Design, Features, and Call Quality
From the back, the desire of 816 glossy plastic and rounded corners are reminiscent of Apple iPhone 5c, while the front resembles the HTC One line with embedded BoomSound speaker at the top and bottom. Not poorly built or cheap feeling by any means, but the all-plastic build quality than both luxury good aluminum unibody HTC's devices.
Size is a given, but the desire is 816 pleasantly thin and light 6.17 by 3.1 by 0.31 inches (HWD) and 5.82 ounces. The rounded, matte plastic edge comfortable to hold, but it is actually a palm and pocket buster stretcher. Volume keys and Power On the left corner and far too high up, I had to adjust my grip and awkwardly stretch my middle finger or thumb to reach any of the buttons. HTC not include useful tap-to-wake gestures seen in a single line, either, making it more of a nuisance.
The 5.5-inch, 720p LCD will not win any awards Sharpness, but it is clear that a high quality panel that will look good enough for most of 267ppi. The screen has a near-180-degree viewing angle, gets bright enough for outdoor use, and reproduces natural-looking color. The BoomSound speaking not as strong as those in One (M8), but it is still a huge upgrade from the typical smartphone speaker, especially in this price range. The speaker combining with the wide display make for one of the most enjoyable experiences in mobile media for the HTC One Max.
The desire 816 connects to 3G CDMA network and Sprint 4G LTE network, including faster Spark Tri-band frequencies. In Midtown Manhattan, I saw speeds 6-10Mbps downloading and uploading speeds 5-8Mbps, which is on the slow side for LTE, but not unbearable. Call quality is about average in my tests, with strong performance from the earpiece, but weak transmissions through the mic. Voice comes through loud and clear in the earpiece volume to spare, as my voice sounds muted and confused sometimes. Noise cancellation worked well in my tests, but at the expense of quality, environment in louder voice, transmissions through the mic sound overly digitized.
Also onboard are dual-band 802.11b / g / n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and NFC radios. The desire easily paired with a 816 by JAWBONE ERA Bluetooth headset.