Selfie fans, HTC thinks it has the phone for you. The Desire Eye takes mobile self-portraits to a new extreme with a 13-megapixel front-facing camera.
Leading up to today's "Double Exposure" event, rumors were buzzing that the company might launch a new variant of the One M8 flagship with a higher-resolution rear camera. That isn't quite what we're looking at here, but this Selfie Phone is higher-end than you'd expect from the Desire brand, with a quad core Snapdragon 801 processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 5.2-in 1080p display (that's the same screen size and resolution as the new Moto X).
That's a solid-looking spec sheet, but the Desire Eye's killer feature is that front-facing camera. On most flagship phones, you'll see something around 2 MP in the front shooter (the One M8's 5 MP front cam was considered sharp when it launched earlier this year). But with a 13 MP front sensor, the Eye can take selfies that look as good as the rest of your shots.
That also includes a dual LED flash on the front. First seen in the iPhone 5s, flashes with two LEDs can take shots that look brighter, more colorful and less washed out than photos taken with single-LED flashes. You know, so you and your friends can snap better selfies in places like smoky nightclubs, dive bars and dark alleys.
HTC is adding some goodies on the software front as well, with a series of camera features dubbed the HTC Eye Experience. It includes face-tracking tech that can keep up to four people in focus at a time (HTC says it's great for Skype calls), as well as voice activated shooting (familiar to anyone who owns a Samsung Galaxy flagship), front/rear camera split shots (another Galaxy feature) and a mode that crops you from a front-facing shot and places you in the rear-facing shot.
These Eye Experience features will launch on the Desire Eye, but will be available "in the coming months" on the HTC One (M7), One (M8), One E8, One mini, One mini 2, One max, Desire 816, Desire 820 and Butterfly 2.
The Desire Eye will launch globally in October, and is set to be an AT&T exclusive in the US. No word yet on pricing.
Product page: HTC
