HTC unveils its new Android flagship, the HTC One

[Chz]

Perhaps if they were all hardware buttons I might agree. But having just the one? As a leftover from when they copied everything from the iPhone? No. And the back button in 2.x was in the wrong place. Anyone can see that.

I'm not so much anti menu button as I am opposed to not having the task swapper button. Everyone is moving to 3 buttons only on the Android side and a task swapper is more useful than the menu button. (home and back are a given)

 

[editor]

Big review in The Verge, generally positive throughout, although the camera fails to wow. I'm still thinking that this is likely to be my next phone.

I really, really like the HTC One. I’m a sucker for beautiful hardware, and this device is one of the best-designed smartphones I’ve ever used. HTC’s done great hardware before, though, and ruined it with ugly and problematic software — this time, it’s manageable. Not great, not as good as stock Android, but manageable. Here, the problem lies with the camera. Maybe I’m in the minority when I say I care about the quality of my cellphone images, but I do, and the One just doesn’t deliver. Its battery life is also disappointing, though I’m not as concerned about that – it’s just a fact of life at this point.

In my quest to find the perfect Android phone, I’m still left wanting. I want the One’s hardware, but I want the Nexus 4’s software and promise of timely updates — I’ve said for a year that HTC should offer stock Android phones, and I’m still convinced the company could save itself with the One plus pure Android. I also want a better camera — the One isn’t bad, it’s just mediocre, and I’ve seen better from Android phones. For now, the list of Android phones worth buying is two items long: the Nexus 4 and the One. Personally, I’d buy the One if I had to choose right now, but with the Galaxy S 4 coming in just a few days, I'm pretty lucky I don't have to choose right now.

Even if Samsung can't best the One later this week, though, the most important question is still unanswered: can HTC find a way to sell a phone, even a great phone, when Samsung has so dominated the Android market? Until it does, it won't matter how good the One is — but for consumers' sake and HTC's, I hope the company figures it out.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/11/4086390/htc-one-review

 

[Chz]

From what I've seen elsewhere, the camera captures great images but the default processing is horrible. If you're the sort who pulls every picture into Photoshop before anyone sees it, it gives great results.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

The thing I like about the HTC phones (Magic, Desire, One X) I've had is that they feel nice and solid in the hand. It's shallow I suppose, but that kind of thing means more to me than marginal differences in spec, It helps that I don't mind Sense, mind you, and the 4.0+ versions are pretty slick and not as in-your-face as before.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

The thing I like about the HTC phones (Magic, Desire, One X) I've had is that they feel nice and solid in the hand. It's shallow I suppose, but that kind of thing means more to me than marginal differences in spec, It helps that I don't mind Sense, mind you, and the 4.0+ versions are pretty slick and not as in-your-face as before.

I've always liked the Sense stuff, but then I've never owned an Android phone that wasn't made by HTC (G1, Desire, Sensation)

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

I've always liked the Sense stuff, but then I've never owned an Android phone that wasn't made by HTC (G1, Desire, Sensation)

I've played around with various ROMs on my phones (not yet for the One X) and stock Android is nice. I'll wait a while before doing this on the One X though, the out of the box setup is damned good.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I really like sense... Running cyangen mod at the moment, some things are better, but miss bits of it.

 

[editor]

Engadget have just added a rave review.

Regardless of how well Samsung's soon-to-be-announced flagship does on the market, we'll continue to have a soft spot for the One. Last year, we were very impressed by the One X, but that wasn't enough. HTC pushed itself and made its sequel even more polished than the original. We love the phone's industrial design and the camera, while the Snapdragon 600 chipset and 1080p display aren't bad either. We're not sold on every aspect of Sense 5, such as BlinkFeed and the One's two-button layout, but overall the user experience is much improved. As far as we're concerned, HTC has a hit on its hands.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/12/htc-one-review/

Rollout looks like early April now.

 

[friedaweed]

I'm having this to replace my sensation in July. Really have been impressed with HTC kit. The cameras take cracking images for a phone

 

[gawkrodger]

I'm being offered this as a pre-order upgrade. Think I'll go for it

 

[renegadechicken]

Offered this as an upgrade, which means i'll finally be leaving apple after 5 years of iphone ownership.

 

[editor]

Offered this as an upgrade, which means i'll finally be leaving apple after 5 years of iphone ownership.

It looks to be a really lovely phone. I'm still mightily tempted.

 

[renegadechicken]

I was initially going for the s4 but having spent a fair bit of time researching the phones, i went with this one. Should be collecting it on the 3rd April.

 

[madamv]

I love my OneX. Have no idea of the differences between these two. I'm sure I don't use half the stuff available to me on my phone.

 

[editor]

I was initially going for the s4 but having spent a fair bit of time researching the phones, i went with this one. Should be collecting it on the 3rd April.

Please post an early report. I'm ready to upgrade!

 

[Badgers]

Had a play with one today. Really really good. The screen is mint and rated a lot higher that the iPhone 5 by a chap who owns both. Camera functions are excellent.

 

[editor]

Had a play with one today. Really really good. The screen is mint and rated a lot higher that the iPhone 5 by a chap who owns both. Camera functions are excellent.

I didn't think it has been released yet.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/50547/htc-one-release-date-delay-explained

 

[editor]

Still looks lovely!

Reviews: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/smartphones/1298431/htc-one
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a467580/htc-one-review-great-phone-big-competition.html

 

[Badgers]

I didn't think it has been released yet.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/50547/htc-one-release-date-delay-explained

Someone in the industry

 

[gawkrodger]

had an email from vodafone to say mine has been dispatched. Mind you, I'm in Australia for the next three weeks so won't actually be able to check it out for a bit!

 

[editor]

Early sales seem to be good (in the 'hundreds of thousands' in the US) so maybe this device will get HTC back in the frame. I hope so because they've made some great phones.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I do as well, that and I'm not comfortable with Android phones being dominated by one brand.

 

[renegadechicken]

Just been informed that there's a delay and I'm not expected to get mine until the 5th April now.

 

[gawkrodger]

well apparently mine has arrived. Not back in the UK until April 10th though

 

[renegadechicken]

Just received a call today mines gonna be here on the 4th now......i could have it on the 3rd if i want black, the delay has been most people want the silver one, so they ran out.
And as a goodwill gesture they have thrown in a case,screen protector and car charger

 

[renegadechicken]

TBH i'm quite excited about it, which is strange as it's 'only' a new phone, but after being tied to the iphone/apple products for the past five years, it feels quite liberating, and the screen size and audio really appeal as i tend to use my phone more as a mini PC than a phone( this makes sense as we got rid of our tv 3 years ago and use the PC for all media) - hoping it lives up to expectations as i had to sign a new 24 month contract for it.

 

[Callum91]

TBH i'm quite excited about it, which is strange as it's 'only' a new phone, but after being tied to the iphone/apple products for the past five years, it feels quite liberating, and the screen size and audio really appeal as i tend to use my phone more as a mini PC than a phone( this makes sense as we got rid of our tv 3 years ago and use the PC for all media) - hoping it lives up to expectations as i had to sign a new 24 month contract for it.

You won't regret it, it's a fantastically good phone. Complete change of ball game from your iPhone, it'll be like stepping onto another planet. The days of using a phone as anything less than a mini pocket PC are long gone. If only batteries would keep up with current power consumption.

 

[nuffsaid]

Well I got my HTC One at the weekend and all very lovely so far. It's processing speed is superb, the screen is lush and the quality of the audio means it's going to push my Asus Eee Pad into the background when at home and just surfing or listening to internet radio. The TV app is utter witchcraft! I can use the phone to now control my TV, Sky Box and Surround Sound system. If you set all your favourite channels when in TV mode, it gives you a grid of what programmes you might like are on now or later. Click any of these and it automatically changes the channel. Couch-potatoism to another level..

Someone mentioned some bad things about the camera, I haven't tried it out properly yet, but this review is one reason I bought the thing, the light levels it deals with supposedly put a lot of other camera phones in the dark (sorry) : http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-one-1131862/review/7#articleContent

Some minor niggles: It wouldn't play a couple of videos that I copied over from my laptop (that's a player issue not a phone issue I guess) but the phone then didn't have an option to delete them, I had to connect back up to the laptop to delete these, my old Desire would just click hold and then you can delete. I've been told that if you download video or create video then you can delete direct from the phone. There was no one click to set vibrate mode, you have to keep the volume rocker button down on minus and it then sets vibrate only, although I did download a widget for this, but the Desire I had before had this option when holding down the power button, don't why they removed that. Finally the sound quality for calls, while absolutely fine and dandy does somehow seem different to my old Desire. It sounds like it's going through a filter, feels a bit 'fake' difficult to describe. I suppose I'll have to get used to it. Lastly the contact list when in groups mode shows your contacts in thumbnail form, but I want a list so I can see the difference between my numbers where a name is longer than the text provided under the thumbnail. eg. I might have Accountant - Bob - Mobile, or Accountant - Bob - Landline, but all I can see is Accountant - Bob... Would have been nice to have expandable memory but when looking at other phones in comparison (Xperia Z was one) they didn't match up on the camera, screen and style.

Overall though I'm very happy and thankfully on an unlimited data tariff as its definitely going to get more use as a mini-tablet than it is as a phone, you can get a case for it that allows you to stand the thing up landscape so great for watching videos on a lengthy commute.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Nice looking phone, camera sounds a bit shit but if I was buying Android I'd be getting this not the plasticky Samsung...

 

[editor]

The camera's not shit at all - according to the reviews, it's better than the iPhone/S3 is some areas and not as good as others - but perhaps not quite as good as some had hoped for. The Lumia 920 is the don though.

Comparison review: