HTC One mini 2 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Joshua Ho on May 26, 2014 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Mobile
- One mini 2
WiFi
This go around, HTC hasn't particularly focused on improving WiFi in any specific way. While some internal documentation references a WCN3680 part inside the phone, some experimentation clearly shows that the WiFi chip used doesn't support 802.11ac. Therefore, while there isn't a direct reference to the module used, there's enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that the part used is Qualcomm's WCN3660, a dual band part that supports 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, along with FM radio reception, which works fine on the One mini 2 courtesy of the Sense 6 FM radio application. As always, you must plug in earbuds to use FM radio.
As seen above, the One mini 2 posts a relatively strong showing for 802.11n but it isn't as fast as the WCN3680 that is found in the One (M8).
ICs
After doing some more digging on the One mini 2 and One (M8), I've found quite a bit of commonality in many areas. The first point of commonality is the NFC chip, which is an NXP PN544, which is a chip that lacks secure element capabilities in hardware and is the same chip found in the international HTC One (M7). On the speaker amplifiers, we see another NXP design win, with two TFA9887 amps that are shared with both the One (M8) and One (M7). The headphone amp is the same part on both the One (M8) and One mini 2, and I suspect that this part is the Richtek RT5506, but I haven't been able to find any information on this. I suspect that this is the same 2.55V amplifier that has been advertised in spec sheets and marketing literature by HTC, but I haven't been able to track this over a long period of time. HTC appears to be sharing the same light and proximity sensors between the One (M8) and One mini 2 as well, which is a CM36282 part by Capella Microsystems. I suspect that all of these part commonalities were used in order to try and drive down cost across the board.
GPS
GPS on the One mini 2 remains relatively fast. In my experience, from a cold start without any data connection on airplane mode, the HTC One mini 2 acquires a lock in around 20 seconds. It appears that this is using Qualcomm's gpsOne gen 8B, which is the GPS module located on the modem. Using a data connection, time to first lock is almost instantaneous as it leverages data from the modem. I see both GLONASS and GPS satellites in use, with a minimum error circle of 10 feet. It seems now that GPS is generally good across the board, so this performance is relatively unsurprising.
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Laxaa - Monday, May 26, 2014 - link
It baffles me that this "mini" is the same size as the M7. What does this offer that the M7 don't have on a lower price point?fokka - Wednesday, May 28, 2014 - link
slightly better battery life, slightly better camera in daylight, sd slot.Morawka - Monday, May 26, 2014 - link
i like last year's metal unibody much better than this. Satin aluminum feels much better in the hand, (and looks better) than this brushed aluminum look.krazyfrog - Monday, May 26, 2014 - link
The brushed aluminum finish is only on the grey model. The silver and gold look like the M7.fokka - Wednesday, May 28, 2014 - link
i also like the m7 design better, but not because of the brushed finish - i love brushed metal! - but the corners look better imho. it doesn't look all that rounded, more simple and also the top speaker grille is more centered. also the speaker grilles were real metal on the m7 and if you look closely at the m8 you can see that theres a rather thick clear coat on the grilles, plus not all holes are drilled all the way through. "nitpicking", yes, but on a phone that lives for its design i think those are still valid points.also the second (duo-) camera looks goofy and the black m7 is just absolutely gorgeous, compared to the black m8 with its appalling gold speaker grilles (sprint version).
also (sorry for saying "also" so much!), i don't get how they get their numbers like "90% metal", or "50% metal". shure, the surface of the m8 features a couple percent more metal than the m7, but not to the extent of 90% vs. 70%. and the mini 2 sure as hell isn't down to only 50%. i'm really wondering how they calculate this to get those numbers.
SetiroN - Monday, May 26, 2014 - link
You are being WAY too kind.These "mini" marketing devices deserve to be bashed and put to shame. People buy them thinking they're getting a mini flagship and end up hating android.
This is a terrible device at that price point.
Laxaa - Monday, May 26, 2014 - link
It is. The M7 is a much better buy. It might be a year old, but it's still a great smartphone. It looks better as well.hangfirew8 - Tuesday, May 27, 2014 - link
Exactly what I was thinking! If they had put an 8MP camera on the M7 it would have been a better phone than this.fokka - Wednesday, May 28, 2014 - link
the m7 with a larger 8mp sensor with OIS and an sd slot would have been perfect!! plus the sd801 from the m8 to seal the deal and they would have one customer more.r3loaded - Monday, May 26, 2014 - link
4.5 inches is "mini" now?