The HTC One Mini 2 might not be the best name for the new smartphone, but it fits as the successor to the original HTC One Mini, announced last year as a smaller and cheaper option for fans of HTC and Android.
HTC has continued to add mediocrity to the One Mini 2, deciding against Sony’s method with the Xperia Z1 Compact, where they added all the best features to a smaller display for a slightly cheaper price and instead sticking with the Samsung and Apple way.
This might not sit well with people who want a smaller version of the HTC One (M8) but do not want to skip on performance. The HTC One Mini 2 has the same design aesthetic as the One M8, but it lacks the internals to make a high-end device.
The 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 display shows HTC wants to keep this mid-range, along with a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 CPU, 1GB of RAM and 16GB. Early testing has shown around 10GB is available for the user, the rest eaten up by the OS.
On the back of the device the HTC One Mini 2 differs from the HTC One M8, it does not have the dual-camera or dual-LED flash. The design is identical but it looks like HTC has removed a lot of the newer features from the Mini.
This affects the software considerably, the changes to Sense 6.0 that took advantage of the HTC One M8 camera and internal features are not available on the One Mini 2 and it makes us question where the 6GB went from the storage.
However, for a mid-range price of $399 off contract, the HTC One Mini 2 could be an impressive device. It has a design better than most on the market and the software isn’t ugly, but for US and European buyers this will come at the same price as the Moto X and we would say Motorola’s flagship has the edge.
