The Taiwanese phone maker disclosed that it has set up a wholly-owned subsidiary for its Vive VR headset, according to a statement made available to The Verge. The new subsidiary, which will operate under the name HTC Vive Tech Corporation, will be the company’s face in entering into strategic alliances geared towards developing the VR ecosystem across the world.

The decision to turn the Vive VR business into a separate subsidiary is a smart move by HTC to prevent the prospect of the VR headset being harmed by its smartphone business. Competition has been so intense in the smartphone market and this could impact negatively on the VR business if left as part of the overall company. Spinning off Vive ensures that potential partners are protected against losses in the event of things not turning out as desired in HTC’s smartphone business or any other.

The Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company also announced on Wednesday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress that it was entering into a partnership with a number of other firms to raise $10 billion for investment in virtual reality development. The consortium, which comprises 28 firms, is known as the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance. It has a good number of popular venture capitalist companies as partners. One of the most notable partners is Sequoia Capital, a pioneer financial backer of both Apple and Google.

The venture capital alliance will be headed by HTC’s China Regional President of VR, Alvin Wang Graylin. It will be meeting every two months in Beijing and San Francisco to hear VR startups pitch their ideas in needing of funding, according to TechCrunch.

Virtual reality is considered a technology of the future. HTC is obviously hoping to feature prominently in that future, as indicated by its role in the setting up of this new $10 billion consortium. The company knows it has to be on its toes with strong competition from Facebook’s Oculus, Google, Sony and others.

The Taiwanese tech company had announced a $100 million accelerator fund back in April to support startups creating VR content.

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HTC

Design and Display

This midrange smartphone no doubt looks appealing, with HTC describing the style as ‘high-def’. The design language is unchanged from what offerings in the Desire range are known for. What you may find a tad disappointing is that the body is made of plastic. The HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM parades a dual-colour scheme and has soft-touch matte edges for sure grip. It packs a similar display as the regular variant – a 5-inch touchscreen with an HD resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels and pixel density of about 294 ppi.

Camera

Looking at the spec sheet, this phone doesn’t seem to have anything over the regular Desire 626 in terms of cameras. HTC has decided to focus on this aspect all the same as a key selling point. On the rear of the HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM is a robust-looking 13-megapixel shooter LED flash and autofocus for spectacular shots in low-light conditions. The camera offers backside illumination and continuous shooting capability. The 5-megapixel snapper on the front looks quite promising for selfies as well, at least on paper. Both cameras supposedly offer Full HD (1,080p) video recording capability.

Hardware and Software

On the inside, the HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM is armed with an octa-core MediaTek MT6752 processor clocked at 1.8 GHz. One may not argue with the phone’s Taiwanese maker that this is a ‘powerful processor,’ but the choice could have been better since this chipset is about two years old. The 2 GB of RAM onboard should ensure you enjoy impressive performance all the same. Internal storage capacity is 16 GB, expandable by another 32 GB using a microSD card. By today’s standards, the Desire 626 Dual SIM is big disappointment software wise. It still boots the now-obsolete Android 4.4 KitKat operating system.

Sundry Features

The smartphone is equipped with a fair 2,000mAh Li-Ion non-removable battery. It can house two SIM cards at the same time and offers dual standby capability. Blazing-fast LTE connectivity on offer makes for awesome mobile data speeds. Connectivity features also include microUSB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with hotspot and DLNA support.

Pricing

The HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM sells in the price range N50,000-N65,000. Now, that price might not sound really prohibitive, but the phone will have it tough with cheaper devices such as new Meizu m3, Lenovo Vibe K5 and Xiaomi Redmi 3 around. These other devices also offer some better features at more affordable prices.

HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM at a Glance

– 5″ HD display
– 13MP AF rear and 5MP selfie cameras
– Octa-core MediaTek MT6752
– 2GB RAM
– 16GB onboard storage with microSD support
– Android 4.4 KitKat
– 2,000mAh battery
– Dual SIM
– 4G LTE

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Design and Display

Also known as the HTC One M9(s), the One M9s bears marked semblance to the original flagship with an attractive unibody design. It features an all-metal build with dual-layer double-anodised aluminium used for its body. The phone is not exactly slim or lightweight at 9.6 millimetres and 158 g respectively. It sports a 5-inch IPS touch display with a Full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels which means users should expect enjoyable viewing on this device.

Camera and Storage

HTC One M9s packs a powerful 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture and a sapphire crystal glass cover for extra protection for the lens. The shooter offers dual-LED flash, autofocus, optical image stabilization (OIS) and BSI sensor for awesome images. It can be used to record spectacular Full HD (1080) videos. The phone also features a 4-megapixel UltraPixel front-facing snapper with an f/2.0 wide lens. Buyers get 16 GB of onboard storage which can be expanded by up to a colossal 2 TB using a microSD card.

Power and Performance

HTC has decided on a shift from the Snapdragon 810 SoC again, just as it did with earlier One M9 variants. HTC One M9s will be driven by a speedy MediaTek Helio X10, an octa-core processor delivering speeds of up to 2.2 GHz. And to make the phone more affordable, RAM capacity has slumped from 3 GB to 2 GB. A PowerVR G6200 GPU sees to graphics processing. It is not yet clear as to what Android version will come with the device out of the box. Juice will be supplied by a 2840mAh battery.

In addition to traditional 2G and 3G capabilities, HTC One M9s will also support 4G LTE connectivity. Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac are among available connectivity options.

Availability and Pricing

Pre-orders are currently on for HTC One M9s in Taiwan, with shipping scheduled to commence from November 21 – a day before the Gionee Elife S6 will go on sale. It attracts a price of TWD 12,900, which converts to a price of about N80,000 in Nigeria. However, there is no word on international availability of the phone at this time.

HIGHLIGHTS
– All-metal chassis
– 5-inch Full HD display
– 13MP rear camera with sapphire crystal glass and 4MP UltraPixel (front) camera
– Octa-core, 2.2GHz MediaTek Helio X10 processor
– 2GB RAM
– 16GB onboard storage (expandable up to 2 TB)
– 2,840mAh battery
– 4G LTE support

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Design and Screen

Just as you would expect of an HTC device, the Desire 520 features a pleasant unibody design with a polycarbonate chassis. It looks solid enough to be able to withstand a bit of rugged handling. The phone is available in steel gray. It stuffs in a 4.5-inch touchscreen with an FWVGA resolution of 854 x 480 pixels, which is just about what you would expect in a budget smartphone. While its resolution might not be out of this world, the display should offer acceptable clarity given its somewhat small size.

Camera and Storage

HTC Desire 520 packs in an impressive 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and autofocus, which should enable you take amazing photos for an affordable price. You get decent selfie-taking capability with the 2-megapixel front-facing shooter. With 8 GB of onboard storage, the Desire 520 offers enough storage space for storing your photos, videos and documents. There is also a microSD card slot to enable you had more storage space, if you happen to be content-hungry type.

Performance and Operating System

Packing a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor running at speeds of 1.1 GHz, HTC Desire 520 looks capable of delivering seamless gaming and video playback experience as well as enjoyable multitasking. Support is provided to the processor by a manageable 1 GB of RAM. Equally notable is the Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system on which the Desire 520 runs; compare that to the Android 5.0 Lollipop software used for the higher-end flagship HTC One M9 – the successor of 2014 flagship One M8, which has also received a refresh in HTC One M8s. The OS is overlaid with HTC Sense user interface.

Sundry Features

HTC Desire 520 is supplied with a 2000mAh battery that should capitalise on the moderate screen size and resolution to support long hour use. The device maker’s signature app Zoe lets you bring your story to life by combining your favourite images and videos with music in highlights. You are also in for awesome mobile data speeds with the phone 4G LTE support.

Pricing and Availability

It appears HTC Desire 520 is headed to the United States and its international availability is somewhat a mystery for now. There has also not been a word on the price for now, but it is the most affordable among the four new smartphones recently unveiled by HTC. So, with the simultaneously-announced, 5-inch HTC Desire 626s going for $170 (slightly less than N34,000), the Desire 520 is expected to cost about N30,000, or less, using current high exchange rate.

Highlights

– 4.5-inch FWVGA display
– 8MP rear camera and 2MP selfie camera
– Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor
– 1GB RAM
– Android 5.1 Lollipop with HTC Sense skin
– 8 GB of storage, with microSD card slot
– 2000mAh battery
– 4G LTE support

UPDATE: Corrected an erroneous comparison to the processor that powers the HTC One M9.

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