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Flying high with the dual-camera HTC Butterfly 2 (pictures)

HTC's latest smartphone melds its dual-camera system with a high-resolution 13-megapixel shooter. We went hands-on at its launch in Japan.

Aloysius Low
Aloysius Low is a Senior Editor at CNET covering mobile and Asia. Based in Singapore, he loves playing Dota 2 when he can spare the time and is also the owner-minion of two adorable cats.
Aloysius Low
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1 of 10 Aloysius Low/CNET

Meet the new HTC Butterfly 2

HTC's latest flagship phone, the Butterfly 2, packs high-end specs such as a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB RAM and either 16 or 32GB of onboard storage.

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The phone will be sold in Japan as the J Butterfly with some slight changes, such as the ability to play digital TV. Expect the Butterfly 2 to hit other markets in Asia as early as the end of August.

As this phone has support for most LTE bands in the world, there's hope you may see the Butterfly 2 in the US, UK and Australia too. HTC is yet to announce any price.

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The Butterfly 2 has a water and dust resistance rating of IP57, but unlike other phones there isn't any rubber flap. Instead, the USB port and volume jack are exposed, but are waterproof and have short-circuit protection.

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Like the One M8, the Butterfly 2 has a dual-camera system. Instead of the 4-megapixel "Ultrapixel" camera of the M8, however, it comes with a 13-megapixel shooter.

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The phone has the front-facing "BoomSound" speakers we've loved on HTC's other flagships.

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The phone will come in three colors: red, white and blue. Red and blue are glossy plastic; white is a more muted matte finish.

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The Butterfly 2 has a very similar design to the M8.

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It's almost as slim as its metal sibling.

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The speaker is integrated slightly differently thanks to the full glass front.

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The HTC Butterfly 2 goes on sale at the end of August.

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