At the speed smartphones are evolving, a bad year can cause all sorts of trouble and HTC had to learn it the hard way. Fortunately, the financial trouble seems to have had no impact on the company's ability to produce excellent smartphones, as the HTC One is here to prove.
Arguably one of the most exciting pieces of smartphone design in recent times, the HTC One is also properly powered and flaunts a screen that should please even the most demanding eyes. It also brings an overdue redesign of the Sense UI and a new camera that takes a completely new approach to mobile photography.
Key features
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with HSPA; LTE
4.7" 16M-color 1080p Super LCD3 capacitive touchscreen with 469ppi pixel density
Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sense UI 5.0
Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 320 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset
4 MP autofocus "Ultrapixel" camera with 1/3'' sensor size, 2µm pixel size; LED flash
1080p video recording @ 30fps with HDR mode, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
HTC Zoe
2.1 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
32/64GB of built-in storage
MHL-enabled microUSB port
Bluetooth v4.0
NFC
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Accelerometer and proximity sensor
Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
Aluminum unibody
Front-mounted stereo speakers with BoomSound tech
Class-leading audio output
Main disadvantage
4MP camera has disappointing performance in good lighting conditions
Non-expandable storage
Awkwardly-placed and uncomfortable power button
Sense UI still lacks connectivity toggles in notification area
Non user-replaceable battery
Poor video and audio codec support out of box
The One is a tempting package indeed and even though it will take HTC a while to get out of the slump, this is certainly a confident step in the right direction. With proven performers in both the computing and screen departments, it's only the low camera resolution that will potentially raise doubt. HTC say the extra-large "ultrapixels" are worth the sacrifice though, and we are as keen as you are to find out if that claim is justified.
With a spec sheet like that, the One has nothing to fear when it takes on the likes of the Xperia Z and the Galaxy S4 in the battle for the ultimate flagship. Here's hoping that it delivers on the promises in real-life performance.
