Can HTC’s new flagship smartphone score a perfect 10?

The power of 10.

HTC has made many bold claims about their brand new flagship device, the HTC 10, and after all the hype, it’s finally here. Does it stack up?

Well, on paper, it definitely doesn’t skimp on power. On the front, the HTC 10 has got a beautiful 5.2-inch quad-HD Super LCD5 display being powered by a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor on the inside mated to 4GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of expandable (via microSD up to 2TB) internal storage.

For its “World First, World Class” camera, HTC is putting its money on a 12-megapixel UltraPixel 2 primary camera on the back with a fast f/1.8 aperture lens, OIS, laser autofocus and a dual-tone LED flash. It uses the same fewer megapixels with larger pixels (1.55µm, same as the Nexus 6P) formula found on a lot of the newer flagship smartphones.

On the front, it’s got a 5MP UltraSelfie camera also packing a fast f/1.8 aperture lens, OIS and a wide 23mm focal length. What’s more, it also supports autofocus and full-HD 1080p video recording.

The 10 has got BoomSound too. Yep, HTC are calling the speakers on the 10 re-engineered BoomSound Hi-Fi edition which is supposed to be the best BoomSound speakers to date.

Encased in its full-metal unibody is one of the largest batteries HTC has ever fitted on a smartphone — a 3,000 mAh unit. It sounds small by modern-day standards but HTC has often been one to shy away from larger batteries so this is a pretty big move for them.

HTC’s 10 will be running Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box with the latest HTC Sense running on top of it. One interesting thing is that HTC says the 10 is doing away with the conventional icon-grid layout, giving users more opportunity to get creative with the Freestyle Layout. It apparently lets you drag icons, stickers and widgets anywhere you like across the UI.

The weight of the world on its shoulders

The walls are closing in on the Taiwanese company that used to be at the forefront of Android smartphone development. We all remember their heyday, but that time has long past and now it’s time to look towards the future, but that future is a little muddy for HTC.

I love HTC’s smartphones. My first smartphone ever was an HTC so it really pains me to see this company crumble beneath the weight of its own hubris. Refusing to adapt despite a lackluster performance was one of the biggest factors that put HTC in the position they’re in right now.

For that very reason, the 10 has to be magnificent. It has to be the best smartphone HTC has ever made. It’s crunch time for the Taiwanese company and while the 10 looks pretty good on paper, it’s how it stacks up against the competition that will be the deciding factor on whether this phone can bring HTC back to their glory days.

According to TheVerge, the HTC 10 will start shipping next month in the US and will be priced at USD699 (RM2,720).