HTC One: the best smartphone of the year?

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: