After being officially announced on the 28th of June, the HTC Desire 22 Pro is finally here. It’s been a while since we’ve seen any major releases from HTC, and there was the danger that they would be left behind in the ever-evolving phone market. Considering how much they dominated the android scene a decade ago, it’s crazy to see how few phones they’ve released, but they’ll be hoping to turn around with this latest offering. The phone is marketed as a powerful midrange phone, but is it worth the price tag?
The design looks significantly chunkier than some of its competitors, and while it’s only 9.4mm high, the distinctive edging makes it seem a lot thicker than it actually is. The design is excellent, with a textured back panel and gold highlighting around the edges. There are two colour options, Wave Gold or Starry Night Black, and we think the black looks a lot sleeker than the gold. While the design is appealing if you can get over how thick it seems, it’s somewhat let down by its screen. It’s a 6.6-inch LCD screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a considerable downgrade compared to the OLED options available on most phones. However, one thing that helps soften the blow is that it is an IPS LCD screen, which means that it keeps the same display quality no matter the angle you’re viewing it from, and it has a greater colour contrast than a standard LCD screen. The screen is made of Gorilla Glass which gives it some extra toughness, but on the whole, people will be let down by the lack of an LED display.
Inside the phone, you can see why HTC has been marketing this as a midrange phone rather than a new flagship device. It comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage as standard and is equipped with a Qualcomm SM6375 Snapdragon 695 chipset. The technology in this phone is more than capable of handling whatever you want to use your phone for, but it’s not in the elite bracket that would make it excellent value for money. Don’t get me wrong; if you just want to use video streaming apps, text your friends, or play online games, the phone can easily handle it. Even with the advanced software and animation used in games like online slots and live dealer casino games, the Desire 22 Pro will still run smoothly. Knowing how good a site is before you bet there is a great way to check if the site has everything you want from a sportsbook or casino. It’s always a good idea to seek out expert opinions on sportsbook analysis, who has the best betting odds, and banking methods available. Reading betting site reviews should be the first thing you do when looking for a new place to play. The Desire 22 Pro can handle whatever site you play on, but you probably won’t be blown away by its performance.
It seems like HTC has decided to sacrifice some of the tech potential to design it to be the “perfect accompaniment” for the HTC Vive Flow virtual reality glasses. The phone comes preinstalled with a host of metaverse apps where you can explore virtual worlds, buy NFTs, and even make your own digital worlds. It also comes with reversible charging that allows you to charge your HTC Vive Flow glasses with the power from your Desire 22 Pro, which is pretty futuristic. In fact, one of the best aspects of this phone is its battery. It’s got a 4520mAh battery with 18W fast charging, wireless charging, and the aforementioned “reverse charging”. With a battery this good, you won’t need to turn off any settings to save your battery. Finally, the camera configuration is about the average you’d expect from a decent smartphone these days. It has a 64MP wide lens as its primary camera, a 13MP ultrawide, and a 2MP depth lens capable of taking 1080p video and pictures. The front camera is a 32MP wide camera that’s also capable of taking 1080p videos and pictures.
While the Desire 22 Pro is a solid enough phone, it’s not going to blow you away, and it seems to have aimed its gimmick of VR support at a very niche market. Maybe in a few years, we’ll look back on this phone as ahead of its time, but right now, it’s not worth the €420 they’re asking for it.
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