HTC has announced that the One mini 2 will finally be launching in Australia tomorrow (September 2) and will, at least at first, be exclusive to Telstra. The One mini 2 is a slimmed-back, compact version of the HTC One (M8) flagship phone. It’s a bit cheaper, a bit weaker, but it’s still just as pretty as its older sibling.
You can get your hands on a One mini 2 on plans or through outright purchase. The latter option will run you an RRP of $599.
If you’re after it on a plan then it’ll run you a minimum of $60 a month from Telstra, which breaks down to a $5 monthly handset repayment on top of the $55 Mobile Accelerate plan. For that price you’ll get 1.5GB of data, as well as a decent amount of calls and text.
Save money, stay classy
For the second year running, HTC’s One series of phones is untouchable in look and class. The unibody aluminium frame is as beautiful to the eye as its smooth finish is to the touch. This is a compact phone that screams of gorgeousness every time you pull it out of your pocket.
Generally one of the first things to go when you drop away from the top-end of the market is a unique and attractive look. That's not the case here. The One mini 2 is bound to turn more heads than any big-dollar model, except for the almost-identical One (M8).
Of course, you can ruin everything and buy the ‘Amber Gold’ model, but that’s between you and your conscience.
Modern phones are getting pretty big. That’s all well and good for most users, but there are still a lot of folk out there who yearn for the smaller phones of yesteryear.
The One mini 2’s screen is just 4.5 inches, where the One (M8) is a full 5. That doesn’t sound like much of a decrease, but it’s a big difference when it comes to one-handed operation or fitting it in to tight pockets.
The screen does admittedly make some sacrifices; it’s only 720p as opposed to 1080p. Don’t fret though. The smaller resolution and screen combo will give you the same number of pixels per inch (ppi) as an iPhone 5s’ Retina Display, so the screen is almost as pretty as the phone.
Express yourself(ie)
Despite being a mid-range model, the One mini 2 still packs a powerful camera duo. The rear shooter is a 13MP affair. If that means it’s anything like the 13MP camera on the HTC Desire 816, then we’re more than happy.
Flip the phone over and you’ll get the 5MP wide-angle selfie cam, right from the One (M8)’s own spec sheet. Considering that the use of just the word ‘selfie’ has gone up something like 17 thousand percent over the last few years, this feature is likely to appeal to many.
Futuristic 4G. Literally.
The HTC One mini 2 is compatible with the new 700MHz 4G spectrums that are being currently tested in Australia by Telstra and Optus. Telstra’s own network is already live in some select areas, and will be expanding its tests to Sydney and Adelaide soon. It won't be live for full commercial use until early 2015, but you'll be ready and rearing when it is.
For those scratching their heads, 700MHz is a very low frequency for wireless communication. Low frequencies are good because they can penetrate further in to buildings and have longer range. As such you should get better 4G coverage when indoors, or even in areas that are too far away from a 4G tower for phones that are restricted to higher frequencies to access.
There are some sacrifices
Being a more-affordable mini version of a flagship phone, the One mini 2 cuts back on power. It comes packing a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and just 1GB of RAM. Neither of these specs is particularly impressive, but neither are they underwhelming. Android has become a fairly efficient system in recent times, so the One mini 2 should still function smoothly despite its lack of grunt.
As for storage, it's all good under the hood. On-board there's 16GB, which is the same as the default model for any top-tier phone. If that's not enough, there's also a microSD slot for expanding that up to a further 128GB, which will be more than enough for all except the absolutely most info-hoarding of users.
Alex Angove-Plumb
Digital Content Editor
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