Although recent leaks had all but confirmed it's existence, today HTC has officially announced a smaller and less expensive version of its flagship HTC One handset. Known as the One mini, the device makes a few downgrades to achieve the lower price point, but still keeps many of its standout traits such as the 'zero-gap' construction and aluminium design of the original as well as the Boom Sound speakers on the front.
Obviously, the main difference at first glance is screen size, reduced from 4.7- to 4.3-inches. This comes with a lower screen resolution (720p instead of 1080p) and pixel density as well but initial impressions say the One mini's display is just as beautiful and accurate as the one on its larger sibling.
Other compromises include a 1.4 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, backed by Adreno 305 graphics, a single gigabyte of RAM and 16GB of non-expandable storage – down from a quad-core Snapdragon 600, 2GB RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of storage. The battery is naturally a bit smaller at 1,800mAh, and HTC decided to drop NFC, optical image stabilization for the camera, and the device's IR blaster.
The One mini supports 4G LTE and HSPA+ cellular networks, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, MHL, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS with Glonass support and the usual array of sensors. In terms of software, the phone comes with Android 4.2.2 out of the box and Sense 5 layered on top, complete with features like BlinkFeed.
Pricing and availability details have not yet been announced. However, HTC has said it aims to roll out the One mini around the world starting in August, and the first markets to get it in Europe will be Germany and UK.