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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glugglug - Thursday, April 11, 2013 - link
SD Card slots are intentionally missing nowadays.Apple couldn't charge 120 more for a 64GB iPad vs. a 16GB model if it had an SD slot where you could put a 64GB card for $25.
As for the people saying to "just use the cloud" good luck trying to access your cloud storage on a train or a flight. Even having the bandwidth for 480p video outdoors is not consistent with most cell service, especially if you enter a crowded area with other cell users.
raj-jamaica - Saturday, March 23, 2013 - link
the world would be so much of a better place if 3 pests,namely...jayseeks, cerisecogburn and darwinosx areout of this blog.hp79 - Saturday, March 23, 2013 - link
Can't wait for the release on AT&T next month. I was waiting for HTC One, but then Microsoft was giving Nokia 920 for free with 2 year contract (upgrade). I really wanted try out WP from long time ago, and was not worried since Nokia 920 is the flagship product of WindowsPhone so I got the Nokia.I use the cheapest possible data plan, 300MB for $20 which is a rip off, so I'm careful with how I use data. I looked around, and found out that it didn't even have a data usage monitor app (DataSense is missing from at&t version).
Also, there's no Starbucks app, no Google Voice, bunch of bank apps missing, and no way to remove the hotmail contacts (I use google contacts) from showing up. Contacts are all duplicated because I have google contacts and hotmail contacts showing up. Sure, they are linked under one name, but eventually I had to manually clean up all the contacts in hotmail.
It's a shame to Nokia that they used "PureView" mark on the Nokia 920 because the photo quality was so-so, even compared to my Note 1 (N7000). Nokia 920 has Carl Zeiss lens, but I don't think there's any benefit. My ancient dumbphone - Sony C905 takes better pictures than this.
I returned the Nokia 920 today, and now back in the waiting line for HTC One.
Techlover30 - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - link
Honestly 64GB would be plenty for me. Realistically why would you need anymore space than that? Unless your putting A LOT of movies or an absolute crap load of photos on your phone it doesn't really make sense. As for the removable battery, I can understand if people need or want that feature. Nearly every phone I've ever had has had a removable battery but I've never had the need to change out or replace the battery in any of them. More than likely I will be getting the HTC One because of the materials, build quality, better screen and Sense (much better than Touchwiz in my opinion). Don't get me wrong I think the SG4 is a hell of a phone I just like the HTC One better.doctorpink - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - link
I had a HTC Wildfire S & SGS2.... Htc wins it hands down im my opinion... even if the wildfire s was a low end device.Easier to unlock/root , easier to modify, smaller and Sense >> Touchwiz
Biln3 - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - link
So the htc one has ddr2 and the gs4 has ddr3 with the same SOC (here in the states). is there gonna be much of a performance difference?cyberguyz - Monday, March 25, 2013 - link
We're better because we have a 4MP rear Camera with bigger ccd elements? Seriously?That is the quality of digital cameras in the '90s. Can't HTC find a way to clean up an 8MP camera?
I guess it comes down to this:
How much will it cost? If it is significantly cheaper than the SGS4, this might be a viable solution for those that want to get a little more bang for the buck. But if the cost is the same you need to step back, look at both phones and ask yourself "Which one gives me the most for my money?" and "What am I willing to give up in the name of bling?".
phillyry - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - link
Pixels are too small in 8MP and up to let in enough light for good low-light performance.phillyry - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - link
Re: bling vs. perceived utilityDifferent consumers.
Both extreme views. Reality is that the utility between these phones is marginally different.
xenol - Monday, March 25, 2013 - link
Reading a few pages into the comments seems to center around whining that the HTC One has no removable battery or SD card slot. But it makes me wonder... How many people actually use those features on a regular basis? If you don't, then why complain about a feature you don't really use?