While designing a good-looking device drains time and resources, engineers at HTC didn’t leave anything to chance.HTC Desire 626 has the same basic rectangular shape as any other smartphone on the market, but it was given a distinct identity using a two-tone color scheme. Front and back panels share the same color while the bezel provides contrast. It’s definitely an attractive look infusing much needed freshness and modernism into the segment. Polycarbonate was the material of choice for HTC’s design team, lowering manufacturing costs and increasing durability. Our tests didn’t reveal any trouble areas in terms of quality and we’re sure that HTC Desire 626 is capable of withstanding daily pocket abuse for quite some time. Due to unibody design, sim and microSD card slots had to be placed on the left side, however they are easily pried open even if you don’t have any fingernails. Volume and power buttons are located on the right side and provide great tactile feedback. HTC Desire 626 comes in at 146.9 x 70.9 x 8.2 mm and weighs 140 grams.
Great big displays were once only available on flagship phones and now they can even be found on budget models. Since we spend hours fiddling with our smartphones, having a big screen is definitely a huge plus. HTC Desire 626 comes with a 5-inch screen churning out 720 x 1280 pixels and 294ppi density. Even though it isn’t Full HD, overall screen properties satisfied our viewing needs. Videos and gaming looked great, while internet browsing revealed slight pixelation. It’s nothing major and it definitely won’t affect your daily routine.
Under the funky polycarbonate shell lies Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 410 helped out by Adreno 306 GPU and 2GB of RAM. Seeing that this is a fairly reliable mid-range setup on the market, HTC Desire 626 doesn’t encounter any performance issues with daily tasks. Sense 7 user interface is overlaid on top of Android 5.1 Lollipop and provides an excellent software foundation. If you’ve ever used an HTC then you know it’s vastly different from core Android. Good news is that Sense 7 supports unprecedented customization with tons of options. Spend some time fiddling with it and it can end up looking like a custom ROM. Those that are two busy for customization can easily select one of the many themes available. BlinkFeed is still present on HTC devices, delivering custom content in a very unique manner. We used to disable it every time we got our hands on a new HTC, but by giving it a chance we’ve come to love it. Simply select things you are interested and have content delivered directly to you instead of searching for it. Filling HTC Desire 626 with apps won’t be a problem as it comes with 16GB of on-board storage which is expandable by another 32GB via a microSD card.
In charge of photography are two sensors; a 13-megapixel main camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. Both cameras do a good job of capturing your memories, but since there are no fancy features such as optical image stabilization and laser focus, you’ll have to put in some effort to get quality images. Photos taken in low light may end up looking grainy and excessive hand movement introduces a dose of blurriness. Such drawbacks plague numerous mid-range smartphones so we can’t only blame HTC. We still have to wait for flagship camera tech to trickle down to mid-range and low-end segments. Post processing tools will help correct any camera deficiencies and HTC has preinstalled a few of those.
Funky design combined with solid performance makes HTC Desire 626 a unique smartphone in its class. If you’re looking for something charismatic on a tight budget, then it might be just perfect for you.
