HTC Desire 816 review

The HTC Desire 816 is equipped to be a decent entertainer. The 5.5-inch display and Boomsound speakers combine well.

If you really want to load your music collection on here, then you'll need to take advantage of the microSD card slot, because 7GB fills up fast.

Luckily you can add a card up to 128GB in size, so even the most committed audiophile can carry their entire collection around with them and still have room for some movies.

The music app is solid. You can queue up music, create playlists, and sort by artist, album, or song. The standard stuff is all there.

When you play a track you'll also find the option to share it with nearby compatible devices, and you can flick over to the visualizer for a spot of graphical animation, which also includes the ability to load up lyrics karaoke-style.

Controls for your music sit in the notification shade, so you can get on with doing something else.

You'll also find them on the lock screen, and the same pause and skip track options are available whether you use the pre-installed music app or something else like Spotify.

As a mid-range phone the HTC Desire 816 ships without headphones, so you'll need to use your own or buy some separately.

The sound quality and volume you can get through the speakers is unmatched in this category.

It's a good phone for watching video on as well. Although the 720p resolution isn't cutting edge, movies and TV shows do look respectable on this phone, and they sound great.

HTC hasn't included a video app of its own; instead you'll find Play Movies & TV and YouTube. Any movies you load on yourself will appear in the Gallery app listed in the movies section and you can play them from there.