HTC Desire V - Dual-SIM Android Option

Overview & Design

The new Desire range looks set to bask in the shadows of HTC's highly-rated flagship One series (X, S, V) whether it likes it or not. Nonetheless, the strange new direction the series took might detract and confuse some because the phones that once took on the Desire tag included high- to mid-range devices including Desire HD, S and Z. As such, the new Desire V and Desire C, both single-core smartphones, seem to falter under their more powerful predecessors. Aside from the mixed marketing messages, we take a quick at the Desire V, an affordable Android 4.0 device with a 4.0-inch screen that comes with dual SIM card slots and find how it fares.

As per HTC standards, the Desire V is well-built, sturdy and classy in design. While it doesn't come with high-end specs, it certainly doesn't look like the typical low-end device. Boasting of a aluminium unibody design doused with a tasteful and minimalist color palette of white and silver (with a hint of orange trimmings at the camera), the Desire V has enough spunk to stand out from the usual cut-and-dried black smartphones.

On the whole, the handling experience has been largely positive. A white matte back cover protects the phone from not only scratches but nasty fingerprints. Not only that, it also helps users to keep a tighter grip on the smartphone. That plus its rounded and slightly curved edges made it very easy to hold without any discomfort. There are only two physical buttons on the device, the power button and volume rocker. These physical buttons are long strips that presented good feedback and posed no problems with functionality despite their thin form. As with the Android 4.0 equipped HTC One series, the Desire V is has three touch buttons (back, home, multitasking). 

Features

Like the HTC One V, the Desire V comes with Android 4.0 and HTC Sense 4.0a user interface, the latter being a lite version that is built to run on HTC devices with smaller memory footprints and single core processors. If you want a better look at what both offer, take a look at our Android 4.0 Basics article and our HTC One X and One V review. Local HTC representatives have mentioned that the HTC Sense 4.0a UI comes with reduced UI animations like the 3D multi-tasking switcher and live wallpapers to ensure a smoother user experience.



Prominently, the UI comes with lesser built-in applications (like Stocks, News, Movie Editors) and themes, and leaves it up to users to decide whether they want to include them on their phone, since most of these software can be downloaded via the HTC Hub or the Google Play Store.

So what's the main difference between its closely related cousin, the HTC One V, and the Desire V? Other than a bigger 4.0-inch screen, the Desire V is also the first smartphone from the company and one of the very few Android versions in the market (the other recent entry being Sony Xperia Tipo) to support dual SIM cards. For those looking for a specialized feature like this, the HTC Desire V is definitely an option to look at. Frequent travelers who need to have both local and home SIM cards active at the same time on the same phone will certainly appreciate having dual SIM cards functionality.

Performance

The HTC Desire V comes with a single-core processor clocked at 1GHz (yes, you read that right), alongside 512MB of RAM. This puts it in a similar playing field to the HTC One V, but the only difference is that the latter has a slightly better GPU. As usual, we subject the review unit to the Quadrant benchmark, which can be found on Google Play. To gauge how it performs against the competition, we matched its scores against similar devices using single-core processors such as the HTC One V, Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray.

The HTC Desire V fared decently against its competitors, only losing to the HTC One V by a small margin. We attribute this to its older Snapdragon 1GHz processor. Nonetheless, all phones exhibited close scores, with an average of 1800. That gives us the reassurance that all phones have about the same level of performance.



Nonetheless, we do like to stress again that numbers aren't everything. Apart from benchmarking, the HTC Desire V ran smoothly and had no problems rendering pages or apps despite its single-core chipset and 512MB RAM. We spotted slight lags while running Temple Run though, so other graphic-intensives apps might be a problem for this device. After all, single-core processor can only handle so much. This is probably the reason why the next tier of phones are usually equipped with dual-core processors that can better handle most tasks, like the Sony Xperia U, which is sold in a similar price bracket to the HTC Desire V.

Imaging Quality

The HTC Desire V arms itself with a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. HTC phones often falter in the imaging department and the HTC Desire V seems to fall under the same category; details were on the fuzzy side with high levels of noise and overly saturated colors. It's highly likely that the Desire V is using an older generation of sensor than the one used on the One V, which is also capable of taking 5MP photos but with more satisfactory quality. As we peer further into the performance segment, it seems that the differences between the Desire and One series are getting more apparent.

Battery Mileage

Using the same 480 x 800-pixel resolution video that we use across all our mobile device battery tests, we set the same test parameters which includes having the video looped under the following conditions:

• Brightness and volume at 100%
  
   
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
  
   
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

The HTC Desire V did slightly better than Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray at 305 minutes, landing itself in the third spot. Once again, the HTC One V reigned champion at 360 minutes. Given that both handsets shared very similar hardware specs, it is safe to say that the One V outperformed the Desire V in performance - be it in battery life or raw processor performance. We partially attribute it to its bigger 4.0-inch screen and less optimized processor. Nonetheless, we wouldn't say that Desire V's battery performance is abysmal but it is definitely not great and just slightly above average. For another point of comparison, its battery uptime is pretty decent when compared to some dual-core devices like the Sony Xperia U and Xperia P, both of which are more premium products. So in essence, the HTC Desire V is not too shabby.

To give you a real-world gauge, we observed that the phone could last almost a whole day on a single charge, with emails and Twitter feeds pushed constantly to it. Other activities included occasional web surfing and phone calls. So from a a general usage standpoint, the phone is able to deliver a decent day's worth of usage.

 

 

Conclusion

At S$498, the HTC Desire V aims itself squarely at those looking for an affordable smartphone with a pretty niche dual-SIM feature (especially useful for frequent travelers requiring foreign and local numbers active concurrently on the same device). Just like the HTC One V, the smartphone itself is an inexpensive option for those considering to jump onto the Android 4.0 bandwagon. Plus, it looks fashionable and sleek, like most HTC devices usually do. Nonetheless, the Desire One V is not one without flaws as it falters in its imaging performance, while running certain graphics intensive apps could be better. Those looking for an entry-level Android device are better off with the HTC One V (S$398), unless you are specifically eyeing on a phone that supports dual SIM cards or one with a 4.0-inch touch screen.

For those who don't require a dual-SIM capable phone and don't quite fancy HTC's Sense 4.0 UI, you can also opt for the 4.3-inch LG Optimus L7 (S$498). If screen size isn't important and don't mind even more compact devices, older but cheaper options include the already-mentioned Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini (from S$220) and Xperia Ray (from S$295) - both of which have received Android 4.0 updates- and the Android 2.3 3.2-inch LG Optimus L3 (S$268).

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