HTC Desire 516

Review in pictures

Staid looks, glossy body

• The plastic body doesn’t arouse much confidence about the build quality

• Feels quite bulky because of its 171g weight

• Nothing different in terms of buttons and ports

• Misses out on backlighting on navigation keys

• Glossy texture make it extremely slippery and also prone to fingerprints and smudges

Display isn’t its strongest point

• Features a 5-inch display, which has become a norm these days• Bears a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, resulting in low pixel density

of 220ppi• The glossy display panel is a fingerprint magnet and is just passable

under sunlight• Absence of an ambient light sensor means that brightness has to

be adjusted manually

5-meg shooter at the rear…

• A 5-megapixel rear sensor is available at the back• Quite low on megapixel count, when other

manufacturers are offering as much as 13MP cameras in the same price range

• Minimalistic camera interface, but offers various options for adjusting settings like saturation, contrast, etc.

… but nothing to write home about

• Image quality isn’t that impressive

• Captures colours well, but not details

• Macro shots were a tad better

• There’s also a 2MP front-facing camera for Skyping and selfies

Android prevailed with good Sense

• Runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean

• HTC’s Sense UI brings typical features such as Blinkfeed, Video Highlights, etc.

• There are also pre-installed apps such as Polaris Office and WeChat

• However, the UI doesn’t seem to be well-optimised

Performs quite well for the most part

• Running the show is a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200 processor with Adreno 305 graphics

• Thanks to the decent GPU, the device offers a good gaming experience, though there are occasional lags here and there

• A gigabyte of RAM ensures that the phone can handle multitasking and operate smoothly

Low storage is a deal breaker

• Packed with a paltry 4GB of flash storage

• You only get 1.72GB for installation of apps and storing your files

• Barely enough for installation of basic apps in a smartphone, let alone heavy games like Asphalt 8: Airborne

• You can extend the memory via microSD, but there’s no OTG support

A battery that doesn’t last even a day

• The 1,950mAh battery fails to keep the phone alive even for a full working day

• That too with basic usage of calls, messages and a little bit of internet browsing

• Churned out below-average results in playing an HD video on loop, and lasted just five and a half hours

At a glance

• 5-inch display, 960 x 540 pixels

• 1.2GHz quad-core processor

• 1GB RAM • 4GB internal storage,

expandable up to 32GB • 5MP primary camera with

LED flash • VGA front camera • 1,950mAh battery • Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with

Sense UI

-• Glossy design • No OTG support• Lacks ambient and

proximity sensors • Low internal storage • Poor battery life

Pros and cons

+• Large display • Decent hardware

~ Rs 13,500(online price)

Pricing and verdict

“As a device, the HTC Desire 516 fails to arouse any interest

apart from the fact that it features a large 5-inch display It can’t justify its pricing for its specs and is easily trumped by

competing devices”