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When we got our hands on the HTC Desire 816 during this year’s Mobile World Congress, we loved HTC’s direction for the phone. Touted as a slightly bigger, plastic polycarbonate version of the HTC One for Europe/Asia, the phone offered a fair amount of specs, at a more affordable price.
It wasn’t too long ago rumors of an “HTC One M8 Ace” surfaced online, although details on the phone were scarce (we did get a nice blurry press shot though). But it appears the folks at Engadget may have uncovered a few new deets on the phone, said to feature a unibody plastic construction (similar to the recently released HTC Desire 816) but with a form factor more in tune with the HTC One M8.
According to sources, HTC aims to compete directly with the Samsung Galaxy S5 by offering the same specs — 5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 801 processor, etc. — but undercutting them on pricing. Rumors suggest the phone could launch at around $480 off-contract, although nothing is confirmed quite yet. Bring that price closer to $400, and we think HTC could be onto something here.
There’s no question plastic is a more cost effective material for OEM’s looking to improve their bottom line. If HTC can cut costs by offering a non-aluminum version of the HTC One M8 (maybe with a 13MP as found on the Desire 816), we have to admit — we’d bite. What do you guys think?
May be definitely on to something, release it in multiple colors and they’d definitely sell.
To cut costs, I’d even take an HTC Ace with Snapdragon 800, 5-inch display (no HTC logo bezel), 8MP camera on the back (2MP front), 32GB of internal memory, 2GB RAM, 3,000mAh battery — plastic body. Make it $450 and offer a Google Play edition…. #heaven
…that’s just a Nexus 5 with a slightly bigger battery, dude. Hahaha.
And front facing speakers, yes. :P
And an Fm radio :-)
aim for the $399 price and you have a potential winner.
Now, I’m just thinking out loud here… but how cool would it be if the “Ace” up HTC’s sleeve was a low-cost One M8 — that just so happened to be the next Nexus?
Hear me out.
$400 smartphone. HTC’s quality plastic housing. Snapdragon 801 and lack of Duo camera/SD card slot to help keep costs down. 2MP front facing camera (instead of the 5MP on the One M8). Stock Android 4.4.3 KitKat and front facing speakers?
*pants explode*
OMG Chris I agree. My pants would explode and I would buy it. This would knock the socks off of Samsung and the smartphone world.
Why not, one more shitty camera on a Nexus.
New HTC head of design: Chris Chavez??
Hell. Yes. Sub $500 = insta buy.
Respectable specs plus a better camera than the M8, I’ll be taking a look.
It’s funny, Samsung is gonna release a metal phone and HTC is gonna release a plastic one.
My Uncle Aaron just got an awesome 12 month
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Use the same poly carb material as the Windows Phone 8 and it would be pretty awesome.