HTC One Review: Favorite

HTC One Specifications

 What you need to know about the technical characteristics of this smartphone? It is equipped with a 4-core processor of the latest (at the time of release, of course) generation, 4.7-inch (less than the Galaxy S4 diagonal) display with a FullHD matrix, 4-megapixel (UltraPixel technology is used - HTC this year decided not to get involved in the race megapixels and to draw buyers' attention to the software features of the camera). The novelty uses microSIM cards, two speakers are installed on the front panel, and all this is enclosed in an unassembled slim aluminum case with a non-removable battery. The novelty is running the Android 4.1.2 operating system with a revised (this is not an update, but rather a rethinking) interface Sense 5.0. Fans to compare all the specifications to the last comma can do it, but technologically HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 are on the same level. Differences, as it should be in a highly competitive market with the same products (recall at least the Pepsi and Coke story), are in the minds of consumers. And their perception of the brand. But we will talk about what influences this perception.

HTC One Specifications
operating system	Android 4.1.2 with Sense 5.0
SIM card type	microSIM, alone
Dimensions and weight	137x68x9 mm, 143 g
Display	Super LCD3, Gorilla coverage 2, 4.7 inches, 1920x1080 pixels (469 ppi pixel density)
CPU	quad-core, Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600 (1.7 GHz. Krait 300)
Graphics	Adreno 320
Memory	2 GB of RAM, 32/64 GB, without microSD cards
Camera	4 MP (2688x1520), video recording 1920x1088, optical stabilization
Front-camera	2.1 MP, 1920x1088 video recording
Battery	2.3 Ah, non-removable, lithium-polymer

Appearance HTC One

Apparently, no one would doubt the thesis that the main external difference of the HTC One from its competitors lies in the one-piece aluminum case. It is not that there were a lot of fans of phones in metal cases (although they certainly are). But with the design of this device, everything is in order. It is instantly recognizable, not least thanks to the stereo speakers on the front panel. It should be said that, like all the flagship smartphones of recent years, the HTC One's body heats up noticeably during operation - just launch the browser. The aluminum case has increased heat dissipation - in my subjective opinion, because of this, the HTC One begins to warm up faster, but it cools down just as quickly. Competitors warm up longer, but cool longer.

The only complaint that arises to the appearance of the smartphone is that there are traces of scuffs on the back cover. They are not striking, but in order to notice them, especially to strain their eyesight and not to look closely.

 In horizontal orientation (this is how we watch the video and read the sites) stereo speakers are logical to listen to the sound: left and right. It should be said that two dynamics in this case is not just a publicity stunt. The smartphone sounds really great and can sound the room is not a "creaky" sound. Although how often the smartphone buyer will need such a sound (I mean - through the speakers, not the headphones) - an open question.

In addition to the pleasant appearance of aluminum, the side surfaces of the device can boast of excellent matte plastic. I remind the plastic to touch the body of the previous company's flagship - the HTC the One the X . The thickness of the phone is not a record, but it can be called thin - there will be no crime against the truth. 

HTC decided to pay attention to detail: pay attention to the neat, polished bevel of the aluminum surface at the edge.

 The volume control key can even be called elegant. It stands on the tenth of a millimeter above the sidewall, while having a pleasant and deeper stroke than it might seem. 

The same "hidden" and recessed into the body is the power / lock screen key. Apparently, it also contains an infrared sensor, with which the phone can work as a remote control for home appliances (more on that later). When such a “hidden” solution is controversial, it seemed to me surprisingly adequate - there are no accidental clicks, and I didn’t have to use my nails either - it is always pressed as you expect. The headphone jack also points to the low case thickness.

 The microSIM card hides, according to all fashion trends, on a special table, pushed out by any pin through a special hole. For some reason, this whole story reminds me of an emergency ejection of a compact disc from a CD drive.

Display

Measurements of the display show a contrast level of 847: 1, a white level of 422.24 candela per square meter, a black level of 0.5 candela. The color gamut of the HTC One screen is almost the same as the  sRGB color space. If we talk about subjective impressions, then with such pixel density the picture on the screen looks very clear. At maximum brightness, the smartphone can be used in the bright sun without straining your eyesight.

 

 

HTC one performance measurements 

 The performance of HTC One in synthetic tests looks predictably high. In AnTuTu, it slightly loses the Samsung Galaxy S4 (compare with its review on our website), and in Vellamo even surpasses the flagship Samsung. In general, there is no doubt about the ability of this model to cope with resource-intensive tasks. The issue of battery life is always closely related to the performance in this model looks the same as always - depending on the load of the battery, HTC One can last for 5-6 hours of work, or maybe for a couple of days. I simply did not notice any abnormal deviations for the better or for the worse.

HTC one software 

As I said before, the new HTC Sense 5.0 shell cannot be called an upgrade of version 4.5. The interface has become austere and simpler. At first, I (in absentia, it is worth saying) were very skeptical about such a simplification. Especially annoying was the fact that the update tape (marketing name BlinkFeed) has a limited selection of sources. In practice, everything turned out to be not so bad - in the end, if your favorite site has a broadcast on Twitter (like we have, for example), the issue of reading RSS feeds is replaced by reading twitter. From the point of view of the interface, it’s strange that the HTC logo on the panel doesn’t participate in managing the phone at all, although intuitively one would like to press it.

The desktops on HTC One can be from one to five. The company abandoned the abundance of widgets in this model, which looks like a step backwards. But for fans of widgets, you can install them by adding desktops. And the most popular data - hours, weather and notifications can be displayed on the lock screen or at the top of the tape. The application key on HTC One switches between the BlinkFeed ribbon and the list of applications. Which simplifies the interface, making it more convenient. And the ability to create folders on the application screens (in the "user" visualization mode) actually makes it unnecessary to use additional desktops. Folders are created just like in any other Android smartphone - by simply dragging one icon onto another. Scrolling the tape to "stop" at the top of the screen opens the settings menu.

But the smartphone settings are no longer available in the notification menu. No there and the ability to quickly manage wireless connections. Those who need them are invited to use corresponding widgets. The settings can only be reached through the icon in the list of applications.

Separately, it is worth noting the emergence of the Ukrainian keyboard - an event that Ukrainian users have long been waiting for from the company.

In the settings of the tape BlinkFeed, you can go to the personalization and settings of desktops and lock screen. 

The lock screen can be turned off altogether - then the phone will be immediately ready for operation after pressing the power button. You can display a photo album or music player widget on it (the second one looks more practical), and also use the lock screen to display notifications.

The tape BlinkFeed itself is customized by themes and services. You can display events from Twitter or Facebook (which personally reminded me of the MeeGo ideology in Nokia N9 ).

As was to be expected, there are few sources in Russian, there is not a whole Ukrainian at all. When the situation changes for the better and whether it changes - it is not clear, rather (as always) everything will depend on how the market (buyers) perceive the innovation. Practice shows that buyers usually react the same way - they do not care for the most part.

The finished tape result can look very impressive and resemble tiles from Windows Phone - if the source has a photo (for example, a tweet contains a link to an image), then the tape artistically cuts the picture, beautifully placing the tiles in one clear order to it.

Clicking on the icon with a pencil, you can write a tweet. Those who do not use third-party Twitter clients will probably appreciate this opportunity.

And now it's all on the video:

We should also mention the built-in learning application that turns the HTC One into a remote control. It is configured like any other universal remote. In any case, I could manage my Philiips TV after a couple of minutes.

After tuning, the console has two screens - with a digital unit for a set of channels and with an imitation of a navigation key and buttons for sequential channel switching and volume control. 

It is curious that the buttons of the remote after launching the application remain in the notification menu. So I, for example, quickly turned off the sound of the TV when an incoming call. Although I usually start with a feverish search for the TV remote. Interestingly, the signal is quite powerful - you do not need to send the phone exactly to the TV - you can even turn the smartphone 180 degrees - the TV has enough reflected signal. In the same application, there is access to the HTC Watch service, but in our country, unfortunately, it is not available. It is a pity - there is a broadcast schedule and the ability to create automatic reminders about the start of your favorite TV shows and programs. Everything is integrated not only with the calendar, but also with the Google Now service (Google Assistant).

Another interesting novelty is the children's mode Kid Mode (using the zoodles service - the application is available in the Google app store). It resembles the corresponding mode in Windows Phone 8 and allows you to select which applications and games will be available to the child. The differences with Windows Phone is that you can create a profile for each child. But there is no protection from the “adult” mode - to get into it you do not need a password, but a simple stroke of the letter Z.

HTC One Camera

The pride of HTC in this smartphone was the camera. We have a separate article comparing the camera HTC One, Huawei Ascend D2, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z. There everything is laid out on the shelves. For my part, I can say that if you don’t go into the marketing delights of the UltraPixel technology, then 4 megapixels are enough for an Internet user, which is called head-on - still these images are used in 99.99% of cases for viewing on a phone or computer. You can argue a lot about the fact that who and where more bluish, yellow or green, but the global problems in the HTC cameras ended, in my opinion, last year. Now these are very fast cameras with good shooting quality (maybe not the best, but definitely good). And all the benefits lie in the plane of post-processing and proprietary applications HTC Zoe, which will be discussed later.

It is also worth a few words to say about the special features that we could see in the camera of the Nokia Lumia 920smartphone . This is the function of selecting a person in a group picture, the ability to remove excess bodies that fall into the frame and overlay several pictures on one frame (this, of course, is a serial shooting in HTC Zoe mode). There is a slow motion mode and the ability to simply edit the video with the slowing down of the selected fragment. The secret of all these innovations is simple - the computing power of the smartphone allows you to shoot at a high frame rate, which allows you to do such tricks.

Examples of shooting with fragments of frames in the original resolution in front of you.