Decent build quality, expandable memory, low price
Sluggish processor, screen not HD, no 4G, not much onboard memory
HTC's Desire range aims for the lower end of the market and the Desire 300 is at the bottom of its UK list, with specs scaled back just about as far as it dares. It has a less-than-HD screen, an unremarkable processor and low-end camera, but the price mean it's a bargain?
Design
There's none of the metallic casing elements of HTC's higher-end
One series here, but the Desire 300 is made of sturdy rubberised plastic and it feels very solidly put together with virtually no flex on the back panel. There's no 4G capability, which understandable at this price, but you do get reasonably nippy downloads with full 3G.
The 4.3-inch screen is a goodly size if you're not overly sold on the recent trend for palm-stetching phablets. However, it offers a sub-HD resolution of 800x480 pixels (217ppi) which isn't particularly impressive. Not that it's terrible -- you can view movies and zoom in on pics with a good degree of clarity and colours look fine if not especially vibrant -- but it lacks the eye-popping pizzazz of the better screens and is put to shame by the 326ppi display of the considerably cheaper Moto G.
Android and processor
It's running the slightly long in the tooth Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, which is to be expected at this price, though it's difficult to recognise since it's running the latest Sense 5 version of HTC's own good-looking but rather busy interface. That means it also has Blinkfeed, the combined news and social networking aggregator that pulls together all your updates in a magazine-style interface.
The dual-core 1GHz processor is backed by 512MB Ram and it feels just a tad underpowered. There's a hint of lag when switching between apps and we couldn't get it to run heavier duty HD games like Real Racing 3. Our AnTuTu benchmark test gave it 7,837, which puts it well below midrange rivals like the Google Nexus 4, Motorola's Moto G or even ZTE's Grand S Flex.
Photography
The 5-megapixel camera is a pared back version of the snapper on other Desire handsets. There's no flash and no BSI low-light sensor, but there is autofocus and a few settings to play around with including face detection and smile capture. There's only 4GB of memory on board for storing your pics and vids though you can add a microSD card up to 64GB. There's also a bog standard VGA camera on the front for video calls.
The 1,650mAh battery didn't set any new records either -- it lasted a day fairly comfortably, but didn't promise much more.
Conclusion
The HTC Desire 300 is a perfectly reasonable budget smartphone, with okay screen and processor, plus a better than expected camera.
Expandable storage is nice too, but although it's touted as HTC's
'most affordable' phone, and it's certainly cheaper than a Nexus 5, for around the same price on PAYG you could get yourself a genuine bargain like the Moto G.
Software: Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Processor: Dual-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
Memory slot: Yes
Display: 4.3in TFT, 800x480 pixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 5 megapixel with autofocus; 1 megapixel front-facing camera
Video playback: 3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3)
Audio playback: aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav
Radio: Yes
Battery: 1650mAh
Size: 132x66x10mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
