HTC Desire Eye vs. Xiaomi Mi4 – Specifications, Features And Price Comparison

HTC Desire Eye, aka selfie phone, has recently been introduced and the release date is set for November. The Xiaomi Mi4, on the other hand, was released in August. Readers who are interested in purchasing the 2014 flagship Xiaomi Mi4 or the latest HTC Desire Eye should check out this comparison.

Display, Exterior And Size

The HTC Desire Eye features a 5.2-inch LCD display and 1,080 x 1,920 pixels resolution, while the Xiaomi Mi4 comes with a relatively smaller 5.0-inch Sharp/JDI OGS display and shares the same resolution as the HTC handset. Plus, the pixel densities of the Xiaomi and HTC devices stand at 441 ppi and 424 ppi, respectively.

When it comes to exterior design, the Xiaomi device looks like it took a leaf or two from Apple iPhone's design with a similar stainless steel frame covering the sides of the smartphone. Particularly, the white plastic fixers on the metallic frame are very much iPhone-like. In spite of housing a shiny plastic rear panel, the metal band provides the premium look to the handset. In general, the device looks stunning from the outside, CNet reports. HTC Desire Eye, meanwhile, comes with a high-quality plastic chassis. Furthermore, the company has put in efforts to fine-tune the front and rear cameras and thus, the Duo Camera seen in the flagship HTC One M8 is bumped off. Plus, the device features a physical camera shutter button. Overall, the Desire Eye is a worthy enhancement of the One M8, ZDNet reports.

Speaking of size, the thickness and weight of the latest HTC smartphone are 0.33-inch and 154 g respectively, while the Xiaomi Mi4 is 0.35-inch thick and weighs 149 g. Therefore, the Desire Eye is thinner than the Mi4, however the Xiaomi device is lighter than the HTC handset.

Hardware, Software And Memory

Both the devices are powered by the same quad-core (Qualcomm Snapdragon 801) Krait 400 processor. However, the processors of Xiaomi and HTC smartphones are clocked at 2.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz, respectively. While the Mi4 is backed by a killer 3 GB of RAM, the Desire Eye settles for 2 GB. Moreover, the Xiaomi smartphone runs on Android v4.4.3 KitKat with MIUI 6 UI on top of it, while the HTC handset runs on Android v4.4.2 KitKat OS along with HTC's Sense 6 UI.

When it comes to memory, the Xiaomi offers 16 GB and 64 GB of internal storage, while the Desire Eye smartphone comes equipped with 16 GB of storage. Additionally, the HTC handset supports expandable storage option up to 128 GB, while the Xiaomi device doesn't.

Camera And Battery

Both the handsets sport the same 13 MP rear-facing camera unit with dual-LED flash. In addition, the Desire Eye features an impressive 13 MP front-facing unit as well, thus staying true to the name selfie phone. Interestingly, the HTC handset has a frontal dual-LED flash to capture killer selfies. The Xiaomi Mi4, meanwhile, houses a respectable 8 MP unit as the secondary camera.

The unique camera features of HTC's selfie phone include "Split Capture" that can split the captured picture into 50:50 by combining the images shot from the front and the rear snappers. The Crop-Me-In feature can be utilised to affix the user's image on to any other image, almost like Photoshop. In addition to the aforementioned features, there are two camera-specific apps namely HTC Eye Experience and HTC Zoe, GSM Arena reports. Moving on to battery configuration, the Xiaomi Mi4 comes equipped with a powerful Li-Ion 3080 mAh unit, while the HTC Desire Eye houses a relatively inferior Li-Ion 2400 mAh battery unit.

Additional Features

1. HTC Desire Eye comes packed with HTC BoomSound speakers. In addition, the smartphone features a water- and dust-resistant body (IPX7 certified), whereas the Xiaomi handset doesn't.

2. The latest HTC smartphone comes with a microphone fixed near the selfie shooter. Other than the frontal microphone, there is one at the rear and another one on the tail-end of the smartphone. Hence, a total of three microphones are serviced to provide quality audio reception along with noise cancellation feature, GSM Arena reports.

3. While the Mi4 employs micro-SIM, the Desire Eye supports nano-SIM. The Xiaomi Mi4 supports Infrared port, whereas the Desire Eye supports NFC. According to GizChina, only 1% of global users utilise NFC, hence Xiaomi dropped the support for NFC in Mi4.

4. It is worth noting that, the Mi4 supports WCDMA at this point. Nonetheless, a new variant is expected to hit the store shelves later this year bundled with international LTE support. In the meantime, "LTE Xiaomi Mi4" has recently been released in China for a price of $325-equivalent. The Desire Eyes, on the other hand, supports 4G LTE.

5. The latest HTC smartphone comes with HTC Zoe app to offer collaborative video editing support. Furthermore, the app can be paired with "RE," the brand new action camera from HTC. The interestingly news however is that, Android-based handsets across the globe can benefit from the Zoe app, because HTC has not made it exclusive to its devices. Plus, HTC Zoe app's Apple iOS version will be released by the end of 2014.

6. Another camera-centric app called HTC Eye Experience is not exclusive to the Desire Eye. HTC is planning to roll out the app to HTC One Mini 2, One Max, One Remix, HTC One (M8), One (E8), One (M7), One Mini, Desire 816 and Desire 612 in the near future.

7. Lastly, the Xiaomi Mi4's back panel is alterable with wood and marble shells, according to CNet.

Price

The HTC Desire Eye will be an AT&T-exclusive device in the U.S. and it is priced at 529 euros in France, which roughly translates to US$677 and AU$771, according to NWE. The Xiaomi Mi4, on the other hand, can be purchased for US$398 (translates to AU$429) in Oppomart.

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2. HTC Desire Eye vs. HTC One M8 - Specifications, Features And Price Comparison - [Read]

3. $244 'Xiaomi Redmi Note 2' To Feature 64-Bit Snapdragon 615 Processor, 5.5-Inch Display And More - [Read]