HTC 10 to be launched this week

HTC's brand new smartphone dubbed 10 looks all set to be launched this week - May 6 to be precise.

The phone, which measures 5.75 x 2.8 x 0.4 inches, is an aluminum unibody wrapped around in a brilliant, 5.2-inch quad-HD display that promises 564 pixels per inch of resolution. 

While HTC doesn't list any particular spec for withstanding physical abuse, the company does claim it subjected the HTC 10 "to over 168 hours of extreme temperature tests, ranging from a freezing -20°C to a scorching 60°C; and over 10,000 drop, bend, scratch and corrosion tests." The phone felt solid in my hand, and the curved, chamfered back made it relatively comfortable to hold.

The rear camera has a 12-megapixel sensor utilizing HTC's Ultra Pixel tech, which like the cameras on new Samsungs and iPhones, promises to capture better images with fewer, larger pixels.

Our image testers will have to check that claim when we get the retail version of the HTC 10 in our labs. However, HTC smartphones have been using Ultra Pixel tech for several years without making our Best Smartphone Camera list.

HTC went overboard on the interface, which offers a mind-numbing number of ways to customize the look and feel of the phone desktop. More on that later. One thing I do like about the interface: HTC eliminated the app redundancy that plagues most Android phones. For instance, HTC sacrificed its Internet browser for Google's Chrome, and now there's only one phone dialer instead of a second one from Google. Of course, you can always change what HTC gives you by downloading and deleting apps.