HomeIntroducing HTC Bolt – Sprint’s fastest 4G LTE Plus phone with Android 7.0 Nougat

Introducing HTC Bolt – Sprint’s fastest 4G LTE Plus phone with Android 7.0 Nougat

The HTC Bolt, like many other smartphones from well-known brands, has gone through a lot of teasers and leaks, and it has finally been announced by the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturing company.

The HTC Bolt isn’t a flagship (the HTC 10 remains HTC’s 2016 flagship device), but its specifications are high-end enough for it to be referred to as a Google Pixel XL with water / dust resistance and no headphone jack (yes, sadly this smartphone doesn’t have that important headphone jack 🙁 ).

HTC Bolt Specifications, Review and Highlights

HTC Bolt

Design & Display

The HTC Bolt comes with a 5.5-inch display manufactured with Super LCD 3 panels and protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The display has a Quad HD (2560 * 1440) pixel resolution, placing it among few other flagship smartphones that have this display resolution.

The HTC Bolt has the design of the HTC 10 (which is by extension most HTC smartphones), with an antenna line through the top of the rear of the smartphone. It comes with a 0.2-second fast fingerprint sensor which is embedded into its physical home button. The phone sports a unibody aluminium design and possesses IP57 certification, meaning it’s both dust-resistant and water-resistant.

Performance & Storage

Under the hood, the HTC Bolt is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor which has a speed of 2GHz. The use of the Snapdragon 810 has been heavily criticised, with some referring to it as sooo 2015. The SoC also contains an Adreno 430 GPU which handles graphics operations on the device.

It comes with 3GB of RAM (another so 2015 feature) and 32GB of internal memory which can be expanded up to 256GB with a dedicated microSD card slot.

Camera

The HTC Bolt sports a 16MP camera with a f/2.0 aperture, Optical Image Stability (OIS), 0.3-second-fast Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF), 4K video recording at 120fps and a dual LED flash at the rear, while the front houses an 8MP selfie shooter capable of recording 1080p videos.

Network & Connectivity

The HTC Bolt comes with a single Nano SIM slot which supports the 4G LTE network bands of Sprint, a network carrier in the U.S. It lacks the 3.5mm headphone jack but uses HTC’s BoomSound Adaptive Audio and Hi-Res audio technology to stream music via its USB Type-C port, which can be used out of the box with the earphones included in its package.

Battery & Power

The HTC Bolt packs a 3200mAh battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 feature which allows you to charge the smartphone up to 50% in 30 minutes. That, coupled with the battery saving optimisations of the smartphone’s operating system would guarantee you a full day’s usage before you need to plug it into a power source.

Software & Hardware

The HTC Bolt runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box with HTC’s Sense UI layered on top. It’s capable of being submerged in 1 metre of water for 30 minutes, but HTC explicitly states that it shouldn’t be submerged intentionally.

The company partnered with famous Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt to launch the smartphone, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the phone is named Bolt, exclusive to Sprint and endorsed by a world-class sprinter.

HTC Bolt Full Phone Specifications

HTC Bolt USB Type-C Port

Technology

  • 2G – GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz.
  • 3G – HSPA.
  • 4G – LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz.
  • SIM Type – Single Nano SIM.
  • OS – Android 7.0 Nougat with HTC Sense UI.

Design

  • Dimensions – 153.6 * 77.3 * 8.1 mm.
  • Weight – 174 g.
  • Display – 5.5-inch, 2560 * 1440 pixels Quad HD (534 PPI), Super LCD 3 Capacitive touchscreen, ~70.2% screen-to-body ratio.
  • Build: Metal Unibody Aluminium Design.
  • Form Factor: Touchscreen Bar.
  • Colours – Gunmetal & Glacier Silver.

Hardware

  • Processor Name/Technology – 64-bit Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810.
  • Processor Speed – 2.0 GHz.
  • Number of Processor Cores – Octa-core (4 * 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4 * 2.0 GHz Cortex-A57).
  • Graphics Processor – Adreno 430.
  • RAM – 3 GB.
  • Internal Storage – 32 GB.
  • External Storage – microSD, up to 256 GB.
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Light, Proximity, Fingerprint Sensor (0.2-second fast), Compass, Gyroscope.

Camera

  • Rear – 16 MP.
  • Camera Properties – f/2.0 aperture, OIS, 0.3-second PDAF.
  • Camera Features: Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, Auto-HDR, Panorama.
  • LED Flash – Yes, Dual.
  • Video recording – Yes, 4K, 2160p@30fps (24-bit/192kHz audio), 720p@120fps.
  • Front-facing – 8 MP, 1080p recording.
  • Music Support – AAC, AMR, MP2, MP3, M4A, MKA,.
  • Loudspeaker – Yes.
  • Audio Technology – USB-C audio, BoomSound Adaptive Audio, 24-bit Hi-Res Audio.
  • Video Support – MP4/MPEG4/H.263/H.264 player.
  • FM Radio – –

Connectivity

  • Bluetooth – v4.1.
  • Bluetooth Profiles – A2DP, LE.
  • WiFi – Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot.
  • GPS – Yes, A-GPS & GLONASS.
  • USB – USB Type-C.
  • USB OTG – Yes.
  • NFC – Yes.
  • 3.5mm audio jack – No.

Battery

  • Battery – Non-removable Li-ion 3200 mAh.
  • Charging – Fast Charge – Yes, Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0.
  • Power Management – Nougat /Sense UI’s Battery Saving modes.

Miscellaneous

  • Extra Features – Included USB Type-C in-ear headphones.
  • Launch Date – November 11, 2016.
  • Availability – November 11, 2016.
  • Sales stores/platforms:
    • Online: htc.com, sprint.com.
    • Offline: Sprint (U.S.).
  • Launch Price
    • Nigeria: N252000.
    • Kenya: KES 61048.80
    • Ghana: GHS 2406.
    • India: Rs. 40534.08
    • China: 4093.83 Chinese Yuan.
    • USA: $600
    • UK: 476 British Pounds.
    • Europe: 553 Euro.

HTC Bolt Availability and Price Details in the U.S., Nigeria, Kenya & Ghana

The HTC Bolt comes in Glacier Silver and Gunmetal colour variants and is available exclusively from Sprint in the U.S. at $25 per month for 24 months, or $600 for a one-time purchase.

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About Author

Samuel Afolabi is a lazy tech-savvy that loves writing almost all tech-related kinds of stuff. He is the Editor-in-Chief of TechVaz. You can connect with him socially :)

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