Video: First Look at the HTC DROID DNA

by: Kellex | posted 11.13.12 | News, Videos

The HTC DROID DNA is official. Here is the first look at it.

Below, we also have HTC’s first promo video for the phone, which is awesome.

http://www.gizmoninja.com/ Tabe

What’s the grills on the sides for? Besides to get junk stuck in.
Daistaar

On a relate note, does anyone know if VZW stores have dummy units yet? Would like to get a feel for it.
Daistaar

You seriously have to watch the video on top and play the Friendly Fires “Skeleton Boy at the same time. Makes this phone look awesome LOL!
BigFonz

damn, I was really hoping for a kickstand
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1198252656 Jeff Kerstetter

Damn. I was really looking forward to this, but the lack of SD card is a deal breaker. No removable battery I could live with, but 16GB of storage?! GTFO…I will be sticking with my X2 a while longer, it looks like.
http://twitter.com/gregwlsn Greg Wilson

Will Best Buy have it on launch day? 11/20 is day 58 of the 60-day return period on my Galaxy S3.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Nick-Bell/750747288 Nick Bell

I will say that was the best DROID commercial I have seen.. Its actually showed how badass the phone was (not badass enough to get me to buy it over the Note 2) and not some dumb superhero commercial that doesnt show the phone at all..
Spider210

preorder is live!
Ohiwastedmylife

This phone will be great as long as we all go back to playing board games, listening to our music on walkmans, and reading newspapers/magazines!
Sqube

Can you confirm the microSD slot?
homelesshobo

To bad its only has 16GB of storage and no micro sd slot
- Paul
  
  I might end up having to go with the Note 2 because of this. A phone that’s got an amazing processor and 1080p screen that can run HD games well and make HD video look really good, and no storage for said videos and games.
2001400ex

Terrible. How could HTC muck this up that bad? Only 2020 and no sd? This isn’t the days of 3g. I guess maxx hd here I come. Battery life more important than sweet screen. I just wish the maxx hd wasn’t 6 month old tech.
jonathon johnston

I came away disappointed…rumor had a 2500mah battery but instead it is much less. I do get about 3 hours of screen on with my DX extended battery (1800mah) but with a larger screen and LTE this will not compare.
And really, took away the micro sd slot on the US release? Guess I will be waiting on the Note 2 unless the official specs or in-hand feel of this phone grab my attention again.
Will Stager

“Keep your friends close and your [charger] closer”…
Tyler Casilio

I mean I want this phone, just the battery life…..
DanWazz

First Droid phone that’s interesting in a long while.
- LiterofCola
  
  Naaah
http://twitter.com/jdk2 jdk2

Nice videos. Looks like I’m buying again. Ughh!
Mike Yost

That bezel is way too damn thick for me!…. #Sarcasm
Steven02

Had this been out when I got my Galaxy S3, this would have been my new phone. I love my Galaxy S3, but Touchwiz isn’t very good. I much prefer Sense, which I know is blasphemy around here.
- http://twitter.com/Belatukadro Justtyn Hutcheson
  
  everyone has their preference. Mine is Moto-not-Blur>Sense>Stock>TouchWiz.
  - Verizon
    
    I have to say that I highly support and agree with your preference. I really like what Moto is doing now and I still like Sense to a certain extent. I’ll take stock any time and I would rather switch to an iPhone than deal with TouchWiz ever again.
- Verizon
  
  There is nothing wrong with saying Sense is better than TouchWiz. Now, if you said you preferred the old version of Blur, then we would be calling for a psych evaluation.
Tyler Casilio

How long do you guys seriously think the battery will last for?
- steve0617
  
  Total guess? Til about mid afternoon based on that lots of people can get a full work day on an S3 with a smaller screen and bigger battery and a dual core versus quad core chip..
  
  I can’t see how you’d ever get 6am to 10pm on a single charge with just 2020mAh.
john

boycott htc, they sold out to crapple
michael c

wait so how big is the battery?!?
Butters619

I would Verizon would change the branding on those ugly ass Droid wallpapers.
Bionic

Another HTC fail.
Ohiwastedmylife

Does this really not have an SD card ? The Butterfly J does! If it does not have one I think I have to go with the note 2 sadly.
- BSweetness
  
  No microSD card slot. That along with the non-removable battery and the 2020 mAh battery make the Note 2 the obvious choice for me.
  - Ohiwastedmylife
    
    Who the hell lives off of 9 GB of space when new apps are 1GB or larger & continuously save new data. And why would a photographer only rely on 9 GB of space, a good shoot can use 10′s of GB’s.
Tyler Lawhon

Well done commercials for sure. I mean, I haven’t seen something from Droid that nice looking in a while.
Okki125

Interesting…. no phone functionality visible in the entire PHONE commercial. No video chat, or data during voice… and no standby and talk time indication… Now why should I buy this again?
- Verizon
  
  CAMERA! CAMERA! CAMERA! SCREEN! SCREEN! SCREEN! BEATS! BEATS! BEATS! lol
  While Moto was developing the best battery and HTC was developing the best camera Samsung was at night school taking a marketing class or two.
  - Paul
    
    There are a ton of people that would buy this over the Razr HD and other phones because of the camera though. The commercial isn’t geared toward people like us, it’s good for what it’s supposed to be.
    - Verizon
      
      Oh, I agree with you. This thing will sell a ton for the camera alone, if Verizon pushes it.
- 2001400ex
  
  Did I read that right? No data while talking? Is that 4g and 3g? Cause my tbolt does both just fine.
  - Okki125
    
    Nop.. you didnt read it right.. I was just commenting that all those features are not present in the commercial.
  - zionlion
    
    Think it’s because of the separate LTE chip right? Same prob that iPhone 5 has? GNex has one chip, not two, I think that’s why it can do it – also part of why it gets terrible battery. But, someone can correct me if I’m wrong there.
    - Diablo81588
      
      The gnex has two radios, one for CDMA and one for LTE. That being said, it cannot do simultaneous voice and data on 3g like HTC devices. Those use SVDO for that, and the gnex doesn’t have that capability. It can however do it when connected to LTE, because they’re two seperate radios. The battery life is also affected because it has to power two radios at the same time, unlike most new devices.
      
      That being said, the iPhone 5 can’t do it on either radio, not because it only has one chip, but because of the lack of antennas.l
fartbubbler

battery size??
- http://www.youtube.com/kimirPORTALS kimir
  
  2020 mAh
  - fartbubbler
    
    dang, really?!!! Is that official? If so, that’s really pathetic and poorly thought out.
    - http://www.youtube.com/kimirPORTALS kimir
      
      yep. LTE+1080p 5 inch = death to battery
      
      Otherwise it looks really nice. (excluding bootloader)
- Lesser Version
  
  2020 mAh non removable
  - Rob
    
    How do you know it’s 2020 mah and not 2500?
    - BSweetness
      
      Because it’s in Verizon’s official press release.
- Tyler Casilio
  
  2020
Verizon

@ HTC We want Motorola like battery life in our phones.
@Mototola We want HTC like camera quality in our phones.
You guys work it out and outsell every phone on the planet.
- bogy25
  
  So true – just ditched the Tbolt for the MAXX HD and I like it but the camera is just plain awful – I mean the TBolt had a better camera – Geez!
- http://www.facebook.com/langm7721 Matt Lang
  
  @Verizon We want unlocked bootloaders without a ton of bloatware
  - Verizon
    
    The unlocked bootloader is really needed. If he bloat can be removed natively then it doesn’t matter, to me anyway.
    - Nicholassss
      
      Even if the bootloader were locked, why is bloatware undelete-able in the first palce, if they were quality apps we’d use them, but their not, so we dont.
      
      real talk: why does my RAZR ask me if i want to use VZNavigator every time I click a link ?
      
      done being frustrated about this right now.
      - Verizon
        
        If you are running ICS then you can disable all of that bloat and be done with it. In the app tray simply long press an app > drag to top of home screen (more options) > App info > disable or uninstall. Done. The app won’t run or show up on the phone anymore.
        
        Even with a locked bootloader a phone can still be rooted and bloat can still be removed or frozen by apps like Titanium Backup. The locked bootloader only prevents specific customizations like kernels and radios to be installed. Every other good thing about rooting is still available.
      - Diablo81588
        
        Why don’t you just disable vz navigator..
- Daeshaun Griffiths
  
  i would not be surprised to see Samsung do it first. They already did a great job with the note 2.
  - Verizon
    
    Yea, the main problem with that is that it is Samsung. Shaky radios on Verizon and TouchWiz just make me run in the other direction. I prefer and trust the hardware from both Moto and HTC. If Moto would really work to develop an amazing camera for their next phone it would be hard to beat. If HTC would put larger batteries in their phones they would be hard to beat too.
- Jake
  
  @ Google We want LTE in our Nexus phones.
  @ Verizon We want timely updates and unlockable bootloaders on our phones.
  - Verizon
    
    Google will be forced into using LTE before too long. They need to start looking at battery life now. There is no reason that a phone should last less than a full day.
    
    As far as the Verizon offering timely updates I’m hopping the Razr M update is the start of a new trend. I’m starting to think unlockable bootloaders is a lost cause on Verizon. I think they are still pissed about the Galaxy Nexus.
castortroy45

And only a 2020mah battery….I’ll pass.
Stevedub40

I gotta say, that HTC Sense sure makes it look dated. They really need to do something about that.
Mack

Nexus 4 seems to be available now
- LiterofCola
  
  Wrong thread
sdny8

I want! But that f@$king battery. Why? Why can’t they make one phone for the people who don’t wear Steven Tyler designed jeans.
http://www.facebook.com/G0rilla Mike McDaniel

Pretty cool.
http://www.youtube.com/kimirPORTALS kimir

The DNA also features an hour and a half of battery life.
- Lesser Version
  
  That was funny!
- Butters619
  
  I get less than 3 hours of on screen time with my One X, so you probably aren’t as far off as you may think.
- http://profiles.google.com/drastik651 Jim Kalista
  
  No..it has a s4 pro…
  - http://www.youtube.com/kimirPORTALS kimir
    
    With a 1080p display, and a 2020 mAh battery.
  - Butters619
    
    And a 5″ 1080p LCD screen. The One X has an S4, but not great on screen time. (less than 3 hours) And this has more pixels. More pixels = more processor to push those pixel + more backlight to push light through those pixels.
    - Paul
      
      But this phone’s newer technology LCD is supposed to be a lot better on battery.
      - BSweetness
        
        “Supposed to be.”
        
        A lot of things are supposed to be, but in reality they often turn out to be somewhat different. This is just something that we’ll have to wait and see on. But I have serious doubts about the longevity of a 2020 mAh non-removable battery to power a 5″ 1080p display and LTE, even with a more efficient processor and display. It would be great if HTC has managed to pull off a miracle with the battery life here, but when you look at everything that battery has to power, it doesn’t look too likely.
      - Butters619
        
        That is what they said about SLCD2. I just don’t see it. One of the issues with increasing the pixel density is that you have to increase the amount of backlight behind it to get the same visible brightness.
        
        Take for example the iPad 3/4 (yeah boo hiss, but good example). They increased the pixel density by about 130 ppi. They also increased the battery by a whopping 70%….and it gets worse battery life. More ppi == more processing + power more light == much worse battery performance.
http://twitter.com/ryan_wakefield Ryan Wakefield

I have to say, the phone looks awesome – want to see a side by side with the S3, but this could be my next phone
leenephi

Turns out I really liked that video. XD Looks like a pretty sweet device!
Ron_Swanson

Looks better than I expected, really like the design. Now I’m contemplating axing my GN2 preorder…..decisions, decisions.
- leenephi
  
  Quite the decision; good luck!
- BSweetness
  
  I love the design as well, and the display should be amazing. I know the Snapdragon S4 Pro is a very efficient processor, but a non-removable 2020 mAh battery to power a 5″ 1080p display and LTE? When that gets added to the lack of a microSD card slot, there’s no way I can pick the DNA over the Note 2 (and that’s not even counting the large amount of extremely useful software on the Note 2 and the S-Pen).
http://www.facebook.com/carlosalberto.dussek Carlos-Alberto Dussek

Where can we pre-order this bad boy?
Daniel Clifford

Considering that was all CGI, I will wait to see a video review of the build quality of the actual phone before getting too excited.

Video: First Look at the HTC DROID DNA

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