HTC's Desire 12 phones are pretty, but unremarkable

A few weeks after the world's biggest mobile phone show, HTC has popped up to tell us about its latest brace of mid-range smartphones. The HTC Desire 12 and 12+ are two 5.5-inch and 6-inch devices that are aimed squarely at the folks who aren't too fussed about getting the latest and greatest. Both units ship with an 18:9 ratio 1,440 x 720 IPS LCD display and an otherwise pedestrian spec list. If there's one reason you might want to get these devices, it's that it'll ship in a shiny gold body that looks pretty damn money.

Speaking of, the Desire 12 models are clad in an acrylic glass that pays homage to the U11's unique look, albeit with a more durable body. And inside the smaller phone's case, you'll find a MediaTek MT6739 paired with either 2GB or 3GB RAM and 16GB or 32GB storage, plus a microSD-card slot. The larger of the siblings is packing the new Snapdragon 450 teamed up with 3GB RAM with 32GB storage as well as the same up-to-2TB microSD-card slot.

On the imaging front, the 12 is packing a 13-megapixel camera, while the 12+ gets a secondary 2MP lens for bokeh-based fun. The smaller device has a 5-megapixel selfie camera, a slight downgrade on the 12+'s 8-megapixel sensor, although both promise face detection.

Battery-wise, the smaller phone is packing a 2,730mAh cell, with the larger unit getting a slight bump to a 2,956mAh power pack. Rounding out the spec list is the usual collection of radios, including Cat 4 LTE, a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro-USB port and GPS / Glonass modules. And, on the 12+, you'll find a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor that isn't available on the smaller smartphone.

Unfortunately, HTC's slightly questionable marketing strategy has been to announce these phones globally, but not to talk about how you can actually buy one. The company told Engadget that pricing and availability will be down to each region, and won't give us concrete details on the color options. A representative did concede, however, that a gold option is one of the choices on the table -- the only option we want.