Jaws dropped, eyebrows were raised, and gasps were, er, gasped yesterday, as news emerged of HTC’s Edge, a handset powerhouse packing a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and 4.7” display. More details have now surfaced of the new device, and it sounds like it’s going to be an absolute beast.
So what do we know now that we didn’t know yesterday? Let’s start with the display. The 4.7” screen will be of the S-LCD variety with HD (1280x720) resolution. BGR reports that the display will include optical lamination, a feature included on high-end devices such as the iPhone 4/4S that bonds the external glass of the handset to the display panel itself. Also known as optical bonding, this process eliminates the presence of dust between the two layers and helps to reduce glare, making the screen easier to view in most lighting conditions.
We knew yesterday that the Edge would include an 8MP camera; we now know that it will be capable of 1080p Full HD video recording, along with a backlit sensor to improve performance in low light. Interestingly, the front-facing camera will be HD too, capable of streaming and recording video at 720p – a lot better than the VGA or 1.3MP cameras found on the front of many smartphones today.
The handset itself, with its sleek, tapered design, is an aluminium unibody, just 8.8mm thick at its chunkiest point. As reported yesterday, there’s 1GB of RAM on board, along with 32GB of storage, although with no microSD card slot, that 32GB will be the limit.
The Edge will also include Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and Beats Audio, along with an 1800mAh battery (although with these specs, it’s anyone’s guess how long it’ll last in use), as well as a microSIM card slot. Count on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) running the show when this baby arrives in early 2012.
HTC is clearly determined to give Samsung’s recently announced Galaxy Nexus a run for its money, with a spec sheet that’s certainly competitive with that of its rival. The ferocious quad-core 1.5GHz Tegra 3 processor - formerly known as "Kal-El", and officially announced by NVIDIA today - may just give the HTC the edge over its rival to be the new king of the Android hill.