The HTC Desire 626 was just launched and it is a clear attempt from the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer to compete against the Motorola Moto G 2014, one of the best mid-range smartphones you can find on the market right now. The Moto G was launched to positive reviews, many praising the impressive price/specs ratio, meaning that the Moto G comes with great bang for buck and you get good value for the money, not to mention Android 5.1 Lollipop soon enough. Since the HTC Desire 626 was just launched, many might be interested to see how the new phone looks and feels next to the older, but famous Motorola Moto G, so we decided to compare what we know so far.
The HTC Desire 626 was launched in Taiwan and rumors say that the phone might not cross borders and make it to Europe and the United States. Since we’re not sure and we honestly hope the HTC Desire 626 will be made available in the U.S. soon enough, we thought many of you who are considering a new smartphone but don’t need flagships specs, would enjoy a short comparison between the two. Since these are both mid-rangers, they might be the perfect options for someone who’s on a tight budget.
Design and Display
The Motorola Moto G 2014 is a pretty run-of-the-mill Motorola phone when it comes to design, so you get a durable plastic chassis with rounded edges and a sturdy feel to the material, which is neat. The bezels have shrunk a bit since its predecessor from 2013 was launched, which makes the Moto G 2014 look more appealing. The screen to body ratio is also better thanks to the smaller bezels, and the phone is now thicker, has a better display and naturally, better build materials. The durable Moto G is acclaimed among users for its resistance against drops and accidental spills, so that’s a plus. Don’t forget, though, the Moto G doesn’t have any certification when it comes to drop resistance or water resistance, but users found the sturdy construction of the phone will make accidents less damaging.
The HTC Desire 626 also bears the signature HTC design, as it comes with front facing speakers, pretty thick bezels and a plastic chassis. The back panel of the Desire 626 is pretty glossy and slippery, which might not have been the best choice when it comes to design, but our guess is that it won’t slip out of your hand that easily as it’s got squared off edges and a pretty thick body. The screen to body ratio as well as bezels are not as ideal as they are on the Moto G. to be fair. Overall, if you’re not a big smartphone enthusiasts, on a first look, you wont tell the difference between the HTC Desire 626 and the HTC One M7. You will tell the difference upon a closer look though.
The display on the Moto G is a 5 inch IPS LCD panel with a 720*1280 resolution that adds up to 294 ppi pixel density, which makes for decent outdoor visibility, brightness and viewing angles. There haven’t been any issues with the Moto G 2014 display, as many users are content with what the mid-range smartphone has to offer. The HTC Desire 626 display is essentially the same, with the same resolution, size and pixel density, so when it comes to display, these two mid-range smartphones are pretty much tied.
Hardware and Camera
Since both the Moto G 2014 and the HTC Desire 626 are mid-rangers, don’t expect extraordinary specs or out of this world features. But for their prices, you get quite a few features and some nifty hardware tucked under the hood. The Motorola Moto G 2014 comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 CPU clocked at 1.2 GHz, backed by an Adreno 605 GPU, 2 GB RAM and 8 GB internal storage. If you need more space, you also have a microSD card slot available, but it only takes cards up to 32 GB in size. The neat thing about the Moto G 2014 is that it is already upgradable to Android 5.0 Lollipop and Android 5.1 Lollipop should be on its way to devices, too this month.
The HTC Desire 626 specs aren’t anything to write home about either, but they are a bit newer and better than what we found on the Moto G 2014. The Desire 626 comes with a 64 bit Snapdragon 410 CPU with four cores clocked at 1.7 GHz, and another four cores clocked at 1.2 GHz. All of that processing power is backed up by an Adreno 306 GPU, 1.5 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage. You get a microSD card slot, too, with the same capacity as on the Motorola Moto G. Out of the box, the Desire 626 comes with Android 4.4.4 KitKat, but we do expect Lollipop to go out to the device in the following few months.
The camera setup on the Moto G is nothing out of the ordinary, but it does make for a decent camera experience. You get an 8 MP sensor on the rear complete with anLED flash, autofocus, and features like geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR and panorama and you can record 720p video at 30 fps, which is ok. THe front camera is a 2 MP sensor which can take decent selfies, even though they are a little grainy in less than ideal lighting conditions.
HTC has been focusing on camera performance in the past few months and that is obvious with the HTC Desire 626. The handset comes with an admirable 13 MP sensor on the rear, complete with autofocus and an LED flash, as well as features present in the Moto G 2014 camera, namely HDR, panorama, face detection, touch focus and geo-taggin, The camera is better when it comes to video recording, as it can record 1080p video at 30fps, which is an upgrade compared to what the Moto G can do. The front camera is also better, as it measures 5 MP and takes slightly better photos, allegedly.
Battery and Price
The Moto G 2014 is a great phone to go for if you want a decent battery life, as it comes with a 2070 mAh battery which can hold out for approximately two days of light to mixed use. That’s not much, to be honest, but the power management the Snapdragon 400 CPU coupled with Android 5.0 Lollipop does is pretty impressive. Remember that battery life and performance depend a lot on how you interact with a phone, so you won’t necessarily get the same results as other reviewers.
The HTC Desire 626 comes with a slightly smaller battery measuring 2000 mAh, which shouldn’t make too much of a difference thanks to the slightly upgraded 64 bit Snapdragon 410 CPU that’s under the hood. We cant’ vouch for battery life, because the handset hasn’t been thoroughly tested yet, It was just launched in Taiwan, so we couldn’t get our hands on it yet, but we hope we will soon enough to fill you in on battery life and such.
The Moto G 2014 price is between $150 and $250, depending on the retailer, version and region, but it still is a neat price for an unlocked smartphone. Many are very pleased with what the Moto G offers for that price, so bang for buck is ideal in this case. The HTC Desire 626 price is set at the equivalent of $190 in Taiwan, so we’re guessing if this handset makes it to the U.S., it will have about the same price, which is a very good deal. Overall, the HTC Desire 626 is the winner when it comes to this comparison, because it gets an upgraded processor and better cameras on both the front and rear of the device. We will have to see how the phone performs with real life use and we will let you know if battery life and performance turn out to be satisfactory for the price.
