Review: HTC One – Metallic Unibody Slim Chic Smartphone

 

The new HTC One is one pretty chic Android smartphone with its distinctive zero-gap aluminium unibody chassis that not just looks chic but also feels good in your hands. This expensive looking & head turning smartphone is also packed with improved & innovative features based on User Interface, Entertainment, Audio and Camera that let you “Dominate the World” with this smartphone. The new features are set to help improve your lifestyle socially & creatively making it a smartphone that you cannot leave home without. The HTC One will be available in 32GB at S$968 from 13 April 2013, click this link for more details on the launch in Singapore.

 

Design

With detailed design elements on small parts like the volume button, you cannot help but admire and give a detail inspection of the phone when you first hold it in your hands. The metal chassis and frontal stereo speakers have resemblance to the sleek & clean cut an Apple MacBook, but yet it feels so light in the hands at only 143g.

Love the idea that HTC integrated the infra red transmitter to the power button, giving the button a secondary function while keeping the design clean. The flushed Corning Gorilla Glass display from edge to edge on the side is also another distinctive style on the HTC One that differentiates it from other smartphones.

 

 

Performance & Features

Processing performance has been fast and consistent through all premium smartphones these days. HTC One meets this benchmark with outstanding performance, setting a higher benchmark for future HTC premium smartphones. The audio playback on the Dual Frontal Stereo Speakers is loud, sharp and rich, quite impressive and is one of the best speakers on board a smartphone to date. The battery life of the HTC One is capable of continuous video playback for more than 8 hours and can last a full day for normal usage.

Loads of new features are introduced to the HTC One and here are some that we think will be the deciding factor to get a HTC One:

HTC BlinkFeed – A customisable social media and news feed right on the home screen, giving you the latest updates without the need to open up a separate app. See video below for a demo on HTC BlinkFeed

 

 

 

HTC Sense TV – an app with an interactive programme guide together with the infra red transmitter on the HTC One will be the ultimate tv remote control for couch potatoes. Have the latest program listings from StarHub TV, mio TV and MediaCorp Channels right on your palm. See video below on HTC Sense TV

 

 

 

iPhone Syncing made easy – If you are currently an iPhone user the HTC Sync Manager can sync Contacts, Photos, Calendar, Messages & Bookmarks to your new HTC One. So this is another reason for iPhone users to jump ship to HTC. See video below on HTC Sync Manager

 

 

HTC Ultrapixel Camera with HTC Zoe – HTC One camera is ready and is fast enough to capture shots almost instantly and performance under dim lighting condition outshines even some of the best smartphone cameras, like the iPhone 5. Although still a little grainy for the night shots, it is still considered great performance for a mobile phone.

Paired with HTC Zoe, which shoots a 3 second video snippet and 20 burst shots, HTC One allows a variety of post editing options unique to pictures taken with HTC Zoe. Like Always Smile for group shots, Object Removal for the situation when someone walked into the frame or even create a Sequence Shot for a jump into the pool. Touching up of skin tones and adding of filters can be done straight from the camera app without the need to purchase or download additional apps.

 

 

 

Picture Quality: HTC One VS iPhone 5

 

 

The Verdict

The HTC One is a powerhouse Android smartphone with almost no flaws to pick on. Most critics will say that it will be better if the HTC One comes with an expandable memory card slot for extra storage, but if I were you, the 32GB or 64GB built in memory is more than enough. Plus the HTC One looks SO GOOD!!! How would anyone not make HTC One the choice smartphone?

 

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