Oh hello. The HTC Desire C broke cover unofficially only yesterday, but today we’ve had official confirmation that it’s coming from HTC, and will be available on Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Media, Three, O2 and Tesco Mobile as of early June. It’s pitched as a budget Android 4.0 handset, but, well… Is it too expensive to sit in that gap?
We’ve moaned at length before about the lack of cheap Android 4.0 smartphones. If Google and Android’s manufacturers don’t move fast, they’re going to get caught out by Windows Phone and its quickly-filling roster of budget handsets. But hang on, could the HTC Desire C stop that?
On paper it’s as budget as they come. Forget the fact that Ice Cream Sandwich makes it tick, and you’re not looking at anything particularly special: a 5-Meg camera sitting behind a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 display, all powered by a 600MHz processor.
Cheap Windows Phone: Android’s worst nightmare?
That said, there are a few nice touches. Dropbox integration means you get 25GB of free cloud storage, there’s Beats audio built in and HTC’s also selling a version of the Desire C with NFC tech built in.
But here’s the biggest problem: we’ve had PAYG pricing from T-Mobile, and it’s pegged at £169.99. That’s just not cheap enough – not when you can get a Nokia Lumia 710 for £130, or the really capable (if not Android 4.0) Huawei Ascend G300 for £100.
Android needs a low-priced Ice Cream Sandwich champion soon, and, while we’ll reserve judgement on the Desire C until we get a chance to review it, we’re worried that this might be another missed opportunity. Let us know your thoughts below.
