Beautiful Butterfly

THE HYPE surrounding HTC may still be centred around the beautifully constructed and highly-desirable One M8 but the Taiwanese manufacturer hasn’t disregarded another one of its prized series of smartphones – the Butterfly series.
The series made its debut last year with the original HTC Butterfly, which was the first device in the market to pioneer a Full HD display.
This year, the Butterfly series is back in the game armed with its second model to contend against a plethora of premium devices. Despite the many competitors at hand, including its metallic counterpart, we find out that the Butterfly 2 is a worthy opponent.
It may not come adorned in metal but the Butterfly 2 is sleek in polished plastic, imitating the design notes of the original Butterfly.
In fact, you will find that it is easy to mistake one for the other, especially if you put the red variants side by side.
But you will be able to tell them apart with the addition of the front-facing BoomSound speakers as well as the second ‘camera’ at the back of the newer device.
Holding it in your hands delivers the same pleasant feel the old model gave. It is 145.4mm tall, 70.2mmwide and about 10mm thin, which is only slightly taller and thicker than the original Butterfly.
It weighs 10g more but still has no trouble sitting comfortably in your palm.
Just like its predecessor, the new Butterfly device features a vibrant five-inch Full HD display with a whopping 441ppi (pixel per inch), rendering superior visual experience.
Sandwiching the vibrant display are the BoomSound speakers situated at the top and bottom of the handset that deliver good audio output despite being somewhat softer than other HTC devices with similar speakers.
At the back, against the shiny red plastic back (or the white one), you will find that HTC decided to endow the Butterfly 2 with the Duo Camera setup.
The main snapper is a 13-megapixel camera capable of doing 1080p Full HD video recording. Doing away with the Ultrapixel and going for high megapixel count means delivering pictures with much more details.
The downside? Poor low-light performance but pictures won’t turn out appalling as there is HDR mode.
The secondary camera sitting atop the main one is, in fact, a depth sensor in charge of capturing depth information, delivering a cool 3D effect in the pictures taken.
The device also comes with a fivemegapixel camera withHDR capability as well as Full HD video recording.
Hardware-wise, the Butterfly 2 is no slouch. Like its flagship counterpart, the device features Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHz as well as 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage that is expandable via microSD card.
In terms of battery, the Butterfly 2 features a 2,700mAh non-removable battery that has little trouble providing youwith enough juice for a day of moderate usage (calls, texts, emails and occasional visits to your newsfeeds).
However, any gaming or videowatching on the device is going to require you to have a power bankwithin reach.
But if you find yourself deprived of a power bank or a nearby plug point, the device’s Extreme Power Saving Mode, which enables only basic apps (Phone, Messages, Mail, Calendar, and Calculator), will come in very handy.
The Butterfly 2 runs on HTC Sense 6 on top of Android 4.4.2 KitKat. The UI is, as always, smooth and utilitarian. It is lightweight and has little bloatware.
The LTE-enabled smartphone is also equipped with Motion Launch that lets you activate the phone from standby by double-tapping on the screen, activate voice dialing by swiping downward or launch the camera by holding the phone sideways while pressing on the volume button.
The device also has a range of Dot View cases sold separately that are compatible with Motion Launch.
Besides that, the Butterfly 2 is IP57-certifiedwater- and dust resistant.
Its ports (microUSB and 3.5mm headphone jack) are not secured with flaps as what you would find on similarly-certified devices, but HTC claims that the Butterfly 2 has been treated with a layer of coating as well as fitted with short-circuit protection to prevent water damage even if the device was submerged.
All in, the Butterfly 2 is worthy of sitting among the big boys currently reigning in the premium smartphone market with its top notch hardware configurations.
It may not come classy with a unibody aluminum body but the plastic does have its advantages; for one, it isn’t as slippery.
The way we see it, the Butterfly 2 will catch the eye of those who want a high-end HTC device with the two features that the rest of HTC’s arsenal of devices don’t have – higher megapixel count and water-proofing.
The Butterfly 2 comes in either canvas white or rouge red and retails at RM2,399 at all authorised HTC dealers.