HTC One X review
RP: SGD 828 - 918
MP: SGD 530 - 590
MP: SGD 530 - 590
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332,911 Rated by :
792 user(s)
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332,911 Rated by :
792 user(s)
The HTC One X has a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 Super LCD display, Tegra 3 quad-core processor, NFC and 32GB of built-in storage
Review On : HTC One X
By Loh Ving Sung
15 June 2012 - With the One smartphones, HTC is changing its strategy from creating a bunch of smartphones to focusing on a few devices and the HTC One X is the flagship that represents that change. It goes into the market with huge contenders such as the Samsung S3 and the Apple iPhone 4S, but it has a few surprises on its own like a 4-plus-1 Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, and a sexy polycarbonate design. So let’s take a look at it, and see if the revamp is able to challenge or even surpass its rivals.
At a glance
+ Great looking design
+ Big, clear screen
+ Powerful specs
- Average camera quality
- No quick camera button
In the Box
- HTC One X
- Travel charger
- USB charger
- 3.5mm jack
Exterior, Controls and Screen
The HTC One X is designed with flagship features in mind, and it starts off with big and bright 4.7-inch screen IPS LCD 2 protected by Gorilla Glass. It has 1280 x 720 pixel resolution and it looks pretty even when we were using it for normal, everything tasks. The 4.7-screen dominates the front of device, and HTC has left a small amount of bezel space, so you will get a full-fledged display.
HTC has touted the One X polycarbonate chassis as both damage resistant and easy to clean. With the white chassis, all you need is a damp cloth and voila, smudges, dirt on the body can be easily cleaned off. We noticed the screen’s smudges are easily wiped off too.
It has a good, solid build and more importantly it looks very good. The phone is a minimalist slab, with three Android capacitive buttons in the front, a power button as well as a 3.5mm jack on top and a volume rocker on the right side of the phone. And when you prop the phone up sideways, you will notice the One X has a slightly curved back.
The chassis is a one-piece design, so the only noticeable gap is microSIM slot. No microSD slot here too, so you have 32GB of Internal memory.
Another thing we like to note of is the haptic feedback of the device - it is very subtle and does just enough to remind that you are controlling the device.
However, the omission of a quick camera button is strange though, especially since HTC played up how powerful the 8-megapixel camera is.
Software, Application and Games
The One X gets Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) treatment and on top of it is HTC’s Sense 4.0 UI. HTC took ICS and gave it a few modifications while promising a much lighter, unobtrusive experience
Sense 4.0 maintains a degree of personalisation as well - called Scenes, which are pre-built homescreens with the corresponding widgets. For example, the Work scene has a travel clock, a calendar that tracks your schedule, and weather etc. The homescreen allow you to create folders.
There is still a medley of resizable HTC widgets you can place on your homescreen, ranging from bookmarks, calculators and clocks. We also like the resizable fonts, so we did not need to squint at the screen while reading.
When you reach the main menu, there is the usual grid layout, where you can sort your apps but you can rearrange them manually. The lockscreen now comes with four shortcuts that you can access without unlocking the phone.
With a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor coupled with 1GB RAM, it is safe to say we did not suffer any lags or Performance problems. Plus if you want more control over your device’s performance, the phone comes with a task manager, where you can close apps or stop all them at once.
Camera, Video and Audio
HTC heavily touted the One X’s camera, and its 8-megapixel imager has plenty of features like continuous shooting, the ability to choose the best shots, ISO and White Balance as well as auto-smile capture. There is also the One X’s party piece, its ability to record 1080p videos and take shots all at the same time. So you will not need to switch modes, and can take picture or recording video as soon you tap the onscreen button.
But it could have benefited from a quick camera button, which would have worked with really well with the camera’s quick shutter speeds. Its camera quality is decent but suffers sometimes from overexposure, same goes to the 1080p video recorder.
There is a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera which is able to record 720p video. Video call quality is slightly unflattering too.
Connectivity
The One X comes with the standard amount of connectivity you would expect from flagship smartphones, including HSPA, EDGE/GPRS and WiFi. The phone supports WiFi hotspot and USB tethering too. There is also DLNA and WiFi Direct for further sharing. There is also support for Near Field Communications (NFC), and will be able to start high-speed transfers with other NFC devices too.
Verdict
Like we said earlier, HTC wants its One series phones to reshape the company’s image as premium device makers. At RM 2099, the One X price will not raise any eyebrows for a flagship phone, but against its chief rivals it is one of the more affordable devices.
It has some good ingredients that make it stand out among its smartphone peers, like its great design and cleaner HTC Sense. The One X does not break new ground like Siri does, but it improves on HTC’s smartphone line while taking Ice Cream Sandwich and doing a little twist on it.
HTC has built a great device here and we think this device is a great start to HTC’s pledge to reboot and redesign their phones.
Conclusion: The One X is up there with the best of them
Editor's rating:
Excellent
