HTC Launched HTC Desire Eye, HTC One M8 Eye & Re Camera in India

Today at a special Press event in Mumbai, HTC launched various new smartphones and devices for Indian market. The devices announced were HTC Desire Eye, HTC One M8 Eye, HTC Desire 516C, HTC Desire 820, HTC Desire 820q and their revolutionary camera device, the HTC Re. The event took place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai, since I got the invitation for the event, I decided to pay a visit to witness the mega-launch of multiple devices under one roof. The event was well crowded with media people, bloggers and journalists. John Abraham (The Bollywood Actor) was chief-guest for the event.

Brief Summary of the HTC Event

At the beginning, Mr.Faisal Siddiqui (Vice President & Country Head, India at HTC) delivered a keynote speech. John Abraham took the stage, accompanied by HTC team, posing for cameras. Then came a Presentation by Darren Sng (HTC Senior Director of Product Marketing, Asia Pacific) as he unveiled the new smartphones and Re camera. After the product launch, HTC team and John Abraham took the stage for Questionnaire. After the press conference, some more posing for cameras and the event was concluded. At the end, the demo units of each products were placed for initial hands on. A few lucky people (including me) got a chance to meet Darren Sng in a separate conference room, where he answered our questions and gave live demos of various new features. Below is the list of products released in the event.  

John Abraham along with an HTC Team member | Source: HTC India Facebook Page

Smartphones Launched by HTC at the Event

HTC Desire Eye

HTC launched Desire Eye smartphone in India at their event. The HTC Desire Eye comes with a 5.2 Inch Full HD display with resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, it is made of a uni-body two-colored polycarbonate material and is 8.5mm thick. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset (2.3GHz Quad-Core CPU) and Adreno 330 GPU. The Desire Eye comes with an Internal storage of 16GB and can be expanded upto 128GB using microSD card, it has 2 GB of RAM. Camera wise it has a 13 Megapixel Rear camera which comes with a BSI sensor, Dual LED flash and can shoot Full HD videos (1080p). The Front camera on Desire Eye (surprisingly) is again a 13 Megapixel camera with BSI sensor, Dual LED Flash, Autofocus and can shoot Full HD videos. Out of the box the Desire Eye will run the latest Android v4.4 KitKat or v5.0 Lollipop (HTC haven't mentioned yet) with HTC Sense UI. The battery on Desire Eye is a 2400 mAh Li-Po battery.

Price in India: Not-Yet-Announced
Release Date in India: Early November

HTC One M8 Eye

Another device launched today was HTC One M8 Eye. It looks same as the HTC One M8, the only difference is the camera. HTC One M8 Eye packs a 5 inch Full HD display with 1080p resolution, boasts full metal unibody design, 9.3mm thick and is available in Gunmetal Grey color like the HTC One M8. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset (2.3GHz Quad-core CPU) with 2 GB RAM. The Internal storage is 16 GB and is expandable up to 128 GB using MicroSD card. On the back it has 13 Megapixel Duo camera with Autofocus, capable of shooting Full HD 1080p videos and has dual LED flash. The secondary camera at the front is a 5 Megapixel shooter with Full HD video recording. Out of box it will run Android v4.4 KitKat (upgradable to v5.0 Lollipop) and packs 2600 mAh battery.

Price in India: Rs.38,990
Release Date in India: October 18, 2014

HTC Desire 516C

An entry-level budget smartphone by HTC, the Desire 516C comes with a 5 Inch qHD display. It is 9.6mm thick and weighs 160 grams. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 chip, clocked at 1.2GHz Quad-Core CPU and 1 GB RAM. It has internal storage of 4 GB and supports microSD cards up to 32GB. Packs a 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus, capable of shooting 720p HD videos. The front camera is a basic 0.3 Megapixel camera. HTC Desire 516C is a dual-SIM smartphone, runs Android OS and packs 1950 mAh battery. 

Price in India: Rs. 12,990
Release Date in India: Starting October 18, 2014

Note: HTC Desire 516C is exclusively available at SnapDeal.com

HTC Desire 820

Note: HTC launched Desire 820 at a recent event which held in Delhi but didn't disclosed the price. In yesterday's Mumbai event they disclosed the price.

HTC launched the successor of Desire 816, which is HTC Desire 820. The Desire 820 is an Octa-Core powered smartphone with 64 bit processing capability. With a display of 5.5 inch (720p resolution) and corning gorilla glass 3 protection, the Desire 820 is 7.7mm thick and weighs 155 grams. Powered by 1.5 GHz Quad Core and 1.0 GHz Quad Core processors, it is an Octa-Core device. It comes with a 2 GB DDR3 RAM, 16 GB Internal storage and supports microSD cards up to 128 GB. Runs Android OS, topped with HTC Sense UI. The rear camera is a 13 Megapixel shooter, capable of shooting Full HD 1080p videos. The front camera is 8 Megapixel shooter and can shoot 1080p videos. The HTC Desire 820 is a dual-SIM smartphone and packs a 2600 mAh battery. Other features include HTC Blinkfeed, HTC BoomSound etc.

Price in India: Rs. 24,990
Release Date in India: November 5, 2014

HTC Desire 820q

Similar to the HTC Desire 820, the Desire 820q is a Quad-Core smartphone. It comes with a 5.5 Inch 720p resolution display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. It is 7.7mm thick and weighs 155 grams, similar to the Desire 820. Powered by a 1.2 GHz Quad core processor and 1 GB DDR3 RAM, it has a internal storage of 16 GB and can be expanded up to 128 GB using microSD card. The Desire 820q is a dual sim smartphone, packs a 13 Megapixel camera at the back, capable of shooting Full HD videos. The front camera is a 8 Megapixel camera with 1080p video recording capability. HTC Desire 820q packs a 2600 mAh battery and runs Android OS with HTC Sense UI.

Price in India: Rs.22,500
Release Date in India: November 5, 2014

HTC Re Camera Launched in India

Along with the smartphones, HTC also brought their revolutionary HTC Re camera to Indian market. The HTC Re camera was launched at an introductory price of Rs.9,990. The best thing about this innovative camera is its design, the Re packs a minimalist cylindrical design which fits comfortably in your hands and forms a natural grip. The camera packs an inbuilt Grip sensor which turns the camera on, as soon as you grip it, you are ready to shoot. HTC Re ensures that you won't miss any moment, configuring settingsm fumbling between modes, turning the camera on etc. Just grip it and it will automatically get activated.

The Re camera contains 2 large sized buttons, one is used for clicking photos, as well as videos and is placed so that your thumb can be used for clicking. A single tap of the button clicks a photo and a long-press of button activates video recording. The second button is located right under the camera sensor, it is placed so that your index finger reaches it naturally, just like pulling the trigger of gun. This second button activates slow-motion and time-lapse modes.

Camera Specifications:

Size: 96.7 x 26.5 mm (cylindrical shape)
Weight: 65.5 grams

16 Megapixel Fixed-Focus Camera
1/2.3" CMOS sensor
Ultra Wide Angle - 146 degree lens (f/2.8)
Full HD Video recording 1080p @ 30 fps, 720p video
4 x Slow Motion video
Time Lapse

Inbuilt Speaker and Microphone
Grip Sensor, G Sensor
8 GB Storage (MicroSD card included)
Storage expandable to 128 GB using microSD card

820 mAh Battery
(Capable of shooting 1,200 photos and 1 hr 40 min continous Full HD video)
Bluetooth 4.0 support
Wi-Fi support
1/4" Tripod Mount
,
Compatible with Android 4.3 JellyBean or above
Apple iOS 7 or later

IPx7 Waterproof 
1 meter for 30 minutes

Re is really amazing with such hardware and specifications. It works perfectly well underwater and shoots wide angle photos with ease. By purchasing separate HTC official Re accessories, you can mount your HTC Re camera to your bicycle, your car, backpack, arm etc. The HTC Re is pretty light and is available in four fun colors. Inside the box, you get a AC adapter, USB Cable, strap etc.

Re interacts with your smartphone using a special Re app which syncs all your photos and videos over Wi-Fi, you can download the ones you like on your smartphone by tapping the download button. You can even transform your smartphone into a remote view-finder of Re camera. The photos and videos can be shared instantly by downloading the particular image or video on to your phone, then sharing it across social networks.

Price in India: Rs. 9,990
Release Date in India: First week of November via SnapDeal.com (Exclusive)

Conclusion

So that was it, HTC launched the above listed smartphones and Re camera for Indian market, all the devices will be available by early November, some releasing tomorrow. All the devices are wonderfully designed and reasonably priced. I personally loved the HTC Desire Eye, HTC One M8 Eye and HTC Re Camera. I will be reviewing some of these devices soon on this blog. Overall the event was rocking and it was nice meeting Darren from HTC, he answered all our questions, explained everything with utmost detail, gave live demos of various new features and also participated in a group shot with us.