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HTC Focuses on Images with Desire Eye Phone and Re Camera
HTC is hoping that a focus on photos and video will lure in consumers this holiday season. On Wednesday, HTC introduced the Desire Eye, a smartphone with a 13-megapixel front-facing camera for high-quality selfies, and the Re, a camera built to compete with GoPro's popular Hero cameras.
ReThe Re—whose name makes us think of email subject lines—is HTC's first full-on camera. It's a unique device, shaped like a periscope. There's no view finder, and there isn't even a power button.
The only control is a big chrome shutter button right behind the wide 146-degree angle lens. Nigel Newby-House, HTC's executive director of product planning, argues that this sort of lens, paired with a 16-megapixel sensor, makes it ideal for parties and family events.
When you pick up the Re, its internal sensors switch it to standby mode. As long as the battery is charged, the camera will be ready to shoot. Tap the shutter button for a still shot. A longer press tells the Re to shoot 1080p HD video. There's also a time-lapse mode built in.
It's pretty small, measuring four inches long and an inch in diameter. Battery life comes in at about an hour and a half of continuous use, Newby-House said. Not quite as seafaring as a GoPro, it's at least swimming-pool friendly, waterproof down to a meter for as long as 50 minutes.
"What GoPro has done for the adrenaline junkie is fantastic," he said. "But Re is built for birthday parties, for BBQs, concerts. This is viewfinder-less imaging for the rest of us." The everyday use is what informed the Re's shape, Newby-House said. "The form factor makes it easy to know where the button is at," he said. "We didn't want you to have to worry about dropping this as you're running around."
Because it has no viewfinder, HTC will provide an app for Android and iOS, that will serve as look through its lens, a remote control, and a way to move photos and video to Dropbox and Google Drive.
The $200 Re will hit HTC's website and Best Buy later this month in three colors: navy blue, coral orange and white. The Re will ship with an 8GB microSD card. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon will start selling the Re in November, in time for the holidays.
In the past, HTC's Desire line has always been a step below the flagship One devices, with lesser specs and pricing. But the new Desire Eye features much of the same guts as the HTC One (M8), the company's current top-of-the-line phone: Inside there's a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and MicroSD card slot. The Desire Eye's 5.2-inch 1080p display is actually larger than the One's 5-inch screen.
The Desire Eye will be exclusive to AT&T in the U.S., and it'll go on sale sometime later this year. Newby-House said that AT&T will announce when and how much in the coming weeks, so we don't yet know whether it'll cost the same, or more, or less than the One.
The Re and Desire Eye arrive at a crucial time for HTC. After years of struggling to compete with Samsung and Apple, it's finally found profitability in its last two quarters, but sales are still declining, and market share is still shrinking. Meanwhile, threats from upstart Chinese phone makers loom. The focus on imaging show HTC's willingness to take risks with the Re and Desire Eye. Another upcoming risk: The company is expected to launch a new Nexus tablet with Google. (The last time HTC made a tablet, 2011's Flyer, it was a dud.)
Whether or not consumers will respond to the company's new products—or will even get the message through the marketing noise made by Apple and Samsung going into the holiday season—is another matter.
ReThe Re—whose name makes us think of email subject lines—is HTC's first full-on camera. It's a unique device, shaped like a periscope. There's no view finder, and there isn't even a power button.
The only control is a big chrome shutter button right behind the wide 146-degree angle lens. Nigel Newby-House, HTC's executive director of product planning, argues that this sort of lens, paired with a 16-megapixel sensor, makes it ideal for parties and family events.
When you pick up the Re, its internal sensors switch it to standby mode. As long as the battery is charged, the camera will be ready to shoot. Tap the shutter button for a still shot. A longer press tells the Re to shoot 1080p HD video. There's also a time-lapse mode built in.
It's pretty small, measuring four inches long and an inch in diameter. Battery life comes in at about an hour and a half of continuous use, Newby-House said. Not quite as seafaring as a GoPro, it's at least swimming-pool friendly, waterproof down to a meter for as long as 50 minutes.
"What GoPro has done for the adrenaline junkie is fantastic," he said. "But Re is built for birthday parties, for BBQs, concerts. This is viewfinder-less imaging for the rest of us." The everyday use is what informed the Re's shape, Newby-House said. "The form factor makes it easy to know where the button is at," he said. "We didn't want you to have to worry about dropping this as you're running around."
Because it has no viewfinder, HTC will provide an app for Android and iOS, that will serve as look through its lens, a remote control, and a way to move photos and video to Dropbox and Google Drive.
The $200 Re will hit HTC's website and Best Buy later this month in three colors: navy blue, coral orange and white. The Re will ship with an 8GB microSD card. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon will start selling the Re in November, in time for the holidays.
Desire Eye
The Desire Eye has two cameras, both 13 megapixels. The difference is that the front facing camera has a 22mm lens, which Newby-House says is better for group selfies, while the rear camera uses a 28mm lens. There's a dual-LED flash on both the front and back.In the past, HTC's Desire line has always been a step below the flagship One devices, with lesser specs and pricing. But the new Desire Eye features much of the same guts as the HTC One (M8), the company's current top-of-the-line phone: Inside there's a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and MicroSD card slot. The Desire Eye's 5.2-inch 1080p display is actually larger than the One's 5-inch screen.
The Desire Eye will be exclusive to AT&T in the U.S., and it'll go on sale sometime later this year. Newby-House said that AT&T will announce when and how much in the coming weeks, so we don't yet know whether it'll cost the same, or more, or less than the One.
The Re and Desire Eye arrive at a crucial time for HTC. After years of struggling to compete with Samsung and Apple, it's finally found profitability in its last two quarters, but sales are still declining, and market share is still shrinking. Meanwhile, threats from upstart Chinese phone makers loom. The focus on imaging show HTC's willingness to take risks with the Re and Desire Eye. Another upcoming risk: The company is expected to launch a new Nexus tablet with Google. (The last time HTC made a tablet, 2011's Flyer, it was a dud.)
Whether or not consumers will respond to the company's new products—or will even get the message through the marketing noise made by Apple and Samsung going into the holiday season—is another matter.
