HTC's overpriced Desire 310 ready to underwhelm Europe in April

When the Desire 310 popped up on HTC's Chinese site a few days ago, we wrote it off as a regional product with no international aspirations. Well, we were mistaken, and though there's no word on the low-end handset coming to the US, it's most certainly bound for Europe. HTC didn't invite the Desire 310 to party at MWC, but then again, there's not much to celebrate. The handset bundles a 4.5-inch, 854 x 480 display with a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek CPU, a gig of RAM, 4GB of storage (expandable via microSD), a 5MP camera, 2,000mAh battery, 3G connectivity and Android 4.2. It's an incremental improvement over the Desire 300, with a few design tweaks like the omission of soft keys (a recent trend for HTC). We're told in the UK that the Desire 310 will arrive at O2, Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse at the end of April in a selection of hues, and the folks over at GSMinfo.nl note a recommended price of 169 euros for The Netherlands, or around £140 (UK pricing isn't available yet). With the far superior Moto G going for £100 on pay-as-you-go or £130 unlocked in the UK, though, we can only suggest HTC raise the stakes soon if it's serious about betting on lower-end devices.

 

   

Source: HTC, GSMinfo.nl

HTC's new One smartphone to go on sale 'just minutes after it is officially announced'

 

At this point, we have a pretty clear idea of what HTC's upcoming flagship smartphone will look like. Everything from its unique duo rear camera, to its refreshed version of Sense to its familiar One-like aluminum body has been leaked in the lead up to the company's March 25th event. And now, thanks to the UK retailer Carphone Warehouse jumping the gun, we know the handset, dubbed the "new HTC One (M8)," will be available to purchase "just minutes after it is officially announced" at six locations in London. How's that for spoiling the surprise? It's clear from this release that HTC intends to waste no time directing attention from its headline-dominating launch into direct retail sales. Whether or not that gamble pays off is another matter. But we'll know soon enough if that market opportunism can successfully channel fanboy enthusiasm into dollars and pounds.

[Image credit: TD Beta]
Update: It seems that o2 may not have the HTC One on store shelves until the first week of April, so that "same day" availability we've been hearing about may only apply to select carriers or resellers.