HTC Butterfly Pro Reviews

The HTC Droid DNA inspires with a vibrant display and high build quality of the stylish case. It is evident that the Taiwanese manufacturer did not integrate the same high-quality components from the HTC One and only uses a Snapdragon S4 Pro for the Droid DNA, which still offers enough performance for all applications. Even the throttling of the GPU Adreno 320 under continuous load is tolerable because the performance is still sufficient. Drawbacks of our review unit are the limited storage, which is not expandable, the short battery runtimes and the comparatively high price. You can get the bigger sibling HTC One for just 70 Euros (~$93) more; it not only has a brighter display and a more powerful CPU but also twice as much storage capacity. Finally, all versions of the HTC One have LTE modules. If the retail price drops over the next weeks, the Droid DNA will certainly become a more attractive alternative. The price pressure for mainstream devices is very high; Sony (starting at 449 Euros/~$599) and especially LG (starting at 306 Euros/~$408) are considerably less expensive. However, if you want to use your smartphone for daily tasks and some occasional gaming you will be satisfied with the HTC Droid DNA.

The Butterfly leaves no doubt about how important it is to HTC to reclaim lost ground in the smartphone game. The device is good-looking, blazing fast, and has the best display in the business bar none. Those are the right boxes to tick if you're after impulsive buyers and power users alike, and the Butterfly has enough to keep you interested well past the introductory phase of your relationship. The curved display is a real usability boost, and most welcome too in a 5-incher. The HTC Butterfly also delivers on the social networking end, with Sense UI offering probably the best integration of various image-sharing and media-streaming options. Yet, mentioning Sense UI, we cannot overlook the fact that it's not able to keep up with the impressive hardware. The lack of shortcuts in the notification area is a glaring omission and the launcher generally doesn't offer as big a set of exclusive features as its main competitors.

When all's said and done, the current crop of Android flagships are a huge improvement from what we've seen in the past, even when compared to just a generation ago. If you're willing to look beyond their few flaws - the Xperia Z's less than stellar screen and the Butterfly's limited availability - the HTC and Sony 1080p offerings are both pinnacles of great technology. Here's hoping that what's next is even better.

Not available in the UK, it's worth reading about the HTC Butterfly to whet your appetite for the full HD smartphones we expect this year. But we wouldn't say it is worth paying over the odds for a grey import.