HTC’s New One Mini 2: A Premium Mid-Range Competitor

Archive, News by SmartHouse AdminSeptember 1, 2014June 17, 2017 Share

The next generation of HTC’s One Mini series has arrived as the One Mini 2, promising the look and feel of its bigger brother without the size, the higher price tag or the more powerful specs, in a premium metal package with higher pricing than HTC’s mid-range plastic-clad Desire models.

HTC’s One Mini was a successful, smaller-sized version of the original HTC One, but now comes its successor, the HTC One Mini 2, again squarely aimed at the premium mid-range part of the market.

This is clear through the pricing outright at $599 RRP (or $528 outright at Telstra) for the 16GB model, expandable by microSD card up to an additional 128GB.

With a 4.5-inch screen, the One Mini 2 is larger in screen size and capacity than Apple’s 3.5-inch iPhone 4S with 8GB for $529 outright, and again compares favourably against Apple’s 8GB iPhone 5C and 4-inch screen priced at $679 and its 16GB iPhone 5C priced at $739.

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HTC One Mini 2 – Amber Gold colour.

Promising a “best-in-class” experience wrapped up in HTC’s stylish “HTC One” design, its specs include a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 4G connectivity able to also operate on Telstra’s new 700MHz 4G spectrum, a 13 megapixel rear-camera with 1080P recording and back-side illumination, a 5 megapixel front facing lens with wide-angle for better selfie shots, Android 4.4.2 Kitkat and Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX.

There’s also a nano SIM card slot, NFC, DLNA, GPS, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (2.4 and 5GHz), a 4.5-inch 720P HD screen, 16GB storage, 1GB RAM, microSD expandability up to an additional 128GB, HTC BoomSound dual front-facing speakers with built-in amplifiers, a non-removable 2100mAh Lithium-Polymer battery with up to 16.2 hours of 3G talktime and up to 556 hours of 3G standby time.

Its weight is 137 grams with dimensions of 137.43mm x 5.04mm x 10.6mm so won’t win any dimension wars against Samsung’s Galaxy S5 or Apple’s iPhone 5s, but then it’s not meant to one-up those models.

Oddly, HTC don’t list the specific Android version in the ‘full specs’ section of its website featuring the One Mini 2, but GSM Arena confirms it is Kitkat 4.4.2.

The One Mini 2 is going on sale in Australia through Telstra from tomorrow, September 2, with Telstra also getting the exclusive on the “Amber Gold”, which seems to indicate other telcos will get the One Mini 2, too, even if the press release makes no mention of other carriers given it is promoting Telstra availability.

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HTC One Mini 2 – Gunmetal Grey colour

Ben Hodgson, HTC Australia’s Country Manager said: “I love this compact superphone. The 4.5 inch screen is about the right size for many customers who may have an older 3.5 or 4 inch phone. To jump to a 4.7 inch or larger screen device may be too big a change for some. The HTC One mini 2 is a powerhouse, full featured smartphone in a slim and beautiful all-metal chassis. It can provide multi-day battery performance and fits nicely into the back pocket of even the tightest pair of jeans. At an RRP of $599, it is exceptional value for money.”

Of course, Mr Hodgson says this while having released new 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch HTC Desire models over the past couple of months in the hope those sizes and low prices will be enough to fight back against the upcoming new iPhones, but there is clearly still plenty of room for a 4.5-inch model that for once will actually be more compact than most competitors.

Telstra’s Director of Devices, Andrew Volard said that “with the selfie trend showing no signs of slowing the HTC One Mini 2 is equipped with a 5 megapixel front-facing camera for the perfect selfie every time. This compact and powerful smartphone is also compatible with our new 4G 700MHz spectrum. Currently, we’re trialling our 700Mhz spectrum in select locations (including parts of Perth, Fremantle) and will soon commence trails in parts of Sydney and Adelaide. The spectrum is scheduled to deploy across Australia from January 2015. This means HTC One mini 2 owners will be some of the first to take advantage of the benefits this spectrum offers, including 4G faster speeds and improved in building coverage.”

The rest of the expected HTC features are there, from the HTC One-series styling and metal case through to HTC’s BoomSound with two front facing speakers and internal amplifier to deliver superior “immersive” sound than phones with speakers at the back or the bottom edge of the casing.

HTC’s BlinkFeed is there to serve as your portal to news and social media updates, while HTC’s Zoe camera app does her thing to help you better edit your videos and take better photos.

An HTC Transfer Tool app makes it “easy” to switch from an iPhone or other Android device, while the 700MHz Telstra 4g compatibility promises “faster speeds, and stronger 4G signals in the city and in regional areas”.

Telstra is offering the One Mini 2 on a $55 Mobile Accelerate plan plus $5 per month handset repayments when they stay connected for 24 months, which includes 1.5 GB of data (excess usage $0.03c/MB) for use in Australia ($60/month. The cost over 24 months is $1680, with a “2 minute standard call” priced at an expensively eye-watering $2.38, especially when compared to unlimited voice calling plans from companies such as Boost or Amaysim, but you do get the “Telstra” experience with full access to Telstra’s entire network with full 4G speeds.

Business customers can purchase the HTC One Mini 2 on Telstra’s $65 Easy Share Business Plan, plus an additional $2 per month handset payment when they stay connected for 24 months. The plan includes 1 GB of data to use in Australia with a minimum cost of $1608 at $67/month. On this plan a 2 minute standard call is slightly less expensive at $2 with an excess data of 3c/MB).

While the RRP for the One Mini 2 is $599, Telstra will sell it outright for $528.

When HTC sends a review model, we’ll have a full review.

HTC One Mini 2 Specs are as follows:

CPU Speed

Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 1.2 GHz quad-core CPUs

Network1

2G/2.5G – GSM/GPRS/EDGE:

850/900/1800/1900 MHz

3G – WCDMA:

850/900/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps

4G – LTE:

EMEA: Bands 3,7,8,20