HTC has unveiled to tech bloggers the HTC Butterfly, a 5-inch “phablet” with a crisp 1080p full HD display (at 440 pixels per inch) and an 8MP rear camera with an F2.0 aperture and a 28mm ultra-wide front angle lens. It runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) with HTC Sense UI in a slim profile – for a phablet, it’s only 9mm thin and 140g light.

Its 5 inch super LCD 3 on Corning Gorilla Glass 2 has a 1920×1080 resolution. My first instinct was to launch the camera app and stare at the captivating screen – I had heard that the display-camera tandem was glorious.

The heart of the HTC Butterfly is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.5 GHz, Quad Core. Beats Audio is said to provide depth to the sound, though I was not able to test that. RAM is 2GB and the total storage of 16GB won’t all be available in its entirety since the OS occupies quite some room. On the bright side, there is an expansion slot for a microSD card (up to 32 GB supported). The front camera, capable of full HD video chat, is 2.1MP. The built-in Li-Ion polymer battery has a 2020mAh capacity, said to be capable of lasting an entire day.

The HTC Butterfly comes in White/Silver and Black/Red. There’s no official launch date yet, but here’s the suggested retail price: Php 32,190.00.

Interesting to note: the dedicated HTC Image Chip…
* allows for one-press continuous shooting
* sets five levels of flash that’s automatically set by distance to subject
* ensures that the camera is always ready for the next shot (Sightseeing Mode)
* removes shakiness for smooth videos (Video Stabilization)
* lets you shoot and playback videos in slow motion

First impressions:

1. Someone paid attention to the tactile feel and the ergonomics of the Butterfly, so it doesn’t feel awkwardly gigantic, chunky, or heavy in your hand – despite the “this is a 5 inch phablet” banner.

2. The red unit looks like a red Ferrari in your hand, and I love it. The white one feels like a “narrow” iPad Mini sans the metallic feel in your hand.

3. The HTC Sense UI is smooth. Never a lag or a stutter.

4. The gorgeous display and the nimble camera make accidental shots look awesome. If you ever do macro food photography, you’ll be tempted to do a live blog of your breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Here’s the unboxing itself, followed by a quick hands on, all done at the HTC Office in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.

And here are shots “around” the HTC Butteryfly.

Irwin Allen Rivera

Irwin Allen Rivera loves his wife's cooking so much he's now twice the man he used to be. His English essay placed 3rd at the 2012 Palanca Awards. His philosophical-horror story is included in Philippine Speculative Fiction 8 (2013). He was managing editor and lead writer of Sites and Symbols 2 (2005), a coffee-table book about buildings in UP Diliman - his alma mater (BA Philosophy; MA Creative Writing continuing). He worked at the UP Diliman Information Office before shifting to web content writing full-time. His sudden fiction, "Notwithstanding Pigs," initially a Friendster testimonial, appeared in Philippines Graphic (2006) and in Very Short Stories for Harried Readers (2007).

email: swirlingovercoffee@gmail.com