HTC One X Hands-on Review
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Right now, pricing and release date for the One X are still unknown. Enough talk, let's check it out:
Design:
You can easily tell this is an HTC device. It is not the slimmest or smallest smartphone out there, but it has a solid build quality. The machined polycarbonate unibody design is something we have been praising in select HTC phones for years. It really feels very light but solid in the hand. The 3 capacitive keys on the front may give some retro feel, but this allows for bigger screen real estate.
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Display:
On the front of the HTC One X resides its 4.7-inch Super LCD2 display sporting HD resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. This of course results in excellent pixel density, making everything looking sharp and detailed even from up close. HTC claims the display is “visible from every angle”, even up to 180 degrees. We can confirm it has superb viewing angles. HTC also claims “the laminated cover glass and touch layer eliminates light reflection for superior sharpness and clarity” but we will try these once we get a review unit which we can test during the day. For those wondering about the precious display, we can happily say it is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, which many of you love.
Camera:
Until now, HTC was known for having not so great cameras on its devices. This is about to change. The new One series devices will feature ImageChip - a dedicated processor for taking care of the camera related processing. The 8-megapixel camera on the back also has some interesting features. It has an aperture of f2.0,which pretty much means it will let more light enter the imaging sensor, allowing taking better pictures in low light conditions. The actual sensor is back side illuminated improving low light pictures even further. Launching the camera from the lockscreen should take about 0.7 seconds (impressive), and focus should lock in less than 0.2, for capturing this precious moment. Indeed, when we tested one of the units available here at MWC, it did look like the camera is extremely fast to say at least.
What about video capture you ask? It is 1080p of course, and HTC claim the camera removes jitter and let's you easier lock the focus on a moving object. While capturing video, you can also capture a photo simultaneously, or take a photo from a video that is already recorded (another impressive feature).
Software:
As you guessed, many of the new features come thanks to the new software – Sense 4.0. Of course, it looks better than before and is easier to use. Actually, we love what Android 4.0 did with the stock interface, but HTC brings some additional personalization so HTC phones can differentiate. And it has some additional features - let's focus on some of them.
The Beats Audio profile can now work with any application (previously it worked only with the built-in player). This means you will be able to enjoy it with YouTube videos, Games and any other content. There isn't information if there is any other improvement in the Beats software or the phone hardware, for better sound quality.
Sense 4.0 also has some new syncing options. Once you connect your HTC phone to the computer, it will allow you to sync your media library. After the initial setup, the phone will sync over Wi-Fi so your music library can stay up to date without the need of attaching wires.
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Memory:
The HTC One X does not offer a microSD card for storage expansion, but it makes up for that with its 32 GB of on-board storage, which will come standard on the device.
Expectations:
We are extremely happy with the HTC One X from the very short time spent with it. It reminds us of previous HTC models, but also shows the manufacturer is on the right direction. While keeping the trademark solid build quality, it is slimmer and better looking than before. Meanwhile, the phone performs admirably on the hardware front, so what more can one wish for? What's your opinion about the One X?
*Please note that in the second and third videos below, we're checking out the AT&T version of the HTC One X.
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70 Comments
1. Birds posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:16 4 13
YES FINALLY TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH PHONEARENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. Mario1017 posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:19 4 1
how did it take PA long enough when the phone was shown for the first time today....
5. Birds posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:29 1 14
Lol Because it just did ok!!!! I was just excited to hear there opinion. Quitcho bitching. Damn... Commenters these days. Can't type anything without some idiot bitching down your throat....
9. Chronos posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:39 5 1
...What?
12. Birds posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:41 0 14
STFU Chronos!!!!
11. firelightx posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:39 4 0
Nevermind that you were the opne complaining to start with...
13. Birds posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:43 4 13
I was complaining because PhoneArena went to the lg booth first instead of HTC. lol I was kidding about it dude. You PhoneArena followers lack a sense of humor, like really.....
20. Mario1017 posted on 26 Feb 2012, 18:51 5 0
Lol quit my complaining? seems like you dont know the definition of that word since you where the first to do so in the first place
28. Birds posted on 26 Feb 2012, 20:40 0 9
Nevermind. You f**kups don't get my point so take your "idiot" victory.
35. Mario1017 posted on 27 Feb 2012, 00:00 2 0
lol okay...?
40. crankyd00d posted on 27 Feb 2012, 01:25 3 0
It would seem he doesn't know what LOL stands for either, nothing he said would make normal people laugh haha
70. u-suck-more posted on 16 Mar 2012, 22:31 1 0
and whats wrong with going to the LG booth first? O.o its really up to them isn't it
62. AppleHateBoy posted on 03 Mar 2012, 16:08 0 0
Uh! Can some company make a small ICS phone considering that now we have soft keys? HTC you made a small phone(considering the screen size) with the HD2. Try again with Android without the buttons on the front.
66. jogutier posted on 07 Mar 2012, 12:58 0 0
They must of edited it, cause what I read said Tegra 3. hmmm
4. theBankRobber posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:25 6 0
Would look way cooler if the whole front was all white
46. kevjiang78 posted on 28 Feb 2012, 00:08 1 1
No No...It would look like a long HTC WIldfire...
I prefer HTC Amaze style...
67. jogutier posted on 07 Mar 2012, 13:01 0 0
All white phone? Apple copyright/patented that already. LMAO! Probably, who knows. I still haven't seen an all white phone (minus the screen).
8. danny_a2005 posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:37 0 0
PA upload videos from the hands on.. it'll be nice to see them on action.. this ONE in particular..
10. Hassan18 posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:39 1 0
What about the mune button for legacy apps? How could we access the menu in these apps while there is no dedicated capacitive button ? I am really surprised that no one of the tech blog sites has addressed the issue.
65. dazweeja posted on 06 Mar 2012, 22:28 0 0
HTC have a solution and it's lame. A semi-transparent overlay with a centered menu button that appears at the bottom of the screen when needed. Yes, so you now have two rows of buttons.
14. ghost__uwi posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:50 0 0
hmmm must say phone arena was real phone hungry. Like a tonne of reviews come out of the blue. good stuff.
15. thnkthru3 posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:51 2 2
As an AT&T customer...I disappointed by the swap from quad to dual core on this top tier phone...Would prefer to have the quad core and no LTE. (Besides; the AT&T roll out of LTE seems far behind Verizon.
57. vioalas posted on 01 Mar 2012, 13:37 1 0
The dual core being used is actually faster than the tegra 3, and widely considered better.
16. remixfa posted on 26 Feb 2012, 17:56 7 5
wait wait wait.. am i the only one that caught that.. the T3 version is international only? The American ATT version is LTE and Crapdragon!?!?!?!??!?!
WTF.
FAIL.
So basically, instead of ushering in the new generation of massive spec'ed smartphones, HTC is basically creating an answer to the skyrocket HD.. ugh.
dont get me wrong. The improvements with the S4 are going to be nice and all, but i really got all excited when they said it was a T3 device... until they said it was an international only T3 device. I really wish that carriers would quit choosing a slightly faster internet speed (that you cant even notice at that point) over real world performance.
24. remixfa posted on 26 Feb 2012, 19:46 2 2
Yea, actually, it has.. at least by Qualcomm. And do you know which chipset they didnt show matching up against the S4 dual core? The T3 quad core. Thats because the T3 blows it away in performance. More cores, bigger GPU. They are not in the same category.
I realize your a big fanboy of HTC and all, but which would you rather have in your new $300 phone.. dual or quad core? especially knowing the quad core is in the international version
Looks like HTC is taking a page from samsung in keeping 1 phone with multiple chipsets in it. And thats not a good thing.
29. corrifa posted on 26 Feb 2012, 21:02 2 1
Remixfa I usually agree with most of your posts but I am sorry when I say that the S4 is just as fast as the T3. Go look at anandtechs comparison. The S4 is Qualcomms equal to the Cortex A15 while the Tegra 3 is only Cortex A9 and a a larger 40nm die.
31. remixfa posted on 26 Feb 2012, 21:46 0 1
go look at that comparison. You will find lots of chips there, the T3 is NOT one of them.
the S4 is about 50% faster than the S3, which puts it just a smidge above an Exynos 4210. The T3 makes the exynos 4210 look old school in head to head comparisons.
Tegra3 4100+ on updated quadrant
http://www.slashgear.com/lg-x3-tegra-3-benchmarks-leak-15213586/
Exynos 4210 3300+ on updated quadrant
(this link is actually showing an optimized sgs2 someone played with which is why the score is higher)
http://smartphonebenchmarks.com/index.php?filter_model=all&f ilter_benchmarkapp=Quadrant&fi lter_cpu=Samsung+Exynos+4210&f ilter_gpu=all
Quadrant still sucks as a real benchmarking app, but if the phones are not messed with, its still relevant to performance.
34. ngo2dd posted on 26 Feb 2012, 23:33 1 0
They have the transformer prime score.
TF prime browsermark was 100960
S4 was 110355
http://www.slashgear.com/asus-transformer-prime-vs-ipad-2-benchmark-tests-01199285/
Here are SunSpider
TF prime 1861
S4 1531
Here is Linpack
TF prime 43.35 single, 67.05 multi
S4 106.974 single, 218.196
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-review/
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5559/qualcomm-snapdragon-s4-krait-performance-preview-msm8960-adreno-225-benchmarks/2
So much for the T3 blowing the S4 out of the water. I know that the TF is clock at 1.3 and not 1.5 but that will still not blow the S4 out of the water.
The andreno 225 is given the 50% increase from the andreno they say nothing about the CPU.
36. ngo2dd posted on 27 Feb 2012, 00:18 0 0
Here is a direct one between the S4 and the TF prime for ya
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5563/qualcomms-snapdragon-s4-krait-vs-nvidias-tegra-3/1
49. Hunt3rj2 posted on 28 Feb 2012, 11:13 2 0
Part 2 of the Anandtech review of the MDP for Snapdragon S4 directly compares Tegra 3 with S4.
The S4 is at worst, equal to the T3. At best it blows it away, especially in tasks that are CPU-bound and lightly threaded.
I know you hate Qualcomm, but they've topped what Nvidia has. The Tegra 3 is pretty awful design as a result of a single channel of memory having to feed 4+1 cores and a GPU.
I'll pay attention once Nvidia integrates a baseband w/ LTE, upgrades the 4 main cores to Cortex A15, makes a better GPU, and goes to 28nm.
55. AppleHateBoy posted on 01 Mar 2012, 07:17 0 0
http://www.phonearena.com/news
/HTC-One-X-specs-review_id27504
39. bayusuputra posted on 27 Feb 2012, 01:10 1 0
i just hope that "FAIL" was meant for the carriers and not HTC itself.. please note that HTC gave AT&T and option for T3(no LTE) or S4(with LTE) and AT&T chose the later.. so yeah, blame the carrier!
i agree, though, that internet speed is quite unnoticeable.. but i still prefer real world performance over internet speed.. internet speed can change depending on the coverage/network, but your phone's speed will not, it will be dictated by what's inside..
let's see what HTC (or others) can come up with by the end of the year when i can recontract my phone.. now, i'm just happy with the desire S.. serves me fine day and night..
41. crankyd00d posted on 27 Feb 2012, 01:29 0 0
What I don't see and would like to know is if it works with T-Mobile's 3G band, is it 1700?
17. solidsnakeduds013 posted on 26 Feb 2012, 18:10 3 1
About time HTC made a monster phone! This is a really nice phone! BUT I won't get it >.>
Gs3 all the way
18. PostalJim posted on 26 Feb 2012, 18:17 1 1
Guess Im waiting for the GS3. Love the video/pic options and Beats, but I think I will have to pass. Give me a quad. This has been hyped as a quad core phone. Wish they wouldve been upfront and not so deceptive about this tiny little insignificant tidbit of information. Buttheads.
19. Chronos posted on 26 Feb 2012, 18:19 3 0
The HTC One X is a quad-core smartphone; It's just not a quad-core smart phone on AT & T.
21. rocknessalex posted on 26 Feb 2012, 18:57 2 2
Lovinggggg it. I might just switch to HTC if the Galaxy S III still doesn't comes out. ):
25. ngo2dd posted on 26 Feb 2012, 20:27 1 0
I would love to see the benchmark to see if the S4 is as good as the T3.
56. AppleHateBoy posted on 01 Mar 2012, 07:19 0 0
http://www.phonearena.com/news
/HTC-One-X-specs-review_id27504
26. rockstarlive posted on 26 Feb 2012, 20:32 0 0
I like it.
Wanna see how good the pictures are compared to actual cameras
27. rockstarlive posted on 26 Feb 2012, 20:38 0 0
Design is a little different.
the One V has the chin, both the S, and X are the same.
30. crysiswarmonger posted on 26 Feb 2012, 21:16 0 0
I have a HTC EVO on Sprint of course... I am wanting to switch to Verizon for better coverage.... and I saw this phone and said that is what I want... but does not look like it will be on Verizon...
:-(
32. redrooster13 posted on 26 Feb 2012, 22:15 2 0
SO much potential....BUT they choose to FAIL. Small non removable battery, no micro sd card slot, and lcd screen. Who ever buys this phone is telling htc that all this is ok. Vote with your wallet folks, dont sacrifice.
71. riteshk posted on 24 Mar 2012, 13:12 0 0
Have you tested the battery life? Many new phones are going sans ext-SD, that's one thing I hate but there is an upside to it. Better security and file-system integrity. Google has some reasons why they're going in this direction. I'm not convinced yet though.
Its not just any LCD, its a IPS SLCD2 which looks absolutely stunning, wait till you see one yourself.
Calling it a FAIL even before its been reviewed properly or yourself trying it, is not very smart.
33. orielwindow posted on 26 Feb 2012, 22:36 0 0
Well there's yet another awesome phone heading to AT&T. I had to switch to Verizon because of cell reception out in the countryside of Appalachia and it seems like ever since AT&T gets the phones I would love to have. (Titan, Note, etc) I guess the grass is always greener.....
37. Tommyp1972 posted on 27 Feb 2012, 00:38 0 0
The biggest issue here that nobody seems to be saying is the TOTAL LACK OF LTE SUPPORT FOR QUAD CORE!....HTC today announced all their top tier LTE phones will be DUAL CORE ONLY!...after all this time waiting and hoping to see what the hype is all about I am sad to say it will not happen for LTE customers...the LG 4X HD is the same deal it seems..NO MENTION of LTE support for quad core phones
38. Tommyp1972 posted on 27 Feb 2012, 00:47 0 0
it seems only Huawei will carry an LTE version of a Quad Core phone..not a namebrand we recognize but they are looking to break into the big leagues to compete with the big boys Like Samsung HTC Motorola and LG....but inot until the 2nd quarter of 2012..heres the info i found
http://www.phonearena.com/news/MWC-2012-quad-core-phones-spec-comparison_id27321
44. InspectorGadget80 posted on 27 Feb 2012, 17:12 0 1
I'm very disappointed in our U.S. AT&T version they trim off the QUAD to DUALwhich I do understand it's not compatible with their 4G LTE network. And the other thing I dislike is NO SD CARD. So I will pass on the X ONE
45. alfadolla posted on 27 Feb 2012, 17:29 0 3
Now I can see why HTC is losing money in the mobile phone game! You have to feed the need of the people which a dual core is great if it was 2011 but it's Not! sorry I'll pass
47. bayhuy posted on 28 Feb 2012, 04:50 0 0
98% of people do not know what "core" means.
"Average Joe" has the money, he wants good looking phone with nice display, fast internet and good camera.
50. Jammers posted on 28 Feb 2012, 13:07 0 0
I'm curious about this spate of phones coming with no SD slots. I can think of many situations where SD is preferable. Heck, backing up my pictures if I'm changing phones, I don't want to take 20 minutes to move my files, move my files...
51. bayhuy posted on 28 Feb 2012, 13:28 0 0
One word - Dropbox. You don't need to transfer your pics, they're already transferred...
