HTC Desire 816

100% of the reviews on Amazon.co.uk give this product a positive rating.

performance, portability, price, screen, size

connectivity, apps

91% of the reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

price

performance

100% of the reviews on Amazon.ca give this product a positive rating.

Nice big screen ; Slick Android UI ; Loud front-facing speakers ; Attractive design

Cameras can be sluggish ; Poor HDR images ; Not as good a value as certain other devices, namely the OnePlus One

HTC's Desire 816 is almost a perfect mid-range LTE phablet with good looks, a nice display and slick general performance, only to be let down by its erratically sluggish cameras.

5.5" 720p Super LCD2 capacitive touchscreen, ambient light sensor ; Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with 1.6GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU, Adreno 305 GPU and 1.5GB of RAM ; Android 4.4.2 KitKat with HTC Sense 6.0 ; 13MP autofocus camera, 1080p video...

Power key is on top, hard to reach on a big phone ; Side buttons are poorly positioned and feel cheap ; Small battery for a phablet ; Underwhelming stereo speaker loudness

The Desire 816 is only HTC's second attempt at a phablet - a bit unusual considering the segment has been expanding rapidly. So why is HTC hesitant to enter it with both feet the way other companies have?

Massive, high-quality LCD. Loud front-facing speakers. Runs Android 4.4.

No split-screen multitasking. Mediocre call quality.

Cameras and Conclusions Equipped with a 13-megapixel, rear-facing camera, the Desire 816 is capable of producing some really nice images. Outdoors and in good light, shots look incredibly crisp and full of detail. I much prefer the extra pixels here as...

Very large display ; Snappy UI performance ; Stylish Sense 6.0 interface ; Front-facing stereo speakers ; Camera takes good photos ; Good value for money ; Above average battery life

Heavy video games may be choppy ; A bit large given the screen size ; Earpiece quality could have been better ; Only 4.2GB of user-available built-in storage makes using a microSD card mandatory

Well, what do you know: the HTC Desire 816 is an admirable mid-range smartphone, especially knowing that it can be bought for under $400 in markets where it is available. We don't find anything wrong with it given its price range, so guys, if you're on...

The Desire 816 packs an impressive-sounding 13-megapixel camera, but the photos aren’t as good as the pixel count implies. While the camera had a fast shutter and was able to capture fine details, photos came out with a yellow hue, as if taken on an...

This makes one-handed operation difficult – but let's be honest, there aren't a whole lot of interactions that can be performed on a 5.5-inch device without bringing that second paw into the mix, regardless of button location. This fleeting awkwardness...

Dependable performance, Well-built, smooth plastic body, Above-average main camera

Low pixel density, Poor battery life, Misplaced capacitive keys

Dependable performance ; Well-built, smooth plastic body ; Above-average main camera

Low pixel density ; Poor battery life ; Misplaced capacitive keys

The HTC Desire 816 is a midrange phablet which, despite several obvious shortcomings, leaves the impression of an above-average product. It is an instant leader in the rather barren midrange phablet market, largely due to its harmonious mixture of...

Large, high-quality display on a mid-range handset. Decent performance and battery life. BoomSound is always a welcome addition. Affordable price for the hardware you get.

Build quality is lacking, and the design makes the phone too cumbersome.

Out of the box, the HTC Desire 816 runs Android 4.4 with HTC’s custom Sense 6.0 skin. The vast majority of the software is identical to what was found on the HTC One M8, so if you want to get an idea of what this smartphone is like to use, head over...

I’m won over by the HTC Desire 816. There is plenty of call for mid-priced, large-screened handsets, and I’m a fan of the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Mega and Huawei Ascend P7, both of which are a fair bit more expensive than the Desire 816. If you are...