HTC One X for AT&T Review

Introduction:

AT&T is literally on fire! And why’s that you ask? Well, in the last few months alone, we’ve been seeing the carrier getting in with some big name smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note LTE, Nokia Lumia 900, and HTC Titan II. Needless to say, it’s arguable as to which one is deemed as the best of the bunch, but AT&T isn’t letting down one bit whatsoever with its selection – that’s because the mightiest one is about to set things ablaze with its piercing set of features.

Arriving on May 6th for the 2-year contract price of $199.99, the modified HTC One X for AT&T is already shaping out to give its closest Android competitor in the Samsung Galaxy Note LTE a good run for its money. Concurrently, it’s also going to give AT&T’s newly minted Windows Phone something to worry about as well, as it’s filled to the roof with specs that seem to be vastly superior. Certainly, T-Mobile customers are getting their fill with the HTC One S, but with AT&T’s upcoming beauty, it brings forth HTC’s mightiest offering to our shores, so let’s find out if this LTE enabled smartphone can raise the standards for everyone else.

The package contains:
microUSB cable
Wall Charger
Quick Start Guide
Product and Safety Information

Design:

Honestly, there’s barely any noticeable differences with the design of AT&T’s version of the HTC One X – albeit, it’s a hairline longer (5.31 inches versus 5.29 inches) and lighter (129 grams versus 130 grams) than the international version we reviewed not too long ago. Additionally, rather than finding the manufacturer’s name beneath the earpiece, it’s bearing AT&T’s logo and name instead. Aside from those items, the two smartphones are nearly identical to one another!


Again, we have to give props to the folks over at HTC for concocting a magnificent smartphone that combines a stunning design and something that’s comfortable to handle. Utilizing the same pristine white polycarbonate body as before, which does wonders in keeping it clean looking and dirt free, it also adds enough durability to withstand the normal wear and tear we tend to put it through. Certainly, it’s still a larger than other handsets, but it’s nice that they’ve carefully made good use of every nook and cranny without adding too much excess bulk. If that’s not enough, the sides of the handset and display are contoured perfectly to result in a comfortable feel in the hand. Indeed, it might not be perceived as the most premium constructed device we’ve seen from HTC, but nevertheless, it simply feels incredibly solid and fine to the touch.


You can compare the HTC One X with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

HTC has decided to stick with capacitive keys under the display, rather than on-screen ones. On one hand, this leaves more space to display the interface at any time, but on the other, accidental presses are more likely. Above the screen is where you'll see the 1.3MP front-facing camera.


Like before, the microUSB port stands apart from most things on the left edge of the handset, since it doesn’t quite blend in with the all-white and uniform body of the handset. On the right is the volume rocker. It reacts OK when pressed, though the volume down key could have used a bit more travel. On the top of the HTC One X sits the power/lock key, which is placed at a weird angle that doesn’t allow for a natural feel with our finger – and to top it off, it feels a bit stiff to the touch. Right behind that is microSIM tray, which is ejected in the same way that you eject the iPhone's microSIM tray – with a special tool, or, if you are a professional, with a clip. Finally, the primary microphone is the only thing we find on the bottom edge.

In the rear, the handset’s 8-megapixel ImageSense camera is the only noticeable protrusion on the body, but as we take a closer look, the lens is actually sunken in so that it doesn’t come in contact with surfaces when it’s resting on its back. Meanwhile, surrounding the camera is the same contrasting gray color with the LED flash nearby, which some might find distracting. Towards the bottom edge, microdots converge in a unison assembly to make out the smartphone’s speaker grill, while dock connectors are positioned towards the lower right side.


Display:

The gigantic 4.7” display of the HTC One X is very good-looking. Not only is it big enough to let you fully enjoy your videos, but it also has this great resolution of 720x1280 pixels. This means the pixel density comes in at 312 ppi, making it very hard to spot an individual pixel. The screen uses the so-called Super-LCD 2 (it uses IPS) technology, which is said to bring better viewing angles and less glare, compared to traditional S-LCD panels. We did find the viewing angles to be pretty good with this device, although the glare was about equal to what you get on other premium smartphones. The screen also treats us to some very saturated colors. Actually, it's much closer to AMOLED, rather than LCD displays in this respect, which isn't a bad thing. In some situations, its colors might seem a bit too saturated, but in most of the cases, the visuals that it produces are extremely pleasant. For those who still care, the pixels of the display are arranged in a standard RGB matrix, so no PenTile here.

Interface:

With a new flagship phone in tow, the HTC One X delivers the goods as its sports the most up-to-date versions of Android and its very own HTC Sense UI. Actually, there’s nothing different with this version, since it’s an exact facsimile to the international version – though, the preloaded apps differ. As every self-respecting smartphone nowadays, the HTC One X runs Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. This latest version of the OS bears tons of improvements in almost every aspect of the system, including the UI, the browser, the core apps, performance and so on. Still, you won't get to see a thing of the ICS interface, because HTC has personalized it heavily with the new Sense 4 UI. We won’t be going into the details here, but if you’re curious, you can read more about it in our review of the international HTC One X.

Functionality:

The main goal for HTC in terms of the interface has been to simplify it. Indeed, previous versions of the UI had so much options and personalization stuff, that it could easily throw the more inexperienced users into confusion. Indeed, we do find Sense 4 to be significantly streamlined. Well, you still get the characteristic weather clock and big widgets, taking up a whole homescreen page, but HTC wanted to remain recognizable among the ocean of Android handsets on the market. However, gone is much of the eye-candy that was present in the previous version of the software. For example, you no longer get the spinning carousel when you energetically switch between homescreens.


The main menu is also different now – the apps are arranged in a 4x5 grid pages, which are scrolled horizontally, instead of vertically as in previous versions of Sense. The new experience is probably simpler this way. The good thing for us is that the handset is moving pretty swiftly now, with no hint of lag or choppy animations. We're not sure how much of this is to be attributed to the optimizations done to the interface, or the Snapdragon S4 processor, but anyways – the result is a perfectly smooth UI, and that's what we care for.

Without question, the HTC One X is easy on the fingers when it comes to typing up messages with its on-screen keyboard – though, its set of directional keys seem to clutter things up. Of course, we’ve always been fond of the Sense keyboard, seeing it provides us with some numbers and punctuations directly from the main layout by performing a long press. Consistently typing at a fast pace isn’t a problem, but we sorely wish for those directional keys to disappear entirely, so that the layout can be spaced out more.


Of course, every way of using email known to humankind is available on the HTC One X. In addition to custom POP3/IMAP accounts, you can also easily set-up Exchange ActiveSync, Gmail (now, that's a surprise!), Yahoo! Mail and Microsoft Hotmail.



Processor and Memory:

Upon hearing about the switcheroo done on AT&T’s version of the HTC One X, some were bummed to find out that it would not be powered by the same quad-core CPU in use with the international one, and instead, it would be outfitted with a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with 1GB of RAM. Well people, there’s no cause for alarm, because seriously, it performs equally to its quad-core sibling. Specifically, it maintains a steady amount of responsiveness with a variety of basic and complex operations, and to tell you the truth, it barely exhibited any strain or lag during our testing. Still not sold by its processing prowess? Well, you’ll be surprised to know that the benchmark results are quite positive, since it obtains scores that are deemed as above average.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
HTC One X AT&T	4958	6863	57,7
HTC One X	4848	11024	47,4
HTC One S	4867	7012	60,7
Samsung Galaxy Nexus	2000	5503	24

Seemingly becoming a standard of some sort with today’s premier Android smartphones, the HTC One X lacks a microSD card slot, which means you’ll need to be more careful with the 9.93GB of free storage that’s available out of the box. Meanwhile, there’s another 2.21GB strictly reserved for apps.

Internet and Connectivity:

For something so awe-inspiring in many ways, we’re a bit perturbed by the web browsing experience – again, much like what we saw previously. Actually, we’re absolutely thrilled that AT&T’s beauty is bearing support for LTE connectivity, which results in vastly superior data speeds over its HSPA+ only sibling. However, just like before, we’re baffled by the experience, as it seems to be clunky with its layout and performance. Specifically, the top and bottom menu bars containing the back button, address bar, “Add to”, “Bookmarks”, “Saved for later”, and “Tabs” all seem to disappear and reappear at random. Furthermore, the same constant blinking action happens whenever we pinch zoom or double-tap-to-zoom. Putting those meddling issues aside, the browser for the most part performs swiftly – even when it encounters Flash content. Still, we come across some delays and choppiness every now and then with its operation.


As we’re clearly mentioned, this version is packing support for AT&T’s 4G LTE network – and boy is it lightning fast! In fact, we’re able to get maximum download and upload speeds of 20.2 Mbit/s and 21.47 Mbit/s respectively while testing it out in the heart of New York City. In addition, it features aGPS, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, NFC, and mobile hotspot functionality.

Camera:

What we like about this 8MP camera's UI is that it presents you with separate still photo shutter, and a video rec button at the same time. There are also a good number of additional settings like changing the review duration, self-timer, ISO, white balance, exposure, contrast, saturation, sharpness, etc. There's also a slow-motion shooting mode. Two cool little features introduced by HTC are the continuous shooting mode (takes a series of images incredibly fast, but may introduce focusing problems), and image taking while shooting a video, which is pretty neat. Finally, one of the areas where HTC has focused is the speed of the camera. Indeed, it shows that they have achieved great results here, as taking a picture literally takes only a fraction of the second.


So what can we say about the results produced by the handset’s 8-megapixel ImageSense camera? Overall, it introduces us to a good level of detail, and for most occasions, the results are adequate enough for a printout. However, the main pitfalls with the camera include the noisy appearance with shots taken under low lighting or indoors with artificial light, and its inability to focus with macro shots. Essentially, the amount of noise prevalent in the shots generally reduces the sharpness of the photos, which in turn makes them extremely grainy looking. Despite this, colors appear to be more on the neutral side on most occasions – albeit, a distinct bluish hue is present due to the amount of oversaturation. With the LED flash, our only gripe is that the corners of shots tend to look darker as the light from the flash doesn’t extend wide enough.


Holding the smartphone steady while shooting a 1080p video, the results are absolutely sharp looking, as details are distinguishable, colors are on the natural side, and that it moves steadily at 29 frames per second. Furthermore, the audio recording supplements the quality as it’s superbly clear and noise-free. Unfortunately, we’re instantly made aware of its weaknesses as it exhibits some level of artifacting when panning quickly. On top of that, its low lighting performance is diminished tremendously as its  capture rate is reduced to 22-23 FPS, and that it simply appears too indistinct with its details. Therefore, it’s best used for situations when lighting is in abundance.

HTC One X Sample Video:



Multimedia:

The HTC One X also comes with Beats Audio in order to deliver an impressive audio experience, and as we connect a pair of iBeats headphones, we’re instantly attuned to its high fidelity experience. The stock music player itself is rather simplistic. It gives you the standard options to filter your content, displays large album art, and is easy to use. Its most interesting feature is that it's integrated with SoundHound, so you can get more info about the song with just a quick tap. As for the audio quality through its internal speaker, it’s clearly lacking some punchy tones, as it sounds too flat and weak to our ears.



Watching video on the HTC One X's 4.7” screen is epic. The large diagonal, incredibly high resolution, saturated colors and strong brightness output all contribute to the awesome video experience. Just make sure that your video source is of the needed quality! Of course, you can play all kinds of clips with this handset.


Hooking it up with an optional MHL adapter, we gain the comforts of having a mirrored experience on our high definition television.

Software:

Rarely a surprise in our books nowadays, AT&T’s presence is clearly established on the phone in apps such as AT&T Code Scanner, AT&T FamilyMap, AT&T Navigator, AT&T Ready2Go, AT&T U-Verse Live TV, and myAT&T. As for the others preloaded with the device, it includes Amazon Kindle, MOG Music, Slacker Radio, TuneIn Radio, and YPmobile.

Performance:

Listening to our callers through the earpiece, the volume output seems to be effective enough to allow us to comprehend voices with little problems. However, in noisier settings, it becomes almost unusual due to its weak performance. Additionally, the same thing applies when relying on the speakerphone, since it’s output is dull and extremely low in overall tone to properly have conversations.

Primarily testing it out in a high coverage area in the greater Philadelphia region, the HTC One X manages to maintain a solid connection to the network – with no instances of major fluctuations or dropped calls. Meanwhile, its Wi-Fi signal strength appears to be in tip-top shape, as it maintains a steady connection to a wireless router that’s 30 feet away.

And then there’s battery life with the HTC One X, which some people might find skeptical since LTE devices are known to be voracious with battery power. To tell you the truth, we used it extensively under HSPA+ connections instead, and with that, we’re happy to report that we’re able to get by a single day of normal usage on a full charge. However, with heavy usage, it’s able to at least push through the 12 hour mark.

Conclusion:

Let’s be serious here people! Should be lament that AT&T’s version resorts to using a dual-core processor instead of wielding a quad-core one like its international sibling? Of course not, mainly because this version of the HTC One X maintains the same excellent level of performance. And if that’s not enough for you, it’s been outfitted with 4G LTE connectivity to really round out its feature filled arsenal, but more importantly, it’s the one distinctive and usable feature that makes this version stand out apart from its sibling from across the big lake.

There’s no arguing about the HTC One X being a top-shelf smartphone, but unlike the Samsung Galaxy Note LTE, it’s not flaunting a price point that’s overblown to proportions. Rather, customers are truly in for a treat considering that it’s sticking to that usual golden price of $200 on-contract, which seemingly makes it a great buy in many ways. Sure, it’s not perfect in all categories, but as a whole, it delivers enough of a bite to really get consumers in the US excited.

From its pristine design, to the expansive personalization available with its Sense interface, the HTC One X is the newest device on the scene to beat. Of course, you might be curious about other impending top-self smartphones on the horizon, but as far as we’re concerned, this is the smartphone to pick and own right now – like don’t wait, just make that impulse decision to pick it up when it arrives in stores. Much like the original HTC EVO 4G, the HTC One X is a remarkable evolutionary step up for the Taiwanese manufacturer.

Software version of the reviewed unit:
Android Version: 4.0.3
HTC Sense Version: 4.0
Build Number: 1.75.502.1
Kernel Version: 3.0.8-01111-g188cf26

HTC One X for AT&T Video Review: