HTC One X

HTC ONE X REVIEW

HTC’s new One range which also includes the HTC One X aims for the Android heights with slick design, fast NVIDIA processors, greatly enhanced cameras and Beats Audio from the Wonka-esque lab of Dr Dre. The One X looks like a lot of other Android smartphones in that it is dominated by the large touchscreen display, but here the comparisons end. It's white, it's slightly curved, and very sleek and modern looking. The exterior casing is made of polycarbonate and HTC says it's as strong as metal. I'm not putting that claim to the test, but I can say that there wasn't any flexing in the case at all, and the One X seems quite solidly built. The back of the phone is very lightly textured; there isn't any discernable pattern that you can see or feel, but it isn't smooth or slippery and is quite comfortable to hold. Unfortunately that back casing grabs dirt like nobody's business, and I was constantly cleaning it off. It's worse, in my opinion, than a fingerprinted, smudged glossy casing, or maybe it was just so much more obvious because it's white. It's quite portable because it's so thin, and fits comfortably in your pocket. It's a little narrower than some of the giant-screened smartphones I've reviewed over the last few months and it also fits comfortably in my hand. It should also be noted that the phone is not perfectly flat. The camera lens sticks out just a bit on the back, and the top and bottom edges are slightly curved. It won't wobble when you put it down on a desk, but this design is different from all of those "me too" smartphones we've all seen so many times. The One X has a 4.7-inch, 1280 x 720 (720p) Super LCD screen with Gorilla Glass, and it looks gorgeous. Text is crisp and clear, photos are sharp, and videos play well without any ghosting. You won't find any pixels here, no matter how hard you stare, and even the default wallpapers look absolutely stunning. Choose the Lava Flow live wallpaper and you just might think you're actually looking at a lava lamp -- at least until you catch sight of the weather widget, that is. My favorite feature of the screen is the outdoor readability; I find it incredibly frustrating to try and shade the phones I test with my hand, or try turning my back on the sun, etc., just to place a call or read an email. The One X performs exceptionally well outside, no fiddling with the screen brightness required. The One X doesn't have a physical keyboard, so you'll be using the virtual onscreen keyboard, which works quite well. The keys are as large as possible, filling the entire display. Even though the phone is long and narrow and I made a few mistakes when I was "typing" very fast, the word completion fixed everything right up for me automatically, without forcing me to stop and tap the screen to pick the right word. HTC One X generally prefer landscape mode for text entry with virtual keyboards, but I found the narrow screen to be something of a hindrance when coupled with the very large keys on the virtual keyboard. With the keyboard open, you can see only a couple of lines of your message. Also, the space bar is so short that it's hard to reach without really stopping and making sure you hit it instead of the comma or period on the other side. Generally, over-sized keys are a good thing, but there is such a thing as too big. The buttons on the One X are all the same color as the case and are small, sleek, and very low profile. The power button is on the top right corner, and the volume up/down button is on the right side. In my opinion, the buttons are a little too sleek. They're hard to find when you're fumbling for the power button, or turning down a ring that is suddenly too loud in a quiet room, etc. The headphone jack is on the top left corner, and the charge/sync port is on the left side. Underneath the screen on the front you'll find just three buttons instead of the standard four: back, home, and recent apps; there is no menu or search button. The HTC One X has a lot going on under the hood: it runs Android OS 4.0 on a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, and is the first phone that includes HTC's Sense 4 user interface. According to Quadrant, the One X has a benchmark score of 5012, which is quite healthy. I didn't experience any slowdown at all, and no crashes when running apps and using the phone as heavily as possible over the course of a week and a half. HTC One XI've long been a fan of HTC's Sense UI, which makes the entire experience so much richer and smoother -- imagine upgrading to a premium Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar instead of the generic store-brand your cheap roommate buys when it's their turn to do the grocery shopping and you'll understand what I mean. From the app switching interface to the custom widgets you can add to your home screen, Sense 4 makes everything Android better (more on this in the relevant sections below). I do need to make one note about the setup however; in order to prepare the One X for use, you must go through AT&T's Ready2Go setup process, which requires a computer. There's no doubt that the online service makes setting up your new device fast and painless, right down to customizing the home screen, installing apps, and even choosing the news services and other sites you want to bookmark in the mobile browser. But it is rather ironic: it wasn't that long ago that iPhone users were tethered to a computer for initial setup as well! In my testing, the One X performed somewhat disappointingly as a phone, though I lay the blame partly on AT&T as a carrier in my area and partly on the device itself. Test calls came through OK, though certainly not great; one of my test callers complained that I sounded somewhat muffled. That could be considered not such a bad thing, as I was walking next to a busy street when I called him, with trucks whizzing by and a loud construction site on the next block. I don't mind giving up a little voice quality in order to get rid of background noise, though I do expect more than that from HTC. No complaints whatsoever about data speeds, however, according to the Speed Test app I got download speeds from 18082 kbps to 22407 kbps, upload speeds from 7577 kbps to 12493 kbps, and pings from 53 to 63 ms. WiFi and Bluetooth work as expected, and I should also note that the One X is equipped with NFC, but I don't have any way to test the full functionality it offers without another compatible device or service. The email experience was a little strange at first, since there are quite a few differences in Android 4 and Sense 4 verses their predecessors, but after I got oriented, I found it to be delightful. Everything has been streamlined, so it takes just a tap to switch between labels, create a new message, mark a message unread, search your inbox, etc. The new mail widget for the homescreen is easy to use and ensures that you'll never miss an important message, and you won't even have to launch the Gmail app to check. All of the standard Android apps are here, such as Calendar and Contacts, plus Tasks and Notes for your to-dos and memos. They're all perfectly functional, but they're very attractive too, with clear layouts and little extras like integrated weather forecasts at the top of your daily agenda. I appreciate the enhancements added by Sense 4.0, and am glad that they're subtle and useful without changing everything too much (like the Calendar app on the Galaxy Note). A basic calculator app is also included. If it's video you crave, you've got two options: Play Movies, where you'll find the movies that you've rented from the Google Play store and the movies you've taken yourself with the One X camera, and HTC Watch, which is another source for movies and TV shows that requires a separate account. As I mentioned previously, movies do look great on the HTC One X, so you just might find yourself watching a lot more video on the go than you have in the past. The Music app that comes with the One X is more than meets the eye -- it's actually an umbrella-style app that consolidates all of your music-related activities and services into one app. Tap it to launch and you'll see small icons for the music stored locally on your phone, for SoundHound (music identification and lyrics), TuneIn Radio, and MOG Music. You'll have to add Google Play Music manually, but that's just a couple of taps on the menu. After that you can switch from one to the other quickly and painlessly, so you can spend more time enjoying your music and less time fumbling for it. One of the best features of the HTC One X is the camera, and it certainly doesn't disappoint. The phone is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a 1.3 megapixel one on the front. Those specs don't sound terribly exciting at first, since they're similar to many other currently available smartphones, but everything has been so beautifully optimized and designed that the photography experience is far better than I expected. For starters, the camera loads up and lets you start taking photos almost instantly, with barely a hint of a delay -- you won't have to worry about missing a single shot. This is a one day phone, and it might even give nervous types a few extra gray hairs. I found that I was always able to get through a full day, no matter how much emailing, social networking, mapping, and gaming I did. The problem is that the battery meter is like a roller coaster -- you think you're fine most of the ride, until that giant drop right at the end that you weren't expecting. The One X battery meter doesn't move at all for most of the day, much like a stuck fuel gage on an old car. Then it starts dropping precipitously at the end of the day and you start getting warnings that make you think you won't be able to keeping playing your latest gaming obsession for the entire commute home. You'll probably make it (I never entirely ran out of juice), but it is disconcerting to feel like you can't quite trust the battery meter on your phone. One of the most powerful and best phone in the market. After reading reviews and specifications I choose this HTC One X instead of Samsung Galaxy3. Before I heard good things about HTC devices. Now I enjoy using every minutes of this handset.

SPECIFICATION & FEATURES

HTC ONE X PRICE

Price in USA $438

Price in UK £250

Price in EURO €320

Price in PAK Rs.48,000

Price in INDIA Rs.31,290