Such A Lowly Mid-Ranger

After their press crisis from last week, this week they silently (sneaky, stealthily) put up the HTC One E9s dual SIM on the HTC India website with no official announcement.

After the entire fiasco that was last month’s HTC “news event” and my scathing reporting on it, either HTC read my article (doubtful) or they realized laying low for a bit might be a good call. That’s why this week they silently (sneaky, stealthily) put up the HTC One E9s dual SIM on the HTC India website with no official announcement.

And honestly, it’s not just because their last official “announcements” sucked. This one isn’t much better. Some might say that I’m being a bit hard on HTC, but I’m not. The HTC One M8 was by far the best phone on the market during its day. But it has just been a lot of womp-womp ever since.

For those curious (are there any of you left?) the latest from HTC isn’t a variant of the One E9. It’s also certainly not any kind of premium upgrade like the “s” would lead you to believe. In fact, this phone is more like a 2015 variant of the Desire 820.

The latest from HTC isn’t a variant of the One E9. It’s also certainly not any kind of premium upgrade like the “s” would lead you to believe. In fact, this phone is more like a 2015 variant of the Desire 820.

It has a 5.5-inch screen (because apparently it is the size to be this year) but HTC moronically paired it with a 720 pixel resolution (a depressing pixel density of 267 pixels per inch). Let me explain something: you don’t make a phone screen that size that shitty. Why would you? Just upgrade it to 1080 pixels, just like actual One E9 has. Why does HTC repeatedly refuse to grant full HD status to any device that isn’t its flagship?

Actually, in general I don’t know why they called it the E9s. It’s thicker, heavier, slower, and it has a smaller battery than the E9. What does it have in common with the E9?

It has an octa-core MediaTek chipset, that’s been paired with 2GB of RAM, and (get this:) 16GB of internal storage, but users can only access 8.5GB of it. What. Literally, what?

Let me explain something: you don’t make a phone screen that size that shitty. Why would you? Just upgrade it to 1080 pixels, just like actual One E9 has.

It will run Android Lollipop with Sense UI on top.

The back camera is a decent 13 megapixel with BSI sensor, and HTC at the very least had the sense to put 4 megapixels of their UltraPixel technology on the front camera, which means the selfie shooter shall be glorious, even in low light. It also has a BSI sensor, and both the front and rear camera can support 1080 pixel video recording.

It has LTE connectivity and dual SIM. It’s available in White Luxury, Meteor Grey, and Roast Chestnut (I actually lol’ed when I read that) colors. It’s currently available to buy in India for Rs. 21,142 ($325), but there is no word on the street if it will or when it will become available to the rest of the planet (if anyone else would want it).

That’s not a cheap price tag for such a lowly mid-ranger.