HTC Desire 22 Pro 5G smartphone review – Speedy internet now at an acceptable price

The Metaverse sounds like a great escape from reality. A place where you create not only your own avatar but also the world itself, and have both tailor-made to your imagination. However, the trend has not really taken off yet.

With the Desire 22 Pro, HTC is offering a special mid-range phone that is even being promoted in some countries with additional trendy buzzwords such as NFT or crypto. At first glance, the phone looks pretty normal from the outside. The manufacturer has gone for a sleek combination of rose gold and black with one of those colors dominating, depending on the variant.

The rear side is shiny and has a wave pattern. Unfortunately, the device is very good at attracting fingerprints and other dirty smudges. The corners are nicely rounded and the Desire 22 Pro feels good in the hand, but, at 206 grams, it’s a comparatively heavy device.

The display bezels are also a bit chunky meaning only 81% of the front side of the phone is the actual screen. We are impressed with the HTC Desire 22 Pro’s IP67 certification which should at least allow brief submersion in water and the case is promised full protection against dust. With a generous 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB UFS 2.

2 flash, the Desire 22 Pro is well covered when it comes to memory. Also, a few old virtues such as a notification LED and an FM radio are on board with these being quite hard to come by on other phones. Likewise, the device also comes with NFC for mobile payments.

If desired, the memory can be expanded thanks to the microSD reader. In tests with our microSD Angelbird V60 reference card, it achieved class-level results. It’s good to see that the HTC Desire 22 Pro comes with 5G, however, there could be more support for frequency bands such as both LTE and other modern cell phone standards.

Prior to undertaking longer trips abroad, this means the user will have to check whether it’s possible to use the smartphone locally, in order to enjoy mobile internet access. The HTC cell phone might only have WiFi 5, but it has more antennas for both sending and receiving directions. They allow the device to send and receive data twice as fast as similarly expensive current phones.

The transfer speeds are also very consistent. For our tests, we used the Asus ROG Rapture AXE11000 router. In terms of software, despite having Android 12, you are clearly reminded of earlier Android versions as HTC has not adapted its own system info or updates to Google’s current Android operating system look.

The manufacturer also hasn’t disclosed how many system updates there will be or whether there will be any at all. However, since December 2022, there have been no more security updates for the phone. The focus is on the apps which are all about the Metaverse topic and the connection to one of HTC’s Vive series VR headsets.

HTC hasn’t mentioned what it has optimized and the preinstalled programs can also be found normally by using other phones on the Google Play Store. The Viveverse, a Metaverse app, with which it is possible to roam through individual rooms, feels very empty due to a lack of participating users. In addition, it also stutters frequently on the Desire 22 Pro.

The 120 Hz touchscreen ensures smooth scrolling and responsive inputs. On the right side of the device, a fingerprint sensor is housed in the standby button. It takes around one second before the phone is (very reliably) unlocked.

It is also possible to use face recognition to unlock the cell phone. This works just as well but isn’t as secure. The 64-megapixel main camera comes from OmniVision and, at first glance, it takes the kind of decent shots, typical for this class of device.

However, on closer inspection, they lack both detail and contrast. They’re certainly good enough for simple snapshots and with moderate demands they are satisfactory if viewed mainly on the phone’s display. Videos can be recorded at 1080p and 30fps.

They are also a little lacking in detail but, in terms of adaptive brightness, the video recordings hit the bullseye. The autofocus also doesn’t jump around too much. There is also a straightforward wide-angle camera which doesn’t capture many details and also hardly adds any vibrancy to the image.

It’s also a bit of a hassle using this feature to take photos as it can only be accessed via the menu. On the front side, there is a very high-resolution, 32-megapixel selfie camera. However, typically, it only uses 1/4 of the nominal resolution in order to increase the light output.

Despite good lighting, the front camera lacks vibrancy both in dark and bright areas. In addition, the photos also can’t be considered to be particularly detailed. The HTC Desire 22 Pro’s display has extended Full HD resolution and you can even enjoy streaming content in HD, thanks to Widevine L1 certification.

It can display up to 120 frames per second which ensures that movement is reproduced smoothly. Up to now, everything sounds good but, unfortunately, the IPS screen isn’t particularly bright: At maximum brightness, we measured an average of 456 cd/m². OLED displays, which are no longer a rarity in this price class, manage considerably higher values.

The contrast is acceptable, but colors appear dull on the screen. Mostly due to a blue tint our spectral photometer picked up in tests. But, at least PWM is absent.

With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 , the HTC Desire 22 Pro was somewhat underpowered at its original price point but, priced at somewhere between $200 and $300, it’s just right. With this processor, the system runs smoothly in many situations but, of course, is insufficient to be able to run demanding games or 4K graphics. The UFS-2.

2 memory is what you would expect for this category of device and only the Moto G72 can offer significantly higher data throughputs thanks to its faster memory controller. Under longer periods of load, the case heats up to a maximum of 47. 7 °C.

However, summery temperatures also prevailed throughout the test. Nevertheless, the 3DMark stress tests showed hardly any loss in performance after numerous runs and the same benchmarks. Back in the day, HTC made smartphones with some of the best speakers on the market but the HTC Desire 22 Pro doesn’t live up to its ancestors in this regard: The small speaker on the bottom edge sounds muffled and can only manage a medium-level volume of 79 dB(A).

The most important Bluetooth audio codecs are all available, even modern variants such as aptX TWS+. Alternatively, wired headphones can be connected via the 3. 5mm audio jack.

Either way, both sound good. The HTC Desire 22 Pro’s battery appears smaller than other smartphones due to the phone’s hefty weight: However, with its 4,520 mAh, it managed 15 hours and 3 minutes in our Wi-Fi test. This should definitely get you through the day, as long as you don’t ask too much of your phone.

At a maximum of 18 watts, charging is done via the cable but a charger is not included. Likewise, wireless charging at up to 15 watts is also possible as well as wireless reverse charging at up to 5 watts from other devices. In some respects, the HTC Desire 22 Pro is a little old-fashioned: The somewhat overly thick bezels and the software look – which reminds us of Android 5 or 6 – take us on a trip back in time to HTC’s best times.

An era which is already quite a while ago. But that shouldn’t be all bad: Anyone grateful for a notification LED and an FM radio in their smartphone will get their money’s worth. However, the phone’s high weight, coupled with the very low capacity battery is annoying.

Nevertheless, modern features such as a 120 Hz screen, wireless charging and 5G can all be found here, as well as fast Wi-Fi, and a speedy processor IP certification. It was not generous of HTC not to include a charger in the box at the one-time enormous RRP. The HTC Desire 22 Pro hardly keeps its promises as a Metaverse and crypto cell phone but could still find its fans with its affordable price, fast internet and retro features.

Despite this, we would advise against counting on the manufacturer’s advertizing promises when it comes to software: The search for software updates in 2023 has, so far, ended in vain and the promised Metaverse crypto features have just turned out to be simple apps that can also be used on other smartphones. With the Motorola Moto G72 you get a very bright OLED screen but have to deal with compromised processor performance. The Xiaomi Poco X5 is faster and also has an OLED screen as well as a 33-watt charger in the box.

Currently, the international version of the HTC Desire 22 Pro can be purchased for $312 on Amazon . .