Before HTC goes into their new path of conquering emerging markets in Asia, they have unveiled their newest flagship phone. In two press events held simultaneously in New York and London, the Taiwan- based company unveiled the HTC One.
Also check out our HTC One Smartphone Review
The Look
By looks alone, this device is certainly very attractive. The aluminum unibody gives the device a premium feel to it. Not to mention that it is pretty thin at only 9.3 mm.
The great chassis also complements the new 4.7 inch Full HD screen, which is of course, Gorilla glass protected. This display generates 468 ppi. The iPhone 5’s 4 inch retina display only generates about 326 ppi. In my opinion, this phone has the best screen of all HTC products. And indeed, the colors are very vibrant and crisp.
HTC is also continuing its pursuit of improving the camera phone. This device has an upgraded ImageSense and a new ImageChip 2. But what’s really making a difference is their new light sensor called Ultra Pixel. According to HTC, this phone is able capture 300 percent more light than any other phones.
Now that we’ve established that this phone really looks good, let us take a look inside and see if it is all looks or if it has the specs to support the high end hardware design.
The Inside
The premium look of the HTC One will be for naught if it did not have killer specs to go with it. Fortunately, it does. This beautiful phone is powered by the brand new quad-core Snapdragon 600 chip that clocks in at 1.7 GHz. This is the first phone (as far as I know) that sports the new Snapdragon processors. The HTC One also comes with 2 GB of RAM and will come in 32 GB and 64 GB models.
This phone is also sporting Android Jellybean 4.2 as its operating system. Combined with its powerful brand new chip, the HTC One promises fast and smooth user experience. But that is not what makes this device’s software intriguing. What will pique your interest is the new interface that HTC loaded on it on top of Jellybean.
HTC calls it the New Sense. At first glance, you would think it might be Windows phone. The tiled homescreen reminds you of the Metro UI so those familiar with it will not have a difficult time adjusting to it. This is actually what they call the BlinkFeed home screen. Like the Windows live tiles, it shows you updates from different mediums like news outlets, blogs, and social media site. Gone is the iconic weather clock widget that we are used to seeing in HTC phones. The phone also has an IR blaster that allows you to use the phone as a remote via the HTC Sense TV app.
When is it available and should you buy it?
The phone is expected to be available by March through AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile at about $199.99 for 32 GB and $299.99 for 64GB.
Whether you should buy it or not depends on how much you will appreciate Buzzfeed. If you are not particular with what is in your phone then you wouldn’t mind Buzzfeed as you have the option to go back to a more traditional UI. However, for most of you who use your smartphones as business phones and like to maximize your phone’s memory, then you might think twice. Buzzfeed will still be running in the background even if you choose to go for a traditional UI, which makes it essentially bloatware for those who will not use it.
Still, it is a powerful phone with probably one of the best smartphone cameras in the market. If you buy this, it certainly looks like it will be worth it.
