HTC One V - The Hero Returns

While plenty of new devices are featured at the Mobile World Congress, not all will make it to the Philippines. We are pretty three of the four new HTC Android models will find their way to the local shelves. Of these, the entry level HTC One V will probably be the most popular.

The HTC One V will replace the HTC Wildfire and will position itself as a low cost offering. But really, with a traditional Android chin, it looks more like the third coming of the HTC Hero. 

The HTC One V will be released running Android 4.0 with Sense 3.6. The HTC One V hardware is similar to that on the current HTC Desire S. The HTC One V has a 3.7 inch WVGA (480 x 800) display, 1 GHz processor, 512 MB or RAM, 4 GB or internal storage expandable via a MicroSD card and a 5 MP camera. The battery is rated at 1500 mAh. 

The phone also features the Beats Audio enhancement, which looks like something we can expect with all HTC phones from now on. It also comes with 2 years of 25GB Dropbox storage.

Compared to the HTC Desire S, it has a fair amount more of internal storage, less RAM and is missing the front camera. The decision to leave out the front camera is perplexing. While it is a feature I don't use since making video calls over 3G consumes a lot more data and results in a poorer VOIP connection, I am sure many potential buyers may look elsewhere because of the lack of this feature.  

Notably, the HTC One V does retain dedicated capacitative buttons and has not gone with the buttonless interface of the first Android 4.0 phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Actually, the entire line-up of new HTC phones retains the dedicated capacitative buttons, but instead of the four traditional Android buttons, you now have the three Ice Cream Sandwich buttons.  

Similar to other HTC phones announced at MWC, the HTC One V is also getting thinner and lighter, at just 9.2 mm and 115 grams. The HTC Desire S was 11.6 mm thick and 130 grams in weight.

The HTC One V is expected to be available by April 2012, though given HTC pattern of Philippine releases we can expect it to come two months after that. 

Pricing? We do not have any information as to pricing, but we are expecting it to have a MSRP somewhere between Php13,000 to Php16,000.