HTC's new Desire 22 Pro is a surprise release from the Taiwanese phone maker touting itself as the perfect companion for your journey into the metaverse, but there's more on offer here than just the latest buzzwords.
The company's latest device comes with some curious selling points. HTC calls it the "ideal companion to Vive Flow" (the company's VR "glasses"), meant to act as a gateway to immersive experiences and the "Viverse," the metaverse-focused suite of apps. from HTC.
Blockchain-based features are also present in the Desire 22 Pro. It comes with something called the Vive Wallet, so you can control all the NFTs held and monitor the performance of your cryptocurrencies, while the Vivese Market allows you to buy things in the metaverse.
It is not clear what are the metaverse advantages of this latest HTC Desire over any other smartphone and it is quite possible that the company is simply taking advantage of those terms that currently dominate the technological spirit.
Because of these features, it seems that HTC is really targeting the pro-Blockchain type of user who owns crypto or NFTs, cares about the metaverse, and hangs on the latest Web3 announcements.
But given how divisive these new internet trends are, these features may also turn off some users; Some people worry about the potential environmental impact of blockchain, as well as the surprising instability of cryptocurrencies, so it would be best to avoid a device that contributes or focuses on these efforts.
Taking that stance would be a disservice to the Desire 22 Pro, because behind this buzzword-laden phone is actually a tempting cheap phone.
Analysis: the specifications are not bad
If we had heard of the HTC Desire 22 Pro without words like 'Viverse', 'cryptowallet' and 'Blockchain', we would actually consider it a pretty competitive phone that straddles the gap between budget and mid-range.
It costs €399 (around €490 or AU$700, although it's only available for pre-order in very specific countries, at the moment), and for that money you get a good handful of specs.
There's a 6,6-inch 120Hz FHD+ display, three rear cameras (including a 64MP main sensor), 8GB of RAM combined with 128GB of storage, a 4520mAh battery. Oh, the phone has wireless charging; which you really don't see in devices at this price.
It's not a perfect mid-range offering though, as the Snapdragon 695G chipset can lead to a slower user experience than its equivalent rivals. Also, since HTC isn't exactly a smartphone powerhouse anymore, it's unclear how many, if any, Android OS updates users can expect.
Still, a phone with these specs and at this price would normally be something we'd hesitantly recommend, but if anything, the addition of Viverse branding and Blockchain in place makes it that much harder to sell. It might not make it to our best phones list after all.