HTC Desire 616 Dual SIM Review: Trying to Stay Relevant

Many reports are now suggesting that the sales of the HTC One M8 and the Desire 816 are helping to revive the Taiwanese phone company's declining fortunes. Latching on to this positive outlook, HTC announced the Desire 616 Dual SIM along with the One (E8).

The HTC Desire 616 Dual SIM is the company's great hope in the sub-20k market, and to keep costs low, HTC has opted for a MediaTek processor to it. The Desire 616 Dual SIM was launched at a price of Rs. 16,990, which looked like a good bargain at that time. However, there has been a sudden tectonic shift in the smartphone market created by Xiaomi and Asus. With powerful new competition and cutthroat pricing to deal with, HTC will have to do a lot of work in order to stay relevant.

Look and Feel
HTC's smartphone designs of late have followed a trend which started with the One (M7) (review). The HTC Desire 616 Dual SIM adheres to this design language but changes things around a bit, though we don't think it works favourably this time. The Desire 616 Dual SIM is made entirely of plastic and its glossy back looks cheap. There is a good looking strip of matte plastic above the screen which continues around the device's sides; a design cue borrowed from the Desire 816. It feels inconsistent here because there is no matching strip on the bottom. The toughened glass protecting the screen flows till the lower edge.

Thankfully, the curved back makes the phone look slimmer than its actual girth of 9.15mm. The Desire 616 Dual SIM feels comfortable to hold and our thumbs could reach the top of the screen with ease

The microphone and Micro-USB port for charging/data transfer are on the bottom of the phone, while the top has the 3.5mm audio jack. The right edge of the Desire 616 Dual SIM has the volume rocker and power button, both made of plastic. The tactile feedback of these buttons is pretty good. Above the screen is the earpiece grill which looks like the front-firing speakers on the Desire 816. Beside the earpiece are the array of sensors and the front camera. On the rear are the loudspeaker, an HTC logo, and the primary camera with its flash.

Features and Specifications
HTC has gone with the octa-core MediaTek MT6592 SoC clocked at 1.4GHz with Mali-450MP4 graphics. Supplementing it is 1GB of RAM, and there is 4GB of internal storage space with the option of adding up to 32GB more using microSD cards. The 32GB limit is a bit of a downer since even cheaper phones support higher capacities. 

The phone has a Dual-SIM setup - one regular (Mini) SIM and the other Micro-SIM. The primary SIM card (regular) can connect to 3G networks while the secondary (Micro) cannot. The phone can connect to Wi-Fi a/b/g/n networks. It also has an 8-megapixel primary camera which can shoot 1080p videos. The 2-megapixel front camera can shoot 720p videos. HTC has added FM radio as an option for entertainment.

The Desire 616 Dual SIM's 5-inch screen has a resolution of 720x1280 which translates to a pixel density of 294ppi. On-screen capacitive buttons take up a bit of the display real estate but we don't think it is too much of a problem. The colours on the screen have a pleasant warm tone, and the saturation level and the maximum brightness level are decent too. Unfortunately, when viewed at an angle there is very evident discolouration, and sunlight legibility isn't great either.

Software
Unlike the HTC One (M8) and its younger sibling One (E8), the Desire 616 Dual SIM doesn't have either Android 4.4 KitKat or HTC Sense 6 UI slapped on top of it. Instead, HTC has decided to go with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and Sense 5.5. The company has promised an update to Android Kitkat, though.

The software is no different from what we saw running on the Desire 816. BlinkFeed occupies the left-most homescreen, and it still showcases content from various social networks and any feeds you want to add. It is a good thing that BlinkFeed can also be turned off. There is the competent Polaris Office 5 app for viewing, creating and editing documents. Also present is the regular suite of Google apps.

Camera
After a wonderful experience with the 13-megapixel shooter on the HTC Desire 816 we had a lot of expectations from the 8-megapixel camera on this phone. We came away disappointed. 

The camera app itself is not a patch on the minimalistic app used by the HTC Desire 816. It is chunky and does not have a lot of features. For example, the depth of field feature is missing.

Coming to the quality of captured images, those we took even in daylight were low on detail and there was noise as well. However, the colours were natural. Images shot in low light were not usable. Videos captured at 1080p also suffered in our daylight testing. The 2-megapixel front camera isn't good for much either.

Performance
Aided by its powerful octa-core processor, the phone performs really well in day-to-day usage. You can easily navigate around the UI and switch between multiple apps without any stutter.

The phone scored 23,272 and 12,185 respectively in our AnTuTu and Quadrant benchmark tests. The AnTuTu score is higher and the Quadrant score is lower than what the Snapdragon-400-toting Desire 816 achieved. The Desire 616 Dual SIM also slightly edged out its bigger sibling in our graphics benchmark tests, with scores of 7,981 in the intensive 3DMark Ice Storm test and 13.1fps in GFXbench. We played a little bit of Asphalt 8 and the phone didn't lag during the gameplay.

In our video tests, the Desire 616 Dual SIM managed to play even our higher bit-rate Full-HD videos, but it skipped a few frames. We put the phone through our intensive battery test and it managed to last us 6 hours, 55 minutes before it died. This should translate to a day's worth of battery life in real world usage.

The loudspeaker volume is really low and lacks clarity. We were also completely surprised that the sound quality through headphones was not that good either. The earpiece volume is low and as a result, we had to stress to hear the person on the other side of phone calls.

Verdict
As we've already stated, the arrival of the Xiaomi Mi 3 (review) at a throwaway price has changed the entire market's dynamics. The Mi 3, with its blazing fast performance, looks like it offers better value at Rs. 13,999 than the Desire 616 Dual SIM does at Rs. 16,990.

The only silver lining for HTC is the fact that Xiaomi's stocks are limited and the Mi 3 is sold only during flash sales on Flipkart. Snagging one is bound to be a hassle, which might put off lots of potential buyers. On the other hand, the HTC Desire 616 Dual SIM can be found at any retail store right now.

In any case, we cannot recommend the HTC Desire 616 Dual SIM whole-heartedly after our experiences with it when cheaper, better options such as the Motorola Moto G (review) and Asus ZenFone 5 (review) are available right now (in addition to the Mi 3). Moreover, if you don't mind a bigger screen, you might even want to consider the Asus ZenFone 6 (review) at the same price.

Windows Phone 8.1 to get native folder support soon

 Although a large number of existing devices are still waiting for the Windows Phone 8.1 update, it appears that Microsoft is working on a new Windows Phone 8.1 update. The update will reportedly bring features that have been part of rival mobile operating systems for years. 

Detailing the update via some of its developer pages, Microsoft has informed that the update known as Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1 will include native support for app folders. This will allows users to group app tiles together into one group. The details were first reported by Nokia Power User. 

Presently, Microsoft offers App Folder app for Nokia Lumia phones that offers the ability to club app shortcuts into a folder. It essentially creates a Live tile featuring icons of the apps inside it. However,the tile is just a shortcut to the App Folder app that lists all the apps and not really a native folder. 

Another feature that the new Windows Phone update is said to bring is support for interactive case accessories. Following the update, Windows Phone devices will be able to support cases that wake up or display selective information with various use cases. Samsung, LG and HTC offer these cases for their Android smartphones, at the moment. 

In addition to these, the update will bring support for 7-inch devices, 800x1280p resolution displays, Network Time Protocol, phonebook entry for Cortana to enable integration with car's navigation system, medium Live Tile for the Store app, dual-sim capability with both GSM + CDMA network support and voice over LTE. 

The update is expected to be released as a developers preview in August and new devices launched in August and September may come pre-loaded with this build. 

Nokia Lumia 520 Remains The Most Favourite Windows Phone Despite New Entrants: Lumia 920 Leads In China Read more: http://www.dazeinfo.com/2014/07/03/nokia-lumia-520-smartphone-market-share-2014-india-us-australia/#ixzz38leIerSX

Windows 8 OS might have been unable to turn the desktop OS market in its favour but Windows Phone 8 is doing a great job in the Windows Phone mobile devices market. The combination of Lumia series and Windows Phone is definitely a good news for Microsoft Corporation (ADR) (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK). Nokia Lumia 520 continues to capture the Windows Phone device market, while Windows Phone 8.1 improves its smartphone market share, up from 5.2% in May 2014 to 7.7% this month, according to the latest AdDuplex report. The report is based on data collected over the day of June 23^rd, 2014 (UTC time) from 4,311 Windows Phone apps running AdDuplex SDK version 2.0. in 10 countries.

The adduplex June report is very similar to the report we addressed previous month with respect to Windows Phone devices. The entry-level and mid-range smartphones continue to be high in demand. Nokia Lumia 520, Lumia 625 and Lumia 920 continue with their top-3 positions respectively, though some swapping is clearly visible in the devices capturing the Windows Phone device market with low share. Even in the top-3 positions, a marginal change in the market share is visible. The Windows Phone device share of Lumia 520 went down from 33.7% in May, 2014 to 31.6% a month later. Lumia 625 and Lumia 920 witnessed a negligible increase of 0.6% and 0.7% in their market share respectively. However, the top-10 Windows Phone devices remain the same. The newly-launched device Nokia Lumia 630 is catching up fast since it jumped from 30^th position last month to 20^th spot this month.

Nokia Lumia 520 Gets New Kids on the Block

Last month there were only 4 major manufacturers dealing in Windows Phone devices but this month, we witnessed an influx of new OEMs though they failed to capture any market. Micromax, Panasonic and Prestigio launched their Windows Phone smartphones in this month. However, the failure to capture any market can not be seen as their loss. The increasing demand of budget smartphones is likely to fuel their sales in the coming months.

Nokia and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (KRX:005930) managed to improve their market share in one month at the cost of HTC Corp. (TPE:2498). Windows 8.1, though in its infancy, is already attracting the customers. The notification bar and Cortana are some of the features that go a long way in making it user-friendly.

Nokia Lumia 52x Still Remains a Favourite Among Users

Out of the ten countries surveyed for the AdDuplex, it’s only the United States that was covered in May and June report both. The June report covered Windows Phone device market share in Australia, Chile, China, Mexico, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands United States and United Kingdom. Though the U.S. has been tracked for the past 2 months and Mexico has been covered after a span of 9 months, the Windows Phone device market remains almost unchanged. Nokia Lumia 520 and Lumia 521 continue to capture more than half the Windows Phone market in US, while in Mexico, Lumia 710 jumped from third position to second and Lumia 520 captured more than one-third of the market.

China is the only country where a device, other than Lumia 52x, is leading the Windows Phone device market. Nokia Lumia 920 captured almost one-fifth of the Windows Phone smartphone market in China. This is surprising since home-grown vendors are more famous in China and the country is largely known for supporting budget-smartphones, whereas Lumia 920 falls under the premium-price smartphone category. Infact, for the past four months, Lumia 920, Lumia 520 and Lumia 925 continue to hold the nearly 40% of China market in top-3 spots.

Nokia Lumia 92x and 62x Seize a Sizeable Market Share

In all the countries tracked by AdDuplex, Nokia Lumia 920, Lumia 925, Lumia 620 and Lumia 625 boasted of almost one-third market share combined. The 92x and 62x series captured 32.8% Windows Phone device share in Australia, 28.6% share in Ireland, 35.2% in Germany and 36.6% in Italy. All of these three Lumia devices fall under mid and high-range smartphones category and have a greater appeal in developed nations.

The report covered Chile for the first time and, here too, Nokia Lumia 520 captured almost half of the Windows Phone devices market. Similar to Chile, Lumia 520 boasted of a market share of 46.4% in Ireland too. Lumia 520 has been hogging the market at first position since October in Ireland.

Almost all the devices that feature in the Netherlands graph are new entrants but the market phenomenon is very much similar to other countries.  Nokia Lumia 925, Lumia 625, Lumia 1020 and Samsung ATIV S were recently added in the list while HTC 8S, Lumia 710, Lumia 900 and Huawei W1 failed to make their presence felt in the market and failed to feature in the top-10 list.

Largely driven by Nokia, the Windows Phone devices hold a small share in the global market, but with the influx of smartphones at all price ranges and with the advent of new players this trend is likely to change. The global market share of Windows Phone smartphones is expected to almost double from 3.5% in 2014 to 6.4% in 2018. Inspite of being available in few devices and developers version, Windows 8.1 is doing a great job, the improved features are attracting customers. In addition to that, the budget phones have a higher appeal with the consumers but the mid-range and high-end Windows Phones are also appealing the users.

Nokia Lumia 1520 Receives Lumia Cyan Update with Windows Phone 8.1

The Lumia Cyan update is now rolling out for Nokia's large screen smartphone, Lumia 1520.

Last week, Microsoft confirmed the roll-out of Lumia Cyan update, which adds Windows Phone 8.1 and new Lumia features, for Nokia's Lumia series smartphone running Windows Phone 8.

The Lumia Cyan update with new Windows Phone 8.1 is now available for Lumia 1520 users in Finland and India. Although the Nokia software page suggests the update for Lumia 1520 in the aforementioned countries is "under testing" status, WPCentral claims that the update is seeding for Lumia 1520.

Those who are in Finland and India should manually check for the update in their Lumia 1520 by navigating to Settings>> Phones update>> Check for update.

Screenshot of Lumia Cyan update running on Lumia 1520.

WM power user now reports the Lumia Cyan update is released for UK Lumia 1520 users. As the above screenshot suggests, the Windows Phone 8.1 software comes with OS version 8.10.12397.895.

Users will not be able to use the phone while the update is being installed, which should take about 15 to 30 minutes. If the update is major, this could exceed up to two hours, depending on the model of the phone.

Those who do not know how to update Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices to Lumia Cyan, may follow our guide here.

Apart from the Lumia Cyan goodies, the Windows Phone 8.1 update for Lumia 1520 and Lumia Icon brings several changes such as improved audio quality in the video, camera capabilities with enhanced colours and low light performance, continuous autofocus and improvements to RAW DNG images.

Nokia Lumia 530 vs Nokia Lumia 520

The Nokia Lumia 520 was and is a tremendously popular Windows Phone handset. In fact according to a study from late last year it was the most popular Windows Phone handset of all time and it likely still is thanks to combining impressive performance with a low price tag.

But now there’s a new phone on the block, the Nokia Lumia 530, and it’s aiming for the same slice of the pie. It’s got a lot to live up to but first impressions are promising. Here’s how the two handsets stack up.

Nokia Lumia 530 vs Nokia Lumia 520 – Build

In terms of build quality there’s not a lot to choose between the two. Both are solidly made, as you’d expect from Nokia and both phones have colourful plastic back covers and large bezels surrounding the screen.

However there are some differences in the design. The Nokia Lumia 530 has rounded edges and comes in at 119.7 x 62.3 x 11.7mm and 129g, while the Nokia Lumia 520 has a squarer design and is 119.9 x 64 x 9.9mm and 124g, so there’s little in it, though the 520 is marginally slimmer and lighter.

Nokia Lumia 530 vs Nokia Lumia 520 – Display

Both the Nokia Lumia 520 and the Nokia Lumia 530 have 4.0 inch displays, however while the Nokia Lumia 530 has a 480 x 854 LCD screen with a pixel density of 245 pixels per inch, the Nokia Lumia 520 has a 480 x 800 IPS LCD display with a pixel density of 233 pixels per inch. So in other words the Lumia 520’s screen is slightly less sharp.

On the other hand IPS LCD often leads to better viewing angles and superior colour reproduction to bog standard LCD, so it may be that the Lumia 520 actually has a better screen, but that remains to be seen.

Nokia Lumia 530 vs Nokia Lumia 520 - Power

There’s quite a lot of difference in power between these two phones. The Nokia Lumia 520 has a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 512MB of RAM, while the Nokia Lumia 530 has a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor and 512MB of RAM.

So the RAM is the same but the Lumia 530 has twice as many cores clocked at a slightly higher speed, which should make it substantially speedier overall. It’s worth noting though that performance on the Nokia Lumia 520 tends to be surprisingly smooth, which is one of the reasons it’s so popular, so it’s still good buy and by extension you shouldn’t need to worry about performance on the Lumia 530 at all.

Nokia Lumia 530 vs Nokia Lumia 520 - Camera

There’s little difference in the photographic skills of these two phones and neither one is up to the high standards that Nokia handsets are typically known for, equipped as they are with just 5 megapixel main cameras, no LED flash and no front facing cameras at all.

For the money you pay though that’s more than adequate and a 5 megapixel sensor can still snap some reasonable photos.

Surprisingly the Lumia 520 may actually be the slightly better of the two when it comes to video though, as it can shoot 720p video, while the Lumia 530 is limited to 480p video

Both the Nokia Lumia 530 and the Nokia Lumia 520 have 1430 mAh batteries, but there are differences in their lifespans. Nokia claims that the Lumia 530 can last for up to 10 hours of talk time on 3G or up to 22 days of standby time, while the Lumia 520 doesn’t fare quite so well, with a 3G talk time of up to 9.7 hours and a standby time of up to 16 days.

The Nokia Lumia 520 is arguably better for storage capacity though, as it has 8GB built in while the Lumia 530 has just 4GB. But on the other hand the Lumia 530 can take microSD cards of up to 128GB, while the Lumia 520 is capped at 64GB.

Connectivity options are much the same, with both phones supporting Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth 4.0, while 4G LTE and NFC are notably absent from both handsets.

Nokia Lumia 530 vs Nokia Lumia 520 – Conclusion

There’s not a vast amount of difference between the Nokia Lumia 530 and the Nokia Lumia 520. They have a similar build and design, the same battery size, a similar camera, the same amount of RAM, the same connectivity options and the same size screen.

There are some differences though and they don’t all work out in the Lumia 530’s favour. That phone has a marginally higher resolution display, a more powerful processor, a slightly longer battery life and supports larger microSD cards.

On the other hand the Lumia 520 is a little better for video recording, uses a potentially superior display technology and has more built in storage, so there are good and bad points to both and really not a lot in it overall.

It’s worth noting also that while the Nokia Lumia 530 comes with Windows Phone 8.1, the Nokia Lumia 520 is upgradeable to it, so again no real difference there.

Panomo panoramic camera

Throw the Panomo camera ball into the air to take incredible 360 degree photographs from all angles. Possibly don't throw it too hard though

Polaroid Socialmatic camera

Originally floated as a concept back in 2012, the Android-based Socialmatic could revive the beloved Polaroid as we know it. An inkless printing system enables users to print stickers of their sepia-tinted images, and customise them using the 4.5 inch touchscreen. Slated for release by the end of 2014, it may be hipster, but it's also incredibly cool