The One X is the high-end smartphone from
HTC that’s designed to provide a premium experience. But does it succeed?
HTC has been a little quiet of late,
compared to the last couple of years when it was bashing out new handsets like
there was no tomorrow. At the recent Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona
though, it bounced back in fine from by unveiling the One Series of phones,
including the V, the S and this little beauty, the One X. if you already class
yourself as a fan of both HTC phones and the Android operating system, then
you’ll be in for a treat because there’s much to like about this trio,
particularly the One X, which sits at the top of the pile.
HTC
One X
Quality camera
“The best moments in life are captured with
a photo or remembered by a song, so it was key for the HTC One series to
improve these emotional experiences with an amazing camera and authentic sound
experience,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation recently. “We are very
focused on creating a camera and audio experience customers will love and use
often and we believe the HTC One series delivers this in a way never seen on a
phone before.”
So has HTC managed to achieve both of these
feats? Well so it seems, but let’s start with Sense 4, the new version of the
user interface that has been much-praised in earlier incarnations. This time
out it looks better than ever, but also has the benefit of the HTC ImageSense
functionality, which is essentially a plush new suite of camera and imaging
features. There are also core adjustments to the audio settings as promised, to
produce a more rounded listening experience.
“We
are very focused on creating a camera and audio experience customers will love
and use often”
Anyone interested in having a decent camera
on their smartphone is certainly going to like the appeal of the 8-megapixel
offering found on the One X, which boasts an array of internal tweaks and some
fine-tuning to make it one of the best around. This is largely based a new
image chip that enables the camera to produce faster image capture, better
quality shots and the ability to process video capture much more efficiently
too. Images can now be taken in just 0.7 seconds, there’s a 0.2-second
autofocus and that means you have a close to continuous mode at your disposal
too. The user interface delivered by Sense allows you to streamline your
picture-taking activities much more efficiently too. The camera itself does
appear more than able to cope with a variety of tricky scenarios, including the
likes of low light, no light and overexposed settings, and the f2.0 lens
aperture is indeed responsive to your every move. There’s an HDR option built
in, for those needing an additional bit of creativity thrown in for good
measure. Interestingly, the Video Pic feature offers the capacity for taking a
still and shooting video at the same time, plus the option for lifting out a
still frame from any high-definition video you may have shot earlier.
Alongside the impressive camera, that easy
to use interface and the overall performance supplied by the very capable
technical specification, we also like the simplicity of this phone. Dropbox has
been integrated into Sense, which provides users with 25 Gigabytes of free
storage space and has to be one of the quickest and easiest ways of storing and
moving images and other large folders around by far. It’s also possible to
share photos via the wireless Media Link HD accessory that can tap into your
TVs HDMI port. Meanwhile, music lovers will enjoy the boosted audio appeal of
the One range, with a powerful array of playback controls offering a truly
dynamic musical experience. Elsewhere, if you have extensive collections of
music littered all over your computer at home then the HTC Sync Manager
software can take control of those.
Peak performance
Alongside all of the excellent image and
audio enhancements, the One X is a star performer thanks to a fine array of
technical muscle. It’s all been nicely tucked away inside the deliciously
designed polycarbonate unibody construction, which feels light in your hand but
also robust too. The Tegra 3 processor delivers good quality graphics and the
quad-core chip also deals out a responsive performance. The 4.7-inch 720p HD
screen that can fend of scratches with ease thanks to the contoured Gorilla
Glass tops it all off very nicely indeed.
HTC
One X Plus Smartphone features.
Verdict
HTC has been particularly good at providing
the smartphone buying public with what wants on previous models, and the new
One range looks like continuing that theme. The One X, in particular, is a
slick and stylish affair that looks good but, more importantly, has some key
improvements that everyone has been crying out for. The camera and its
functionality is a real success story and while that side of things works well,
the way the revised Sense UI helps keep you productive on the go is an
additional bonus. All in all, this smartphone is a great success story.
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Specification
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Price: $749
·
Processor: 1.5GHx
·
Memory: 32GB
·
Display: 4.7-inch
·
Camera: 8-megapixel
·
Operating system: Android 4.0
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Web: www.htc.com
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Total: 9/10
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