HTC Desire C is a budget ICS droid with Beats Audio

After a number of leaks, the HTC Desire C (previously known as Golf and Wildfire C) went official today. It bears some resemblance to the HTC Explorer, but it's actually more of a One series smartphone.

HTC Desire C is an ICS phone on a budget

The Desire C runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Sense 4.0 on top out of the box. It also features Beats Audio technology (no headphones though) and packs a 3.5" LCD of HVGA resolution (the Explorer had a 3.2" screen). The handset is 12mm thick and boasts a durable metal frame.

The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 chipset with a CPU clocked at 600MHz. The actual chipset model number wasn't announced, but it's probably the MSM7225A with a Cortex-A5 CPU and 512MB RAM (the one that powers the Explorer).

The HTC Desire C brings some more upgrades compared to its predecessors. The camera is a 5MP unit with F/2.8 aperture and 34mm focal length (in 35mm equivalent). You also get 4GB of built-in storage (plus 25GB cloud space from Dropbox for 2 years), a microSD card slot, 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and USB 2.0. The battery has 1230mAh capacity and it's user-accessible. There will also be an NFC-enabled version of the Desire C.

The HTC Desire C will be available in Polar White, Stealth Black and Flamenco Red in select European countries (we've seen Romania for €200, the Netherlands for €220 and Portugal who jumped the gun a couple of days ago) later this month.

Update: T-Mobile UK will offer the Desire C starting early next month. You can get it for £170 without a contract or free if you sign a two-year contract (£15.50 a month).

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