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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Brian Klug - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
I have to admit I didn't try WiFI Calling, partly because on my prepaid plan WiFi calling is unsupported. I haven't had issues with WiFi in general, but then again WiFi calling does require a different QoS to be pleasant than the typical web browsing use case I stress on WiFi.-Brian
millerduck - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - link
Thanks for the reply Brian.I have exchanged this phone once and have also been pushed the OTA update without any change in performance. I am hoping another update may be in the works to resolve the issues.
WiFi itself does seem to work fine. If there is a way to add WiFi calling tests to these reviews that would be very helpful as it is a huge selling point on the T-Mobile network.
MD
Zoomer - Thursday, July 19, 2012 - link
What does WiFi calling have to do with the carrier?It's just data to your favorite sip provider, no?
BoloMKXXVIII - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
I find the trend of omiting a microSD card slot disturbing. I have about 8 months left on my current contract and I am hoping there are some quality phones left that still have a microSD card slot by the time I am ready to replace my current phone (HTC Inspire 4G).Johnmcl7 - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - link
I very much agree and I'm baffled as to why reviewers seem ok with it, I think it's a bit of a joke to have a very powerful phone capable of HD video recording, HD screen and capable of increasingly fancy games with a measly 16GB of a memory and no expansion. I thought it was poor that the slot was removed on the Galaxy Nexus but assumed it would get hammered for it in reviews so no-one else would follow suit but that slipped past and now HTC are at it which again seems fine in this review - I view it as a big plus that the S3 still has micro SD yet that doesn't even get a mention in the verdict. What is the point of having all this fancy hardware if it's crippled by a lack of memory? 16GB is really nothing by the time you've loaded a few games, HD films, music and started taking advantage of the HD recording. Yes you can stream data but data caps seem to be getting increasingly tight at the moment, you need decent reception and it uses considerably more batterypower plus a device with a micro SD card slot can do all that as well if needed.The S3 keeping its micro SD slot is a good sign and I hope that's the way Samsung stay despite others removing the micro SD slot. I also hope they keep the removable battery as that's also something I find increasingly handy, my phone's battery life is pretty good on idle but games and web browsing quickly hammer it but I don't need to worry about that because if I kill the battery I can swap it straight over to a fully charged one without issue rather than the fiddle of trying to charge it on the move with a portable battery charger.
John
OCedHrt - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
The One S's stock browser has an inverted browsing mode - however things I've read on forums (XDA etc) seem to indicate this doesn't really improve battery life.JFish222 - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
I, like so many, am trying to decide between the S3 vs One/Evo/etc (I'm on Sprint.)I prefer the HTC's in hand feel but am looking for other ways to differentiate (that damn 2GB of RAM on the S3 makes it so much hard to go w/ the HTC!)
Can you please include the S3's in the speaker volume tests?
Great Article!
Impulses - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - link
2GB RAM on the SGS3 and a removable batteryVs
Physical camera button, kickstand, and a slightly better display on the EVO LTE
I opted for the latter because I prefer Sense over Touchwiz and I rarely used the extra batteries I had in the past (with both previous flagship EVOs), they were nice to have when traveling but an external USB battery pack has it's own advantages (no rebooting to slap the battery in) and works well for traveling purposes (throw phone in bag and let it charge while I sleep/move between gates).
The kickstand and camera button are just things I'll get much more use out of. Had the Sprint SGS3 bring able to roam globally like Verizon's version I might've gone the other way tho.
This might be my first two year phone in a while I think, barring any uptick in my travel plans. :p (or a massive failure on Sprint's part to stick to their Network Vision & LTE deployment schedule in Puerto Rico)
TareX - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
Also, AMOLED consumes close to twice more power when displaying the predominantly white screen of web browsers compared to LCDs.Mumrik - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - link
We're calling 4.3" device diminutive now?What the hell? Let's get real - that's a pretty massive phone. 4" is already biggish.