HTC Announce the Desire Eye, RE Camera and HTC Zoe App

Last night, HTC took to the stage to introduce the HTC Desire Eye, which is a 13MP front and rear camera selfie phone and the HTC RE Camera which is a handheld 16MP Go Pro rival.

The HTC Desire Eye is a 5.2″ Full HD smartphone that comes with some of the latest specs such as a Snapdragon 801 processor, HTC’s BoomSound speakers and waterproof construction but the real headline here is in the fact that the phone comes with a 13MP camera on both the front and rear of the device.

Firmly aiming the phone at prolific selfie takers, the smartphone comes with a dedicated camera shutter button and a host of software features aimed at improving your images. These features include face tracking, Split Capture which combines simultaneous photos and videos taken on the front and back cameras into one split-screen image or video, Crop-Me-In which crops an image of yourself taken with the front camera into an image you have taken with the rear and Voice Selfie which allows you to issue voice commands to the phone to capture images or video.

These features are also expected to roll out to other smartphones in the range in due course.

The RE Camera represents a shift away from smartphones and into a new market for HTC, that to date, has been dominated by Go Pro. Featuring a high-resolution, 16MP CMOS sensor, Full HD (1080p) video recording, 146 degree wide-angle lens, slow-motion and time lapse recording, the RE Camera is reminiscent of a periscope in form.

With its cylindrical design, made to fit comfortably in your hand, the RE Camera features a built-in grip sensor that activates the camera on pick up, eliminating the need for a power button. Its single shutter button allows one tap to capture photos and a longer press for video recording.

The accompanying RE App features a remote live viewfinder that lets you set up the shot and watch the live action on the screen of your mobile device, or switch to album and playback view to flick through the shots and videos already stored on the camera. The App will also back everything up to your phone or the cloud automatically. In addition, in the future,  the RE will also offer real-time video streaming to YouTube. The RE App will be available on both Android and iOS.

Also announced on the night was the HTC Zoe App which now progresses from Beta to version 1.0. The collaborative video-editing App is available on Android initially with an iOS version coming soon.

The Zoe App allows multiple users create video highlights adding filters, themes or soundtracks and then sharing via social media. Used in conjunction with the RE Camera, video highlights are automatically generated and ready to share without the need for a PC.

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Both the Desire Eye and the RE Camera are expected to be available this month and you can find out more information on HTC’s website:  http://www.htc.com/ie/