MOBILE

HTC First – Smartphone With Facebook Home (Part 5)

7/23/2013 9:07:29 AM

Performance and battery life

HTC First

·         Quadrant 2.0: 5,952

·         Vellamo 2.0: 2,239

·         AnTuTu 3.x: 11,267

·         SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms): 1,995

·         GLBenchmark Egypt 2.5 HD Offscreen (fps): 14          

·         CF-Bench: 11,267

HTC First

HTC First

HTC One

·         Quadrant 2.0: 12,495

·         Vellamo 2.0: 2,429

·         AnTuTu 3.x: 25,140

·         SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms): 991

·         GLBenchmark Egypt 2.5 HD Offscreen (fps): 34          

·         CF-Bench: 25,140           

HTC One

HTC One

Samsung Galaxy S III

·         Quadrant 2.0: 5,875

·         Vellamo 2.0: 1,626

·         AnTuTu 3.x: 10,944

·         SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms): 1,194

·         GLBenchmark Egypt 2.5 HD Offscreen (fps): 15

·         CF-Bench: 12,922

Samsung Galaxy S III

Samsung Galaxy S III

 SunSpider: lower scores are better. Samsung Galaxy S III was tested on Android 4.1.

Lest we forget there is indeed a phone underneath Facebook Home, let’s consider its performance. This is the first time we have rated a device with a Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400 chipset, Adreno 305 GPU and 1GB of RAM. As the name implies, the 400 is not as strong as the quad-core S4 Pro, Snapdragon 600 or 800, but as a 1.4GHz, 28nm dual-core processor, it seems reasonable for something like the First. It is not for savvy users, but it still needs to have enough power to ensure the performance of the phone - or the lack of it - does not harm the Facebook brand.

These tests, as seen above, show that the difference between a Snapdragon 400 and 600 is quite major, but this is not a disappointment. Instead of that, a quick comparison between the First and the quad-core performance of the Galaxy S III reveals a different story: the First is as good - if not better as the 2012 flagship phone of Sammy in most of the tests we have done. These are signs of stabilization for Qualcomm's technology that has advanced far enough in the last year.

The results of battery testing

The results of battery testing

Fortunately, in real-world use, the problems are kept to a minimum. It is difficult to say that thanks to the 400 or the inherent First version that offers advantages in performance, but we did not encounter any problems with regular use. Compared with our casual device review, the key measure of the ability of the device only focuses on how well Home performs throughout the user experience. Remember that this is the first version of Facebook Home, there will have a bug or two, but unfortunately we only saw a bug on numerous occasions: a black screen where the profile picture or status update should have sat. Each time, we were able to go back and run pretty fast and there were no cases of crashes or reboots occurring during our tests.

With the trend of transmitting data in the background, we initially intended to keep some external batteries just in case that we ran out of the battery in the mid-day. Luckily, the 2,000mAh Lithium-polymer battery was enough to help us to use for 14 hours, with Home running on the average of usage throughout the entire time. Granted, you may have less success when you increase your Home usage to high - and be more successful when using the low setting. During our battery test, which includes the constantly running an HD movie (with a variety of different settings that were changed to ensure that we stick to the same standard test), the First reached seven hours and 36 minutes, which was really better than what we had waited. It compares well with the One X +, LG Optimus G Pro and other leading devices.

We know that you will be enchanted if you just look at the status updates fly across the screen, but we would like to warn that your enchanted state might be sometimes interrupted by one phone call – as you know, the old method of social networking. When that situation happens, you should feel confident knowing that in our tests, all of the mobile connections were good and the volume was rather sufficient. The external loudspeakers were also better than average, but be careful not to block the single speaker grille with your finger or other objects, which will choke the sound.

The light-blue model we rated had the brand of AT&T, so we were able to make use of the LTE network of the carrier. It was very impressive as we had hoped: while our speeds in Salt Lake City reached the average of 25 to 35Mbps download and 10Mbps upload, we got results as high as 57Mbps download and 17 upload. Naturally, your speeds will differ from by market, but needless to say, the First is as strong as any other AT&T LTE devices that are currently placed on the store shelves.

Conclusion

HTC First is aesthetically interesting, and surprisingly subtle for a 1.0 product.

HTC First is aesthetically interesting, and surprisingly subtle for a 1.0 product.

The HTC First is appealing for two reasons. For Facebook fans, it is now easier to uphold social connections with friends and family. For the crowd of technology enthusiasts who are less interested in the service, the phone is an inherent Android 4.1 device which comes with AT&T LTE, which is still quite rare. The inclusion of this option was a wise move towards Facebook; since it is hard to ask for the customers to sign a two-year contract for an unproven product that depends too much on their commitment with Facebook. In the worst case, it is quite a good mid-range phone for $99 on contract (or $450 without any contract).

Facebook Home is imperfect, and nor will it persuade many of the people who do not like Facebook to start to Like and comment licentiously. But it is aesthetically interesting, and surprisingly subtle for a 1.0 product. Also, if you download it to your phone through the Play Store, it's free to use and easy to remove, which may make the software widely appealing from the beginning. In the current situation, Home is less suitable for those who are interested in performance, although it provides a bit of entertainment for anyone simply looking for only a minute or two to waste throughout the day. More importantly, Home is the proof that Facebook wishes to attack the mobile market that has been saturated. It's hard to say whether it will gain a victory in the battle, but it is bringing heavy weapons into the battle.

Info

·         Product name: HTC First

·         Price: $ 100

Pros

·         Facebook Home is visually appealing.

·         Android 4.1 runs under Home UI.

·         Performance is stable.

·         The 720p screen is amazing.

Cons

·         Camera and video are poor.

·         Home crams the data.

Verdict

·         The First is the mid-range device above average, and Facebook Home is a 1.0 stable product with plenty of room to develop.

HTC First technical specifications

·         Dimensions: 125.99 x 65.04 x 8.89mm (4.96 x 2.56 x 0.35 inches)

·         Weight: 4.37 oz. (124g)

·         Screen size: 4.3 inches

·         Screen resolution: 1,280 x 720 (341 ppi)

·         Screen type: S-LCD2, non-PenTile

·         Battery: 2,000mAh Li-Polymer (non-removable)

·         Internal storage: 16GB

·         External storage: None

·         Rear camera: 5MP, BSI, f/2, 28mm lens

·         Front-facing camera: 1.6MP, BSI, ultrawide angle

·         Video capture: 1,080p / 30 fps (rear); 720p (front)

·         NFC: Yes

·         Radios       Global: LTE 850/1,900; HSPA+ 850/900/1,900/2,100; GSM/EDGE 850/900/1,800/1,900

·         AT&T: LTE 700/AWS (bands 4/17); HSPA+ 850/1,900/2,100; GSM/EDGE 850/900/1,800/1,900

·         Bluetooth: v4.0

·         SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (8930AB)

·         CPU: 1.4GHz dual-core

·         GPU: Adreno 305

·         RAM: 1GB LPDDR2

·         Entertainment: FM radio

·         WiFi: Dual-band, 802.11a/b/g/n,

·         Wireless Charging: No

·         Operating system: Android 4.1.2 (stock)

 

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