HTC’s One Mini 2 is another smaller phone with lesser specs

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 15 May 2014

As expected, HTC has produced a smaller version of its latest flagship phone, the unfortunately named HTC One Mini 2.

ile the HTC One (M8) has a 5-inch, 1080p display, the One Mini 2 has a 4.5-inch, 720p display. In a blog post, HTC calls it “the most grippable Android ever.”

But don’t expect this tinier package to have the same high-end tech specs as the stellar HTC One (M8). st like last year’s HTC One Mini, the new One Mini 2 makes some big compromises in pursuit of what will likely be a lower price tag.

Most notably, HTC has replaced the One’s “Ultraxel” camera “Duo” lens with a more conventional 13-megapixel shooter. That means the One Mini 2 won’t be as capable at low-light photography, won’t offer the impressive bokeh effects made possible by the second lens. so, the One Mini 2’s front panel uses plastic instead of aluminum—a clear step down from the One’s all-metal chassis.

Other basic tech specs have also been cut down to size. ile the HTC One (M8) has a top-of-the-line 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 801 processor, the Mini 2 users a much weaker Snapdragon 400 chip. It also has half the RAM of its bigger brother, at 1 GB, does not include an IR blaster.

at did HTC leave intact? The One Mini 2 still offers “BoomSound” front-facing speakers some of the same software features from the One (M8), including the BlinkFeed news ticker Zoe camera mode that simultaneously shoots 20 images three seconds of video. And like the One (M8), the One mini 2 includes a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

But given that HTC has stripped away some of the One’s best features for the smaller version, perhaps “One (M8) te” would have been a more appropriate name.

There’s no word on when the One Mini 2 will arrive stateside, if at all. HTC says it’ll ship to Europe, the Middle East, Africa Asia regions in ne.