HTC's New Metaverse Phone Is Official, And It's As Useless As You ...

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Menu Follow Followed Like More Action Sign in now 🎁 Best Holiday Deals AP's best of 2025 awards What YouTube Music gets wrong Install Google Play on your Fire tablet Android Auto hidden menu Close By Manuel Vonau Published Jun 28, 2022 Manuel Vonau was Android Police's Google Editor until April 2024, with expertise in Android, Chrome, Pixels, and other Google products. For five years, he covered tech news and reviewed devices after initially joining Android Police as a news writer in March 2019. He lives in Berlin, Germany. Manuel studied Media and Culture studies in Düsseldorf, finishing his university career with a master's thesis titled "The Aesthetics of Tech YouTube Channels: Production of Proximity and Authenticity." His background gives him a unique perspective on the ever-evolving world of technology and its implications on society. He isn't shy to dig into technical backgrounds and the nitty-gritty developer details, either. Manuel's first steps into the Android world were plagued by issues. After his HTC One S refused to connect to mobile internet despite three warranty repairs, he quickly switched to a Nexus 4, which he considers his true first Android phone. Since then, he has mostly been faithful to the Google phone lineup, though these days, he is also carrying an iPhone in addition to his Pixel phone. This helps him gain perspective on the mobile industry at large and gives him multiple points of reference in his coverage. Outside of work, Manuel enjoys a good film or TV show, loves to travel, and you will find him roaming one of Berlin's many museums, cafés, cinemas, and restaurants occasionally. Sign in to your Android Police account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

HTC’s smartphone division of old may have mostly moved on to work at Google, but the company still hasn’t given up on creating the occasional smartphone of its own. The formerly immensely successful smartphone manufacturer teased the launch of a metaverse-focused smartphone during MWC 2022 along with its own spin on the whole web 3.0 stuff under the buzzy “Viveverse” branding, and today, this phone has finally arrived. It comes in the form of the entirely underwhelming HTC Desire 22 Pro, a mid-range phone with the faintest hint of metaverse capabilities.

Let’s start with the metaverse "features" the Desire 22 Pro is supposed to carry. According to its UK listing, it’s designed for “immersive experiences in a world where the physical, digital, and virtual interconnect — and with the capacity to run 2D and 3D content on extended reality (XR) device.” This doesn’t tell us much about its capabilities, and you could describe any modern smartphone like this, and that seems to be the running theme with this phone. There is simply nothing special about it.

For what it's worth, there should be some kind of deeper connection between it and HTC’s Vive Flow VR headset, though the company doesn’t specify how it works better than any other compatible Android phone.

The phone is supposedly also good for blockchain technology, with The Verge spotting that it is advertised to come with a digital wallet to manage crypto assets, including a free NFT to start with. It’s possible that this will be limited to certain regions only, though.

Screen	6.6-inch 20:9 FHD+ (1080x2412) 120Hz panel
CPU	Snapdragon 695
RAM & storage	8GB RAM, 128GB storage
OS	Android 12
Dimensions	166.3 x 76.9 x 9.4 mm, 205g
Rear cameras	64MP + 13MP + 5MP
Front camera	32MP
Connectivity	NFC, Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB Type-C
Battery	4,520mAh, 18W quick charge, wireless and reverse-wireless charging
Misc	IP67 rating, fingerprint sensor

Once we strip away all the buzzwords, nothing special remains. The HTC phone comes with the decidedly mid-range Snapdragon 695, paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The screen is a 6.6-inch FHD+ panel that’s capable of going up to 120Hz, coming with a rather big chin and a 32MP punch-hole selfie camera in the top left corner. It runs Android 12, has an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, supports wireless and reverse-wireless charging, and it comes in black and gold colorways.

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The HTC Desire 22 Pro is the follow-up to last year's Desire 21 Pro (yes, HTC released a phone last year), and it will cost £399 in the UK, available from August 1. There is also an option to save 15% when you purchase it together with the Vive Flow, costing £763 together. Maybe that’s what makes the Desire 22 Pro the perfect companion for the virtual reality headset?

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