Did you know Radio Shack sold cell service? Powered by Cricket, Radio Shack Wireless is yet one more company aimed at people who want month-to-month smartphone plans. RSW has a slightly lower range of options than most no-contract providers, with a total of five currently available handsets. The majority of those are manufactured by Huawei and Alcatatel, two companies firmly on the “avoid” list of many. However, there is also one HTC handset, the Desire C. Do the two name brands combine to make a great experience? Let’s find out.
First Impressions
The HTC Desire C actually brings to mind another popular HTC phone aimed at the budget-minded, the Wildfire S. That the Desire C reminds one of an older handset makes sense, as it was first released on other networks in May of 2012.
HTC has ditched the four buttons on the bottom bezel for three, which is still three more than Google wants on Android handsets. The back and home buttons work as one would suspect, but the task switching button is a massive pain in the anatomy. It doubles as the menu button, which is the default single button behavior. To have to work as the actual task switcher, you need to hold the button down. This is annoying and non-standard behavior.
The volume button is on the right side and the charge port on the left, with audio and power on the top. It should be noted that the back cover is removable. Although it’s not such an easy pull, as you have to hit just the right spot. Removal gives access to a red interior, replaceable battery, and a MicroSD slot. The HTC Desire C comes with an 8 GB MicroSD card, but don’t get excited. A whopping 6 GB is reserved for Cricket/Radio Shack’s Muve Music service.
This picture has used up my daily quota of the color red.
The Software
HTC has loaded the Desire C with Sense 4, an experience I don’t personally mind. However, if you prefer vanilla Android or another skin, you’ll have a learning curve. One nice change from past Android 4 units tested is that the task switcher button now calls up the typical Android switcher, instead of a special HTC one.
HTC and Cricket throw a lot of apps on. Block Breaker 3, DropBox, and FM Radio app, Polaris Office, Uno, etc. Some you will find handy, some annoying, like just about every handset ever.
Also included is the aforementioned Muve Music service. Muze allows you to listen to, purchase, and download music. Because my data connection is a tad spotty (more below), I can’t test the service at this time.
Performance
If you came here looking to be impressed by a powerhouse, you’ve come to the wrong place. In a world where most out of contract providers are starting to get dual-core phones, the HTC Desire C is still rocking a 600 MHz single core. This means the 1230 mAH battery will absolutely get you through the day, but don’t expect wonders.
While Android and Sense worked fine, some apps are really slow. Facebook, for example, is laggy. Feed population takes a bit longer than expected. It’s possible that this is due to network speeds, but it happens on WiFi as well. At one point, it got so annoying that I actually switched over to an old iPhone 3GS to finish what I was working on.
Bad phone! Not on the rug!
Cricket isn’t available in every market, so check before you commit. Where I am, Cricket is kind of a big deal, which makes my experiences all the more disheartening. This is the first network that I’ve had dropped calls on in forever. When calls connect, reception is fine, but the audio output on the phone itself is kind of tinny. I’m not talking about the speaker phone either, but this tinniness shows up when I use the normal handset, which is annoying on a device with Beats Audio. I also have serious trouble with data reception indoors. GPS is disappointing too, as location services took way too long to get a fix.
No speed tests were done, as I couldn’t get them to run properly. If this strikes you as a bad sign, you’re right.
Battery life on the Desire C was passable and got me through the day. But if you’re a heavy data user, you might want to look elsewhere.
The 5 MP rear camera worked better than expected, although low-light conditions and action sequences were not this handset’s friend. Outdoor images and decently lit indoor images came out better than expected, with decent color saturation.
This looked much better before being resized. Really.
There apparently exists a version of the HTC Desire C that comes with NFC, but this doesn’t appear to be it.
Hackability
There are plenty of custom ROMs for the Desire C, so if hacking your phones is a killer feature for you, it’s possible here.
The Strengths
If “the camera is not as bad as I expected” can be considered a strength, then that’s one. Maybe the only one.
The Weaknesses
Bad network, weak screen, low power processor, and a crippled MicroSD card should be enough, but I also need to note that the HTC Desire C review unit is the first unit I’ve ever tested that has, over the course of normal use, broken. The phone has developed a major crack on the screen. So, if you’re wondering, it does not use Gorilla Glass.
Pricing & Availability
Radio Shack Wireless wants you to pay $110 for the HTC Desire C. Except the same phone is $80 direct from Cricket, which is the network you’d use anyway. Why pay an extra $40 for the privilege of a box that says Radio Shack?
Wrap Up
Sometimes in a review, a device is given a poor rating because of a few small factors. Unfortunately in this case, the negative so outweighs the positive as to essentially crush it. It’s simply impossible to think of someone for who the HTC Desire C on Radio Shack is a good fit.
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