KPH tech blog

Every phone I’m considering is in one way or another better than my current device, a HTC Desire EYE, which I’m using as a device benchmark. It has 13mp rear and front cameras, both with dual-tone LED flash (the rear aperture at f/2.0 vs the front’s f/2.2), 16gb internal storage with micro-SD slot, 2gb RAM, 5.2 inch LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 at 424ppi, Snapdragon 801 Quad core clocked at 2.3Ghz, running Android 6.0.1 (full specs on GSMArena). It also supports Quick Charge 2.0 (Qualcomm-spec), has NFC, FM Radio, and comes with a 2,400mAh battery.

While I love my Desire Eye, I yearn for a device with the premium feel and build quality of an iPhone without that premium price tag. The cameras, though capable in my opinion, aren’t as quick or powerful as other devices, and sometimes there’s just too much noise in photos.

The front facing flash, while innovative, can sometimes be more of an annoyance than a useful feature. It’s not great when taking selfies, as the flash is too near to the lense which means staring right into the light (painful). In some situations, it’s also not been enough to light the whole scene.

Take this group photo below of my mates and I as an example – while the flash does a good job of lighting up some of us, it over exposes towards the edges and under exposes the faces of my mates behind me in the centre of the photo. It would have been better if the camera was more sensitive in low light conditions.

Now, down to cost per month on contract. At £30 with 2gb data and unlimited texts and calls per month, I will also have spent over £700 come January 2017. For a premium phone such as the iPhone 7 or Google Pixel by HTC, this is just the starting cost of the device. Therefore, my next smartphone must be within the region of £300-£400, without cutting back on specifications or build quality, to allow for the extra cost of a monthly contract. I’d be aiming at paying about the same, if not less, per month.

That said, I have also considered the possibility of keeping my Desire Eye, in favour of taking out a SIM-only deal with a bigger data allowance at half the monthly price, and on a 12 month or 30 day rolling contract instead of another 24 months. I’ve noticed a lot of deals tend to happen in the summer, in preparation for the release of the new iPhone in September each year, so maybe opting for a 30 day rolling SIM-only contract isn’t a bad thing.

I know my device won’t be getting Android 7.0 Nougat, which is a reason for upgrading to a new device, especially for the split screen capabilities of phones running the newer Android OS.

That said, that won’t necessarily be a bad thing for my Desire Eye – far from the promise and new features of a newer OS, the upgrade can sometimes have a severe effect on the performance and battery life of an older device, making the device appear slower or more power hungry than it was before. I certainly noticed something similar when updating my Desire Eye from Android 4.4 to Android 5.0.1 just after I’d bought it, and more so when updating again to Android 6.0.1 earlier this year.

Therefore, as I’m starting to think about specs, I think it is time to end this post and start the next one. See you after the fold!

Chris K.