The HTC One X for AT&T Review
by Brian Klug on May 1, 2012 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Snapdragon
- HTC
- Qualcomm
- MSM8960
- Krait
- Mobile
- Tegra 3
- HTC One
- NVIDIA
The One X has a 4.7“ 1280x720 display that’s beautiful, dubbed the ”infinity screen.“ In fact, that’s really all you need to know about it - it’s absolutely wonderful, and honestly if you’re concerned with mobile displays just stop right there. At above 4.5” diagonal, 720p seems to be the new norm, and the combination of that 4.7" diagonal size and 720p on the HTC One X results in a PPI of 312. HTC shipped a device with an LCD display last year whose pixel density exceeded the iPhone 4/4S Retina Display for the first time in the HTC Rezound, which was 341 PPI.
Nevertheless the HTC One X still has subpixels small enough that I can’t visually distinguish them at all but from the most extreme distances. In addition, because it’s LCD you get an RGB stripe as opposed to PenTile RGBG like what currently ships on Samsung’s SAMOLED HD displays at 720p in the Galaxy Nexus.
I did some poking around, and my HTC One X (AT&T) review unit has a Sony display:
[DISP] mipi_video_sony_hd720p_init: assign initial setting for SONY_NT id 0x18103 Cut1, PANEL type = PANEL_ID_ELITE_SONY_NT
The panel goes extremely bright, at over 500 nits maximum, and has top of the chart contrast. As always I characterized the One X display using a combination of ColorHCFR and an i1D2 and Francois’ excellent Voodoo Screen Test Pattern generator application.
I’ve made both the color.chc file and measures available. The CIE diagram shows that HTC’s Infinity Display has very close to sRGB coverage, however color temperature is on the red side at just under 6000K. That’s really my only gripe, and curiously enough the One S with SAMOLED qHD displays are closer to 6500K than the LCD packing HTC One Xes.
Viewing angles look good on the HTC One X, there's no visible color shift at extreme angles. Outdoor viewing is also pretty good on the HTC One X, thanks in part to optical bonding between the display glass and LCD itself. One fewer air gap means fewer Fresnel reflections which quickly turn a display into a mess outdoors.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
137 Comments
View All Comments
RussianSensation - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - link
You know that HTC One is for pre-order still too?http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cel...
Well if you need a phone right away, then sure get the HTC One. Considering most of us keep our phones for 2 years, I'll wait a month if it means getting a better phone. Can't go wrong with HTC One.
NeoteriX - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - link
"It's premature to recommend a next generation smartphone without testing the S3, at the very least."That's a pretty silly statement. There's always a "next best thing" on the horizon. Shall we keep delaying a recommendation waiting for the next generation device? The Galaxy S3 is going to be *announced* in a few days, which says nothing of it's actual release, internationally or in the US.
In other words, it could be several months before Anand or Brian get their hands on a US S3. Consumers need to make purchasing decisions now. If you want to wait and hope that the S3 may be better, that's your prerogative, but it certainly shouldn't be AnandTech's.
RussianSensation - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - link
That's a pretty silly statement. There's always a "next best thing" on the horizon. Shall we keep delaying a recommendation waiting for the next generation device?Umm...it's one thing when that something new is launching in 3-4 months from now. Samsung S3 is launching this week......
Do you keep a device for 2 years? If so, what's waiting another 1-2 weeks to see how it does? If you don't care sure. HTC One already has poor audio quality which is a big factor for us who listen to music on our phones. That alone is a deal breaker for me.
metafor - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - link
I will wait for the announcement before picking. But if it's anything like the Galaxy S2, a US buyer like myself will have to wait until October to get it :(I'm currently trial-testing a One S. I'll be choosing between that, the One X or GS3 when I can get my hands on all 3.
Skiddywinks - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - link
I think you are missing something pretty big here.The S3 was meant to be announced months ago, and the reason it was pushed back was because Sammy didn't want to do the typical where they announce a phone, and then can't actually sell any for months.
I think the S3 will be in consumer's hands a hell of a lot quicker. Hell, there are already pictures of inventory screens with them.
metafor - Thursday, May 3, 2012 - link
Consumers in the U.S. The S2 was announced, then available for international customers within IIRC 2 months or so. That's perfectly reasonable and expected.It then took godfarking forever for it to come to the U.S. carriers. Verizon never carried it, ever.
What makes you think Samsung is delaying the announcement for the sole reason of a U.S. market launch?
dagamer34 - Thursday, May 3, 2012 - link
Samsung has already stated that they want to announce their phones closer to their actual launch date. It's silly that the Galaxy S II was announced in Feb 2011 and didn't get sold in the US for another 7 months! And with the HTC One X already available, they can't sit on this phone for 2 months.ol1bit - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - link
I remember it took almost 9 months for the S2 to make it to America. I doubt the S3 will be any better.This HTC rocks, and I'm bet will be way better than the S3.
Skiddywinks - Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - link
See my reply to metafor, above.Basically, you're (very likely) wrong.
ImSpartacus - Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - link
"The One X on AT&T is really a One XL (L for LTE)"The humor is strong with this one...