HTC 10 Review: Hit or Miss?

HTC has been in the market for years producing some of the best Android phones on the market. Their build quality is fantastic and their pairings in the past with brands such as Beats have brought amazing value as an overall package. Sales haven’t been as high as they perhaps should have been, that could be a result of marketing spend or general brand awareness. HTC haven’t stayed entirely quiet though. HTC has moved into VR with the Vive and have now brought us the HTC 10, their best smartphone to date. How is it?

The outside

The HTC 10 is constructed from a single piece of aluminium and has a fantastic overall finish. The large sheet of glass on the front looks great and the display is vibrant and not a pixel can be seen. Using the HTC 10 outside in sunlight proved to be difficult even with the brightness turned very high however indoors it shines beautifully. The headphone jack is on top again, something not seen common on phones lately but is not a problem.

The speakers on the phone are sensational and produce fantastic sound for video, music or hands-free calls. The buttons on the side are positioned well and the capacitive buttons on the front are fine while the fingerprint sensor wasn’t producing perfect recognition each time.

The inside

Performance of the HTC 10 is rock solid. Performance on smartphones in the top end of the market today is generally fantastic and HTC has produced a solid performer. Apps open quickly, app switching is smooth and the thought of closing background apps is never there.

The HTC 10 gets you through a day of solid use with ease and has power saving options to help with those longer than normal days.

The camera

Today, with most phones having decent performance and running Android or iOS, the main item separating the competition is the camera. HTC spoke highly of the camera in the HTC 10 and backed it up with external high scores. The front facing camera on the HTC 10 is definitely a good performer. It captured selfies better than most on the market and had a wide angle which grabbed more of the background besides our big heads. We took the HTC 10 to New Zealand along with the Samsung Galaxy S7 to compare the two. The camera on the front is definitely better in the HTC 10 however on the rear, the Galaxy S7 had it in spades. Our concern with the HTC 10 was more to do with lighting and the way it interpreted colour. For the trip to New Zealand we hired an orange Toyota and in photos with the HTC 10, it looks red! In regards to lighting it seems like the sensor on the rear is just letting too much in. Comparison shots are below, shot in full auto and not edited for your own judgement. Essentially, half way through the trip we stopped taking photos with the HTC 10, it just wasn’t worth it.

HTC 10:

Samsung Galaxy S7:

HTC 10:

Samsung Galaxy S7:

Overall

The HTC 10 is a beautiful phone, it looks great, performs well however hasn’t got enough camera cred to please the happy shooter. Depending on where your priorities lay, this may be a deal breaker. For this writer, it is. When capturing and sharing images has become a core factor in most social media applications it is hard to overlook this flaw. If however your smartphone is to be used as a work-horse for email, entertainment and calls, then the HTC 10 is worth a look. The build quality is there, the performance is there, just use the front facing camera…