HTC One

AsSiMiLaTeD

THis phone came out yesterday and I picked it up on AT&T. I'm not going to do a full review as I've not spent enough time with it and you can find those elsewhere. I will say though that this may be the phone that puts Android back in my hands.

I will admit that Apple has me spoiled at this point, but what can I say, I just love metal and glass! This is the first phone that I've found where I like the hardware look and feel as much as my iPhone, although the HTC 8X came close with that soft touch material. It's not quite as well built as my iPhone, there is one small seam that can be seen but you really need a microscope to find it, I'm seriously nitpicking here and in practical real world terms it's every bit as good as my 5.

The screen is amazing, much better IMO than the AMOLED technology Samsung and others use. I think the blacks are still better on something like the Galaxy S3, but the colors are WAY too saturated and fake looking on that phone. Granted I'm not doing professional photo editing on a phone, but I'd still like my color balance to look at least remotely similar to reality. You really have to see this screen to believe how good it is. The stereo speakers are also surprisingly good, though I doubt I'll be using them much.

The OS is still going to take some getting used to, there are things I like better about it and there are things I like better about iOS. If you're already in Android land this seems like a no-brainer, if you're thinking of converting over it's definitely worth a look. I'm not sure yet if this will replace my iPhone as my daily driver, and I'll be keeping it either way, but it certainly has a great first impression.

monepolk

Thanks for the input. I have an older HTC phone and the only annoying part for me is the MS OS on it. So I've been looking at this and possibly the iphone.

thsmith

A guy at work picked on e up and it is sweet.

AsSiMiLaTeD

monepolk wrote: »

Thanks for the input. I have an older HTC phone and the only annoying part for me is the MS OS on it. So I've been looking at this and possibly the iphone.

Even though both have similar build quality, they really couldn't be more different. To be honest, I'm sorta past letting the OS dictate which phone I get, I mean they can all basically do what I want. Some do some things better than others but none of them is perfect nor deficient enough in a certain area so as to make that a deciding factor for me.

I like the customization and widgets on Android and the platform is much more stable than it used to be, but the few big things I'm giving up are push mail for ALL my accounts, the ability to track my wife's GPS in real time and assist with directions, and a good panoramic camera. Right now I'm calling it an even trade-off, we'll see how much those specific things matter to me when I don't have them over the next few weeks.

It really comes down to hardware for me. On one hand I like the look of the bigger screen on the HTC, but I like the feel of the smaller form of the iPhone. I'm keeping both, but my ultimate preference between those two options will dictate which one I use daily.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Also, I'm really liking Blinkfeed, super handy feature.

jbooker82

I am still rocking my verizon HTC Thunderbolt. Its been a good phone other than the battery life, but I knew about that going in. I am out of my contract and almost bit on the HTC DNA. I have herd rumors that the One might be coming to Verizon in june or so. It might be named different with a few minor changes. They just want to give the dna some time so the people who bought one dont feel cheated by a new better HTC phone released a couple months later.

Syndil

Too large for my tastes. When I was forced to abandon Sprint (and my precious Palm Pixi with it) I moved to the smallest, thinnest Android phone I could find, which was the HTC One V on Virgin Mobile. Still absolutely love the Palm Pixi and even with Swiftkey on the HTC One V I absolutely despise not having a hardware keyboard. I guess my tastes are just the opposite of the prevailing trend towards large-screen, keyboardless devices.

But, if anyone can take advantage of this $100 offer they gave me for pre-registering for an HTC One, feel free. PM me for the promo code.

Scratch that, looks like you can still pre-register for yourself:

http://www.htc.com/ca/smartphones/htc-one/signup

WLDock

I may have to check this one out. My HTC Sensation 4G has served me well.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I've got the phone configured like I want now and have spent enough time with it to provide some more thoughts.

First, IMO this is the best Android phone on the market. There are phones that are better in certain areas, but this is the all around best phone for me.

- I like the fact that the Nexus 4 runs stock Android and I really like the improvements in 4.2.2, but the glass construction is sooooo 2010 (feels nice but is fragile and prone to scratching like the iPhone 4), there's no LTE (dumb), the camera is meh, and the dsplay isn't great at only 720P on such a large screen. Also the max size of 16GB is a deal breaker for me, though may not matter for others. Obviously the Nexus 4 is cheaper if you're not wanting a contract, so it may be a better value, but it's not as good of a phone.
- I think the Samsung Galaxy S3 (and S4 to come) have some better software tweaks, and the folks at Samsung are generally more creative and intuitive with software features. However, I think they're very bad with hardware and specifically product design and feel, I hate the el cheapo plastic construction and feel of their phones, they charge the same price as everyone else for their phones there's no reason they can't put a little effort into design and halfway decent materials. I also dislike their display technology, great blacks but horrible color reproduction, every time I use that phone I feel like I'm in TRON! If you can live with the construction and display though, I think the software tweaks are great.
- The Motorola Maxx has great battery life, but really none of the Moto phones are comparable with these higher end phones.

With the HTC One, you get a great compromise IMO.

- You get great build quality and premium materials
- You get a great screen, the best on any Android phone IMO and once you factor in size maybe the best on any phone period.
- You get super fast performance, the S4 will likely match or surpass the performance of the One but right now it's the fastest, and there is ZERO lag anywhere in the OS (something I've never been able to say about any Android phone in the past)
- You get a great camera, in low light it's the best I've ever seen on a phone and in sunlight it's still very good. Others like the Nokia 920 have more MP and will give better results in sunlight, but I think HTC believes that more cell phone photos are taken in low light and have designed their camera for that.
- You get a software package that's good enough to get the job done, even if it does lack some of the creativity and features of the Samsung UI. Keep in mind though that the OS is entirely subjective, some people may actually prefer HTC's Sense over Touchwiz.

I still think my perfect Android phone has yet to be created, but it would essentially be the HTC One running stock Android 4.2.2 or Samsung's Touchwiz.

So yes, I really really like One.

All that being said, I'm still not sure that it's going to replace the iPhone as my daily driver. I'm going to take both on the Hawaii trip for 10 days and make my decision after that. I said a few posts back that software wasn't really going to play a major role in my decision because both phones basically do what I want, and I may have spoken too soon. For anyone still following along, here's a breakdown of each:

Equal (here I find both devices to be the same):
- Build Quality
- Display Quality
- Call Quality
- Phone Speed
- Data Speed

HTC One Advantages:
- Display size, I love the larger screen size, just makes consumption of everything that much better
- Blinkfeed, having all my content and news right there on the front screen without having to launch Pulse or other applications is great
- Widgets (obviously), having my weather and stock widgets right on the screen is nice and convenient
- Settings in the notification pull down is great, I had to install an app to get it but totally worth it
- Direct Dial icons, I have home screen full of them and love being able to call people without going into the phone app
- LED Notification on the front is very nice
- Stereo speakers on this phone are better by an order of magnitude than any other phone out there
- Did I mention the display size?

iPhone 5 advantages:
- Phone size, it seems contrary to the first point above, but I much prefer the smaller phone size, what I really want is a 4" iPhone with a 5" display!
- Having one email client and getting push for ALL my email accounts (iCloud, GMail and Hotmail)
- Having two map apps, Google is better overall than Apple maps, but there are instances where the opposite has been true for me, and having BOTH applications is great
- Find my Friends, my wife and mom are terrible with directions and when they get lost I can just pull them up and see where they're at and provide assistance, seems minor but has been a help on numerous occasions
- Photo Stream, I like the fact that photos taken on my phone are not only available to my other devices (iPad, computer, etc) but that they get backed up automatically
- Location based reminders, I set reminders all the time like "remind me to call my dad when I get home" and it pops up the reminder when I walk in the door
- iMovie, there are alternatives to iPhoto on Android (hell, there are alternatives even on iOS that are better), but I haven't yet found a video editing app I like as much as iMovie, maybe just because I'm so familiar with it at this point
- GarageBand, same as above
- iTunes Match
- This one may sound totally dumb but hear me out. When I I turn off the iPhone or it automatically locks the screen after a certain amount of time, I have it set so that if I immediately (in less than one minute) unlock the screen again I don't have to enter my password again, and I can change that amount of time. It seems minor, but I do that all the time where I remember I forgot to look something up and immediately pull the phone back out. I'm not finding that option on the HTC and have never seen it on any other Android phone either
- Here's another seemingly dumb one, but I have my phone set to flash the camera LED on the back when I get a text email or call, and I have a clear case on my phone so when that happens my whole phone lights up. I love it! I'm sure a clear case will come out for the One, but don't see the option for the rear camera LED on notifications
- iCloud backup. It looks like Google has something similar and my phone is set to automatically back itself up, but I have MUCH more control on the iSO side. On the HTC I get an on/off switch and choose which account to backup to and that's it, on the iPhone can select which apps and data to backup, see when my last backup was, manually back the phone up, etc...I don't see any of that on the Android phone. After iCloud saved my **** last week and I was able to restore a specific backup I'm very nervous about the implementation on the HTC.

I'm fully aware though that many of the iPhone advantages may be things I just haven't found yet on the HTC, so that's why I haven't made up my mind yet. The way things stand now I'd end up using the iPhone as my daily driver and the HTC only for development, but I want to give myself time to either a) discover more advantages of the HTC and/or b) find things on the HTC that will fill the iPhone advantage gaps.

Actually, any help anyone can provide in closing the gaps would be great.

Drenis

It sounds like you don't use your phone primarily for communications. What do you use your phone for?

Everything can be hosted on the cloud now, it makes choosing a phone much easier. They can ALL entertain and do media very well in their own ways. For me, it came down to what was the best phone for communications.

I still haven't graduated to the "Anything less than 4.5" is too small crowd". Also some of the tweaks and things you suggested should be available as a third party app, no? Some features you list are native on my platform or very easy to acquire through third party.

With saying that, the HTC One is smexy. I'd rock it over a Galaxy SIII any day if I jumped to Android.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Drenis wrote: »

Itand maybe unds like you don't use your phone primarily for communications. What do you use your phone for?

Everything can be hosted on the cloud now, it makes choosing a phone much easier. They can ALL entertain and do media very well in their own ways. For me, it came down to what was the best phone for communications.

I still haven't graduated to the "Anything less than 4.5" is too small crowd". Also some of the tweaks and things you suggested should be available as a third party app, no? Some features you list are native on my platform or very easy to acquire through third party.

With saying that, the HTC One is smexy. I'd rock it over a Galaxy SIII any day if I jumped to Android.

My phone is about 10% talk, 40% text and IM, 40% web and email, and maybe 10% video

AsSiMiLaTeD

Drenis wrote: »

Everything can be hosted on the cloud now, it makes choosing a phone much easier. They can ALL entertain and do media very well in their own ways. For me, it came down to what was the best phone for communications.

Also some of the tweaks and things you suggested should be available as a third party app, no? Some features you list are native on my platform or very easy to acquire through third party.

Two more things:
First, I'm curious what platform you're on how you find it better for communications?
Second, I'd agree and hope that some third party apps can close some of the gaps, which is why I asked for help there.

I actually want the HTC to be my daily driver because I like the larger size, so any of that functionality I can get is great.

Drenis

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

My phone is about 10% talk, 40% text and IM, 40% web and email, and maybe 10% video

Your use is like mine except I use more communication via texting, IM, email, etc than you and. Maybe 5% video and 20% web.

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Two more things:
First, I'm curious what platform you're on how you find it better for communications?
Second, I'd agree and hope that some third party apps can close some of the gaps, which is why I asked for help there.

I actually want the HTC to be my daily driver because I like the larger size, so any of that functionality I can get is great.

I'm on the new Blackberry 10 platform and have been using a Z10 since Feb 5.

The new platform is really built for communication and it's been honestly the best device I've used for staying connected be it socially or through text, email. The "Hub" is genius and essential if you do a lot of in/out of apps in order to communicate. I like having control of what I want in my universal unified inbox. I can compose, forward, attach, do anything all without having to use any additional apps. I use a iPhone 4S for work and I use that for mass phone calls, texts and pictures for documentation. Everything I can do on the iPhone I can do at the minimum, 2x faster on the BB10 platform.

And while BB (Blackberry) is a cruel name to speak of in the states, it's nothing like the old platform. There was a learning curve for even me and I came from a BB 7 device. I wanted to get into a Windows Phone or Android device, but this new platform was not what I was expecting. Honestly, it comes down to what you like. After being in the Security industry for over 7 years, I can't see myself on a Android device. It's geeky as hell but I don't care for the OS. I'm just glad there is competition and something for everybody.

The only thing the phone wont do is control my Squeezebox! (yet)

AsSiMiLaTeD

The AT&T version comes with a sim removal tool, easy enough to use.

WLDock

Nice review and feedback. Given all the money I will have to pay to get a new phone, this seems like a better buy over the SIII. Like I stated, my HTC Sensation has been a very nice phone for the last 2 years. I got the phone free on a T-Mobile classic plan. Now, That the price of phones have gone up to the $550-$650 range and we have to pay full price, it's tough to decide which to get. This phone just seems like a little better build over the the SIII...IMO, which should be $450 all day...but....:rolleyes:

Anyway, I think I might get this phone after checking it out for myself.

seeclear

My android phone (Razr Maxx) auromatically backs up my photos with dropbox. I then have access to them via my computer, etc. PM me your email if you want a referral to dropbox, I get extra storage if you sign up from my referral.

Drenis

seeclear wrote: »

My android phone (Razr Maxx) auromatically backs up my photos with dropbox. I then have access to them via my computer, etc. PM me your email if you want a referral to dropbox, I get extra storage if you sign up from my referral.

Lol... every phone can do this.

kuntasensei

Yeah, it really does come down to which "feels" better now, since most of the common features are ubiquitous now. HTC has put out some damn sexy hardware lately though, and the One looks really slick. I'm using the 8X and couldn't be happier with it.

zingo

Thanks for the review, and I've heard nothing but good reviews so far on this phone.