HTC Desire EYE
AT&T to Sell HTC Desire Eye and RE Camera Nov. 7
AT&T today announced that it will begin selling the HTC Desire Eye on November 7. HTC announced the Eye earlier this year, which features a 13-megapixel user-facing camera for the best selfies possible. The device will cost $550 at full retail, $150 with a two-year agreement, $27.50 per month with AT&T Next 12, or $22.92 with AT&T Next 18. AT&T also said it will offer the HTC RE camera. Preorders begin November 7 and it will reach all stores November 21. The RE camera costs $150 when purchased with the Desire Eye, or $200 by itself.
T-Mobile Pushing Eye Experience to HTC One (M8)
T-Mobile today made a system update available to the HTC One (M8) that adds the Eye Experience software. The Eye Experience includes new camera features, such as split camera, crop me in, and improved face tracking. These features are central to the Desire Eye handset, which has an 8-megapixel user-facing camera. The Desire Eye is not yet for sale, but T-mobile's HTC One customers can enjoy the camera tools today after installing the update.
Hands On with the HTC Desire EYE
HTC today announced the Desire EYE. Staring you in the face is a giant 13-megapixel selfie camera, but the phone is interesting for a few other reasons. It's an unusually high-end phone for the Desire series, and also a big push into the U.S. market for the Desire brand. It's also waterproof and sports an evolution of HTC's design language. It's a major phone for the company. We took it for a spin; read on for our first impressions.
HTC Desire EYE is a High-End Selfie Phone
HTC today announced the Desire EYE, a phone with full 13-megapixel cameras on both the front and back, and also HTC's most high-end Desire phone to date. Both cameras have warm dual-LED flashes. New EYE software features enhance the camera with several new selfie modes, enhancements that HTC will push to existing models as well. The Desire EYE's other high-end specs include a Snapdragon 801 processor and 5.2-inch, full-HD display. The two-tone unibody plastic shell has a smooth matte finish and comes in either white/red and navy/blue. The Desire EYE is waterproof up to 1 meter, for 30 minutes. The headset and micro-USB jacks are open, while the SIM and memory cards fit into trays with rubber gaskets. The body includes a dedicated camera button and HTC BoomSound stereo speakers hidden in slots at the edge of the display. On the software side, the camera software can automatically capture selfies when the user smiles or simply holds still. It also responds to voice commands to snap photos and videos. A dual-camera mode lets users snap using both the front and back camera in one photo, either at the same time or one and then the other, to get better angles. Another mode will automatically cut out the selfie background and insert your face into the scene in front of you. New video conferencing features track and crop up to four faces at once or allow screen-sharing. These work at a low driver level to work with most third-party software. Most of the new imaging features (the "HTC EYE Experience") will be added to most existing One models and plus Desire 816 via software update. The Desire EYE will initially be exclusive to AT&T in the U.S. Exact pricing and timing was not announced.
