TENAA, the Chinese certification agency equivalent to the FCC in the U.S., confirmed the HTC Desire 728 and the Asus ZenFone Selfie in July 2015, and ever since, numerous rumors about the launch date of the two devices have been flooding the Internet. Now that the Asus ZenFone Selfie has been released, all focus is on the HTC handset.

According to Latin Post, a recent report claims that the wait for HTC Desire 728 is finally over as the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer has made the handset available in China, revealing much of its interesting specs.

Citing HTC's Chinese website, GSM Arena reports that potential buyers can choose between two color combinations of the dual-SIM phablet, which is available in white and gold as well as black and gray.

The HTC Desire 728 sports with a polycarbonate shell, comes with a 5.5-inch 720p IPS LCD screen, and is powered by 1.3GHz MediaTek 728 octa-core 64-bit processor supported by the Mali-T720 GPU. The device comes with 2 GB of RAM along with 16 GB of expandable memory. The HTC Desire 728 has a 13-megapixel primary rear camera, alongside a 5-megapixel selfie shooter on the front. Other features of the device include BoomSound stereo speakers and a modest 2,800 mAh battery unit.

The HTC Desire 728 also includes a Category 4 LTE connectivity and micro-SD support. The phablet will run on the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop right of the box and it measures 7.9-millimeter thick and weighs 150 grams.

It is too early to say if HTC has a winner in the Desire 728 as currently the Taiwan-based mobile manufacturers are at the short end of global smartphone pecking order. This is because big-name players like Apple and Samsung are leading the fierce pack of competitive mobile makers. While these two enjoy unrivaled success with their premium offerings, they continue to branch out on the mid-level market, which makes devices like the HTC Desire 728 a small fish in a big pool of mid-tier handsets.

Nevertheless, an Android-savvy website claimed that HTC might just have an edge over the rest of the competition. Android Headlines stated, "Part of what makes a great mid-range device is if the smartphone or tablet in question still includes the more desirable features of the flagship model, but loses some of the features you are less interested in."

The website further clarifies, "HTC have built the Desire from a polycarbonate shell rather than the metal of the flagship One devices. There's a large phablet-sized screen on the front but its 720p resolution, rather than 1080p FHD or 1440p QHD resolution. You still get HTC's BoomSound, which means the device has great audio quality for watching media or playing games. Under the skin, there's a moderately powerful processor and around the back, a respectable camera."

The HTC Desire 728 carries a price tag of $269.