HTC One Review
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Saying that the HTC One is an important handset for HTC would be an understatement. The device is crucial to the company that just a year and a half ago passed for one of the biggest Android success stories, but is now struggling to squeeze out profits. The One name is not coincidental - HTC is hoping this device to be the one to really change the tide for it and the company has put its best effort in it, refining the design to near perfection.
Pressured by declining revenues, the company has harnessed its best engineers into the task of making a truly groundbreaking device, one that can compete with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S 4 juggernaut.
To make that device, HTC has focused on four key areas - design, screen, sound and camera. The HTC One brings the best out of HTC’s industrial design legacy. Clad in a beautiful aluminum body, it comes with a 4.7-inch bright and vivid display and an impressively loud and clear front stereo speaker setup. Lastly, HTC took a huge risk with its new UltraPixel camera, going against the market trend of more megapixels, and instead using just a 4.3-megapixel sensor allowing for very large pixels for superior low-light performance.
On paper, this looks like a killer combination. But now, at last, the final device is in our hands and we are ready to put all of HTC’s ambitious new features to a test. Read on.
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- SIM card removal tool
- Earphones
- Micro USB cable
- Wall Charger
- User Manual
Design:
In a world of plastic Androids, the HTC One stands out. It’s different - a gorgeous-looking slender device with chamfered edges and a slightly curved back that lays in the hand almost organically. It’s extremely ergonomical and even though it’s a big phone, it is comfortable to hold and operate. Thickness comes at 9.3mm, or 0.37 inches, and it weighs a well balanced 5.04 oz (143 g).
The HTC One has a body made out of aluminum, a front and back aluminum plates (you can choose between silver and black colors) with two tiny stripes of white plastic on the back allowing for better signal.
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In a world of plastic Androids, the HTC One stands out | ||
The front comes with two large speaker grills, the holes drilled symmetrically on the top and bottom of the device, promising an exciting sound experience. The device comes with a new button layout and instead of the standard three capacitive buttons you only get two, and an HTC logo in the middle instead of the third. What’s missing is the multitasking button, which you now access by double-tapping the home key. Long holding the same home key fires up Google Now. This new layout is a bit strange and having the back button on the left makes it a bit of a stretch to reach. You get used to it over time, but it doesn’t feel like the perfect setup.
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The front comes with two large speaker grills and a new button layout | ||
Physically buttons are large and comfortable to press. The volume rocker is on the side and the lock key, which doubles as an InfraRed blaster, is located on top. Its top location is a bit of a stretch for the finger and we would have preferred to have it on the side, but it is a compromise made so you can use the One as a remote control for your TV. We got used to its position fairly quickly. On the bottom, there is a microUSB port that doubles as an MHL one. Finally, on the back, in the top central part, there is the large eye of the UltraPixel camera.
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Left | Right | Top | Bottom |
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The One is a culmination of HTC’s years of design experience. It brings the best of the company’s industrial design legacy in a device that is ergonomical, looks good and feels even better.
Screen:
HTC is known for making some of the best screens out there. Last year’s HTC One X set a gold standard for screens in Android land with a bright and vivid 720 x 1280 display, and this year the bar was high.
With the HTC One we can safely say that the company meets the expectations. The device features a 4.7 inches Super LCD 3 display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels.
The screen is extremely detailed, sharp, and for the tech geeks - pixel density comes at the whopping 468ppi.
Colors are stunning, they just out at you with deep blacks, vivid reds and blues, and a great contrast. Viewing angles are also amazing.
If we had to pick the nits, we’d mention that HTC has toned down the maximum brightness and the One’s screen is slightly dimmer than say an iPhone 5. With reflections from the panel, this might make using the handset in direct sunlight a bit hard, but not impossible.
Drag the picture or use the keyboard arrows to rotate the phone. Double click or press keyboard Space to zoom in/out
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167 Comments
1. Topcat488 posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:05 72 2
Looks good! I really love the front speakers...
7. GTR722 posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:15 21 53
Desing is perfect, UI is horrible, need a new launcher asap
55. jsdechavez posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:50 10 4
I actually like the Metro -inspired UI... I'll port this to my Xperia!! haha
103. preet27in posted on 15 Mar 2013, 09:45 14 4
idiot have u used it?> how come ui is horrible? htc has worlds best and simple ui. no match for it nywhere. now its sense 5.0 which again is at top.
123. bojan posted on 16 Mar 2013, 20:46 0 0
HTC One vs Sony Xperia Z vs LG Optimus G
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01HRtUD5oJc&list=UUNnlZWj9jwM I3BgFdwqE-uA&index=1
124. rizevnarastek posted on 17 Mar 2013, 04:25 0 0
I can see some framse being dropped on HTC One, but overall it makes a better video than Xperia Z. The LG doesn't even compare.
131. rizevnarastek posted on 17 Mar 2013, 09:56 2 8
My predictions for the New HTC One (2014):
Low power 5" FullHD SLCD4 with user preference software keys
Sapphire screen for screen protection
Carbon-titanium infused aluminium unibody, Zero gap design
Symetric organic design, like a mix of One X and One 2013
Stereo front facing speakers with built-in amplifiers
Power button up top, centered, double as IR blaster
Hand power technology to wake the phone without using buttons
Left side of power button SIM tray
Right side of power button SD tray
Right side of phone features a volume rocker
Bottom right side a camera / user selected action button
Docking pinns of the left side of the phone
Standard coin size indentation for "kickstand" feature on the left back side
Bottom left side a headphone jack
Bottom right side USB/MHL
Floating touch interface and gloves-on usability
5MP Ultrapixel camera with dual LED / xenon flash
Advanced optical stabilisation system
2.5MP HDR, wide-angle camera front facing camera
HTC logo in between the speaker holes and on the back
Top of the line CPU/GPU Quad-core 2GHz
3GB RAM DDR3
32GB option only (but with SDXC support)
3000mAh battery (non-removable, Li-Po)
Wi-Fi, Wi-Di, BT,GPS, GLONASS, IrDa,
Thermometer, barometer, gyroscope, ect...
Eye Sense screen timeout and auto rotation feature
Loads of other usefull software Sense features
Physical dimensions same as HTC One 2013
145. mydi.maus posted on 20 Mar 2013, 07:51 3 1
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS DREEEAAAAMM,...DREAM DREAM DREAM..
171. WakaFlakaD posted on 02 May 2013, 00:25 1 0
No way people should thumb this down. While it might not come anytime soon, but it is my very ideal device as well.
Camera button!!! I feel like this is always being overlooked at. Xenon flash is always welcome (How I miss my Nokia n82 from back in the days)
I don't mind paying $800 for this to be honest
142. JEverettnow posted on 19 Mar 2013, 14:18 0 2
I have never been a fan of any HTC ui. I think its all personal preference when it comes to Touch Whiz Vs. Sense, but IMO Touch Whiz has always felt more complete and smooth compared to Sense.
158. thelukewarm posted on 26 Mar 2013, 19:47 0 0
the design is impeccable, the front speakers are fairly powerful, but the UI is not horrible, to me it seems to be a mixture of WP and iOS
167. trexnkrumpets posted on 16 Apr 2013, 23:52 0 0
with blinkfeed and the simpler ui? :) I find WP8 a mix between android and iOS. (Much more stable than android, but more customizable than iOS) I just want to be able to customize app drawers/folders than only limited filing for games,dang-nab you MICROSOFT!
169. xuan3 posted on 28 Apr 2013, 00:13 0 0
LOL Seriously? Sense is horrible? Go use a Nokia then. Sense is so much better than other UIs, and you think it's horrible. GENIUS.
9. samsunggalaxylover posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:17 32 84
the samsung galaxy s4 will beat it easily.
111. Jonathan41 posted on 16 Mar 2013, 04:09 2 5
We finally agree on something!
21. Droid_X_Doug posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:30 38 3
If the GS IV is basically a warmed-over GS III (aka GS IIIS), HTC gets some breathing room. Sammy will ultimately sell more GS IVs, but HTC gets a solid opportunity to play against the Sony Z, LG, and other non-Sammy Android phones. I might even swap my GS III for a One if it is available on VZW. I won't be trading my Note II, however.
50. Evil_SaNz posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:37 21 3
The sad thing is that Samsung is considered like "Apple of android"; even if another android device will be by far superior of the galaxy franchise people will still think that sammy does the best android phones. Power of ads and persuasion...think out of the box :)
56. McLTE posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:52 8 5
lets be clear here.. while the One shapes up to be a great phone, there's nothing "FAR superior" about it.
It has some great features for sure, but I'd put them both on a fairly equal playing field. Lack of removable battery and SD card slot KILLS the phone for me though I realize some may not care.
92. 007akshay posted on 14 Mar 2013, 21:25 3 1
but the tru fact is s4 in great in features ,ui interface,battery,software,big screen......htc is grt in design camera innovation., n d speakers................ these features cant be done by apple so dont compare android mobiles to iphone......iphones r lik same s**t overpriced
165. HDShatter posted on 08 Apr 2013, 19:44 0 0
(inb4 downvotes)
Sorry HTC, the international s4 is a more powerful device than the one. The Exynos 5 is better than the snapdragon 600. Simple as that. It also has ddr3. But sense does look much better than it used to. Beats touch wiz any day but on my s4 (international) I will just root and use custom roms, which the HTC one can't do till they unlock the bootloader.
166. chocolaking posted on 10 Apr 2013, 14:34 0 0
The S4 is COMPLETELY no match to the HTC ONE.
Stop dreaming..
46. jsdechavez posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:27 1 15
Samsung just might one up the HTC One with an even lower megapixel count!! hahaha
48. RiseAgainst94 posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:32 1 8
And maybe even the same miserable low light photos! :D
13. Droid_X_Doug posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:23 19 2
If nothing else, HTC has moved the bar for flagship smartphones. Props to them. I hope they have success with the One. In the U.S., if the One truly does ship on VZW, they might manage to pull off a successful product. Especially if the GS IV is actually a GS IIIS.
58. McLTE posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:54 2 1
From what I've seen they haven't really raised the bar on flagship phones.. Joined the party? Absolutely!
I sincerely hope HTC has success with this phone and they can give Samsung a run in the future. Having 2 big players in the Android world would be great for us consumers!
I'm still a bit shakey on HTC having seen my wife with her few.. I absolutely love their idea of front speakers though. I HOPE HOPE HOPE that catches on!
20. RiseAgainst94 posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:28 19 1
Brilliant phone. A real contender. Hope it does well.
78. amiroo posted on 14 Mar 2013, 15:39 20 1
wowwwww 9.1 of 10..
exellent job htc..this is realaty of htc ability..
perfect phone for perfect people..
go HTC;)
82. AnTuTu posted on 14 Mar 2013, 16:24 13 0
If Sammy is going to disappoint me (according to leaked images n videos) I am so getting this champ then.
Well done HTC keep up the great work.
99. Dynamac posted on 15 Mar 2013, 04:09 2 4
The biggest problem with the One is it's strategy.
1. HTC spends alot of money on the premium quality and good looks, but doesn't provide the marketing resource to make the masses recognise it (the people that want premium quality and great design aka iPhone fans), so it didn't sell well to them.
2. It doesn't have things like user replaceable battery, mSD slots, fastest system, upgrades or efficiency for power and tech users that care about these things, hence they didn't buy it either.
As such, with all its positives, the phone sold poorly. I fear HTC hasn't learnt it's lesson yet.
129. Ardoleon posted on 17 Mar 2013, 09:54 2 0
Sold poorly? Are we reading the same release date here? I thought it had barely been announced and already it has "sold poorly." I guess you must be psychic.
143. tha.fox posted on 19 Mar 2013, 16:05 0 0
I see your point to a certain extent. BUT if you do your research HTC in 2012 was #1 company to update their phones the fastest. Look it up you are wrong. Also My droid DNA is more power efficient then my razr, razr maxx, nexus 4 by alot, galaxy nexus, lg spectrum, and the same or better than my s3. The reason HTC did bad last year is because Apples Import ban on the HTC One line last year that everyone seems to have forgotten and it held off release till after the s3 launched and it screwed up their sales. I ported the One to my dna and it slaughters Nature UI in every aspect
128. amiroo posted on 17 Mar 2013, 05:46 1 0
i think sooo..i waiting for one..
s4 is big deal but i expect more than saftware of suepr phone..i feel a defect about s4 ..not good body quality..not good design..
in ui s4 keep the way same old Version i dont like repeatation..
sense 5 come to ring by great Revolution in that case of design and functinally..
about screen im not sure which one is better btw one and S4..
about sound and speaker i ithink any phone cant beat one.
about harware both of great..dont different in use.
about camera i think one is better Such we can see in same different site..but still im not sure for this so.
about design its clear which ones flag up.
about battary one`s test is tooo great when phonearena test it..s4 seems to be better but one is perfect and maybe it enough for many users.
(this idea is Personal)
130. rizevnarastek posted on 17 Mar 2013, 09:56 0 1
My predictions for the New HTC One (2014):
Low power 5" FullHD SLCD4 with user preference software keys
Sapphire screen for screen protection
Carbon-titanium infused aluminium unibody, Zero gap design
Symetric organic design, like a mix of One X and One 2013
Stereo front facing speakers with built-in amplifiers
Power button up top, centered, double as IR blaster
Hand power technology to wake the phone without using buttons
Left side of power button SIM tray
Right side of power button SD tray
Right side of phone features a volume rocker
Bottom right side a camera / user selected action button
Docking pinns of the left side of the phone
Standard coin size indentation for "kickstand" feature on the left back side
Bottom left side a headphone jack
Bottom right side USB/MHL
Floating touch interface and gloves-on usability
5MP Ultrapixel camera with dual LED / xenon flash
Advanced optical stabilisation system
2.5MP HDR, wide-angle camera front facing camera
HTC logo in between the speaker holes and on the back
Top of the line CPU/GPU Quad-core 2GHz
3GB RAM DDR3
32GB option only (but with SDXC support)
3000mAh battery (non-removable, Li-Po)
Wi-Fi, Wi-Di, BT,GPS, GLONASS, IrDa,
Thermometer, barometer, gyroscope, ect...
Eye Sense screen timeout and auto rotation feature
Loads of other usefull software Sense features
Physical dimensions same as HTC One 2013
155. amiroo posted on 25 Mar 2013, 17:01 0 0
one`s camera is best..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut-ObhDELP0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5NFpddZ958
ultra pixel simply is best innovation this year.
36. cloud_atlas1991 posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:58 1 25
The camera is on par with the best out there but I'd still go for iPhone 5 in terms of this spec.
47. GuitarPlayer posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:28 1 6
Ok, nice phone, BUT in pocketnow review you can see that lumia 920 have much better camera for fotos and videos.
49. rizevnarastek posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:35 3 5
It's exactly pocketnow.com where you can obviously see the One's camera is better. The colors are natural and the picture looks good. As do the videos.
54. GuitarPlayer posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:49 7 4
What!? you must be kidding. Lumia camera much more sharper and versatile!
125. rizevnarastek posted on 17 Mar 2013, 04:32 2 2
Yes, sure.... you must know photography.
The color reproduction is way better on One than 920.
Even on a cropped photo the letters are a bit more visible on the One. Sharpness is good enough.
On the second note, Lumia 920 is a WP8 so it makes it kinda irrelevant in this comparison.
5. spideyhead256 posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:13 6 0
I'm glad to hear that their are gonna be only two storage variants available and they would be 32 gb and 64 gb.all that boomsound and beats audio wouldn't matter if the phone doesn't have sufficient space.and not all of us have (or want to have) our music backed up on the cloud.
22. ghostnexus posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:30 4 0
I also agree anything lower than 32gb would not be enough
6. REYNER posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:13 11 0
woah!!! breath-taking review i think i like this phone! seriously im considering it to be my next big thing! LOL! now s4 impress me!! you still have the chance to make me change my mind!
38. iDroid8 posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:59 15 2
First with 450+ ppi
Ultrapixel camera
Rare device with front facing stereo speakers
Awesome design
Fresh UI
What else do you want?
40. proto posted on 14 Mar 2013, 13:08 5 1
450 ppi... Meh 441 or450+..there is no difference
Ultrapixel camera is nothing spectacular.
Fronfacing stereo speakers
Awesome design
Fresh UI
On that, we can agree
83. Berzerk000 posted on 14 Mar 2013, 16:26 3 0
The initial quality of the One's camera isn't bad at all, though nothing to flaunt, it's still pretty nice. However, where it really excels is in low light performance, which is what the Ultrapixels were intended to do anyways.
Here;
http://pocketnow.com/2013/03/13/htc-one-vs-nokia-lumia-920-camera-comparison#!prettyPhoto
Go down to the extremely low light category. You can see that the One did an amazing job at lighting up a dark subway tunnel, and is very comparable to the Lumia 920 in that regard.
126. rizevnarastek posted on 17 Mar 2013, 04:35 0 0
The best photo comparison is in the diner, where the One's photo seems to look worse but in fact it is really better. 920 has fake color and fake white-balance. The rednes visual on One's photo was exactly like the setting was and that's what matters in a photo.
10. siluro posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:19 0 0
So the camera on the HTC one would be between which phones would you say? I'm really hoping to get a pretty decent camera on my next phone....
127. rizevnarastek posted on 17 Mar 2013, 04:36 0 0
Not between. On the top is more appropriate. Smartphone-wise of course. ;)
12. _Bone_ posted on 14 Mar 2013, 12:23 0 7
Cool review, the One gets the highest score since the Galaxy S3 and looks deserved.
One minor thing: I don't think you can remove BlinkFeed or even stop it refreshing pages, you can only remove content but it will still take memory and one home screen of the pack. From what I understand it only pulls updates from a very limited numbers of sources which is a pity, because it looks good but isn't the all-around feed engine as the W8 tiles. Otherwise everything seems to be in place.
