HTC is strengthen their hold on the mid range smartphone market. A recent announcement made in their home-turf of Taiwan focused on three new Android powered smartphone models – the Desire 700, Desire 501 and the Desire 601,  all will be equipped to take on the competition like Samsung.

The Desire 700 will  include Qualcomm 1.2 GHz quad-core chipset,  5-inch qHD display, an 8MP primary camera with a 2.1MP forward facing option (both with BSI sensors), 8GB of on board storage and 1GB of RAM. The Desire 700 also features a 2100 mAh battery and BoomSound front-facing speakers. No information on the version but will also come with Dual SIM support.  It’s expected to be priced a $470

For the second handset Desire 601 will include the 4.5-inch, qHD display, dual SIM toting smartphone, the Desire 601 which almost identical to the larger 700 model bar a few details like the camera resolution that’s been shaved down to 5MP. On board storage has also been reduced to 4GB but the processor speed , BoomSound speakers and RAM remain the same.  It will be  $100 cheaper then the  Desire 700 at $370

Finally the Desire 501, the cheapest of the series,  ye packs a decent features.  A WVGA 4.3-inch display with a 1.15 GHz Dual Core processor with 1GB RAM for Android, 8GB of storage, an 8MP camera at the back and a 2.1MP camera up front, a 2100 mAh battery and all for the price of $330.

All three of these devices will feature connectivity options that include GPS with aGPS support and GLONASS, WiFi with DLNA capabilities, Bluetooth 4.0 and HTC specific functions like BlinkFeed and Zoe for the camera. Aside from on board storage they will also support microSD cards up to 64GB. The latter two device will be available in a few color options while the 700 seems to be just the dark brown tone just like HTC One (read review here). One thing I’d like to point out, and please pardon the pun, HTC seems to be following in Samsung’s footsteps when it comes to design and that leaves quite a bit to be ‘desired’.