HTC’s flagship new phone is big and beautiful – but at £35 a month or more on a two-year contract, it’s aiming to compete with top of the range handsets from Samsung and Apple and it needs to impress.
Even before you’ve turned the device on, it does. A scratch-resistant ‘Gorilla Glass’ 4.7” screen runs seemingly over the edges of a matt plastic back, and the 130g device is just 8.9mm thick. Switched on, the screen is the best currently available on an Android device and arguably even better than the iPhone. Colours are warm and images are sharp.
Key to using the phone, however, is the software rather than the hardware: so the fact that the One X has a processor that’s also faster than any other currently on the market is somewhat academic. Indeed, fast as the device is the main noticeable impact of that technology is its detrimental effect on battery life – heavy smartphone users will need to charge this during the day, perhaps even more so than the X’s rivals.
Of the features that stand out, however, first is the device’s excellent camera, which takes some of the sharpest images I’ve yet seen on any mobile phone and also offers easy editing features. Second is the integration with online storage system Dropbox – 25gb come free for two years, so you can store all your music, documents and photos without fear of ever losing them again. This may not be innovative but it’s certainly impressive and useful.
In a way, however, it’s the smaller features that make the One X so impressive – it runs the latest version of Google’s operating system, called Ice Cream Sandwich, but it’s been enhanced by HTC’s newly streamlined Sense interface. So Google offers users the chance to reject an incoming phone call and simultaneously send a text message saying ‘I’ll call you right back’. HTC adds an automatic reminder to actually do so. Users who also purchase the driving kit will find that the phone is the best satnav they’re likely to have used, thanks to big on screen buttons and live traffic information. Again, not innovative but beautifully done.
Clever additional touches include building in a host of widgets, to add contacts, social media feeds or just simple access to document editing. There are even apps to turn your phone into a mirror or a torch, as well as excellent audio from Beats.
Is the One X as instantly intuitive as an iPhone? No. But does it offer more power and more possibilities? Yes. It’s the first phone of its generation and as such it’s the phone I’d buy right now because it's (arguably) the best phone on the market. It remains to be seen how long that will be the case, but it’s more than likely to hold its own against the coming competition.
HTC One X Specifications
Dimensions (mm)
134.36 x 69.9 x 9.29
Weight (g)
130
TouchScreen
1280 x 720 HD resolution
Processor
1.5 GHz quad core
Screensize (inches)
4.7
RAM
1GB
Internal memory
Up to 28GB
Operating system
Android 4.0 with HTC Sense 4.0