HTC Desire C is a budget ICS droid with Beats Audio
After a number of leaks, the HTC Desire C (previously known as Golf and Wildfire C) went official today. It bears some resemblance to the HTC Explorer, but it's actually more of a One series smartphone.
The Desire C runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Sense 4.0 on top out of the box. It also features Beats Audio technology (no headphones though) and packs a 3.5" LCD of HVGA resolution (the Explorer had a 3.2" screen). The handset is 12mm thick and boasts a durable metal frame.
The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 chipset with a CPU clocked at 600MHz. The actual chipset model number wasn't announced, but it's probably the MSM7225A with a Cortex-A5 CPU and 512MB RAM (the one that powers the Explorer).
The HTC Desire C brings some more upgrades compared to its predecessors. The camera is a 5MP unit with F/2.8 aperture and 34mm focal length (in 35mm equivalent). You also get 4GB of built-in storage (plus 25GB cloud space from Dropbox for 2 years), a microSD card slot, 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and USB 2.0. The battery has 1230mAh capacity and it's user-accessible. There will also be an NFC-enabled version of the Desire C.
The HTC Desire C will be available in Polar White, Stealth Black and Flamenco Red in select European countries (we've seen Romania for 200, the Netherlands for 220 and Portugal who jumped the gun a couple of days ago) later this month.
Update: T-Mobile UK will offer the Desire C starting early next month. You can get it for ã170 without a contract or free if you sign a two-year contract (ã15.50 a month).