By Stephen Schenck

HTC just formally announced its Desire C, a pretty low-end phone from a hardware standpoint, but at least one that will arrive running Ice Cream Sandwich with Sense 4.0. With only a 600MHz processor, the Desire C didn’t sound like it would deliver much in the performance department. Some early benchmarks, though, suggest it might have a leg up on its peers.

GSM Dome got its hands on a Desire C, and promptly ran the phone through a barrage of benchmarks. The Desire C pulled-down a Quadrant score of 1452 and an AnTuTu total of 1929. Looking to give those some context, the site prepared benchmarks from some other HTC Androids, and the comparisons don’t make the Desire C seem half-bad.

Also with 512MB RAM and a 600MHz processor, last year’s Wildfire S mirrors some of the Desire C’s specs. On a stock Gingerbread ROM, the Wildfire S generates an AnTuTu score of 1522, or 21% lower than the Desire C. While the Desire C fares a little worse than the Wildfire S at some tasks, like 2D graphics performance, its raw processing ability and higher-performing memory give it a noticeable edge.

Don’t expect the Desire C to stand-in for phones with double the memory and dual- or quad-core processors, but it looks like it could be a better-than-average option for a budget-priced Android.

Source: GSM Dome