Performance and battery
Even though HTC has made the One about much
more than its core specs, the device is still bleeding edge and still holds its
own against all. There’s a quad-core Krait processor clocked at 1.7GHz, Adreno
320 graphics and 2GB of RAM, which all help things move along as smoothly as
possible. It is aided to an extent by a version of HTC Sense that is much
lighter than normal. All traces of lag were all but eliminated - any very minor
jerks that we may have encountered were those that appear to be unavoidable
realities of the Android OS.
Our review unit had 32GB of storage, and a
64GB version is also available. Of that 32GB about 29GB was available out of the
box.
The overall hardware performance can be
largely taken for granted. No apps can really stress the hardware in modern
smartphones, so whether you’re using them for web, video, gaming or phone, you
will be satisfied. As a phone, incidentally, the One also impressed, with clear
call quality and good reception at all times.
Away from the basic specs the other
hardware features also add real value. We’ve mentioned that we like the look of
the front-facing speakers, but they are an awful lot more than a superficial
design feature. For almost the first time in a smartphone they sound like
proper speakers, something that you actually want to use instead of reaching
for the headphones at the first opportunity. There’s no chance of you sleeping
through the alarm with this device, and the awesome stereo output combined with
that display helped give us the best mobile video experience we’ve had.
We’ve
mentioned that we like the look of the front-facing speakers, but they are an
awful lot more than a superficial design feature.
Audio recording was equally impressive, as
was the inclusion of an infrared transmitter to use as a remote control for
your TV. With a large database of supported TVs and set-top boxes, along with
the ability to ‘learn’ from any other remote, plus an interactive TV guide that
will automatically change the channel to the show you want to watch, it was
surprisingly useful and has lots potential to grow in future as well.
With so much power in the One, battery life
was always going to be a concern, especially as it is an area where HTC devices
tend to stumble. Thankfully the 2300mAh battery surpassed our expectations.
It comfortably got us through a day of
‘average’ use and with heavy use would start to hit warning levels around early
evening. We did not have a chance to test the phone on a 4G network, which may
reduce battery life further.
The
One can handle lower light conditions better than most devices, but is still
far from perfect.
Camera
The main area where HTC has rethought its
approach is with the camera. Rather than follow the crowd and go for a
13-megapixel sensor, the company has stepped back to 2006 and chosen a mere
four megapixels.
HTC rightly talks about the megapixel myth,
how the idea that more megapixels is automatically better is wrong. In an
imaging sensor of the same size, the more pixels there are, the smaller they
are. The smaller they are, the less light they can take in. This is what causes
grainy, noisy images to be produced in low light conditions. HTC’s approach means
the four million pixels in the One’s camera can capture 300 per cent more light
than the 13 million pixels in a camera, such as that on the Galaxy S IV. To try
and avoid direct comparisons -however flawed - with higher megapixel cameras,
HTC is calling its pixels Ultrapixels, but this is a pure marketing strategy
and has no actual meaning in an imaging sense.
The lower megapixel count is also not
without some downsides. Four megapixels offers little in the way of
future-proofing for your images. The display on the Nexus 10 tablet already has
a four-megapixel resolution, so you wouldn’t be able to zoom in on your shots
on that device without a serious loss in quality. More megapixels also equates
to more detail in an image, and the loss of detail on the One’s camera is
noticeable. If you’re shooting purely for sharing online then you won’t have
issues with this, but more ambitious photographers will certainly need to bear
it in mind.
It’s also worth noting that the One shoots
in 16:9 aspect ratio. This is fine for shooting in landscape mode but not for
portrait. You can switch to 4:3 but this only crops the image, reducing the
resolution yet further to a measly 3.1 megapixels.
To aid low light capture, the One is also
equipped with an f2.0 lens, which lets in 44 per cent more light than the f2.4
aperture lens in the iPhone 5. And there is also an optical image stabilization
feature which enables you to shoot at lower shutter speeds (to allow more light
in) without introducing any motion blur. It also helps smooth out the judder in
handheld video.
In
daylight, images from the One are good, although the lower resolution means
they lack detail.
And HTC has one further trick up its sleeve
in the form of Zoe Capture. This is a brand-new feature that begins shooting
fractionally before you press the shutter button and continues for a couple of
seconds after. If you’re trying to photograph a moving subject it takes away
the pain of timing your shot just right - tap the button and you’ll capture
around three seconds worth of images from which you can pick the best shot.
It’s a great idea, and does work very well in certain circumstances. Users with
young children who refuse to stay still will love it. But be warned: excessive
use of Zoe will eat away at your storage space quite quickly, and if you have
auto-upload enabled on one of your cloud services they will all end up there as
well.
So how does the camera perform overall? The
honest answer is - not quite as good as we’d have hoped. It is the most usable
camera we’ve seen in a smartphone, with fantastic software and effectively no
shutter lag. The stabilization works brilliantly.
The
HTC One offers the best video experience on any mobile device
Stills are possible in low light without
resorting to the feeble LED flash where on other devices they wouldn’t be
(although note that with the shutter speed typically dropping to around 1/15 of
a second, moving subjects will still come out blurred). In video it is even
better, introducing a steadicam effect that enables you to shoot while walking
and not bring about a feeling of seasickness in anyone watching the resulting
clip.
But if you’re after sharp, clean, low light
images then HTC’s ‘Ultrapixels’ are not able to deliver. There are improvements
over rival camera phones but colors were washed out and noise reduction was
still evident. It is good, but HTC has not reinvented camera phones with the
One.
