The HTC One: A Remarkable Device, Anand’s mini Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 21, 2013 4:49 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Mobile
- HTC One
Android/Sense
The One ships with Sense 5.0, and I have to say that the latest version of Sense is really the first custom Android skin that I don’t mind. I’m not sold on Blinkfeed, the default homescreen that allows you to aggregate content from multiple web sources as well as Twitter and Facebook, but thankfully you can easily change that default to something more traditionally Android.
With Sense 5.0 HTC dramatically reduced the presence of widgets on the default home screen. Other than the Blinkfeed screen, there’s only a single home screen by default and the only widget on that screen is a Google search box. You can obviously add all of the widgets you want, but this is a noticeable departure from HTC’s strategy in the past. To be honest, it’s a lot cleaner.
Sense 5.0 isn’t intrusive, and the work HTC has done in the gallery app sort of make the customizations worth it (more on this later). Even the default pre-load of apps is very sensible.
Thanks to the underlying use of Android 4.1.2 combined with the fast Snapdragon 600 SoC, UI frame rate is incredibly smooth. Some interactions are still not perfect (e.g. zooming in Google Maps) but the overall experience is very polished and very fast.
Performance & Battery Life
The One is the first Snapdragon 600 based smartphone that I’ve used regularly. For those who aren’t familiar with Qualcomm’s latest branding change, Snapdragon 600 refers to a quad-core Krait 300 based SoC with Adreno 320 graphics (APQ8064T). The SoC still uses the same 28nm LP process as the previous quad-core flagship (APQ8064), but clocks are a bit higher (1.7GHz in the One, 1.9GHz in the Galaxy S 4).
GPU clocks appear unchanged, which is contrary to what I was told at the launch of Krait 300 but it’s entirely possible that we’ll see implementation with higher GPU clocks.
Performance, as I mentioned before, is very good. Even the speed of the NAND HTC used in the device is among the best I’ve seen in Android devices. We’re still not yet at the point where I believe smartphone SoC performance is good enough, but at least we won’t see a huge jump in SoC performance (at similar power) until the move to 20nm in mid to late 2014.
The impact of all of this on battery life, as always, depends on your usage model. I’ve been using the international One on AT&T, and 3G battery life is comparable to the iPhone 5 on the same network (non-LTE) at identical brightness levels. I have yet to see what the difference will be like with LTE enabled.
Obviously with four cores and a larger, higher resolution display, the One definitely has the ability to draw more power than the iPhone 5. Keep the cores more active and/or drive the display at very high brightness levels and you’ll see worse battery life. For the past couple of years I’ve been talking about the increase in dynamic range when it comes to smartphone battery life, the One is no different in this regard. Brian will have a full rundown of battery life data on the One in his review.
Other Frills: Of Big Screens and Usability
For me, the iPhone 5’s display is a little too small, and the One is probably a little too big. I think I agree with Brian here in that the ideal display size is somewhere around 4.3”. That being said, I find both devices (the 5 and the One) to be comfortably usable. The 5 is better for one handed use, while the One is better for actually consuming web content. In pocket, the One is thin enough to not be a problem.
Although it’s probably a bit overkill, I am pleased with the move to 1080p across all of the high end Android smartphones. The One’s display looks excellent and lacks the oversaturated colors of the alternative AMOLED displays.
The One also features stereo speakers that get impressively loud (louder than any other smartphone I’ve used, by a considerable margin). I keep my phone on silent all the time but when showing others highlights reels, the One’s loud stereo speakers definitely come in handy.
The final element of the One that I’m really happy about is the integration of 802.11ac support. The One is good for WiFi speeds of up to 275Mbps (that’s actually tested, not theoretical).
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RicGrupe - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
As a photographer, I can assure you that the amount of "megapixels" is not a determining factor to image quality.....but, rather a consideration.Your eyes will do the determining!
Smaller file sizes and the need for less storage, IMO, are more meaningful for this type of photography.
Death666Angel - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
Nice first look. You are missing PPI for the iPhone5 in the table. :) Thanks for the metric units used!I doubt I'll be buying a smartphone in '13 (still very happy with my GNexus). But both the One and the S4 look nice. But I'd probably take an S4 over the One. Material choice is moot for me, all my smartphones get stuffed into full cover cases and I don't see them again unless I'm changing the SIM, the battery or the SD card. While I can tolerate Touchwiz I cannot stand Sense (though I'd use none in the long run). I also have less faith in HTC updating the software and the community always seems larger with Samsung devices. And I don't like that HTC locks the bootloader for non-developer devices. 32GB is great for the low-end configuration of the One. But I'd still take a 16GB S4 with mSD slot over 32GB onboard with no mSD slot. I don't use the camera on my phones for anything worth remembering a day later. So I really don't care much about either camera. SGS2 camera was very good. GNexus is fine as well. If all were equal, I'd chose the One over the S4 because of the camera though. As for screen, I like my AMOLED and I like 5". Coming from a 4.7" device, I would not upgrade to a 4.7" device if the competition was offering bigger screens. I'd take a Note2 if I was going to upgrade this year. Hell, maybe the Note3 will get me to upgrade. For me, the larger the better until ~6". I don't see myself using either Zoe or the highlights reel a lot either.
What is your distinction between enthusiasts and mainstream users. You say the One is geared towards enthusiasts while the S4 is for mainstream users. Based on what features do you make that assessment? I consider myself an enthusiasts (albeit with a limited budget) but I don't think the HTC One caters to me (see my paragraph above).
I hope the One sells well for HTC.
I got an email from my carrier some days ago that they were the firsts to send out HTC Ones worldwide. Seems like the people who ordered one from them will be getting it at the start of next week. :)
Pjotr - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
You don't wanna make iPhone look bad, so you omitted the DPI on the screen for it?phillyry - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - link
It's 306PPIGimpsUnlimited - Saturday, March 23, 2013 - link
Wait, this little phone as an 802.11 ac radio and yet I can't buy one for my laptop? What the #$%! I want 802.11 ac module wifi module for my laptop now.groundhogdaze - Saturday, March 23, 2013 - link
Can someone point out to me why it's so hard to include an SD Card slot? Is there some sort of patent royalty involve? Does it significantly drop battery life? "Because you don't need it" is not a strong case for excluding a feature that some folks are pretty fervent about. Many people do not need it but enough people still want it for it to be a marketable feature. Consumers are looking for the best bang for the buck, having an SD slot gives you a cheaper alternative than paying $100 for the next 32GB increment up. Listening to some of the folks on this thread, 32GB would all that you need, the manufacturers shouldn't even waste their time with the 64GB models. Is there some reason you don't want the slot? There might even be dirt cheap 128GB SD cards a year or two down the road - but you won't be able to use that unless your phone has a slot. Having extra storage allows us more ways to be creative with what we do with the devices. Why not include it?? "Oh 32GB is a loss leader, they can only make money if they sell 64GB to you. Poor manufacturers, boo hoo"... Don't give me that crap, I don't care. I am consumer. I want Bang for the Buck! I want Love me Long Time! Give it to me.Samsung teabagged HTC on the last go around - does HTC really want a repeat? Put the SD card slot in and be done with it...
tommo123 - Saturday, March 23, 2013 - link
IMO google don't want mSD so you have to use google drive and pay them for more space for your stuffhaze4peace - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - link
They chose to omit mSD slot for the form factor.piroroadkill - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - link
Yeah, just not true. Plenty of thin phones that have micro SD. Also, mSD would be "milli SD", no such thing exists, so surely it would be µSD if we're going to use an incorrect form of "micro SD" in the first place.haze4peace - Monday, March 25, 2013 - link
They didn't omit it for the thinness, but for the unibody design.