, affiliated with nowhereelse.fr, although the hideous upholstery in the background does take the edge off things somewhat:
@onleaks also revealed a set of specs, including a 5.1in QHD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB RAM, a 12MP camera and USB Type-C.
Earlier rumour sources also claim we’re looking at a metal build (not a surprise) with a fingerprint scanner, IP78 water and dust proofing (finally!), and a 3,000mAh battery. If all this is true it does suggest HTC has listened to many reviews and criticisms of its previous models.
As of March 22, further rumours have emerged supporting the idea of a sizeable 3,000mAh battery cell lurking inside the HTC 10 – this supposed factoid is now backed up by @evleaks, lending further gravitas to the idea, and on top of that he’s claiming it’ll feature a Super LCD 5 display panel. HTC phones have used Super LCD before, but with the last couple of generations got stuck on LCD 3 while other handsets from rivals came up with more advanced solutions, so the result was a somewhat lacklustre display experience by contemporary standards. What with Samsung currently ruling the roost with its OLED panels (which even Apple will allegedly adopt over the next few years) there’s everything to play for.
More images have now leaked as of March 8, this time we’re looking at what appear to be yet more product renders but showcasing a range of colour options for the HTC M10. The renders were dug up by @upleaks and reported by Bulgarian tech site nixanbal.com. As well as showing the black model we’ve seen previously, there also appears to be a white back/black front two-tone edition, an all-white model, and a gold coloured variant with a white fascia.
And yet more photos have leaked as of March 11, once again, they come via the Twitter feed of nowhereelse.fr’s Steve Hemmerstoffer. There’s not much here in terms of the phone’s design that we haven’t seen already, but what is relatively new is the preview of the new Sense UI build overlaid on Android. It’s also worth noting, however, is the presence of a pair of capacitive controls flanking a fingerprint scanner; an interesting move as previous HTC models used Android’s on-screen touch controls for navigation.
