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
Final Words and the Galaxy S 4 Comparison
The One is without a doubt the best Android smartphone I’ve ever used. HTC’s build quality and materials choices have been steadily improving over the past couple of years and I honestly don’t know a more fitting name for its latest flagship other than the One - it’s the one to get. Even iPhone users looking for something different might be tempted by the One.
For me it’s the camera performance and the highlights reel that really seal the deal. The fact that the One is an excellent looking device built out of top notch materials is just icing on the cake.
The rest of the spec list is equally fitting. I’m glad to see 802.11ac make the list. The great speakers and display are both useful and impressive.
Sense took a real step towards subtlety with 5.0, and it’s finally at a point where I don’t really mind the customizations. My preference is still for vanilla Android, but the latest iteration of Sense is far closer than it has ever been. The real trick is ensuring timely updates with major Android releases. If you’re an infrequent smartphone upgrader, the Nexus line is still the best option there.
Despite how well the One does in the build quality, looks and camera departments, HTC has an uphill battle ahead of itself. Samsung is clearly the dominating incumbent in the Android space, and it has the luxury of an order of magnitude higher quarterly revenues to support its smartphone business. If there ever was a David v Goliath race in the smartphone space, it would be between HTC and Samsung.
Zoe and the highlights reel are great features that need marketing to demonstrate and spread their word. The litany of new camera and interaction features that accompany the Galaxy S 4 will likely translate very well to cleverly crafted TV ads. I’d argue that HTC’s camera features (great low light performance, highlights reel) are more useful to me personally, but Samsung’s features (touchless scrolling, dual camera, smart pause) are easier sells to the mainstream smartphone market. Similarly, design and materials choices are obvious advantages for the One, but it’s easier to market a thinner and lighter phone.
Ultimately, HTC appears to have built a great phone for enthusiasts and one that can be marketed, with some effort, to the mainstream. Samsung, by comparison, seems to have its targets set squarely at the mainstream and it has the features and the marketing budget to really capture the attention of that audience. You can argue about the merits of features like the ability to automatically pause video based on whether or not you’re looking at it - personally I’d take better camera performance - but that’s a much easier feature to explain in a TV commercial than why larger pixels matter.
The One is expected to be widely available beginning next month.
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darwinosx - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
Practically nobody uses the sd card slot or removable battery as the phone makers know. Besides, like iPhones, the HTC One comes in different memory sizes.Google has given up on memory card slots as they don't support them in the latest version of Jelly Bean and are on record as not liking non-contiguous memory.
Be prepared to see hem go away as many manufacturers have already done. They aren't important to the vast majority of users.
apertotes - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
wow!!! that is a bold statement seeing how many phones Samsung sold last year. Apple can do whatever they want 'cause they have a horde of blind followers, but on Android there is a thing called competence, and clients can choose between many brands and features. Last year Android winner (S3) was a worst phone than HTC One X in almost everything, but S3 had removable battery and microSD. Maybe you are going to blame it all on marketing, like HTC seems to be doing. They are going to need bigger brains if they really want to catch up.casualsuede - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - link
To say that Samsung's success came from inclusion of MicroSD cards and removeable batteries is just as bold (and asinine).Everyone in the industry knows that Samsung outspent HTC 6 to 1 last year with a device that was pretty darn good. It doesn't matter that the HTC is a little better than the SG3 (if it was), the fact is that everyone is ONLY talking about the Galaxy or iPhone at this point in time and hence Samsung wins...and HTC loses. It had very little to do with the actual handsets.
CeriseCogburn - Monday, March 25, 2013 - link
so let me get this straight - Samsung wins because of marketing, but APPLE, oh it wins because... well... marketing is not a consideration as to why it's crappiness was everywhere... ?Apple's fanboys are only equaled and exceeded by AMD fanboys. Both are to a large extent marketed mindsets, though APPLE earned it seat initially.
Steebie - Thursday, April 4, 2013 - link
apertotes: Because you value something, doesn't mean everyone does. I know about a dozen S3 users and none of them...NONE...use the memory slot and half of them don't know what a microSD card is! Why did they buy an S3? That leads to the marketing part of your story:Samsung spends, literally, over a billion dollars per year advertising their smartphones. On top of that, they give incentives to phone sales people, such as monthly prizes, for moving the most S3's. You're Joe Blow phone salesman and 50% of customers know NOTHING about phones and ask you what to buy. You rationalize, "Gee...they'll be happy with any phone. I'll be happy with incentives." You tell them to buy the S3 and they trust your geeky sales knowledge and buy it. THAT is how you move more phones than anyone.
piroroadkill - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
Strange that the One X lost against the S3, then, when by all accounts the One X is a nicer device, other than the battery and the SD card.Ne0 - Friday, March 22, 2013 - link
My brother owns a cell phone store. His highest sales from accessories (besides car chargers) comes from SD cards. Protector cases are next and he sells a lot of batteries as well.thesavvymage - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - link
huh. im not an analyst or anything, but im pretty sure atleast 80% of android phones sold last year had sd slots in them.casualsuede - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - link
Many of the devices have both a removable battery and MicroSD card slots (Android devices that is). The truth is that Samsung's product hardware isn't that unique. If great battery (that's removable) and MicroSD card slots determined success, then the Droid Maxx at Verizon would have outsold the One X at ATT...it didn't.CeriseCogburn - Monday, March 25, 2013 - link
Droid Maxx has those goofy slightly slanted side to corners. It looks strangely retarded and distracting.