HTC Desire 700 Review

Introduction

HTC recently outed a trio of low- to mid-range handsets with dual SIM version, predominantly for Asian and some European markets. Today we get to have a look at the top member in the batch, the HTC Desire 700, which flaunts said two active SIMs functionality, large 5” display, as well as the BoomSound stereo speakers we recall from the HTC One and One mini siblings. Will that list be enough to offset the otherwise unimpressive specs and pricing? Let's find out...

In the box

• In-ear stereo headphones
• Wall charger
• MicroUSB cable
• Warranty & information leaflets

Design

Sturdy, elongated phone, with a removable back cover

Desire 700 is not thin at 0.41” (10.3mm), but flaunts a very comfortable to hold chassis, with elongated, somewhat narrow for the screen diagonal shape that is comparatively easy to operate with one hand. The glossy back cover is rather slippery, though, and attracts fingerprints like a magnet. The frontal stereo speakers also add quite a bit of height to the handset, so it is taller than your average 5-incher, which might become a nuisance in your pocket.

It doesn't have a unibody construction, so you can remove the whole brushed-metal-looking-yet-plastic back cover by prying it off at the bottom, and gain access to the microSIM card slots, memory card one, and the battery, which can be easily swapped out with a spare unit if needed. Very atypical for HTC of late, and quite a refreshing option.

The build quality is very sturdy all around, leaving a solid feeling in the hand, and the side buttons are very easy to feel and press without looking. That goes for the illuminated capacitive keys beneath the display as well.

Display

Fine for the average Joe, but picky users would want better definition

The 5” screen on the Desire 700 is with the ho-hum 540x960 pixels qHD resolution, which brings the pixel density down to 220ppi. It isn't the best looking in terms of detail definition on text, for example, but does the job fine.

Colors are a tad colder than they should be, and black levels are rather greyish. Brightness and screen reflectivity are enough for decent outdoor viewing, unless the sun is shining directly onto the screen. Overall, the Desire 700 isn't equipped with the most expensive panel around, but it does the job fine if you aren't too picky.

Interface and functionality

Somewhat dated Sense 5.0 and Android Jelly Bean out of the box

The phone sports HTC's Sense 5.0 interface overlay, on top of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, while the flagships of HTC are now at Sense 5.5 and Android 4.4 KitKat. This previous iteration of Sense has been used in a bunch of phones by now, starting with the HTC One and down to HTC’s more affordable devices.

The key feature of the skin are cleaner looks compared to older HTC user interfaces and the BlinkFeed news aggregator that brings together social updates and news in a Flipboard-like vertically scrolling list. You cannot disable it in Sense 5.0, but you can put it in the right-most home panel so it does not stand in the way, if you don’t like it.

Apart from BlinkFeed, HTC Sense is characterized by its charcoal color scheme that is not as bold and cartoonish as rival skins from Samsung and LG. In terms of actual functionality, it’s a mixed bag. We don’t like that oft-used functions tend to get buried down in menus and simple actions like adding a shortcut to your homescreen or adjusting the screen brightness are unnecessarily complicated.

On the flipside of things, most core apps like the dialer and messenger look good. HTC’s contacts app allows you to conveniently swipe between tabs. The keyboard is great - after mixed feelings initially, we’ve come to love it for its large and spacious keys that provide for an awesome typing experience.

Dual SIM

Active dual SIM functionality makes the most out of the two SIM slots

One of the big selling points of the Desire 700 is that is supports Active dual SIM functionality, meaning that you can get a call on the second card while talking on the primary one, but the faster (up to 21 Mbps) download speeds can be perused on only one of the cards at a time.

There is an app called Dual network manager, which takes care of assigning your preferred SIM slot, renaming the cards, and turning the individual connections on or off.

Processor and memory

Basic processor that does the job, but the phone is low on internal storage

A 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor ticks inside the Desire 700. This chipset sits at the bottom of Qualcomm's food chain, so don't expect it to run Asphalt 8 on all cylinders, for instance. For daily activities it is plenty, and the Sense UI flies seamlessly around, with just the occasional stutter in-between animations. HTC has equipped the phone with 1 GB of RAM, which wouldn't make you feel bogged down for more, yet you can't line up tens of apps and expect fluid performance, so the phone itself limits you to 9 apps open at any given time, before it closes the oldest ones automatically. Desire 700 comes with just 8 GB of internal memory, of which about 4.7 GB are user-available, but it has a microSD slot, so you can add up to 64 GB more there.

Internet and connectivity

Snappy browser with Adobe Flash toggle, plethora of connectivity options

We had no issues browsing on the phone – panning, scrolling and zooming were comparatively quick and without major hiccups. HTC even offers you the option to choose whether Adobe Flash is to be turned on or off for the current page, and made it easy to access it in the drop-down main menu.

In addition, the phone has Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX, GPS+GLONASS, DLNA and FM radio. HTC Connect is the app that takes care of wireless media streaming from your handset to your TV, home or car stereo.

Camera

Decent, but darker than reality photos, less than fluid video capture

HTC equipped the Desire 700 with a good ol' 8 MP camera sensor, joined by an LED flash sidekick for darker scenarios. Both the rear, and the 2.1 MP frontal cams have backside-illuminated sensors. The main shooter sports f/2.0 aperture and 28mm lens.

The camera app interface is one of the best features of HTC Sense, as it offers the shutter buttons for pics and video on one and the same screen, and sports plethora of color effects and shooting modes like HDR or Panorama. The phone offers almost instant shot-to-shot times in Normal mode, as is customary for HTC handsets of late.

The scenes you shoot come out a tad darker than they are in reality. You might want to push the exposure slider up a level for better results, or use the HDR mode, which comes out right. HDR takes too much time to process, though, so it's not a solution for spontaneous shots. The photos sport accurate color representation, as the hues appear quite realistic. The detail resolved is about on par with what's expected from an 8 MP shooter, certainly more than the 4 MP UltraPixel camera on the HTC One, but less than the 13 MP+ units on current flagships

Indoors, in lower light environment, noise is kept in check, and the colors look accurate overall. The LED flash, however, does a poor job of illuminating the scene even at a five feet distance.




Video is recorded with smooth in 1080p resolution, and you can snap pictures while filming as well. It, however, got recorded with the less then fluid 22fps on the cloudy day we were filming, as well as indoors. It also seems to skip frames while panning around, and appears darker than in reality, so you need to nudge the exposure setting up for better results, just like with the stills.

Multimedia

Excellent stereo speakers, no DivX video codec support

Editing capabilities are a staple for the HTC Sense gallery, and the photos can be shared through multiple venues, including directly to your social networks. Alternatively, you can make an HTC Zoe collage out of them, which glues them automatically with video clips, color effects and adds music for short, artistic highlight reels that you can upload on HTC Share for the world to marvel.

Music playback with the stock player is aided by automatic download of album art, artist info and lyrics, where available, and you have SoundHound track recognition functionality built right into the app's interface. The two amplified BoomSound speakers sport excellent audio – strong and clear, they are becoming a trademark to immediately recognize an HTC handset from the sea of phones with mediocre speakers.

The phone plays MPEG-4, Xvid and MKV video files up to 720p resolution with no issues, though for some reason the player isn't licensed for DivX video support, so you'd have to resort to the Play Store and install 3rd party apps to view such files.

Call quality

Excellent calls make for a great dual SIM device

Funny enough, that amplified top speaker at the front serves not only for your tailgate party, but as a good earpiece when you receive a call, too. The voices come out pretty loud and clear, with no distortion. Call quality is doubly important on a dual SIM phone, so we are glad to report that the receiving end was able to hear us strong and clean as well. This makes the Desire 700 one of the best phones with two SIM card support you can get at the moment in terms of call quality. If you don't mind the lack of second noise-canceling mic, that is, which would present a problem on a busy street, for instance.

Battery

Above average endurance

HTC rates the fairly generous for the phone's category 2100 mAh battery as good for 11.5 hours of talk time in 3G mode, and more than three weeks on standby. That's a pretty good endurance pointer, indicating you'd likely be able to last throughout the working day with the dual SIM phone in active standby mode.

Conclusion

In the market for a good dual SIM handset from a reputable vendor? Then the HTC Desire 700 should be near the top of your list, as the handset sports dual active SIM support, mixed with excellent call and audio quality, thanks to the BoomSound speakers at the front.

Price ranges from $400-$480, depending on the market, which puts the phone in direct competition with quite formidable handsets in the category. Chief among those is the Alcatel One Touch Idol X, which can be had for $300 now, but flaunts a gorgeous 5” Full HD display and 13 MP camera in a very thin and light body. However, it has 16 GB of memory, but not a microSD slot for expansions, and is not a dual SIM Active device, as callers to your second card will reroute through your primary while on call, which is a nuisance.

The Sony Xperia C is another 5” competitor, priced a tad lower, but with less memory and inferior camera to the Desire 700. If you want the absolute best in dual SIM land, you might also want to consider the HTC One dual, which, however, will run you two Benjamins more than the Desire 700.

Overall, even if there are better phones with dual SIM functionality in terms of specs, the HTC Desire 700 differs where it counts – it offers expandable memory and swappable battery, has excellent sound quality, and fast, decent camera. If you are willing to stomach a bit lower pixel density and larger than average chassis, the Desire 700 is one of your best shots at a dual SIM phone at the moment for its price.

Software version: 1.31.709.2