Over the last six years, I have been an avid HTC fan.  My first smartphone was the HTC Cingular 2125, running Windows Mobile 5.0 and after that I owned a Tilt, Fuze, Aria, and currently an Inspire.  Ever since the rumors of the new HTC Flagship phone started circling the internet, I have been waiting for this device. Ever since it was announced at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona back in February, I have been anxious to see the device in person.  That day is here and I finally have my hands on it.

Tech Specs

• Screen: 4.7 inch (1280 x 720 HD resolution) with Corning Gorilla Glass
• 4G LTE/HSPA+ network connectivity
• Qualcomm S4 Snapdragon 1.5 GHz Dual Core processor
• Android™ 4.0 with HTC Sense™ 4.0
• 8MP Camera with Image Sense, dedicated image processor, and LED Flash
• 1.3 MP Front Facing Camera
• Storage:  16GB internal
• RAM:  1 GB
• Battery:  1800 mAh (embedded)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• NFC Support
• Beats Audio (Sound Enhancement)

First Impressions

The first thing you will notice about the One X is its unique construction that sets HTC apart from other Android OEMs when it comes to build quality.  Like the Nokia Lumia 900, the HTC One X is has a polycarbonate unibody housing.  It is also .36 inches thick, which is slightly thinner than the iPhone 4S, and the 1280 x 720 HD resolution produces an image that puts most other displays to shame.   The redesigned HTC Sense 4.0 uses a similar lockscreen to the previous Sense 3.x versions allowing you to either pull the ring up to unlock the phone or drag an app into the ring to launch that app.  The new launcher (homescreen) is much cleaner than previous versions, and the dock at the bottom of the screen is now customizable, rather than simply being a shortcut to the app drawer and phone dialer.

In Use

After some time using the device, I realized how fast the device really is, applications launch as soon as you lift your finger off of the screen.  Animations are smooth, not choppy like some devices running previous versions of HTC Sense.  The web browsing experience on the HTC One X is better than any device I have used in the past, pages load quickly and scrolling around the page is extremely fluid.  LTE connectivity allows for fast download and upload speeds so you can load web pages quickly, stream music and videos, and upload pictures and videos in a snap.  System-wide Beats Audio Integration delivers audio the way it was meant to be heard and within any application on the device so you can use it with your favorite apps from the Google Play Store, such as Spotify, Youtube, MOG and Google Play Music.  Unfortunately, it is only active when using headphones, and the device did not come with a pair of Beats Audio headphones, but it does make the headphones that I own sound much better when it is active.  The 4.7 inch 1280 x 720 display is perfect for watching movies and videos on the go since you actually get to experience things in high definition, instead of just “high quality” or what ever words a company wants to throw out to describe the screen on their device.  The screen on the One X also has a very wide viewing angle, which means you should be able to see the screen from pretty much any angle.

The One X’s 8 Megapixel camera, with an F/2.0 aperture and 28mm lens and dedicated image chip, provides the best pictures that I have ever seen from a smartphone’s camera.  The camera also records HD video in 1080p and allows you to take pictures while recording video, so you don’t have to choose if you want pictures or video of a special occasion.  It is also possible to take pictures from the video during playback.  The 1.3 MP front facing camera allows for video chat in 720p.  The One X also supports NFC (Near Field Communication) which allows you transmit data to other devices just by setting them in range of each other without pairing the devices together.   The One X’s 1800 mAh battery should be enough to get you through the day, but unfortunately, since it is sealed in the device, you can’t just put another battery in and keep going; you will have to find a charger.  Also, another down side is the device only has 16 GB of internal storage and there is no microSD card slot to increase storage capacity.

Recap

While some people may complain about the One X only being available with 16GB of internal storage, I find that 16 GB of storage is  plenty with all the Music services available to let you stream music to your phone.  HTC does offer One X owners 23 GB storage to  of storage free for 2 years for pictures and other items, on top of the free 2GB that Dropbox offers, giving you a total of 25GB of storage. You can also set to Dropbox to automatically upload pictures and videos to the cloud.  Don’t worry you can set it to upload over wifi-only to avoid data overages from the inevitable abuse of the camera’s rapid-fire feature.

With its amazing screen and powerful hardware under the hood, the HTC One X packs beauty and power into a slim and smooth form factor.  Overall the HTC One X is a well built device and can handle pretty much anything you could throw at it without a problem.  The international version of the device has a Quad Core Tegra 3 processor, but unfortunately the Tegra 3 does not support LTE.  I found the dual core Snapdragon processor to be fast enough for everything I do with an Android smartphone, so for me having the LTE connectivity, in markets where it is available, is a huge plus.

The HTC One X will be available from AT&T on May 6th for $199.99 when signing a 2 year commitment.

Check back soon for more on the HTC One X

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