Gorgeous metal design that cuts back on size and specs (hands-on)

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 over the new One Mini 2.

The Mini 2 takes the same classy aluminium design 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 processor inside the phone, and the display is 720p, down from 1080p.

HTC One Mini 2 flaunts its shrunken, metal body (pictures)
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What will be crucial, then, is the price. HTC has yet to officially say how much the phone will cost, but I’d expect it to sit around the £300 mark (around $500 or AU$540, based on a direct conversion). Even then, its specs put it alongside the new 4G LTE-packing Motorola Moto G, which costs half that.

Worryingly, an early leak from a phone shop pegged the phone at around £425 ($710, AU$760) — 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 have 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, meeting 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 last year’s 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 phones’ speakers have always been a major feature as their larger size produces an impressive amount of noise. Their position on the front, too, 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 isn’t muffled when you lie it flat on its back, which you typically would for a speakerphone call.

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 bacon hissing in the pan, I’ll be happy.

The phone comes with 16GB of built-in storage, but you can expand that using the microSD card slot, which is 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 has a 1,280×720-pixel resolution. While that’s a step down from the 1080p resolution of the M8, the smaller screen size means it doesn’t need as many pixels to remain sharp. Its 326 pixel-per-inch density is very similar to the iPhone.

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 noticeably sluggish. I’m confident 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 my favourite of the manufacturers’ customised versions of Android, as its minimalist interface not only looks sleek, it’s simple to use. The BlinkFeed news aggregator sits to the left of the home screens, 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 “Ultrapixel” camera in 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 think I’ll miss much 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 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 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 sharp 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.