HTC Desire Eye, RE Camera to launch together on AT&T Nov. 7

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 3 Nov 2014

HTC is luring buyers to its new, oddly-shaped camera by slashing $50 off the price if purchased in combination with the Desire Eye smartphone. The phone’s claim to fame is its 13 megapixel front-facing camera. Most phones, even flagships like the Moto X, usually drop a 2 or 5 Mshooter in this space. The Desire Eye also offers a 13Mcamera on the back of the device.

The HTC duo will be available Nov. 7 exclusively on AT&T, though you can order the RE camera directly from HTC at its usual $200 price tag.

The Desire Eye will cost $150 on contract or $550 full price, right in line with other high-end phones. On the spec sheet you’ll find it has a 5.2-inch screen, 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 2400 mAh battery, 16GB of storage. That’s not much for all the selfies you’ll want to take, so it may be worth tossing in an SD card, which can boost storage by 128GB.

The story behind the story: HTC is refocusing its efforts away from just smartphones, putting a lot of effort into “companion devices.” The first of these is the odd-looking RE, an “action camera” that also shoots video, competing directly with the popular Goo. It remains to be seen if buyers will embrace such a device, as many like to look through a viewfinder or at their smartphone screen to get a photo preview.