Fly, Butterfly!

MANILA, Philippines - This is not about Marty Robbins’ Fly Butterfly Fly song — you caught a butterfly and it made you smile as you held it for a while. Neither is it about Miley Cyrus’ soul-lifting Butterfly Fly Away song — flap your wings now you can’t stay; take those dreams and make them all come true. But then again, maybe it is about all this and more.

Now flying off the shelves of HTC stores is the HTC Butterfly. The first time I held it in the palm of my hand, I knew I couldn’t let go. And I was forever held captive. It’s so thin, so light, so right, and so grip-friendly, it’s guaranteed not to slip through your fingers like maybe so many grandiose dreams of your youth.

I must say the world is so much brighter and more colorful with the HTC Butterfly. With its crystal-clear, 5-inch 1080p full HD display made of tough and hardworking Corning Gorilla Glass 2, you see more than the usual when you’re watching videos, viewing photos, taking pictures or web browsing.

Wider but thinner and lighter

But then again, even though it’s wider, it’s thinner and lighter than most phones I’ve had so it’s really a joy to have and to hold. And take a look at pictures with the wide-angle screen. It looks like phones are getting bigger again — we’re probably tired of small phones we can’t find amid the clutter in our bags when they start ringing.

Operating on Android Jelly Bean, the camera, messaging, photo gallery, and all the other basic stuff are much improved. Like notifications can be expanded. If you have a text, you can expand the message if you want to look through it.

It’s quite text-friendly — when you’re entering a message, you can turn the phone sideways and it will show a bigger keyboard.

And speaking of notifications, there are two notification lights — one for the front and the other for the back. This is a unique feature — one rarely found in other phones (even the iPhone doesn’t have a notification light). This is such a practical feature because you’re able to see any alert or notification even when your phone is facing down.

HTC Butterfly’s 440 ppi pixel density also means that even if you press the screen against your nose (intentionally or accidentally), you won’t be able to discern the individual pixels.

Lights, camera, shoot!

Oh, yes, its camera (8 megapixels) quality has earned HTC very special bragging rights.

The HTC Butterfly takes really nice, clear, good quality pictures. The front and rear cameras let you capture every moment literally in a flash. With the continuous shooting mode, you can capture 20 or more consecutive shots — so amazing especially if you’re shooting your little bundle of joy who can be quite a handful.

There’s more: The HTC Butterfly has touch focus, so if you are taking a picture, again of your precious little one and you want it focused on him, you just press him in the screen and the camera will focus on him, but the phone also has autofocus.

Like other HTC phones, with the VideoPic, you can take a picture while also taking a video. The shoot mode offers more stuff such as HDR photos, panorama (offered now only by iPhones) portrait, group portrait, landscape, whiteboard, close-up, and low light. 

Sounds great

And hear this: HTC boasts its beats audio — really good sound quality, loud and clear, good for playing music. The HTC Butterfly soars on this score.

With the music app, you can keep all your music sources and services in one place. And when you’re driving, there’s the HTC car app to keep you company and entertained, and get you through the horrendous metro traffic.

Speaking of entertainment, you can rent or buy movies/shows — pick from a wide collection of titles on HTC Watch.

And take double note: While recording, all of your notes are time stamped so you can just go to that part of the audio track when you go back to your notes. And you can link a note to a calendar event so you can find it later in the calendar app.

Sleep, butterfly, sleep

There’s so much to say about the HTC Butterfly. Have I told you that you can simply flip it to silence it? Its sleep mode saves on power and gives longer battery life. After a period of inactivity (like when it’s just lying around and you’re watching TV or talking to the hubby for a change), the screen automatically shuts off to conserve battery power. So when you’re sleeping, it goes to sleep, too. It automatically wakes up when you have an incoming call. Such a smart Android, don’t you think? And you need not worry about accidental button presses (really a constant hassle) when your phone is in your bag.

And yes, the phone thoughtfully comes with useful how-tos and tips. Like how to capture all that gorgeous scenery using the HTC Butterfly; improve portrait shots; record video; listen to your phone’s music library and radio stations from around the world while driving; use the dropbox to store your file, and share with friends and family; use the HTC Media Link HD to share your media from HTC Butterfly to your HD TV; enjoy HTML5 content on the go; have access to your photos, videos, and documents anywhere; make a conference call, etc., etc.

Now you know why I’ll never let my (HTC) Butterfly fly away.