The HTC One Mini 2 went up for pre-sale in the UK last week, but
wasn’t slated to drop until June 30th. It turns out that you won’t have
to wait that long to get the phone in your clutches if you don’t want
to.
Phones4U, a UK retailer is carrying the device well ahead of schedule, and it’s available in all of the company’s stores.
Here’s a quick rundown of the Mini 2’s specs: it packs a 4.5” Super
LCD2 display with 720 x 1280 resolution, a quad-core 1.2GHz processor
with 1GB, and 16GB internal storage with a microSD card slot that
supports up to 128GB cards. The One Mini 2’s camera is also a 13MP one,
as opposed to its big brother’s duo unit.
What will the phone cost you? Well SIM-free the handset will run
£359.95. Of course, there are price breaks if you decided to sign a
contract. For example, EE is giving away the Mini 2 for free if you
agree to pay £29.99 a month. It’ll get you 1,000 minutes, unlimited SMS,
and 1GB of data.
HTC’s original One Mini was a success, time will tell if the Mini 2 will follow in its footsteps.
It’s funny that a device with a 4.5” is considered “Mini” in this day and age.
HTC has expanded the One family with a new petite member - the HTC
One mini 2. Note that it's not One (M8) mini, this is more of a sequel
to the One mini from last year. Perhaps most telling of this is the
camera, a 13MP shooter rather than the questionable dual-camera of the
M8. Still, the HTC One mini 2 looks just the same as the new HTC One M8,
so the family relation is more than obvious. HTC One Mini 2 official photos
The HTC One mini 2 preserves the qualities that made the original
mini great, namely the premium aluminum unibody design, the excellent
screen and the stereo front-facing speakers. There are major changes
though, the screen grew to 4.5" from 4.3" and the camera more than
tripled its resolution to a 13MP. Here's a cheat sheet of One mini 2's
specifications.
Camera: 13MP auto-focus camera, BSI sensor, f/2.2; LED flash
Video camera: Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps with HDR; 720p @ 60fps
Front camera: 5MP front-facing camera; 1080p @ 30fps video
Connectivity: dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA,
Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, standard microUSB port with MHL and USB host, GPS
receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack
Battery: 2,100mAh Li-Po
Misc: BoomSound stereo speakers on the front, HTC Zoe
The HTC One mini 2 runs the latest software from Google and HTC on a
different Snapdragon 400 chipset than the original One mini. It adds a
microSD card slot, which is more than welcome, as the limited storage
was one of the more common complaints we've heard about its predecessor. HTC One mini 2 joins the original One mini in our office
The One mini 2 grew in size as well as features. The original HTC One
mini was already taller than most other 4.3" phones, and the new one is
even taller. The width of the two though is almost the same.
The in-hand feel is as premium as ever, but flip to the next page for our thoughts on the second generation One mini hardware.
Hardware
The HTC One mini 2 takes its design cues almost entirely from the big
One (M8), it will even inherit its color options: Gunmetal Gray (the
one we have), Glacial Silver and Amber Gold. Here's a quick hardware
tour and a comparison between the One mini 2, the original One mini and
the One (M8).
The metal unibody has been updated and now there's less plastic
around the sides than before. It's a matte black plastic that's very
unobtrusive. The screen grew to 4.5", but the smartphone remains nicely
compact; it's only as wide as the old One mini.
The stereo speakers make it rather tall though, standing at 137.4mm -
over 5mm taller than the previous model, it's even a millimeter taller
than the Samsung Galaxy S5, which has 5.1" screen. HTC made the move to
on-screen buttons this generation, but this didn't help the height
problem. HTC One mini 2 (left) and HTC One mini (right) HTC One mini 2 (left) and HTC One (M8)
The new One mini 2 (a winning name, isn't it?) is a tad heavier
though metal phones feel better when they have a bit of heft to them.
The curved back lets the device rest comfortably in the palm of your
hand. HTC One mini 2 in the hand
The phone is also a just over millimeter thicker than the previous model, but the Li-Po battery grew to 2,100mAh.
HTC promises over 16 hours of 3G talk time with the battery, but
we'll do our own tests to verify that. The One mini 2 also features an
Extreme power saving mode, which can be enabled automatically at a
preset battery charge. It disables the most power-hungry features and
switches the launcher with a simplified one that only allows access to
the remaining features. Extreme power saving mode turns the One mini 2 into a feature phone but extends battery life
Let's move away from physical size, obviously it will be an issue for
some but the improvements HTC made to the new device should balance
that out.
Screen resolution went unchanged, 720p, but pixel density remains in
Retina territory at 326ppi. It's a high-quality LCD with great image
quality and viewing angles. The HTC One mini 2 has a high-quality screen
The BoomSound stereo speakers that surround the display no longer
have Beats, but they have individual amps, the same ones used in the One
(M8).
The HTC One mini 2 features a 13MP camera on the back that records
1080p video, while the camera on the front shoots 5MP stills and also
records 1080p videos. There's only a single-LED flash on the back,
rather than a dual-tone flash like on the One (M8). 5MP camera above the screen • BoomSound speakers above and below • 13MP camera on the back with LED flash
Unlike last time, here you shouldn't worry about storage when
recording 1080p videos - the HTC One mini 2's 16 gigs worth of built-in
storage is expandable with a microSD card. The second card slot, which
you can spot bellow is for the nanoSIM. The previous generation used the
larger microSIM. Card slots on either side of the One mini 2, nanoSIM and microSD
It's hard to notice but the first batch of Gunmetal Gray phones (like
ours) have a volume button that doesn't quite match the brushed metal
look of the rest of the phone. HTC says it has reconsidered the design
and will change the button to match the back.
The 3.5mm audio jack is on top, near the power key, not at the bottom
next to the microUSB 2.0 port like it is on the HTC One (M8). 3.5mm audio jack and power key on top • microUSB 2.0 port on bottom
Software
The HTC One mini 2 will launch with Android 4.4 KitKat and HTC's
latest Sense 6. The software runs snappily and feels virtually identical
to the One (M8).
The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 400 chipset once again, but
unlike the dual-core Krait of last year, this one packs four Cortex-A7
cores at 1.2GHz. The GPU is still an Adreno 305, though considering the
screen resolution had seen no change, it should be good enough.
This is essentially the same chipset as the one in the Moto G and the
LG G2 mini. It's nowhere near the Snapdragon 800 of the Sony Xperia Z1
Compact though.
BlinkFeed is part of the homescreen (the leftmost pane) and it
combines social networks and news sources into one stream.
Regular-looking homescreen panes are available too. BlinkFeed on Sense 6 • mostly-standard Android 4.4 KitKat interface
Kid Mode allows you to create restricted profiles for several
children, giving each access only to several apps. Car mode is available
too. It has a simplified UI, but when behind the wheel you should tap
the One mini 2 with three fingers to activate voice commands. Kid mode • Car mode • voice commands
The HTC One mini 2 is no longer saddled with a stripped down version
of the current One camera. True, it lacks the second camera for effects
but it comes with a 13MP BSI sensor, which we consider an upgrade. The
difference should be especially noticeable in daylight and with an f/2.2
aperture, it should do okay in the dark, too. The sensor is 4:3, unlike
the widescreen sensor of the One (M8). The camera interface
The front-facing camera is a 5MP shooter with a BSI sensor, which
should make the One mini 2 as good at taking selfies as the HTC One
(M8). The Touch Up feature will smoothen your skin, adjust the contours
of your face and remove red eye.
Both cameras can record 1080p video, which is what we can expect from
a device in this range. Even the mighty mini that is the Xperia Z1
Compact tops out at 1080p and for what matter, so does the One (M8).
The updated HTC Zoe is on board, even though there's no dedicated Zoe
mode in the camera UI. It can create Highlight videos from your photos,
share them with your friends and let them add their own shots and
videos with the Remix functionality. HTC Zoe for sharing photos with friends
The phone has LTE connectivity, dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth
4.0 with aptX audio codec and NFC (which was missing on last year's
model). DLNA can be used to beam multimedia to supported devices using a
three finger swipe gesture. A three swipe gesture triggers DLNA sharing
First impressions
This has been a very brief encounter with the HTC One mini 2. The
metal unibody offers a premium feel that is unmatched this side of the
Apple/Android divide, though some of the specs don't scream flagship.
When we say that we're looking mostly at the chipset as even the
venerable Sony Xperia Z1 Compact (the best equipped mini around) comes
with only 720p screen resolution. Still, this chipset fared quite well
in the Moto G and LG deemed it good enough for its own mini, the LG G2
mini.
The 13MP camera is a major update, maybe it can't compete with Sony's
20MP shooter, but the One (M8) camera felt like a letdown and this is
HTC's chance to redeem itself. The addition of a microSD card slot is
another thing people will be happy about.
The HTC One mini 2 is a prized addition to Android's mini lineup. The
"mini" moniker will certainly come under fire though - not because of
the 4.5" screen but because of the height. Is it worth it though? After
all width and thickness are usually bigger considerations when it comes
to handling, but we shouldn't forget that the power button on this one
is still placed on the top.
Well, you can see we've got a lot of burning question to answer in our full review. Stay tuned!
