The words “HTC” “cheap” have rarely mingled in the past few years together, but as the markets changing, the company is, too. Enter the Desire 816 for Virgin Mobile. The 5.5-inch smartphone, in the most simple of descriptions, is a cheap, plastic, HTC One (M8) with lower-end specs a bigger display. It’s also only $300.

This isn’t HTC’s only foray into the low-end market, as the Desire series of smartphones have long since danced along the budget-conscious path, straying from the One family in almost every way.

Hardware

The Desire 816 comes in with a 5.5-inch 720p HD Super D display, 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 1.5GB RAM, 8GB ROM, Micro SD card slot. th the exception of the actual display size, the aforementioned specs of the 816 read a bit like every other low-end smartphone coming out lately.

ckily, the cameras on the Desire 816 are a bit beefier than most mid-tiered devices, featuring a 13 megapixel rear camera 5 megapixel front-facing camera.

For the price, the the Super D display on the 816 is pretty nice. Resolution notwithsting, the panel offers up wide viewing angles color reproduction. If only it wasn’t surrounded by the obscenely large bezels.

Another feature that makes the cut on the 816 is the set of BoomSound speakers, (test vs real One).

Design

It’s hard to approach any HTC smartphone expect anything less than an extraordinary design. Of course, expectations need to be tamed altered with the Desire series. The heavy-on-the-plastics smartphone features a design that attempts to mimic the One family’s aesthetic. For the most part, it works.

The sides of the phone the area surrounding the front-facing speakers are done up in a soft touch finish. It would have been a great decision to have the finish continue to the back side of the phone, but it doesn’t. Instead, the back is covered in a glossy plastic that will quickly pick up your fingerprints.

Samsung was one of the first Android OEMs to place the power button on the side of the phone, allowing for easy access without having to reach to the top of the phone. ckily, HTC decided to do this as well on the 816. Unfortunately, it’s on the wrong side.

Instead, the Sim card micro SD card slots occupy the right side. For such a large phone, it’s surprising to find both the volume rocker power button on the left side. However, it more than likely won’t matter where the buttons are placed on this phone, as it will be far too large to comfortably wield with one h for most people.

Software

Shipping with Sense 6 Android 4.4.2 KitKat, the Desire 816 shouldn’t disappoint. For a comprehensive look at Sense 6, be sure to check out the HTC One (M8) review here.

After the initial setup, you’ll immediately be greeted by Blinkfeed, HTC’s content aggregator that will pull news stories from your favorite websites social media updates front center. It’s not for everyone, you can easily disable it, but it’s a nice built-in feature to keep you up to date with things that are important to you.

Notably, though unsurprisingly missing are the motion gestures found inside the original HTC One (M8), meaning that the double-tap to wake feature is missing. This is unfortunate, as it could alleviate some awkward h-stretches to get to the power button.

The rest of the Sense 6 essentials are present within the 816, such as themes, HTC’s in-house apps, like Zoe camera.

A decent smartphone on a less than decent network

st about any issue you’d have with the Desire 816 is forgivable when you look at its price tag. It’s not the most powerful smartphone around, but at this price, you aren’t expecting it to be. The only glaring issue I see is that the phone is available through Virgin Mobile, an MVNO that belongs to Sprint. Unless you’re already a happy Virgin Mobile customer, this isn’t a phone worth switching carriers for. 

For the market HTC is aiming for with the 816, it does a serviceable job achieving what it set out to do. It’s a decent E-enabled smartphone at a very decent price.