HTC Butterfly – Review

I am an avid user of iPhones and I have been for the last 4 years and I’m currently getting bored of iOS, yes, bored. I have been wondering what to get next and the opportunity to review one of HTC’s top end devices arose, so I jumped at the chance.

First of all I’ll quickly run through the good and bad points.

Good Points

• 5″ inch Full HD Display
• Expandable storage up to 32GB
• Smooth Operating system
• Gorgeous looking

Bad Points

• Non-removable battery
• Sense 4+ (We know 5 is around the corner)
• No DC-HSDPA

Spec

Here are the specs for the HTC Butterfly:

GENERAL 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 2100 4G Network LTE (market dependent) SIM Micro-SIM Announced 2012, December Status Available. Released 2013, January

BODY Dimensions 143 x 70.5 x 9.1 mm (5.63 x 2.78 x 0.36 in) Weight 140 g (4.94 oz)

DISPLAY Type Super LCD3 capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0 inches (~441 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 2 – HTC Sense UI 4+

SOUND Alert types Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes – Beats Audio sound enhancement

MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB Internal 16 GB (11 GB user available) 2 GB RAM

CONNECTIVITY WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP NFC Yes USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL)

CAMERA Primary 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash Features Simultaneous HD video and face and smile detection Video Yes, 1080p@30fps, stereo sound rec., video stabilization Secondary Yes, 2.1 MP, 1080p@30fps

FEATURES OS Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.2 (Jelly Bean) CPU Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait GPU Adreno 320 Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass GPS Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS – SNS integration – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic – TV-out (via MHL A/V link)

BATTERY Non-removable Li-Po 2020 mAh

Build

The HTC Butterfly is a stunning device, especially in this glossy red. A number of people I have shown the device to have agreed, it is gorgeous to look at and even though it encases a 5″ screen it still fits perfectly in the hand. The sturdiness of the build is as you would expect from a HTC device, second to none. I’m a little weary of scratching the back though with the glossy finish. A rear skin or case would definitely be needed to keep it looking pristine. I’m currently carrying my glasses wipe around and laying the device on that.

Storage

The Butterfly comes with 16GB storage built in which is more than enough for most. If not, there is also an expandable Micro SD slot, hiding behind the secret door, that will take up to 32GB for those extra storage needs.

Screen

The Screen that comes on this device is immense, a super crisp picture on a 5″ screen capable of allowing full HD, 1920×1080 (441ppi) on a mobile phone this is incredible and for it to sit comfortably in the hand as mentioned earlier is an even better feat. You can get HD content samples freely available on the Internet, download one of these one this device and it truly will blow you away! Don’t worry to much about scratching the screen either on this device, although it is possible, the Corning Gorilla Glass 2 makes it quite difficult to do so.

Internals

With a familiar 1.5GHz quad-core CPU coupled with 2GB RAM, any OS you stick on this monster of a device will be a doddle to run. Android 4.1.1 even though it includes Sense 4+ is no different. The system is fantastically smooth, you have elegant scrolling through emails and massive contact lists. I never had any lag or choppyness whilst using the device. You also get the usual chips inside for WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth, some models of the Butterfly also include LTE, unfortunately not this one.

Battery

The battery is a non-removable 2020mAh. I am always cautious when it comes to battery life as I’m a power hog but this Butterfly really surprised me. Taking the device off charge at 7AM on the day that battery life stood out, I had my Coolsmartphone email syncing all the time, typed about 10 email replies, spent 10 mins on GTalk, 30 mins browsing and a 2 hr phone call! There was still 28% left by 10PM. HTC have cracked it, there was no suffering to performance either.

Camera

The norm on camera phones at the moment seems to be 8-MegaPixels, this is no different, the picture quality is very good but I wouldn’t consider it excellent… I’m not a massive camera user and it might be the screen that seems to let the viewfinder down and give a false impression of the camera being weak. Here are a couple of samples. There is a picture taken indoors and outside.

Ports + Switches

On the top you have one of the two microphones, a standard 3.5mm headphone socket along with the power button, which is slap bang in the middle, I think its a very good place for it, next to that you have a dust cover, as this phone has no removable back or battery they needed somewhere to put the SIM slot accompanying the SIM slot is the Micro SD hole.

On the right hand side there is the Volume rocker which is surrounded by a grill look side panel.

On the bottom, the Micro-USB for syncing and charging, it’s not on its own though there is another mic which is the main one. Just a note: the mentioned dust covers are attached by a little piece of flexible plastic.

On the left side there is nothing apart from the grill look side panel

Sound

Call quality on this device is fantastic although I did meet a tiny obstacle. When I balanced this phone between my cheek and shoulder I sometimes struggled to hear from the speaker unless I fiddled, the loudspeaker saved me in these situations though and that is crystal clear. The ringtone is plenty loud enough, easily heard whilst walking round a local supermarket or Town Centre.

Overall round up of this phone is that it is a fantastic device. This is the only device I’ve used recently which has tempted me away from my current iPhone 5. It’s sleek looks, quality build and superb use. It really is a fantastic piece of equipment.

At a price of £659.99 over at Mobicity I would buy one of these over the slightly bigger Samsung competitor, the Note II. It gives that limited feeling because the device isn’t really available here in the UK but Mobicity UK will bring it in for you. This truly is that good in my opinion.