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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CeriseCogburn - Monday, March 25, 2013 - link
I'm not you, a stupid idiot who opens the piehole and loses.I have more than one very lucrative gravy job, gravy for my massive intellect, certainly difficult for someone like you, with propensity to completely ignore reality often, and spew untruths.
jayseeks - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - link
Stop lying, your only job is to troll for Samsung. And if you have any other job, it most certainly does not require a firm grasp of the English language. Loser.othercents - Thursday, March 21, 2013 - link
Thanks Anand, I really like the HTC One specifically for the camera, however the S4 has some features that I like also along with increased performance. However I do feel that when someone goes to the store and looks at the two devices, unless they just love the looks of the HTC One then they will get the S4 due to the fact that the replaceable battery and SD are easy sell points along with the larger screen and increased performance.darwinosx - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
No they won't. Most people don't care and never use either.jayseeks - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
This is true. I don't understand the over emphasis of removable battery and microSD as a "deal breaker." If the mainstream wanted microSD and removable battery half as much as certain people seem to suggest, the iPhone wouldn't have nearly the amount of success it has had.I've also never met anyone who actually cared enough about removable battery or SD storage that it was the deciding factor in choosing a smartphone. Most people not in the IT profession are not willing to shell out the extra $50 for another battery anyway. As for the SD storage, it's only real advantage is being cheaper. Again, who, besides IT professionals carries multiple microSD cards with them so that it might actually be useful?
CeriseCogburn - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
The 1st SD card is useful, for appletards that pay well over $50 more like $300 or $400 for the memory space a simple SD card slot provides for $50, only being INSANE explains it.Thanks for being so deliriously appletarded bang for the buck is like TOTALLY GONE from your brain.
I mean is it even possible to lie to oneself at the level you have and be on a tech site ?
jayseeks - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
You are a paid shill, stop with your weak arguments. I don't care for Apple more than any other company. Except for Samsung which I have great disdain for because of their low brow, pathetic guerrilla marketing efforts which involved hiring sad people like you to troll these sites.CeriseCogburn - Monday, March 25, 2013 - link
LMAO - you lost again dummy. You don't like me because I point out how stupid you are, after you spew out your stupid lies and lines.Who cares what you the retard says, or how appleface you are, or what you personally buy, THE POINT IS THE SD CARD RAM SLOT MAKES MORE FOR LESS 100% ACCURATE PERIOD.
Only tard tard tardy tards like you, being as stupid as you are, think the general public doesn't do the SD card.
Like I said, they are bonkers about it. Crazy in love with it. They feel they have power and control over the phone then. They can remove their pictures and set them aside - fill up one card and get the next. This is what PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO YOU STUPID SACK OF CRAPOLA.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
and -BTW - people freaking LOVE sd cards.They love to buy them and fill them up - then keep them and use them for their picture frames and home PC's desktop screensavers - you must live in a Jobs cave.
People go nutso over mem cards - they LOVE em.
Everyone I know can replace a battery, which they do in hundreds of devices nowadays - only the appletard think it takes a TECH to replace a battery in a portable sound/mobile device.
LOL - you people are crazy.
jayseeks - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
"They love to buy them and fill them up - then keep them and use them for their picture frames and home PC's desktop screensavers"No genius, there are USB drives for that.
As for crazy, just read your comments.