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I've spent over a month with HTC's One X now, which is noticeably longer than what most other reviewers have had with their own units. For this reason I've grown rather attached, yet also distanced to the phone. It's a bit of a love-hate friendship; where it impresses me, it does it well. Where it doesn't the HTC flagship leaves some small but noticeable things to be desired.
It is very easily one of the best looking phones available at the moment with the matte polycarbonate body blending into the second generation Gorilla Glass of the front. It is also durable as well, we’ve stabbed both the back and front of the phone with keys to no lasting effect.
The 130 gram shell feels light in hand yet feels solidly built (even if it is plastic at the end of the day), and apart from the camera lens I don’t think I’ll ever end up scratching it. However, this impressive looking design comes at the expense of something more important – ergonomics. The One X just doesn't feel nice in hand for such a large phone.
The 4.7 inch 720p Super LCD 2 display is hands down the best display I have experienced to date. Viewing angles are class leading and colour reproduction turns the impressive factor up two notches compared against other displays. You won’t be seeing any individual pixels either with a PPI count of 312 and the impressive RGB matrix.
Nvidia’s Tegra 3 chipset in the One X trumps everything we’ve tested to date. While this is something that is bound to be to be eclipsed by the Samsung Galaxy S III, the One X barely skipped a beat, except in some intensive games. This is something that should hopefully be corrected in an upcoming software update.
Speaking of software updates, the One X has received three over the air updates since its launch barely two months ago. HTC are obviously dedicated to offering the best software experience possible – each update has fixed major and widespread bugs. This list includes gaming performance, random stuttering and screen flickering. Granted, these issues shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place but we’ll give HTC the benefit of the doubt for fixing them in an acceptable time frame.
Sense 4.0 is much improved over previous versions and while we still don’t believe that Sense 4.0 is an improvement over stock Android 4.0 – rather an sideways alternative. Perks include a more functional lockscreen, deeper modification and additional application drawer filters are countered by small miscellaneous (yet annoying when they occur daily) bugs and a neutered multitasking experience.
The camera is of a high quality with the 8 MP BSI sensor, and it has some really neat additions such a burst capture thanks to ImageSense. Video capture was also to a high, but not amazing standard.
We found battery life to be mediocre and it isn’t worth writing home about. It’s going to get you through a day of moderate usage, anything more and you’ll find yourself attached to a charger for an extra half an hour a day. Adding to this, heat was a noticeable issue on earlier firmware versions but has appeared to be fixed (possibly at the expense of performance) in recent updates.
Other phones to consider
There is only one true competitor to the HTC One X and that is the Samsung Galaxy S III. The Galaxy has a faster processor, larger (although not as wonderful) display and better battery life to mention a couple of things.
Software Information
Our unit was running Android 4.0.3 with software version 1.29.401.11
Pros
- Unibody body is one of the best designs currently on a phone.
- The display is quite possibly the best out there at the moment.
- The Tegra 3 processor remains the fastest we have seen.
- Sense 4.0 is one of the most functional interfaces for Android.
- HTC are dedicated to software updates.
- 8 MP sensor takes very respectable pictures.
- Strong cellular reception.
Cons
- Doesn’t feel wonderful in hand.
- Sense can be a bit buggy and slow.
- Annoying amount of added applications.
- Tegra 3 performance can be matched by the processor in the mid-range HTC One S.
- Mediocre battery life.
- Non-removable battery.
- Limited to 32 GB storage – no MicroSD slot.
- Camera lens will be prone to scratches.
- Video recording delay.
KitGuru says: Don't get your mind made up by the fact that the cons list is longer than the pros; with all qualities being summed up the HTC One X lives up to its flagship status, and rightly so. The 4.7 inch Super LCD 2 display with its 720p resolution is possibly the finest display out there. HTC's additions to Sense 4.0 have made it an excellent quality OEM skin, yet at times lacks smoothness that so many lust for. The beautiful unibody design while nice to look at doesn’t feel trustworthy enough for full time one handed operation. This unibody design also comes at the expense of a removable battery, and perhaps more importantly, a MicroSD slot.
HTC isn’t quite back at its peak judging the One X, but they’re slowly returning to being the pinnacle of the smartphone world.
wow thats a lot of information for a phone. I need a new one, but had been thinking about an Apple iPhone due to store support. What do you think? bad move?
Looks very nice indeed. never owned an HTC phone before as my friend had one a year ago and it just stopped working for some reason, he got it replaced buyt the battery life was terrible.
Neil, do you mean support in terms of customer/returns or the app store? If you’re in the US then Apple will likely have superior customer support, can’t speak for other regions. If you mean the app store then both iOS and Android are on the same level
Joseph, HTC hasn’t exactly been known for brilliant battery life to be fair! The One X’s battery life is a bit average – especially after getting a Galaxy S III as a comparison
it’s a fantastic phone,wonderful apps,slim style overall excellent telephone sound is beautiful but there’s few points that are difficult to manage so if they’re able to handle that within the software it will likely be great but overall an outstanding phone