8th October, 2014 HTC announced HTC RE along with
the smart phone HTC Desire Eye. HTC is a strong smart phone band but last few
years where not so good for them as there sales drop grammatically. HTC got to
rethink about the current market to grip on it again like old days. Innovation
is the only way to get attention in this market, so they did it.
HTC RE is a handheld standalone camera without even a view
finder with is an essential component of a standalone camera. Without a view
finder one can know what’s he actually capturing but with HTC RE’s 146 degree
wide angel lens with f2.8 aperture does the magic here. The wide angel lens captures
almost everything you are pointing to shoot. RE have a 16MP 1/2.3” Sony CMOS
sensor capable of capturing full 16MP photos and 1080p Full HD videos.
HTC has made the design very simple and minimalistic. The
telescope like RE doesn’t have a power button on it. Yes I said it right; it doesn’t
have a power button. Instead it turns on and turns off automatically with the
help of sensor inside the cylinder like projection of RE. The sensor detect
when the device is picked up and turns in on, even it know when it’s in your
pocket and turns it off.
RE have just two button to operate it, one just behind the
lens at the bend and another below the lens. Button at the end is much bigger
button than the other, purposefully. One click on the bigger button takes a
16MP photo instantly and long press on the same button take a 1080p Full HD
video at 30 frames per second. The smaller button is dedicated for shooting
slo-mo video at 120 frames per second. RE can capture beautiful time lapse too.
HTC also released an app for both Android (4.3 and above)
and iOS to connect RE from your smart phone. The app can be used to access
photos and videos from RE wirelessly over Wi-Fi easily. It can be also used as remote
shutter for your RE, even you can turn your smart phone into the view finder of
the RE camera.
As we told early, RE is a standalone camera so it can be
take out without take your smart phone with you. RE comes with a 8GB microSD
card in it which is expandable up to 128GB. It has a 820mAh non removable battery
in it. According to HTC it can last up to 1200 still photos or continuous 1080p
Full HD capture for 1 hour 50 minutes before changing. It also has a 5pin micro
USB for charging and syncing.
RE is water resistant with IP57 rating, can live up to
30minutes 1 meter under water. It will be a snappy device for under water photography.
| Special Features | Grip sensor instantly turns on the device when it is picked up. One-hand operation design One tap for photos; One press for videos Time-lapse recording, settings control via your smartphone Android (4.3 and above) and iOS compatible. Seamless integration with your existing photo gallery. |
| Camera | 1080p, 30fps FHD video 720p, 4x slow motion video 146 degree super wide angle lens with f2.8 aperture for low light usability |
| Size | 26.5 mm diameter 97.7 mm height |
| Sensors | 16MP, 1/2.3" Sony CMOS sensor |
| Weight | 66.5 grams |
| Memory | Expandable microSD storage |
| Battery | 820mAh rechargeable battery Supports 1hr 50mins of continuous FHD video recording |
| Connectivity | BLE (Bluetooth v4.0) Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) Wi-Fi Direct 5-pin micro-USB MicroSD Card Slot Tripod Hole |
HTC RE is priced at $199.99 in US and is available for pre-ordering
at RE Official site. Shipping of device is expected later this month.
[UPDATE] HTC RE is priced at Rs 9990 in INDIA and will be
exclusively sold through Snapdeal. Shipping of device is expected by next few
months.