New Desire X joins HTC’s gang of budget Android phones

HTC has announced the Desire X, a new budget Android phone with a 4-inch screen, a dual-core processor and Android 4.0.

HTC hasn’t really entered into the spirit of IFA 2012 so far, with no flashy press conference scheduled and except the rumored announcement of the Flyer 2 tablet, a distinct lack of chatter surrounding potential new devices.

It hasn’t turned up entirely empty handed though, and it has today announced the HTC Desire X, a new entry into its budget Android smartphone line-up.

Despite it hanging around the lower end of HTC’s range, the Desire X has a solid specification, beginning with a 4-inch Super LCD touchscreen with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution.

Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is the operating system, and as usual, HTC has covered it up with version 4.0 of its Sense user interface. The phone is powered by a dual-core, 1Ghz Snapdragon processor with 768MB of RAM at its disposal, plus the Adreno 203 graphics chip too.

The Snapdragon processor is Qualcomm’s MSM8225, also known as the S4 Play, which differs from the exciting new S4 Pro chips by featuring a pair of ARM Cortex A5 cores instead of Krait cores, and being built using a 45nm process rather than the 28nm process for the S4 Pro.

It’s a little less impressive on the imaging front, as it has a 5-megapixel camera that shoots 480p video, while other features include Beats Audio, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 4GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot and a 1650mAh battery.

Initially leaked as the HTC Proto, the Desire X sits somewhere between HTC’s entry-level Android smartphone, the Desire C, and the entry-level One series phone, the One V. It also shares a similar specification to the dual-SIM Desire V model announced recently for selected markets.

With the announcement of another budget Desire phone, HTC confirms that the Wildfire name has been retired, although according to TechRadar.com, it could return in the future.

At the moment, the HTC Desire X is headed for European and Asian markets later this month, with no word on pricing or a US release just yet.