The HTC 10 has stood the test of time remarkably well. After months of use I haven’t had any serious issues with the phone.
Unlike competing phones, like the Huawei P9, the HTC 10 remains lightning fast. Games open in a matter of seconds and run chug- and stutter-free and I’m yet to have a serious software crash.
The phone has also survived more than average wear and tear. As well as several standard accidental drops onto TrustedReviews' carpeted floor, the phone also survived a hazardous impact with a tree after an accidental trip while running. It remained crack and chip free.
Battery life has slightly deteriorated, but not as much as I’d expected. The HTC 10 still easily lasts a full day off one charge and I regularly manage to eek out two days with light use.
The camera is still a slight annoyance, but only because I’ve experienced the majestic awesomeness of the Galaxy S7 – which still has the best phone camera sensor on the market.
The HTC 10’s camera isn’t bad, but the use of Ultrapixel tech, which instructs the camera to capture bigger pixels and more light, works a little too well. Photos taken in even moderately bright lighting conditions are regularly washed out and have unwanted flare effects. Careful use can get around the issue, however, and I’m still more than happy to snap memento shots of meetups with friends.
However, the phone’s biggest selling point remains its advanced audio qualities. HTC’s been leading the mobile audio market for quite some time and the 10 cements its position as the best phone maker for music fans.
Putting aside the phone’s Boomsound speakers that, while above average, are only useful to cretins that insist on using their phone to listen to music outloud, the HTC 10’s standalone headphone amp is its best feature.
The HTC 10 uses a dedicated DAC as well as headphone amp. HTC claims the 10’s amp is twice as powerful as competing phones, and after a few months with the phone I believe it. The HTC 10 consistently delivers superior audio quality to competing phones, including the Galaxy S7, LG G5 (without its add on DAC), OnePlus 3 and Huawei P9 on a variety of genres.
Everything from heavy metal, punk, prog and jazz sounds fuller and better balanced on the HTC 10 and it’s a key reason the 10 remains my handset of choice, even though it falls behind its archrival, the Galaxy S7, in other areas.
DESIGN
While the HTC 10 takes the brand’s flagship smartphone in a new design direction, it’s still very familiar. The front is stripped from the One A9, and the back is a tweaked and tuned version of the rear casing from the One M9.
It’s far from original and looking at it face-on you’d be forgiven for confusing it with an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S7, but for me it’s the perfect mix of style and substance.
First off, this phone is clearly made from metal – and proud of it. The back is cool to the touch, with an elegant curve that helps it sit comfortably in your hand. This curve flows into some heavily chamfered edges that add a bit of much-needed flair.
It's a divisive design choice, though. I really like them as they give your fingers somewhere to sit, but the some of the TrustedReviews team were less impressed, claiming they’re far too shiny.
SCREEN
HTC has updated just about every part of the One M9 for its successor, and the display is no exception.
It’s grown slightly to 5.2-inches, but the bigger upgrade is the resolution. It’s much more pixel dense now, thanks to the 2560 x 1440 quad-HD resolution, and it covers 99.9% of the sRGB colour gamut. It’s a mightily impressive panel, though as it's LCD – 5th-generation LCD, to be precise – it does lack a little of the vibrancy of Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen. It’s not far off, and it’s hard to notice unless you have both phones sat next to each other.
CAMERA
HTC has a storied history with cameras. And it’s never been very good. Slow apps, sensors that ridiculously overexpose shots, poor autofocus and so much more have always left it trailing behind the competition. It’s tried going high with megapixels (One M9) and low with UltraPixels (One M8), but nothing has really stuck.
The camera in the HTC 10 is the best to ever grace an HTC phone. You (probably) won’t find anyone saying otherwise, but it’s still the weakest part of the phone. And that frustrates me.
BATTERY LIFE
Like internal components, each of this year’s current crop of Android flagships – Galaxy S7, LG G5 and of course the HTC 10 – have a similarly sized battery.
The 3,000mAh cell tucked inside the HTC 10 is exactly the same capacity as the Galaxy S7's and marginally bigger than the LG G5's, and in my tests I've found that it lasts about the same amount of time as those two.
HTC might claim you’ll get two days' worth of use, but my findings suggest a little less. Yes, it is possible to stretch it out to two days, just, but you’ll have to enable all the battery-saving modes which will, in turn, negatively affect performance.
SHOULD I BUY THE HTC 10?
By ditching gimmicks and fine tuning the formula, HTC has hit back in style after a disappointing 2015.
It’s not the best phone of the year, but it’s not far off. Yet, it’s the phone I would want to use. That might sound strange, but hear me out. From the lovely screen to the speedy performance to the fantastic representation of Android, the HTC 10 ticks all the boxes.
That’s the point – it might not be the best in every area, but it’s strong in pretty much all of them. While the Galaxy S7 might sacrifice audio quality and the LG G5 does the same with build quality, the HTC 10 doesn’t really sacrifice in any area. It doesn’t really do anything different, granted, but when all the parts fit together this well, I don’t think it needs to.
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