HTC has had a bumpy ride for quite a while. The company managed to make some excellent phones including HTC One M7 (2013) and HTC One M8 (2014), but it failed to capture the attention of the mainstream market. It has good products in its Desire line, but they most of the time they are significantly more expensive than the competition.
At the New York Double Exposure the company introduced the Desire Eye, a mainstream phone with 13-megapixel cameras on the front and back. This is a one of a kind product, but we are sure many companies will copy this approach.
HTC is now entering the portable camera space and it has a nice little camera to offer. The HTC RE is a periscope / inhaler shaped camera, with a 146-degree ultra-wide angle lens (f2.8) and Full HD 1080P video at 30 FPS. It is rather unique, as it doesn’t come with a viewfinder. HTC hopes that the 146 degree ultra-wide angle lens will be enough to capture good action footage, but you can use your Android phone or even an iPhone as the viewfinder. This is a nice approach as it enables the camera to deliver a lot of battery life despite its 820mAh battery. The camera can take 1,200 photos or 1 hour 40 minutes continuous HD video on one charge.
The camera has a 16-megapixel 1/2.3" CMOS sensor that can take 16-megapixel photos or 1080p video at 30FPS. RE can also take 720p video in 4x Slow-Motion Video time loop. The camera measures 96.7x26.5mm and weights 65.5 grams. It also comes with a tripod mount, it has a speaker and an HD microphone.
The grip of the device has a grip detector sensor making the camera ready to shoot as long as you take it in your hand. RE also has a G-Sensor. It is IPX7 waterproof and with the waterproof cap you can count on IPX8 protection. It will be enough for a use in pool, at beach parties or in shallow waters. IPX7 means that you should be fine for 30 minutes under 1 meter (3.28 feet) deep water. IPX8 will let you get down to 3 meter (9.84 feet) for two hours.
The device has one central button at the back and when you press it once you will take a picture, and a long press starts recording video. It is as simple as it gets.
You can use Bluetooth 4.0 , Wifi 802.11 b/g/n, micro USB or Wifi direct to communicate with the camera or download the videos and files. It will be available in the USA first and you can pre order one in white or orange from recamera.com or the navy blue from Best Buy. Amazon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon will get the camera in time for the holidays.
The $199.99 camera ships with an 8GB microSD card, but the camera can use any microSD card up to 128GB. It comes in green, orange, white and blue. You can only pre order white or orange at the Recamera.com. Blue will be Best Buy exclusive and the green one was not yet mentioned.
The camera needs Android 4.3 or higher, or iOS7 or higher to work with your smartphone. HTC offers lot of accessories including the RE bar mount, RE clip on, RE charging stand, RE head mount, RE Suction mount, a few charges and an extended battery.
