HTC One X review:
HTC One X - Design and Features
After a few years churning out a whole host of handsets, HTC has tightened-up its lineup, with just three Android models arriving in the coming few months. The first to arrive, and the top of the line, is the HTC One X, which packs in a 4.7in HD screen, 8-megapixel camera and quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor.Available for pre-order now from most providers and hitting shop shelves on April 5, the HTC One X will you set you back £459 SIM free or can be had for free on £36 a month, 24-month contracts and upwards.
Our Score
9/10
User Score
Pros
- Stunning HD screen
- Superfast quad core processor
- Excellent 8MP camera
- Android 4.0 is a great OS
Cons
- Grey finish is a bit dull
- Camera has no shutter button and is 'only' 8MP
- A few silly ergonomics slip ups
- No removable storage (microSD)
Key Features: 4.7in, 720 x 1280 pixel display;
32GB storage;
Quad Core 1.5GHz CPU - Tegra 3;
8 megapixel camera;
25GB of dropbox storage for free
Manufacturer: HTC
HTC One X - Design and Features
After a few years churning out a whole host of handsets, HTC
has tightened-up its lineup, with just three Android models arriving in
the coming few months. The first to arrive, and the top of the line, is
the HTC One X, which packs in a 4.7in HD screen, 8-megapixel camera and
quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor.
Available for pre-order now from most providers and hitting shop shelves on April 5, the HTC One X will you set you back £459 SIM free or can be had for free on £36 a month, 24-month contracts and upwards.
Design and Features
We were sent the grey version of the HTC One X for review and upon taking it out its box our first impression was one of slight disappointment. When we first saw HTC's handset, it was in its white livery and we thought it looked great, feeling it resembled an oversized Nokia Lumia 800 – the best looking phone currently on the market in our humble opinion. However, the look hasn't transferred well to this grey finish.
It falls down in two ways. The first is simply that grey isn't a particularly inspiring choice of colour, even given the nice matt finish used on most of the handset. The second is the shiny strip HTC have chosen to run round the edge. Without this the HTC One X could've passed as maybe having a sand blasted anodised metal finish, and looked a bit more premium because of it, but the shiny strip just screams "I'm plastic".
Let's be clear, the HTC One X isn't an ugly phone. The clean overall styling looks great and certainly surpasses the recent Sony Xperia S, but we just can't get past that grey back. Thankfully you should be able to opt for the white version instead, which carries off the look much better.
Style isn't, however, the only area where the HTC One X trips up. For a start, the back isn't removable so you can't easily swap the battery. Then there's the lack of expandable memory – you get 32GB built-in, which should be plenty, but some users will still want the option of adding in an microSD card to their HTC.
Another bugbear we have with the HTC One X, particularly on these larger phones (dimensions are 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm), is the continual use of a top-edge-mounted power button. It's simply too much of a stretch for comfortable one handed use. The Samsung Galaxy S2, for instance, got things spot on when it put this button on the right edge where it falls easily under your thumb/finger. At 130g it is at least surprisingly lightweight.
Fret not, though. While this may read like a catalogue of critical errors for the HTC One X, most are merely small niggles that simply leave the design door slightly ajar, ready for another upcoming phone – say the Samsung Galaxy S3 – to sneak in and become our top smartphone pick, assuming it gets the rest of the basics right. Currently, though, there's nothing else that can match what the HTC One X offers.
Connectivity
First though, let's finish looking round the HTC One X's exterior. On the left edge is the microUSB (MHL) socket used for charging, connecting to your computer, and with an appropriate cable it can connect to your TVs HDMI input. Meanwhile the right is home to the volume rocker, which is also glossy grey plastic, rather than the usual chrome we expect of HTC. As for the headphone jack, HTC have placed it up top, and the metal SIM slot – which takes microSIMs – pops out with the push of a paperclip just like the iPhone.
On the back, alongside the Beats Audio and HTC logo are a quintet of metal dots. These are contacts that are used for charging and data transfer when the phone is docked in the various compatible accessories. These include a simple desktop dock that holds the HTC One X horizontally and there's also a set of car accessories that includes a dash mounted dock, a screen-visor-mounted Bluetooth mic/speaker and wireless receiver to plug into your stereo for playing back your music.
Under the HTC's screen are the three navigation buttons, which although touch sensitive, are not part of the main touchscreen. This breaks somewhat with Google's rules, as it wanted to promote moving to completely virtual touch buttons, but most manufacturers have implemented separate buttons. The ones on the HTC are responsive and easy to use.
Available for pre-order now from most providers and hitting shop shelves on April 5, the HTC One X will you set you back £459 SIM free or can be had for free on £36 a month, 24-month contracts and upwards.
Design and Features
We were sent the grey version of the HTC One X for review and upon taking it out its box our first impression was one of slight disappointment. When we first saw HTC's handset, it was in its white livery and we thought it looked great, feeling it resembled an oversized Nokia Lumia 800 – the best looking phone currently on the market in our humble opinion. However, the look hasn't transferred well to this grey finish.
It falls down in two ways. The first is simply that grey isn't a particularly inspiring choice of colour, even given the nice matt finish used on most of the handset. The second is the shiny strip HTC have chosen to run round the edge. Without this the HTC One X could've passed as maybe having a sand blasted anodised metal finish, and looked a bit more premium because of it, but the shiny strip just screams "I'm plastic".
Let's be clear, the HTC One X isn't an ugly phone. The clean overall styling looks great and certainly surpasses the recent Sony Xperia S, but we just can't get past that grey back. Thankfully you should be able to opt for the white version instead, which carries off the look much better.
Style isn't, however, the only area where the HTC One X trips up. For a start, the back isn't removable so you can't easily swap the battery. Then there's the lack of expandable memory – you get 32GB built-in, which should be plenty, but some users will still want the option of adding in an microSD card to their HTC.
Another bugbear we have with the HTC One X, particularly on these larger phones (dimensions are 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm), is the continual use of a top-edge-mounted power button. It's simply too much of a stretch for comfortable one handed use. The Samsung Galaxy S2, for instance, got things spot on when it put this button on the right edge where it falls easily under your thumb/finger. At 130g it is at least surprisingly lightweight.
Fret not, though. While this may read like a catalogue of critical errors for the HTC One X, most are merely small niggles that simply leave the design door slightly ajar, ready for another upcoming phone – say the Samsung Galaxy S3 – to sneak in and become our top smartphone pick, assuming it gets the rest of the basics right. Currently, though, there's nothing else that can match what the HTC One X offers.
Connectivity
First though, let's finish looking round the HTC One X's exterior. On the left edge is the microUSB (MHL) socket used for charging, connecting to your computer, and with an appropriate cable it can connect to your TVs HDMI input. Meanwhile the right is home to the volume rocker, which is also glossy grey plastic, rather than the usual chrome we expect of HTC. As for the headphone jack, HTC have placed it up top, and the metal SIM slot – which takes microSIMs – pops out with the push of a paperclip just like the iPhone.
On the back, alongside the Beats Audio and HTC logo are a quintet of metal dots. These are contacts that are used for charging and data transfer when the phone is docked in the various compatible accessories. These include a simple desktop dock that holds the HTC One X horizontally and there's also a set of car accessories that includes a dash mounted dock, a screen-visor-mounted Bluetooth mic/speaker and wireless receiver to plug into your stereo for playing back your music.
Under the HTC's screen are the three navigation buttons, which although touch sensitive, are not part of the main touchscreen. This breaks somewhat with Google's rules, as it wanted to promote moving to completely virtual touch buttons, but most manufacturers have implemented separate buttons. The ones on the HTC are responsive and easy to use.
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Brace yourself for lightning-fast web browsing, remarkable picture quality and seamless gaming visuals thanks to the powerful quad-core processor. You’ll love the minimalist design and the camera that captures every moment (even in low light) with crisp, vivid, beautiful photos. It also lets you take a photo while shooting HD video.
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