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
Final Words and the Galaxy S 4 Comparison
The One is without a doubt the best Android smartphone I’ve ever used. HTC’s build quality and materials choices have been steadily improving over the past couple of years and I honestly don’t know a more fitting name for its latest flagship other than the One - it’s the one to get. Even iPhone users looking for something different might be tempted by the One.
For me it’s the camera performance and the highlights reel that really seal the deal. The fact that the One is an excellent looking device built out of top notch materials is just icing on the cake.
The rest of the spec list is equally fitting. I’m glad to see 802.11ac make the list. The great speakers and display are both useful and impressive.
Sense took a real step towards subtlety with 5.0, and it’s finally at a point where I don’t really mind the customizations. My preference is still for vanilla Android, but the latest iteration of Sense is far closer than it has ever been. The real trick is ensuring timely updates with major Android releases. If you’re an infrequent smartphone upgrader, the Nexus line is still the best option there.
Despite how well the One does in the build quality, looks and camera departments, HTC has an uphill battle ahead of itself. Samsung is clearly the dominating incumbent in the Android space, and it has the luxury of an order of magnitude higher quarterly revenues to support its smartphone business. If there ever was a David v Goliath race in the smartphone space, it would be between HTC and Samsung.
Zoe and the highlights reel are great features that need marketing to demonstrate and spread their word. The litany of new camera and interaction features that accompany the Galaxy S 4 will likely translate very well to cleverly crafted TV ads. I’d argue that HTC’s camera features (great low light performance, highlights reel) are more useful to me personally, but Samsung’s features (touchless scrolling, dual camera, smart pause) are easier sells to the mainstream smartphone market. Similarly, design and materials choices are obvious advantages for the One, but it’s easier to market a thinner and lighter phone.
Ultimately, HTC appears to have built a great phone for enthusiasts and one that can be marketed, with some effort, to the mainstream. Samsung, by comparison, seems to have its targets set squarely at the mainstream and it has the features and the marketing budget to really capture the attention of that audience. You can argue about the merits of features like the ability to automatically pause video based on whether or not you’re looking at it - personally I’d take better camera performance - but that’s a much easier feature to explain in a TV commercial than why larger pixels matter.
The One is expected to be widely available beginning next month.
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UltraTech79 - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
As an Apple fan, Im really glad to see other manufacturer really pushing the highend. This just eans the iPhone 6 will need to be even better, and the cycle continues. Good for all of us!Im also very glad to see people brave enough to stop the MP wars and realize that SnR is worth far more. You can only bruteforce performance to a point.
dexter1 - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - link
WOW....that's a remarkable device and happy that it impressed you guys very much...it's quite long...when can we expect full review...??
RacerCub - Thursday, April 4, 2013 - link
Anand, a couple of questions, #1. Do you think you would permanently replace your iPhone with the One? #2. Is 3D dead and #3. Do you think HTC will support the phone more than a year?I have owned many HTC phones over the years, and the biggest problems are no updates to fix issues or give you better version of OS and they ditch supporting it quickly. Things like HTC hub go away so you can no longer get HTC widgets or themes.
iamdluhansa - Thursday, April 4, 2013 - link
I've use 6 samsungs, 1 motorola, and 2 htcs..and, battery-wise, they are all the same to me. Don't know bout how you use your android, but they way I use androids, they are no different. btw, I use one of the htc the longest, a year.PubFiction - Friday, April 5, 2013 - link
I may have missed it but I saw no mention of the IR emitter. This to me is probably the first innovative (if you can call it that) addition to smartphones since Samsung brought back the stylus in the note. This is one of those things we should have had for years. I am pretty disappointed in the review because it makes little to no mention about the poor choice of HTC to seal this phone up, does it even have a microsd slot? And also completely misses the IR emitter. I guess anand has so much money now he forgot about value and flexibility because he can carry aournd multiple phones in case a battery isn't big enough or he runs out of storage and im sure his TV is completely remote controlled by his phone independent of IR.PubFiction - Friday, April 5, 2013 - link
And just for the record I currently have an HTC evo 3d, my mom has the evo 4g lte, its not that I don't like HTC phones but they are completely killing a portion of their chance to get sales because they they don't have removable batteries and microsd slots. It seems only Samsung is smart enough to corner that market in high end devices.SuBoX - Friday, April 5, 2013 - link
And samsung are killing a big portion of their sales by releasing such an ugly device.Like sd card + battery but don't like design => choose samsung
Like design but don't need sd card and battery => choose htc
Like design and battery and sd card => could try an ugly samsung and be unhappy about design and feel OR try the HTC with external battery chargers (not much bigger then a removable battery in you pocket) and usb otg for storing your extra movies and music on a usb stick
DannyOoi - Saturday, April 6, 2013 - link
Hey all tech fans. Really chill out. Removable battery or microSD cards do have their advantages but whether it is actually a number one priority in your decision to get whichever smart phones is a personal choice. Some prefer it some don’t, some just don’t give 2 hoots about it. From my opinion and from where I am, microsd slots are useful for mid tier phones as those phones usually come with 4gb space, hence the need for microsd. If you are looking at flagship phones which are usually equipped with 16gb upwards it becomes an accessory. Is it a must have? Especially we are moving towards cloud storage. And I have seen so many users android or apple alike have not fill up their 16gb storage. For users like this, what‘s the microsd slot for if not an additional accessory? For removable batteries, I find USB chargers selling for as low as 5USD. But batteries on the other hand cost about 30USD. From my usage pattern it is much easier to just plug your phone in whenever available is easier and cheaper than swapping batteries. For short vacations, some mentioned they could go few days without the charger with 2-3 batteries. Well I would rather bring a charger and leave it at the hotel. Or a power station which is essentially a battery pack and I could use that to charge both my phone and tablet. Rather than having a few different batteries. For long term, replacing a dead battery, I am sure many of you tech fans will want to keep your devices up to date which means before the battery reached its end of life you would have change from whatever you are using to the latest which is the trend I see among many users. And last I check, selling a used set with 2 additional batteries won‘t really make much of a difference to used price. Cheers and let's appreciate what new technology brings to us and let's argue less over trivial matters.RP99 - Saturday, April 6, 2013 - link
Pre-Orded. 'nough said.IsthatyouBevis - Saturday, April 6, 2013 - link
I ordered this. I am not concerned about no removable battery or SD slot. Coming from a samsung. Probably a lot of people out there like me that are ready for a change from samsung, don't like the direction of samsung design, have never needed to swap batteries or needed more than 32 gb storage.I saw a lot of comments saying that even if people don't need the swappable battery and sd slot, it is a marketable feature. For some, yes, but, most people have smart phones now and know if they need it or not.