HTC Butterfly 2 Announced for Japan and East Asia

Earlier today, HTC officially announced Butterfly 2 for Japan and East Asia. Just like its predecessors, the Butterfly and the Butterfly S, the new HTC Butterfly combines a plastic case with a high-end hardware platform.

The HTC Butterfly 2 is like the lovechild of One M8 and One E8, mixing the hardware platform and software features of the former, with the plastic case of the latter. In fact, the Butterfly 2 even manages to outmatch the mighty M8 in some areas.

Just like the One M8, Butterfly 2 comes with rear-facing Duo Camera, but instead of the 4 MP UltraPixel sensor of the M8, the new handset combines two 13 MP shooters. It even has a depth sensor that will allow you to perform M8-specific tricks such as selective focus or 3D effects, but, in my opinion, the 13 MP camera unit is a much better choice than M8′s UltraPixel sensor.

Even though the Butterfly 2 might not have the looks of the metallic flagship, it’s worth noting that the new smartphone is water resistant, boasting about IP57 certification. The good news is that, at least in the press photos, there are flaps covering the ports, so the smartphone’s appearance is not altered in any way.

But the upgrades from One M8 don’t stop here. Butterfly 2 has a larger battery at 2,700 mAh, the BoomSound speakers are capable of delivering 25% more volume, while the audio stack now includes software from audio company JBL. It runs Android KitKat out of the box, complete with Sense 6 UI and Motion Launch gestures.

The HTC Butterfly 2 technical specifications list also includes a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 16/32 GB internal storage, microSD slot, 5-inch Full HD screen, and 5 MP secondary camera. The handset integrates all the connectivity features worthy of a modern smartphone including LTE, NFC, IR blaster, BT 4.0, WiFi, and microUSB 2.0.

The new smartphone will be available starting next month in three body colors: purple, red, and white. On the Japanese market, the new handset will be marketed as HTC J Butterfly HTL23 and it will be available through KDDI. The handset will also be made available for purchase in other markets, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. For the time being, HTC didn’t revealed whether the Butterfly 2, or a variation of it, will be made available in Europe or the US.