HTC One: the best smartphone of the year?

We reviewed for you Xperia Z, Lumia 920 or Galaxy SIV... Among this year's top smartphones we missed HTC One. It's time to catch up - and share with you the experiences from the use of this model.

The copy I got was a typical test one – it came in the replacement package, accompanied by a USB cable, a power supply and a simple headset. The charger - is the classic HTC model with USB port and the accompanying cable for charging and communicating the smartphone with a computer. It is worth noting that the power supply provides 1A current, which is more than the typical micro-USB charger. Smartphones are increasingly demanding a more powerful power supply, but One's battery can be recharged also with a weaker one - so that the download will take much longer. Remember that by choosing a different charger or a car charger. Headphones - a simple, factory set. They have a microphone and a button for handling calls and a flat cable, which is to tangle less. They don't sound sensational, but also don't have any serious sound drawbacks. If only they kept a little better in ear... Both the adapter and headphones are white in colour, corresponding to the phone casing I received.


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

Table of Contents

And what does HTC One look like? Believe me - sensational! This is one of the few smartphones that can compete with iPhone with the quality of its casing. The casing for the most part is made of aluminum. The entire back, as well as narrow strips above and below the display, hiding speakers Boom Sound, is made with this metal. On the back there are narrow panels of plastic, smoothly passing into the side wall of the smartphone. I do not see any connection elements, the design is a monolith. It looks great, provides solidity and compactness of the casing, it makes there are no creaks and shows no backlash, but - as we know – it will be a nightmare during any repairs. HTC reportedly will replace faulty phones with new ones because it will be cheaper than removal and replacement of the affected component.


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

Therefore, let's see this beautiful casing. As I mentioned, the back is a slightly convex piece of aluminum. It is embedded in the logo of the manufacturer, the camera lens covered with glass and the accompanying LED flash. The glass of the lens forms a smooth surface with aluminum, but the convex body makes that it will not be too much exposed to damage. Unfortunately, the middle of the rear cover can be scratched - aluminum is not as resistant ... This can be seen even when we look at the Beats Audio logo printed at the bottom: in my copy it was already slightly worn, and the satin texture had a few scratches. The front, in addition to the aluminum part, is created by a dark panel protecting the display. We will find there the logo and only two sensor system buttons - "Home" and "Back". "Menu" was eliminated, but we will not feel its absence, because according to the needs it appears to us on the display. It requires just a little habit... In the panel above the screen we see two more holes with light sensors and zoom, the front camera lens and the LED integrated traditionally for HTC into the holes of the "grilled" speaker.


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

The sides, as I mentioned, are made of plastic. In combination with the aluminum they look good, you cannot see even the smallest gap between the elements. On the left there was placed a microSIM card tray, on the right - the volume button. At the bottom there is a microUSB port and a microphone, at the top – a power switch and a minijack. On the sides I noticed a small inconsistency of stylists. The first element which is disturbing the HTC One appearance is the headphone hole, "hooking" on the rear panel. The second - the plastic switch button, while the volume buttons are finished with sleek metal. However, the switch must be made from a translucent material, because under it there was hidden a diode giving infrared signals. Why - I will say later.
I have to emphasize that HTC One is extremely handy – it fits comfortably in hand, and mechanical switches on the sides literally get under my fingers.


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

The HTC One's display is a class of its own. It is sensational! Wide viewing clarity, excellent brightness and gradation of colour, and FullHD resolution, which at this diagonal causes that we are not able to distinguish individual pixels even looking at the screen up close. This directly translates into a comfortable viewing of photos or reading a text. Hand in hand with excellent screen parameters goes working of the touch panel. It works perfectly, responding exactly to the intention of a user. I have noticed that it is not too prone to dirt and scratches, and the glass area provides a perfect glide of a finger. And while we're circling around the screen, I mention the speakers. HTC has placed them on the either side of the screen in the front. When you hold the phone horizontally, you can even hear the stereo effect - although it takes some effort to notice it. Boom Sound has a great power and provides clear sound reproduction. Although I still say that such small speakers are not suitable for listening to music, I have to admit that these in HTC One are the best that I met so far in a phone. They strongly influence the pleasure of playing or watching movies, teenagers will like them as well. In the field of image and sound quality HTC One is powerful - and that's that!


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com


Interface of HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

Let's look at the equipment of the phone. I note that I have in my hand a test copy and I assume that (as in the case of an accessory kit) it is identical with phones available on the market. My copy worked based on Android 4.1.2 with HTC Sense 5.0. In addition to standard system components HTC One gives us access to music service Wimp. In the software we'll also find graphics overlay for easy handling basic functions of the phone in a car, as well as "kids mode" in which we can define the applications and features which our child will access when it gets our HTC One...


Interface of HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

A very practical accessory can be a TV remote control (that's why there is the IR LED in the switch!). It works just like the one in Galaxy SIV. We define the country and TV service provider to gain access to EPG. In terms of controlling the equipment there were no problems - my TV, DVD and home theater were on the list of supported by the remote control. If you do not find yours - no problem, because the remote control has a function of learning codes. Unfortunately, it is a little hidden: to find it, you need to select any device from the list each time to indicate that the code does not work. After ten attempts there will reveal the possibility of self-learning of the remote control. Overall - a nice addition that requires only expanding the database of consecutive TV service operators.


Interface of HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

The most noticeable component of Sense 5.0 is the Blik Feed application, which is essentially a content feed and aggregation suite designed to present you with information relevant to you at a glance with an emphasis on news, imaging and social networking. We define what topics we are interested in and what services we want to use, and then selected topics land on in our home screen. They are automatically refreshed every time we unlock the screen and slide our finger to the left or to the right to watch news from other sources, that we clicked. This way of viewing the news from the world is in my opinion extremely comfortable and at the same time everything is presented very effectively. Of course, if we want to, we can set on the home screen "normal" desktop with icons. We define ourselves which of the panels is to be displayed by default, as the first. Overall, the entire Sense 5 UI is very comfortable, nice and intuitive... Only moving icons from the menu on the desktop annoyed me a bit. We cannot do this using the "hold-and-drop" like in a normal Android interface, but we have to go to the editing options by holding your finger on an empty space on the desktop. If it is there... Let me add that we have five desktops.


Interface of HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

How does it all work? Again, I will use the term "sensational"! The performance of this smartphone is excellent. We have 2 GB of RAM and a modern quad-core processor, so it cannot be otherwise. HTC One spreads benchmarks in the dust, moreover, see for yourself:


Benchmarks of HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

I don't like benchmark assessments, I simply think that subjective feelings that accompany the use of the phone are more important. And these feelings are simply enjoyable. No downtime, no hangups, everything works perfectly. I basically exhausted the topic, I have nothing more to add. This is iPhone level (I know iFan comes out of me - but that is my impression)...


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

In my opinion, this is another phone, after Galaxy SIV, in case of which I could say that I like Android. I also mention the cons in case you thought that I caught up in as a child. The first is the need for daily recharging the battery when we use the smartphone normally. The second is the strong heating of the casing during operation. In the role of a radiator HTC One beats iPhone 5, Galaxy SIV and Xperia Z not to mention all Lumias. I did not notice, however, that an excessive amount of heat affect the performance of HTC One.


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

I think that a little more economical operation of the smartphone will extend the battery life to two days - but certainly not more. We can still discuss whether the 32 GB of built-in memory, of which for us there is about 24 GB left, is an amount sufficient to justify the lack of a microSD card slot. It was enough for me, but after each photo-session I had to rip pictures to a computer in order to not run out of memory. A card would solve the problem... And while we're writing about communication with a PC, it runs without a problem. The phone shows up as a mass storage and ready - just drag and drop files. If you want, you can install it from the phone memory HTC Sync Manager, which can help you synchronize your phone with a PC - but it is not essential.

And a few words about music. HTC One plays very well, but the player doesn't have EQ. There is only the Beats Audio mode, which will not work with some musical genres. If you like a Bluetooth headset, the good news would be that HTC One supports aptX codec which will provide better sound with compatible accessories.

The phone has also an FM radio with automatic tuning and RDS, but with an average sensitivity. Even in the city center the reception wasn't crystal clear, and any change in the position of the headphone cable - the antenna – was changing the intensity and noise nuisance.


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

In the role of the phone HTC One reaches the absolute highest level. Excellent sound, comfortable and creative communicator, easy messaging and e-mails - I have no complaints. The loudspeaker - thanks to two speakers - deserves the highest score.

It's time for something more relaxing, the evaluation of photo possibilities of HTC One. The Taiwanese company is trying to prove to us with this model that the number of pixels does not count, but their quality, in fact the size. Increasing their size at the amount of just 4.1 million is to ensure capturing more light, which should be reflected in the quality of shots in low light conditions. And in fact - pictures taken in the dark are good, but it's still not the revelation. The lack of the mechanical shutter key, making it harder to keep motionless frame, which prevents from taking good pictures in low light.

Below you can see some photos taken with HTC One. To see more, as always, I invite to the gallery on the phone card.


Photos from HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

The photos taken in better conditions offer great dedication of colours, sharpness and richness of detail. Problems can be seen only in a very dark and very bright parts of a picture. There, on the larger scale, we see a little bit of noise and loss of detail, especially noticeable with sharp edges of objects. The digital zoom is quite ok. Apart from the obvious loss of detail, there aren't any other defects. Here is a sample of its capabilities:


Zoom in HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

I was expecting a bit better results from UltraPixel technology when shooting in low light. And it's not a revelation. If there is enough light, the picture can be considered good, but now we see the noise, especially along the edges of the recognized objects. But when the light is too low, the noise will appear in the entire frame. You can see that at higher sensitivities the camera copes much worse than in the range up to 400 ISO.
Here are the pictures taken at dusk and at night:


Photos from HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

It is worth noting that despite the high amount of noise it has managed to keep a relatively good colour reproduction. The issue of macro shots looks a little poor. We will catch focus only from a distance greater than 10 centimeters.


Macro photos from HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

As a consolation, we are left with a smooth and quite fast AF operation. It unfortunately does not work properly in the dark. The flash lamp does not want to run in the AF mode, it flashes only when the shutter opens and the AF does not stand a chance to correct the settings, often resulting in a rough frame. Overall, however - it is one of the best cameras in smartphones. In video mode, there are similar concerns, but there is yet another plus – a high dynamic of soundtrack. During recording, you can also perform static images in full resolution (the camera sounds are muted). In the videos listed below you can see the effects of digital zoom and autofocus, and a variable aperture, adjustable with touch (at the end of the video).


Videos from HTC One video: GSMchoice.com via YouTube

Users who like to play with the options, the camera offers quite a bit. First of all – there is a modest package of thematic programmes. These include portraits, night, landscape or text. We also have an HDR mode and pan, as well as the self-timer, and three frame sizes, including square. The following options provide the opportunity to change the exposure, contrast, saturation, sharpness, ISO sensitivity and white balance. There is the possibility of performing serial shots, face and smile detection, as well as geotagging. The camera also has a ZOE mode – it's a short animated scene with audio - something between a static photograph and film, in my opinion - completely unnecessary. The photographic possibilities completes the set of sixteen special effects - I present their work below.


Photos from HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

Finally - a comparison of shots taken in HDR and normal mode.


HDR photos from HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

Thanks to inventive gallery viewing pictures is easier and more enjoyable. It automatically collates our pictures - for example, by location or time of execution, but that's not all. Selected pictures can be displayed as a slide show HTC ZOE with music, and finally – share everything in HTC Share service. The clip is available for 180 days, and we can publish the address on Facebook, Twitter, send an e-mail or SMS. The photo gallery can also display images from external sources, such as our accounts on Facebook and Flickr.

It's time for a little comparison - HTC One will face the queen of photomobiles, Nokia 808 PureView. Are ultrapixsels better than mass of megapixels? Here is a small list of the same frames from both smartphones. When you click on the picture to enlarge the image, and to watch it in original format, I invite to the phone card:

Photos from HTC One
Photos from Nokia 808


Photos from HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com


Photos from Nokia 808 photo: GSMchoice.com


HTC One photo: GSMchoice.com

It's time to sum up. HTC One is a perfectly made and perfectly working smartphone. It has a very successful casing in terms of styling and brilliant display, and also speakers causing that watching movies or playing is at a higher level of enjoyment. The camera and its ultrapixels disappointed me a little, but it does not mean that it takes bad pictures. I just expected something more. Talking about the equipment – the smartphone doesn't have only the memory card slot. On the down side I would note a high heat dissipation even at a modest CPU load average and strong battery life. And the price? Well, difficult case. HTC One is a high-end model, but slightly cheaper than Galaxy SIV, not to mention iPhone. Because it combines most of the advantages of both models, I will say briefly: if Android smartphone, it's just this one! At least for now...