HTC One S Review - International and T-Mobile
by Brian Klug on July 17, 2012 9:30 AM ESTThe One S display is a 4.3" SAMOLED panel with qHD (960 x 540) resolution. If that sounds really familiar, it’s because it’s the same as what was in the Motorola Droid RAZR series, including PenTile RGBG.
What’s different, however, is how well HTC has controlled the color temperature and gamma compared to Motorola in the RAZR. As shown in the HCFR galleries below, gamma is pretty close to 2.2 until you get to the high end, and color temperature is pretty close to 6500K, except at the two darkest grey points. This is so much better than any other OEM calibration of an AMOLED panel I’ve taken a look at, which is rather humorous because the panel is undoubtably Samsung’s. HTC is also letting the panel go pretty bright, up past 350 nits, instead of clamping it way down around 200 (I’m looking at you, Galaxy Nexus) to save power. I also haven’t noticed blacks not being totally off on the One S like I have with some others. Of course, colors are still massively oversaturated if your source color space is sRGB.
I’ve griped about PenTile RGBG before on this panel and other SAMOLED displays, but I find the One S to be completely enjoyable in spite of having it thanks to two things. First, how well HTC has controlled the panel (no awful hues, weird white points, or dramatic shifts as you change brightness) - this is basically the best I’ve seen this particular panel, and until SGS3, the best I’ve seen AMOLED in general. Second, because HTC doesn’t appear to be applying any processing that applies sharpening (like Samsung’s mDNIe) to text.
How you feel about PenTile really is the final factor: it’s there, but I’ve slowly become accustomed to it after staring at it for so long. If you go back to the Nexus S days, I was one of the most outspoken critics because of how large those subpixels were. With small enough subpixels (below visual acuity), PenTile starts to make sense. In other news, HTC moving back to Samsung AMOLED for phones is an interesting move after supply issues forced HTC to SLCD with some earlier phones, here on the HTC One S however, it looks great.
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A5 - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T...I'm not exactly sure how to set-up the plan (I assume it's through the website after you activate the SIM), but getting the SIM is very easy.
MadMan007 - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
Oh, I know getting the SIM is easy. The issue is actually getting a decent phone from T-Mobile to go along with it, that's what I meant by 'getting one of the matching phones (aka crappy phones)' that they have list options for those plans. If I want to pay full price for an HTC One S or a SGS3 there doesn't seem to be a way to do that through T-Mobile's site. They won't allow you to checkout with one of those 'good' phones without a contract plan - there is no 'full price' option.Perhaps you have to call to order to do that or go to a store, or get the phone unlocked from a third party source. T-Mobile does not make it easy to get a good phone with those plans.
Those plans have one caveat though - the coverage is not equivalent to contract plans. Like other low cost plans that MVNO's resell, you can use the T-Mobile network *only*. It might work for some people but it's an important difference between the 'Value Packages' (same as contract coverage) http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Packages/ValuePackage... and the 'Monthly4G Prepaid Plans' (T-Mobile network coverage only) http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plan...
MadMan007 - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
Coverage maps to see the difference (this is similar to the way all MVNO versus contract plans are - T-Mobile just happens to be their own MVNO in this case for the 'Monthly4G Prepaid Plans', so to speak):'Classic Plans/Value Packages'
http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx
'Monthly4G Prepaid Plans'
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-coverag...
OCedHrt - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
You can get the phone in store at full price, no contract. You can probably also get the phone by itself on their website at full price as well. T-Mobile has one of the dumbest marketing strategies I've seen - you often cannot buy a particular combo on their website.Zoomer - Thursday, July 19, 2012 - link
Buy it off someone who is keeping the contract anyway but doesn't need/want a new phone. Win - Win - Win!It's unfortunate they call it the TMobile version instead of the US version. The One S is great, hits all the features (except uSD and its use of uSim). I would consider buying this. There is a concern about timely/any software updates, developer community, but that is the same for all devices other than the Nexus.
antef - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
Yes! Use it with any phone you like. The $350 Galaxy Nexus is a great choice. Find all the details you need here:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1...
MadMan007 - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
Yeah, just have to source the phone somewhere other than T-Mobile's website I guess. But I've rejected those plans (and other MVNO plans) because, despite the nice savings, the coverage for the Monthly 4G Prepaid Plans sucks. It's worth it imo to pay more for at least good voice coverage in places where you're more likely to need it - outside of major highways and towns.OCedHrt - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
Why not just get their value plans? It's like $20 more per month with full coverage and a lot more minutes?dagamer34 - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
Who makes phone calls anymore?antef - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
Yes, you can get the value plans for 50 bucks a month as OCedHrt said, but they require a contract, or you can do something like Straight Talk which is $45/month, no contract, and offers AT&T coverage. Getting the phone from somewhere else is not hard - Google sells the Galaxy Nexus directly for $349: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=g...