HTC announces Desire 601, 300, BoomBass and blue HTC One, Mini variants

HTC’s been busy at IFA 2013. Today, it’s announced two new smartphones that are part of the highly sturdy Desire range: the entry-level 601 and the budget-friendly 300. HTC also announced the NFC-connecting stereo speakers called BoomBass and some blue-coloured HTC One’s.

The HTC Desire 601 is set to launch October 2013 and looks like it will please those who couldn’t afford the HTC One, as the specs, which were unearthed by GSMArena, aren’t too shabby.

The CPU is a 1.4Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 which is as average as it gets, but HTC makes very sturdy devices, so it shouldn’t be such an issue. The display will be a letdown, as it’s a 4.5-inch qHD (960×540). There’s also 1GB RAM paired with 8GB internal memory. Rounding off the specs is a 5MP camera, a 2100mAh battery and a weigh of only 130g in total. Sounds utterly delightful, let’s hope the price matches the modest specifications.

The Desire 300 should be priced very low, if there’s any fairness in this unjust world of ours. The HTC Desire 300 has abysmal specs and according to ZDnet, the specifications will limit the ability to install any third-party apps (think Evernote, not Facebook).  Here’s the technical details of what appears to be a giant waste of everyone’s time: a 1Ghz CPU, a 4.3-inch WVGA display, 1650mAh battery, 512MB RAM (oh, hell no) , 4GB internal memory and a 5MP camera. At least it will weigh close to nothing at 120g.

For these specifications, the HTC Desire 300 best not cost anything over US$200 (R2 000). Sadly this is HTC we’re talking about so prices for its devices usually are usually a little higher than the average phone. The HTC Desire 300 also launches October 2013, but there are already hundreds of phones we’d rather choose over this one.

Rounding off, you can now pick up an HTC One and Mini in a very shiny blue colour. Regal Blue? Regardless, the blue phones are “coming soon.” Here’s what it’ll look like.

Finally, there’s the BoomBass, an NFC/Bluetooth speaker that has one job only: to pump out bass. BoomBass has a 1200mAh battery and is said to last for 9-10 hours after charging via the microUSB port. The phone handles the vocals and music, while BoomBass handles those rumbling sounds we love so much. It’s available sometime in October and is yet to be priced. And it looks, like this:

HTC 601, 300 image via Gsmarena.com

HTC One Blue via ZDnet.com

BoomBass via Cnet.com