Back in December 2015, Qualcomm announced that it was going to rename its new SD620 and SD618 chipsets as Snapdragon 652 and Snapdragon 650 processors. The rebranding made sense, since these two chipsets were much more powerful than its other SD600 series counterparts. The first SD652 smartphones started appearing around early 2016 and since then we have seen an influx of solid mid-rangers powered by this chip. In fact, even in 2017, there were a few smartphones with SD652, like the standard edition of the Nubia Z17 Mini.

The chipset was quite popular among mid-rangers, but that was more than a year ago. In 2018, the Snapdragon 652 is nearly two years old and technically, it’s three generations old now: succeeded first by SD653 (October 2016) and then by SD660 (May 2017).

So, despite its popularity back in the day, does it make sense to use Snapdragon 652 inside a $500 HTC U11 Eyes upper mid-ranger announced in 2018?

To be honest, using Snapdragon 653 would have made more sense. It’s slightly faster, features a new generation X9 LTE modem, and is just over a year old. It’s like a refreshed SD652, with small upgrades. The performance is slightly better given its higher clock speed, and it scores around 90,000 points vs 78,000 by SD652 in the AnTuTu benchmark. Similar difference can be found in other benchmark scores as well.

Ideally, for a upper mid-range device like the HTC U11 Eyes, the Snapdragon 660 would have been perfect. But the company likely skipped on the chipset in order to save cost. Another possible option would have been the SD636, which although comes from the lower SD63X series, is quite powerful thanks to its 8 x Kryo 260 custom cores (same ones found on the SD660 chip) clocked at 1.8GHz. It’s much more advanced as well, featuring Qualcomm’s aptX codec technology, Spectra 160 ISP, X12 LTE modem (Cat. 13), and manufactured on a much efficient 14nm node. In all counts, the SD636 would have been another option that was better than the SD652.

For a tech enthusiast, seeing Snapdragon 652 on a 2018 upper mid-range smartphone is really a disappointment. But end of the day, for a regular smartphone user, SD652 could be sufficient. With the right UI optimisations, you should still see all the features work smoothly, with minimal lag. It may not be very quick in opening apps as other 2017 / 18 smartphones, but it sure has enough firepower to get the job done. Agreed, SD653 would have been better, but the difference wouldn’t have been significant. Maybe that’s why HTC didn’t care to use an updated chipset on its new model. Luckily, the battery is quite large, so despite SD652 being manufactured on a larger 28nm node, battery life should be good.

So if you are not a tech enthusiast, I guess you could live with the Snapdragon 652 inside an upper mid-range smartphone like the U11 Eyes. Moreover, other features of the phone like IP67 certification, Edge Sense, Dual Front cameras, HTC U11’s Rear sensor, and Android Oreo definitely helps in making the SD652 powered U11 Eyes likeable. You can read more about the HTC U11 Eyes in our launch article.

What are your thoughts?

The post Snapdragon 652 Revisited: Does It Make Sense To Use A Two Year Old Chipset In A $500 HTC Device in 2018? appeared first on Gizmochina.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has already revealed that it would be launching the U11 Eyes on January 15 simultaneously in Beijing, Taipei and Hong Kong. The HTC U11 EYEs looks like one awesome device worth waiting for, going by the leaked renders we have seen. And now, the specification of the device has leaked ahead of its launch. Not only do we get an idea of the specs of the U11 EYEs, we also get to see the press renders of the model in all its glory.

The renders were official ones and they emanated from HTC Taiwan’s official Facebook page. Lately, HTC has been coming up with some good phones and this is probably one of them. The U11 EYEs and the U11+ both have a similar rear design with the body looked to be made of glass and the fingerprint sensor located just under the main camera. The difference between both models apparently lies in the front design. The upcoming HTC U11 EYEs packs a dual camera setup at the front. The device also has a full-screen design with tinier bezels at the top and bottom edges while those at the two sides look almost non-existent.

Apart from the press renders, the key specs of the U11 EYEs have also been exposed ahead of the launch and it comes courtesy of tipster Evan Bass.The details include a 6-inch display with a resolution of 2160 × 1080p and thus, an 18: 9 aspect ratio. In addition, the device is said to pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 backed by 4GB of RAM while there is 64GB of storage onboard. From the press renders, we can gather that the U11 EYEs will pack a 3939mAh battery and will have an IP67 level dustproof, and waterproof build.

Read Also: HTC U11 EYEs Could be Arriving With Amazing Selfie Snapper

Furthermore, the device is expected to pack HTC’s Edge Sense and would run on Android Nougat out of the box. Another interesting feature expected to be on the device is facial recognition technology. The front dual cameras also come with three modes; rapid HDR, Bokeh mode and Beauty mode.  The device will be available in Black, Silver, and Red colors. Finally, the device should come with a price tag hovering around 14900NT (about 32oo Yuan, ~$495).

(source 1, 2, via)

The post HTC U11 EYEs Full Details & Press Renders Leaked Before Launch appeared first on Gizmochina.

HTC has sent out media ‘Save The Date’ invites for an event that the company is holding on 15th January. At the event, the company is expected to launch HTC U11 EYEs mid-range phone, which is codenamed Harmony.

While the invite doesn’t specifically mention that the HTC U11 EYEs will be launched, the accompanying post mentions ‘eye’, which pretty much confirms that it will debut at the 15th January event. Some report suggests that the phone will go on sale from 17th January in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Recently, Evan Blass shared the press renders of the phone and also revealed key specifications. The leaked images suggest that the HTC U11 EYEs will feature a curving glass back that comes in three colours — Red, Black, and a Blue-ish Silver.

The phone sports 5.99-inch Full-HD+ Super LCD3 display with 2160 x 1080 pixels screen resolution and 18:9 aspect ratio. Thanks to the fingerprint sensor on the back, the top and bottom bezels are now thinner. Under the hood, the device is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 652 processor from Qualcomm with 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

There is also a microSD card slot, which enables users to further expand the phone’s storage capacity using a microSD card. While not much information is available about the camera specification, from the renders of the phone, it seems that there will be a dual camera setup on the front.

The phone is said to be running Android Nougat operating system out-of-the-box with the company’s own Sense UI on top. It also includes Edge Sense to trigger programmable actions by squeezing the phone. It is IP67 certified, meaning water and dust resistance. The device is fuelled by a 3,930mAh battery.

Read More: HTC U11+ Could Get Red Colour Variant In The Coming Days

The HTC U11 EYEs is expected to be priced around 3,299 Yuan, which roughly converts to $510. Initially, the phone will be available in three countries — China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The post HTC U11 EYEs Mid-Range Smartphone To Launch Next Week appeared first on Gizmochina.