If we were to judge a phone by its name, the HTC Desire Eye would rank right next to the HTC Desire 820. In the past, HTC has put a wall between its mid-range and flagship phones, giving its One and Desire smartphone families two distinct designs and price points and spec sheets. While phones like the HTC One mini and One mini 2 have ventured into the mid-range space with their budget-friendly specs, the HTC Desire Eye is the first mid-range phone that’s creeping its way into flagship territory thanks to its impressive spec sheet.
LTE speedtest
We typically don’t post very many speedtest results on our site since the numbers vary by service provider. But since the HTC Desire Eye is currently available only on AT&T, we thought we’d share a few numbers with you to give you a sense of that you can expect. AT&T has a pretty solid LTE network in our area, but like most service providers, network speeds can fluctuate quite a bit if you’re in your car, house, on the street or sitting at your cube in an office building. So far, we have not had any network issue and have been able to make calls, surf the web, download large games and even stream HD video on YouTube or Netflix without a hitch. When testing the network speeds through Ookla and the FCC’s speed test apps, we consistently saw download speeds ranging from 5.3 Mbps to 8.2 Mbps with uploads between 3.7 Mbps to 6.6 Mbps. Those AT&T LTE speeds are much lower than what you can typically expect from Verizon or T-Mobile is many areas, but they are still fast enough to enjoy your HTC Desire Eye to its fullest.
Benchmark performance
Benchmark numbers can be meaningless. They can give us insight into how a device can operate in peak performance, but that data doesn’t often translate into anything meaningful in day-to-day use. The HTC Desire Eye’s impressive spec sheet puts it on par with the HTC One (M8) and even the Samsung Galaxy S5. It has a Snapdragon 801 SoC paired with 2GB of RAM and a vibrant 5.2-inch 1080p display. The chart below shows how the Desire Eye’s benchmark number stack up to a few other devices we’ve tested recently. The performance of the HTC Desire Eye isn’t going to win it any prizes, but it’s certainly phenomenal if you consider that HTC has categorized the Eye as a mid-range device.
Although its flash-equipped front camera is eye-catching, its image results aren’t as impressive as I’d hoped. Still, the flash will illuminate your face where other phones can’t, and the Desire Eye comes with fun software, is well-specced and waterproof too.