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HTC Desire X - Last Applause For An Ex-Flagship Product (Part 2)

5/11/2013 11:16:45 AM

Camera

There is only one camera to concern you here, and it is the 5MP camera at the rear. It comes with HTC’s dedicated ImageChip/BSI sensor, with f/2.0 aperture and 28mm lens. There is autofocus, which seems to be fast for photos (not as fast as for videos), but you can tap to focus if you want something to be noticed with more special attention or when the phone does not auto-focus (this never happened to us in the tests).

In the camera app, there are the same features we've seen on other phones with Sense 4.0. That means you have the ability to take pictures while recording video, and continuous shooting mode, by holding down your finger. The latter of these two features worked very well, with photos captured faster that appear in the gallery immediately. Menu settings, flash, and "mode" are always on the screen, and allow you to jump to HDR, Panorama or any other preset scenes (landscape, close-up ... etc.) easily. If you like to do something special to your photos, vintage effects, sepia, vignette, etc. are still here to help you.

The colors tend to be washed out.

The colors tend to be washed out.

As for photos, we often find them interesting, with good low-light performance in HDR mode. Not everything was as sharp as expected when we were shooting in Auto mode at night, and sometimes the colors tended to be washed out. But in more ideal conditions (for instance, a bright room, with static objects), of course, you would be able to make a satisfying photo.

Regarding video, unfortunately there is no HD mode, still with WVGA resolution, or 800x480. We recorded some sample clips, as you will see below, it loses the battle to some 720p rivals with more pixels (these are the specs for which the One V was the winner), but you can still record some useful video to share with friends, on YouTube for normal memories, but with memories that are more important, you would want to use something else.

Software

Located somewhere beneath the Sense UI is Android 4.0. Therefore, we are not totally inferior in terms of the core software. And while the company has not confirmed whether Desire X will be Jelly Bean, it is not excluded – not as the Desire C and the One V, both of which were disqualified after HTC announced that they did not have enough RAM.

Located somewhere beneath the Sense UI is Android 4.0.

Located somewhere beneath the Sense UI is Android 4.0.

As for the large quantity of Sense software, we gave some thoughts about it in our review, but to summarize it, it is the first clear improvement compared to the previous versions. Rather than repeating what are liked and disliked as before, we will look at it from the perspectives of the Desire X. The first thing to mention is that, while the UI often feels cohesive, and mixing well with the Android-specific features, if you're familiar with the old Ice Cream Sandwich, Sense can make you slow at first. That's especially true on the phone like this one where there is relatively little power of the processors (we will talk in more detail later). On the other hand, if you are migrating from another version of Android, or the older version of Sense, then you will definitely feel at home. Those who do not come from the Android platform will likely find it easier to penetrate the universe's operating system. The menu options are often located intuitively, and features such as the lock screen utility help it feel modern.

HTC Desire X’s apps

HTC Desire X’s apps

There are some simple changes that we love, such as the mini-weather utility that appears in the schedule to present to you the weather forecast for each day in the near future, and the 3D-rotating home screens increase a little modern flavor. As mentioned, these quick shortcuts from the lock screen would be something to save great time for many people. One minor shortcoming we found was that the email notification takes longer to purge if you delete a new mail on another device. You can think many messages have been sent to the phone and then find out that it is the message that you deleted approximately 1 hour ago.

One last notable software feature is Beats audio mode. The partnership between HTC and Dre headphones has taken place for some time, and it has got the opposite reaction. Even the Desire X has a Beats logo on the back of it, so we thought it would not only be a rapid test. We played music, then plugged it into the PC, recorded video with Beats on, and did the same with this feature off. Our main complain? Beats makes big things. We would like to know more about what is happening, so we checked the waveform, and used the spectrum analyzer on the track to see the audio changes in real-time, both of which can be seen in the following image.

The waveform of sound produced by Beats

The waveform of sound produced by Beats

As you can see, at the bottom, you immediately know when Beats is enabled (the thickest part of the wave) and when it is not activated. This thickness represents the volume, and many decibels (about 4 to 5). The above presents a snapshot of signals. The lower line shows no clear features, while the higher, lighter curve is the line when Beats is on. It is quite clear that there are large increases around 100Hz and below range (bass) and 1 kHz (mid-high). This represents a curve that you can introduce to an EQ multi-band on the stereo system at home if you want to increase the bass. In conclusion, it increases sound much the same way the other preset equalizers on the other players. Great if you like it loud.

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