The HTC One Remix is the Verizon Wireless version of the HTC One Mini 2. It's a smaller, lower spec version of the venerable HTC One M8, but it retains the elegant unibody aluminum casing and chic design. In fact, at first glance, you might mistake the Remix for the first HTC One M7 because it shares so much design DNA and is similar in size. The One Remix and Mini 2 have a 4.5" display and HTC's BoomSound speakers, so they're not small phones, despite the Mini name. Yes, they're a bit smaller than the fairly large One M8 and Samsung Galaxy S5, but they're still considerably larger than the iPhone 5s.

The HTC One Remix is available now exclusively from Verizon Wireless. It's priced at $49 with a 2 year contract and $450 full retail. For those who are going with 2 year contract or Verizon Edge pricing, it's not priced so differently from the HTC One M8 that Verizon is currently discounting to $99 on contract, and we expect that those who choose the Remix prefer the smaller size and traditional 13 megapixel rear camera vs. the 4 Ultrapixel camera on the M8.

The Remix has midrange specs including the 1.2GHz quad core Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 graphics and a 1280 x 720 Super LCD 2 display. That resolution might seem low, but given the smaller screen size it results in 326 PPI pixel density, which is the same as the iPhone 5s' Retina display pixel density. I wouldn't say the One Remix's display is as pleasing as the iPhone 5s or HTC One M8: it's extremely bright and fairly sharp, but it doesn't have the same superb color saturation or contrast. Still, it's a nice enough display that's easy on the eyes and it's plenty bright enough to combat sunlight.

The rest of the specs are better than midrange, with 1.5 gigs RAM (sandwiched in between mid tier 1 gig and flagship 2 gigs) and it has 16 gigs of storage vs. the paltry 8 gigs on some midrange phones. The front 5 megapixel camera is clearly better than most in terms of resolution. It's also sharp, less noisy and handles low light fairly well thanks to a BSI (backside illuminated) sensor. The front and rear cameras can record 1080p video. The Android smartphone runs Android 4.4 KitKat with the clean and light HTC Sense 6 UI. HTC Sense and Motorola's software on phones like the Moto X are some of our favorites, and they're refreshing if you find the heavy skins on Samsung and LG phones overbearing.