Over the last year or so, companies have started announcing 'mini' phones that are supposed to be miniature versions of their flagship devices. We saw this with the HTC One, as well as Samsung's Galaxy S4, and Motorola's Droid. It's smart. Instead of developing a lower-end phone with a brand new name to target those who don't quite fall into the category of 'big spenders' when it comes to buying a smartphone, they're cashing in on the big name with a lower cost offering. Unfortunately, the flip side is that these phones are always going to be compared to their more premium siblings.
Today, HTC announced the HTC One Mini 2. This is the follow on to the HTC One Mini we saw last year, a phone that was modeled on the original HTC One. So how does this year's HTC One Mini stack up to this year's HTC One? Well, there are a few key differences, though it isn't actually that much smaller than the HTC One M8 (it's 4.5 inches as opposed to 5 inches). One of the biggest is that the One Mini 2 misses out on the dual camera action we saw when the One M8 was announced earlier this year as well as Motion Launch, which allows you to check your phone without unlocking the screen. Right now, we're missing the most important detail, which is price. If HTC can come up with a mini price to match the title of this device, then it could be a winner. Right now, we don't have any information on pricing (for any region) or availability. The HTC One Mini 2 will go on sale in EMEA and Asia next month, though, and that should give us a better idea of pricing. In the meantime, check out the side-by-side comparison of the Mini 2 and the HTC One M8.
HTC One M8
Operating SystemAndroid 4.4.2Android 4.4.2Custom UISense 6Sense 6Screen4.5-inch LCD 720 x 1280 320 ppi5-inch LCD 1920 x 1080 440 ppiChipsetSnapdragon 400Snapdragon 801CPUQuad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A72.3 GHz quad-coreGPUAdreno 305Adreno 330RAM1 GB2 GBStorage16 GB16 GB or 32 GBRemovable StorageMicroSD (up to 128 GB)MicroSD (up to 128 GB)Camera13-megapixel 4128 x 3096 pixels with autofocus and LED flash plus a 5-megapixel camera up frontDual 4-megapixel 2688 х 1520 pixels with autofocus and dual-LED (dual tone) flash plus a 5-megapixel camera up frontConnectivityWiFi; NFC; Bluetooth; DLNA; GPS/GLONASS; HSDPA 42 Mbps, HSUPA; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth, DLNA, GPS/GLONASS, HSDPA, 42 Mbps (21 Mbps - AT&T), HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DLBatteryLi-Po 2110 mAh (non-removable)Li-Po 2600 mAh (non-removable) Dimensions137.4 mm (5.41 in) H65 mm (2.56 in) W 10.6 mm (0.42 in) D137 g / 4.83 oz146.3 mm (5.76 in) H 70.6 mm (2.78 in) W 9.4 mm (0.37 in) D159 g / 5.6 ozPriceNot Known$649 off contract
Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
