Gorgeous metal design that cuts back on size and specs

The HTC One M8 stormed its way to an “outstanding” verdict in our review thanks to its gorgeous metal body, truck loads of power, brilliant screen, cutting-edge Android software and powerful speakers. If 5-inches is just too much of a stretch for your hands however, you might want to cast your eyes on the HTC One Mini 2.

The Mini 2 takes the same metal body and Android software of the flagship, but shrinks it down to a more manageable 4.5-inches. Is it the perfect smartphone? Well, not quite. In typical fashion, HTC has also shrunk down the specs — you’ll find a 1.2GHz rather than 2.3GHz quad-core processor inside the phone and the display is 720p.

What will be crucial then is the price. HTC has yet to officially say how much the phone will cost, but given the specs I’d expect it to sit around the £300 (around $500, AU$537, based on a direct conversion) mark. Even then, its specs puts it alongside the new 4G LTE-packing Motorola Moto G which costs half that so you’d still be paying a lot of extra cash for the design.

Worryingly, an early leak from a phone shop pegged the phone at around the £425 mark and that’s one hell of a premium to pay just for a metal back. It’s due to go on sale globally from 29 May, so keep your eyes peeled over the coming days for more concrete prices.

Design

It might not come with the M8 moniker, but there’s absolutely no ignoring the family resemblance between the Mini 2 and the One M8. In fact, there’s almost no outward difference — aside from its smaller size of course — that separates the two.

Like its big brother, its body is made from aluminium with an attractive brushed metal finish and the black lines crossing the top and bottom on the back. It looks every bit as slick as it does on the full size model and feels great to hold — the curved back fits snugly into your palm.

Like the M8, the metal curves around the edges to meet a thin sliver of black plastic next to the screen. It’s a much more premium-looking design than the thick plastic band HTC wrapped around the previous One Mini. It’ll come in dark grey, silver and gold colours, although whether we’ll see blue and red versions down the line remains to be seen.

The front of the phone is home to the dual Boomsound speakers. The One’s speakers have always been a big feature as their larger size not only produces an impressive volume for a phone, but their position on the front means the sound is fired directly towards you when you’re holding it — which, when you think about it, makes a whole load of sense. It also means the sound doesn’t get muffled when you lie it flat on its back.

The sound from the M8’s speakers was particularly impressive. The Mini 2’s speakers are physically smaller however, so I don’t expect they’ll give the same sort of volume. So long as I can hear my favourite podcasts in the kitchen over the sound of my frying pan hissing I’ll be happy.

The phone comes with 16GB of built-in storage, but you can expand that using the microSD card slot, tucked into the side of the phone. On the other side is the SIM card slot. It takes the tiny nano SIM cards so you’ll need to get yourself a smaller card if you currently have a micro SIM in your phone.

Display

The One Mini 2’s 4.5-inch display comes with a 1,280×720-pixel resolution. While that’s a step down from the full HD resolution of the M8, the smaller screen size means that it doesn’t need as many pixels to remain sharp.

Indeed, in my hands on time, I found the screen to be perfectly crisp enough for most tasks and even small text in web pages looked easily readable. It seemed bright too and had decent viewing angles, but I’ll have to leave the final verdict for the review when I can look at my test videos side-by-side against its big brother.

Features

Powering the phone is a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor — another reduction from the M8, which packs a 2.3GHz quad-core chip. Still, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor it uses has given some decent results in other phones I’ve tested so I don’t expect it to be noticeable sluggish. I’m confident that it will handle most of your everyday tasks — Twitter, Facebook, Netflix — without much trouble and should be able to manage some light gaming too.

It’s running on the latest Android 4.4.2 KitKat software, with HTC’s Sense 6 interface slapped over the top. Sense 6 is probably my favourite manufacturer skin as its minimalist interface not only looks nice, but is simple to use. The Blinkfeed news aggregator sits to the left of the homescreens but mercifully can be removed completely if you’re not fussed about keeping it around.

The back of the phone is home to a 13-megapixel camera, rather than the 4-Ultrapixel camera from the M8. HTC says its ‘ultrapixels’ are physically larger than standard pixels and are therefore able to take in more light, resulting in better quality photos. I wasn’t particularly blown away by the M8’s camera skills, so I’m looking forward to seeing how a regular camera sensor compares.

The camera interface looks much the same though, with its easy to navigate icons and host of image effects, HDR mode and panorama mode. What’s missing however is the depth sensor on the back, meaning you won’t be able to take 3D-effect photos or refocus your pictures after you’ve taken them. The 360-degree panorama function also isn’t available on the Mini which I’ll miss a lot more than the depth sensor.

The phone has a 2,100mAh battery stuffed inside it which, with moderate use, should be able to make it through a whole day without conking out. I’ll be putting it through its paces in the full review of course. The sealed metal body means that it’s not removable, so you’ll need to carry an external battery pack, rather than a backup internal battery, if you’re going away from a plug for a while.

Outlook

As it did with its previous mini flagship, HTC has taken the design of its top model but watered down the internal specs. Luckily though, that design is so nice that it goes a long way to making up for the slower processor. Fingers crossed HTC pairs the Mini 2 with a similarly cut-down price tag.