Remember the rumors of a new HTC flagship Android phone that started making the rounds last month? The ones bolstered by questionable leaked image after questionable leaked image? As it happens, the device that inspired all those rumors — now known as the HTC J Butterfly — was officially revealed at a recent press event in Tokyo, and it seems just as impressive as the rumors made it out to be.
Of course, one of the biggest draws in a device like the J Butterfly is its oft-rumored display (which has been revealed to be a Super LCD 3 panel). It’s just as real as those sketchy early reports claimed, and it manages reach a downright crazy pixel density of 440ppi — to put that in perspective, the iPhone 5’s Retina Display only manages to pack in a relatively scant 325 pixels per inch.
The display is sure to get most of the love here, but the rest of the device’s spec sheet is nothing to sneeze at either. The J Butterfly packs a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset (the same seen in LG’s new Optimus G flagship), 2GB of RAM, while an ImageSense-enhanced 8-megapixel rear camera rounds out the package. HTC also notes that the device runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean under a heaping helping of Sense 4+, though it’s not exactly the custom UI you’re likely used to seeing — The Verge’s Sam Byford points out that the interface looks more like the one seen on the HTC Rhyme rather than on any One series device.
In case you just heard your wallet groan in anticipation (mine does that pretty often), know that you may be in for a wait when it comes to availability. On-site HTC representatives told The Verge that the J Butterfly itself isn’t slated to make a world tour, but its ridiculous 1080p display will. What remains to be seen is whether or not one of the devices to run with that superlative screen will fly under Google’s Nexus banner — it’s nearly impossible to deny the existence of the LG-sourced Nexus 4, but early rumors also claimed that what we now know as the J Butterfly would see the light of day as the so-called Nexus 5.