KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
Today we are going to take a look at one of the most highly-regarded smartphones currently on the market, the HTC One. The One is a make-or-break product for HTC as their market share has declined significantly over the past couple of years. They are working hard to re-establish their place as one of the top smartphone manufacturers.
The One is available in three different colours: black, silver and red. We have the red version for review today, which is available exclusively through Phones 4U and Dial-a-phone in the UK. We'd be surprised if this is the most popular flavour, however it's a little more interesting than the other two flavours.
It boasts a number of high end features including a 1.7 GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon processor, 4.7″ full-HD display, and a pair of HTC BoomSound front facing speakers.
Specification
- Display: 4.7″ Super LCD (1080P)
- Operating System: Android v4.2.2 (after update), HTC Sense UI v5
- Storage: 32 / 64 GB (non-expandable)
- Wireless Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLpNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP
- Camera (rear-facing): 4.0 Megapixel, 2688 x 1520 pixels, Auto Focus, LED flash
- Camera (front-facing): 2.1 Megapixel
- CPU: Quad-core 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600
- GPU: Adreno 320
- Battery: Lithium Polymer 2300 mAh (non-removeable)
- Available Colours: Black, Silver, Red, Blue
- Dimensions: 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 mm
- Weight: 143g
The One is supplied in fairly plain packaging for such an expensive model. The box itself has has plain white design, which features two large images of the phone on the top.
Turning the box over reveals a detailed breakdown of the specifications of the phone.
Inside the box there is a fairly standard bundle which consists of a pair of Beats earphones with different sized ear buds, a USB cable and wall charger and a concise user guide.
It is obvious from a glance that the HTC One is a premium device. The front consists of an expanse of glass, with aluminium borders on the top and bottom, containing the speakers and front facing camera. Our sample is decorated in ‘Glamour Red', which is a little more exciting than the other two colour variations; silver and black.
HTC has chosen to give the One a 4.7″ Super LCD screen which boasts a massive 1920 x 1080 resolution (1080P). This has a pixel density of around 469 ppi which is actually higher than the human eye can distinguish.
The back of the One is almost entirely comprised of a single piece of red aluminium, only broken by the HTC logo, camera and some plastic detailing. The back is slightly curved, meaning that the One fits very nicely in the hand. The overall fit and finish of the One is impeccable and cannot be faulted on any level.
If you look very closely, there is a small hole cut into the plastic detailing in the back which contains the active noise cancelling microphone, which helps to cut out background noise in calls.
Port placement is fairly logical, with the micr0-USB connector located on the bottom of the device, with the 3.5 mm headphone jack and power button located on the top. On the right hand side, we find the volume up and down buttons, with an iPhone style SIM-tray on the left.
The One is supplied with a heavily customised version of Android Jelly Bean V4.1.2 with HTC Sense V5.0, however we updated the phone over the air to V4.2.2 before commencing our tests.
HTC's Sense overlay gives the standard Android home screens a slightly different appearance to normal. There is a launcher bar along the bottom of the screen which can hold up to four shortcuts, staying in the same place throughout all of the home screens. This bar also contains the menu key in the centre.
The icons which populate the launcher bar are also accessible from the lock screen, allowing speedy access to those applications which you use most frequently. The notifications bar can also be accessed directly from the lock screen, letting you check them intuitively.
Swiping left from the main home screen reveals HTC BlinkFeed. This is a stream of content from your selected social networks and other news feeds which is refreshed every time you wake up the phone. It's fully configurable so you can populate it with the exact information you want. Unfortunately for those who don't want to use BlinkFeed, it cannot be removed from the home screen.
The Sense overlay extends to the application tray which has a remarkably different visage to more vanilla Android flavours. There are only three columns of apps, so they layout doesn't seem as crowded as other phones. There is also a clock and weather widget at the top of the tray, but this disappears when scrolling down to allow room for more icons. HTC preload a number of apps on the One, most of which are pretty useful. These include TuneIn radio and Dropbox, as well as some useful utilities like a flashlight application that makes use of the LED flash.
Other useful additions include a car mode which is optimises the phone for being mounted on your dash, providing large icons for the functions which will be most useful to drivers.
Music
One of the key features of the HTC One is BoomSound which takes the form of an inbuilt amplifier for the headphones and speakers, as well as a pair of front mounted stereo loudspeakers. Most smartphones only feature a single loudspeaker on the back of the phone, so HTC is looking to appeal to those who wan't a better audio experience with the One.
When it comes down to real world performance, we were very impressed by the sound produced from the pair of loudspeakers. They offer improved clarity and volume over competing smartphones, making them ideal for watching movies on the go. They are also well-suited to music playback, however you would be much better off using earphones.
The HTC One features Beats Audio which is essentially a predefined set of Equaliser settings which optimse the sound produced for music playback, by increasing the volume and making the bass registers more prominent.
The included Music app is intuitive and offers all the features we would usually expect to see, however it also features Google Play Music which offers streaming services. Both of these apps can be found in the ‘Media' folder in the application tray and are also both supported by widgets on the lock screen when music is playing.
Movies
The HTC One played our 1080P test videos flawlessly without stuttering at all. We would recommend trying to use 720P video files where possible, though, as the difference in output quality on a screen this size isn't noticeable and the amount of storage space saved is significant.
Our sample of the HTC One offers 32 GB of storage, however there are 64 GB versions available in some markets. Unfortunately, the One doesn't feature expandable storage, so you won't be able to increase this any further. The included video player isn't capable of playing all formats, however there are a number of free alternatives on the Play store such as MX Player which improve compatibility.
Unlike most other manufacturers, HTC hasn't become obsessed by one-upping the competition by including a higher resolution camera sensor. Instead, they have decided to use a lower resolution sensor, whilst concentrating on improving other aspects of the camera.
More on the camera on the next page…
The HTC One features a 4 Megapixel ‘UltraPixel' camera which is able to capture more light than competing 8 MP and 13 MP sensors, improving low-light performance. It is also able to capture photos more quickly than the competition, as well as offering optical image stabilization technology which helps to reduce motion blur.
The camera interface is simple to navigate and has separate buttons for taking photos and recording video, meaning you don't have to switch around to a dedicated video shooting mode.
There is a fairly simple options menu which lets us select different shooting modes.
Please click on the sample shots below to view them in full resolution:
The One also boasts a feature called HTC Zoe which takes up to 20 photos and a 3-second video which is ideal for capturing action shots. These are strung together in a movie. It's also able to shoot full HD (1080P) video.
Sample Video
HTC have chosen to use a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 1.7 GHz Quad-Core processor which should stand it in good stead to perform well in our benchmarks. Other specifications include 2 GB of RAM and an Adreno 320 graphics chip.
We can see that the HTC One offers impressive performance all round.
The HTC One boasts a 2300 mAh Lithium Polymer battery which is fairly capacious, however there are phones out there with large batteries. As with most phones these days, the battery is sealed within the unit and cannot be replaced.
The battery life is about what we would expect for a device of this nature. Under light usage, the battery can last from two to three days, but under more heavy usage it will need recharging every night.
It's no secret that HTC are trying very hard to regain market share from Samsung after a steady decline over the past few years. There is no doubt in our minds that the One is the best phone that HTC have released in some time as it cannot really be faulted.
There's a reassuringly solid feeling about the HTC One when you hold it and we have no concerns with the manufacturing standards on any level. The metal casing is of the highest quality, even when we consider the finest details. Our particular sample was supplied in ‘glamour red' which we think is very attractive. For those who would prefer a less eye-catching colour, the One is also available in silver and black.
We appreciate the effort that HTC has placed into creating a superior audio experience. BoomSound offers above-par audio quality when playing through the phone's loudspeakers, and increased volume over headphones. The Beats audio function further enhances audio playback by optimizing the sound levels for music.
In terms of raw performance, the One doesn't disappoint. The 1.7 GHz Quad-Core processor is one of the most powerful currently on the market and offered excellent performance throughout our benchmarks and real world tests. Battery life wasn't too shabby, either, lasting two days under ‘normal' usage conditions.
The only drawback of the HTC One is the lack of expandable storage. The 32 GB version may not provide enough space for some users and the 64 GB version carries a heavy price premium. Camera performance was very good though, despite the low resolution sensor.
Most users will purchase the HTC One on contract as it's a fairly pricey model. You can get the HTC One Red here with an effective monthly cost of around £22 per month, with no up-front cost. We think this is decent value considering what you get for the money!
Pros
- Exceptional build quality.
- Striking visage.
- Decent performance.
- Innovative camera feature.
Cons
- No expandable storage options.
KitGuru says: An excellent phone from HTC which is well worth a look!
