HTC 10 Delivers Evolutionary Design, Snapdragon 820, 5.2-inch QHD Display, BoomSound Hi-Fi

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HTC didn’t have a really tight lid on its new “10” flagship leading up to its launch, as images of the final production device leaked last month. And just yesterday, a full promotional video for the HTC 10 found its way onto the web to once again spoil the fun.

But today, HTC is finally having its day in the spotlight and its new flagship is clearly a shift forward for the company, even if its design is more evolutionary than revolutionary. As we mentioned yesterday, the HTC 10 has a chiseled aluminum unibody chassis and chamfered edges. The 5.2-inch QHD Super LCD 5 is covered in Gorilla Glass and if you’ve seen the HTC M9 and A9 that came before it, there are no surprises here when it comes to design.

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Inside the chassis, you also won’t find much cause for concern (or excitement) if you’ve been keeping up with the latest round of Android flagships. Powering the HTC 10 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor paired with 4GB of RAM. 32GB of internal storage comes standard, but you can expand that storage pool with the built-in microSD slot (up to 2TB). The rear camera on HTC’s new flagship comes with a 12MP UltraPixel sensor and an optically stabilized f/1.8 lens. Front-facing camera duties are handled by a 5MP shooter with a wide-angle f/1.8 lens that is also optically stabilized.

HTC smartphones have long been known for their audio quality, and the company is upping its game with Hi-Res audio processing, a 24-bit DAC and a new headset amplifier. The all-new BoomSound Hi-Fi edition speakers now have dedicated amps for each speaker and a separate tweeter and woofer design. HTC has also partnered with JBL to produce a high-quality set of noise-canalling headphones that are included in the box with each phone and connect via the bottom-mounted USB-C port.

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Rounding out the HTC 10’s features are a 3000mAh battery (which HTC says provides up to 2 days of battery life), a Quick Charge 3.0-enabled Rapid Charger (which can charge the battery from empty to 50 percent in 30 minutes), NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, 802.11ac Wi-Fi , DisplayPort support and a fingerprint sensor integrated into the Home button.

The HTC 10 is available for pre-order today and will cost you $699 unlocked. The smartphone will also be available on Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint (there’s no word yet on AT&T support).