The dual SIM Desire 310 is seemingly intended to help HTC surge into the lower-cost segment, though its price tag of $220 in the US kind of disagrees with that notion and puts it into the mid-range tier. But no matter, the jury is still out on whether the 310 is enough of a phone to warrant what is a rather steep price tag. And that jury is us.
Let's take a look.
In the box:
Wall charger
In-ear headphones
microUSB cable
Design
Uninspired, cookie-cutter design that screams “disposable”.
As soon as one gazes upon the HTC Desire 310, all is told. It has the bearing of an entry-level, low-cost device, and its design and overall looks do not simply reinforce that notion – they're making the statement itself. The 310, which tips the scales at 4.94 oz (140 g), has that cookie-cutter, rounded slab look, with a chubby profile that measures in at 0.44 inches (11.25 mm). It is solidly-made, and has pleasantly rounded corners that our hands readily agree with. The matted polycarbonate back is also welcome, as it repels fingerprints with a decent degree of success.
Both the power button and the volume rocker have taken to the right side of the device, and though they're ergonomically placed, they offer unsatisfying tactile feedback and poor travel.
One of the very worst displays we've seen, even in this price range.
A 4.5-inch glass with a resolution of 480x854 pixels is what you'll have to make do with as far as the Desire 310 is concerned. The IPS panel manages a pixel density of 218 ppi, which is not impressive, but not terrible for its class either.
What's terrible about the screen is its extremely cold color temperature of almost 19,000K, which results in some very bluish whites and grays. What's more, color reproduction is completely off, with pretty much every primary or secondary color showing sometimes downright critical discrepancies between target and actual colors. This issue is especially noticeable with green, magenta, and cyan.
Last but not least, the Desire 310's display is absolutely unsuited for use outdoors in conditions other than murky, overcast weather. Its peak brightness of just 288 nits is just poor, even in this class.
The numbers below represent the amount of deviation in the respective property, observed when a display is viewed from a 45-degree angle as opposed to direct viewing.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set (area) of colors that a display can reproduce, with the sRGB colorspace (the highlighted triangle) serving as reference. The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x: CIE31' and 'y: CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance (balance between red, green and blue) across different levels of grey (from dark to bright). The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones, the better.
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