The HTC One 10 is finally here but, has it been worth the wait for its official outing?

There has been no shortage of leaks, speculation and conjecture surrounding HTC’s latest flagship phone and now that it’s here will it be worrying the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and the LG G5 in 2016’s fiercely competitive Android space?

I have been a fan of HTC’s top blowers but has the 10 got the chops in terms of looks, specs, hardware and unique features?

HTC has updated the design, added in a raft of new specs and hardware, and drilled down on core features like imaging, battery performance, and audio in order to deliver a very compelling package – and dropped the ‘One M’. To be honest, they needed to do something as the M7 was brilliant whilst the M9 was solid but merely a warm-through of the previous iterations.

HTC 10 design

The HTC 10 still looks like an HTC phone which, I think, is a good thing.

You still get a unibody device honed from metal. On the back of the handset you’ll find two distinctive antenna bands and the chassis is slightly curved. This aids grip and looks great as a byproduct. All in all, the design, fit and finish the HTC 10 looks to be classy, neat and premium – all the things we’d expect from a flagship phone.

The chamfered edging catches the light beautifully in the right conditions and is another nice touch.

The HTC 10 is rocking USB Type C whose port can be found on the bottom in the centre. This is flanked on one side by a five-vent grille, which is where HTC’s BoomSound lives.

HTC has kept with tradition and gone for capacitive keys for Back and Multitasking on the HTC 10. There is now a Home key too, and this doubles as a finger print scanner for encrypted access and Android Pay.

HTC 10 screen

HTC has opted for a 5.2-inch LCD 5 QHD (ppi 564) display for the HTC 10.

This will keep it up there with Samsung and LG, however, HTC’s use of LCD might put the HTC 10 at a disadvantage compared to its competitors.

More and more phone makers — including Apple in 2017, if rumours are to be believed — are using AMOLED panels these days, and the reasons for this are myriad. HTC says the HTC 10’s panel is 30% brighter than last year’s model but, without seeing it with my own eyes, I reckon it has its work cut out to challenge AMOLED displays.

HTC 10 camera

The HTC 10 features a 12MP UltraPixel camera with a 1.55um pixel size, a very wide f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilisation, and “2x wider range and ultra fast” laser autofocus.

The front-facing sensor is an ‘UltraSelfie’ camera and consists of a 5MP sensor with an 86-degree wide-angle lens, 1.34um pixel size and the same f/1.8 aperture size as the primary. Impressive stuff, indeed but I am currently carrying the Huawei P9 – just saying.

HTC 10 reasons to buy

There is no doubt that the camera tech is a huge update for the HTC handset but, apparently, the Taiwanese phone cobbler has made a lot of improvements to its BoomSound technology too, which has been inside HTC phones for quite a few generations now. To be honest, the sound quality has been my main reason for buying the M7 and M9 previously.

This is what HTC says about the HTC 10’s audio capabilities:

The HTC 10 is certified for Hi-Res audio and has been designed to make music sound the way that the artist intended. A headphone amp that delivers two times the power of a conventional headphone amp, the ability to upscale from 16-bit to 24-bit audio and high performance digital to analogue conversion combine beautifully to produce ten times lower distortion than other devices on the market, delivering an all-round audio performance that cannot be beaten.”

This is basically what LG’s G5 does, but with that phone you need a module to do the same thing. The HTC 10 does it all as standard and, for me, this is a huge deal because I love music and have invested heavily in headphones over the years.

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HTC has also re-engineered its BoomSound speakers, which now feature the same separated tweeter and woofer design as leading acoustic systems, which, when combined with a dedicated amplifier on each speaker, should result in very impressive audio indeed.

HTC 10 price and preorder

You can preorder the HTC 10 now direct from the HTC web store for £570

HTC 10 specs at a glance

• Display: 5.1in AMOLED QHD (ppi 577)

• Storage: 32G or 64GB + microSD (up to 2TB)

• CPU and RAM: Snapdragon 820 + 4GB of RAM

• Front Camera: 5MP

• Rear Camera: 12MP, 1.55um pixel size, a very wide f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilisation, and “2x wider range and ultra fast” laser autofocus.

• Battery: 3000mAh