HTC One review To rule them all

Sunday, May 26, 2013

HTC One review To rule them all

Introduction

Voted Manufacturer of the Year in 2011 by the GSMA and emerging as the top US smartphone vendor later that year, HTC hit a rough patch and was struggling to find form through the better part of 2012. Complacency, fatigue, or something else - we dont even want to think arrogance - the company somehow forgot that even great products, which the One X and One S certainly were, need proper support and marketing to sell.

HTC One official photos

At the speed smartphones are evolving, a bad year can cause all sorts of trouble and HTC had to learn it the hard way. Fortunately, the financial trouble seems to have had no impact on the companys ability to produce excellent smartphones, as the HTC One is here to prove.

Arguably one of the most exciting pieces of smartphone design in recent times, the HTC One is also properly powered and flaunts a screen that should please even the most demanding eyes. It also brings an overdue redesign of the Sense UI and a new camera that takes a completely new approach to mobile photography.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 3G with HSPA; LTE
4.7" 16M-color 1080p Super LCD3 capacitive touchscreen with 469ppi pixel density
Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sense UI 5.0
Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 320 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset
4 MP autofocus "Ultrapixel" camera with 1/3 sensor size, 2Âµm pixel size; LED flash
1080p video recording @ 30fps with HDR mode, continuous autofocus and stereo sound
HTC Zoe
2.1 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA; Wireless TV out
GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
32/64GB of built-in storage
MHL-enabled microUSB port
Bluetooth v4.0
NFC
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Accelerometer and proximity sensor
Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
Aluminum unibody
Front-mounted stereo speakers with BoomSound tech
Class-leading audio output

Main disadvantages

4MP camera has disappointing performance in good lighting conditions
Non-expandable storage
Awkwardly-placed and uncomfortable power button
Sense UI still lacks connectivity toggles in notification area
Non user-replaceable battery
Poor video and audio codec support out of box

The One is a tempting package indeed and even though it will take HTC a while to get out of the slump, this is certainly a confident step in the right direction. With proven performers in both the computing and screen departments, its only the low camera resolution that will potentially raise doubt. HTC say the extra-large "ultrapixels" are worth the sacrifice though, and we are as keen as you are to find out if that claim is justified.

HTC One studio shots

With a spec sheet like that, the One has nothing to fear when it takes on the likes of the Xperia Z and the Galaxy S4 in the battle for the ultimate flagship. Heres hoping that it delivers on the promises in real-life performance.

As the tradition goes, we start with the unboxing and hardware checkup right after the break.

Sense UI 5 centered on BlinkFeed

The HTC One runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, but more importantly it comes with the latest version of Sense UI, 5.0. Much like Samsung, HTC prefers to add its own exclusive features to Android, instead of marching to Googles drum.

Heres a quick overview of the HTC One interface:

The lockscreen looks different but it is unchanged in terms of functionality. Theres a clock, weather info and four (not five) shortcut slots. You can put a folder instead of an app shortcut if you need more than four apps accessible right from the lockscreen. Missed calls and incoming messages are duly displayed too of course.

Theres no way to change lockscreen shortcuts independently from the ones docked on the homescreen. Many users may find that inconvenient - LG and Samsung both let you do that.

The new lockscreen has no new functionality

The homescreen is quite different, however. The leftmost pane is called BlinkFeed and looks quite a bit like Flipboard. It aggregates posts from your social networks and stories from over a thousand news sources. You can pick what topics youre interested in and BlinkFeed will automatically pull relevant content. You can also search for specific content.

BlinkFeed is the default homescreen pane

Youre not stuck with BlinkFeed if you dont like it - the rest of the homescreen panes are the standard type with shortcuts and widgets and you can set one of them to the be default one (the one you get to when you tap Home). You cant remove the BlinkFeed panel altogether, though.

BlinkFeed options • Posting

If you have social network accounts linked, you can post on them straight from BlinkFeed, including sharing stories that youve come across on the feed.

Overall, BlinkFeed feels similar to a Flipboard widget, except that its not a widget, which lets it function better by getting extra gestures. On the other hand a widget would have been easy to move across homescreen panes, delete and even resize, so you can combine it with shortcuts or other widgets on the same pane.

Getting rid of the dedicated Menu button is perhaps emerging as a trend in Android - a button in the app interface itself was the Nexus 4s approach, later adopted by the HTC One X and now by the HTC One too, which doesnt have a Menu key at all. In the BlinkFeed and the app drawer for example, a hidden bar with settings appears when you swipe down on the screen. It works pretty nicely and gives you extra functionality without wasting any screen estate.

Swiping down reveals a menu bar with options

Its an interesting addition considering Android isnt too fond of gestures, especially compared to something like the BlackBerry OS 10. But apps will need to specifically support this and most apps will still have a menu button integrated into their UI. Older apps that rely on a dedicated Menu key (be it physical or on-screen) run with a black bar at the bottom just for an on-screen Menu key (not many of those left, but it happens).

The hidden bar

The notification area is one aspect of the interface where the HTC Sense has been behind the curve for a long time now. Sense 4 didnt offer dedicated power toggles in the pull-down - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile Data, and the likes - and Sense 5 does nothing about that either.You get notifications, the clock and date, a Power Saver toggle and a shortcut to go into the settings menu and thats that.

The notification area

Beyond what we just listed, Sense UI 5 feels very similar to its predecessor. You get up to four homescreen panes to fill with shortcuts and widgets (the fifth is reserved for BlinkFeed). Upon a pinch zoom, the enabled homescreen panes are displayed in the top one third of the screen, the rest available to the interface for adding widgets and shortcuts.

Widgets are pulled out of a dedicated container and are not displayed in the app drawer, which we find to be the more intuitive approach. Another notable difference from Samsung TouchWiz and the LG Optimus UI is that the HTC Ones homescreen panes cannot be scrolled in a loop. It seems, HTC cannot quite decide on a permanent solution - the Butterfly had circular scrolling enabled.

BlinkFeed aside, the homescreen is pretty standard

In the homescreen management interface, you can set any of the panes as default - including the BlinkFeed.

Managing the homescreen

As for the app drawer itself, the default layout is a 3 x 4 grid of icons, which does not make best use of the large, high-res screen. The icons arent even bigger than usual, they just have plenty of padding. Luckily, you can switch to a 4 x 5 grid. Its an Apple-style vertically scrollable list with an auto-hiding scroll bar on the right, indicating the number of "pages" the list of apps extends across. Thats it, no extra tabs for widgets or recent downloads.

A 3 x 4 and 4 x 5 grid for the app drawer

The sorting options (alphabetical, custom and chronological) are available on a hidden toolbar that shows upon a swipe down in the top page of the app drawer. It has shortcuts as well to the Google Play Store and Search, and lets you manage apps and select grid size.

Sorting options

HTC has done well to remodel the task switching interface - recent apps are now displayed in a 3 x 3 grid of thumbnails, which makes way better use of all the available screen size and resolution. Its a single screen that cannot be scrolled, so nine of the most recently used apps is the most you can get. To terminate apps you have to swipe up or down (not left or right). The task switcher launches upon a double tap of the Home button.

Task switcher

The settings menu isnt dramatically changed in the latest Sense. It has the same design but the app icons and toggles have been redone. Everything is where youd expect it to be.

The settings menu

Wallpapers, lockscreen style, ringtones, notification sounds and alarms can be customized straight from here.

Theres a choice between several lockscreen styles, including Photo Album, Productivity and Music. You can opt for just a plain wallpaper, or No Lockscreen at all.

The Productivity lockscreen lists the latest missed calls, texts, emails and scheduled events. Music puts a mini music player on the lockscreen. You can preview the available lockscreens and enable the one you choose.

Personalize menu

The HTC One comes with a dedicated Car mode screen, which has been styled to look like the rest of the interface. There are only five big controls besides the clock and weather info. Theres music info too, which takes a whole row by itself, along with shortcuts to Navigation, Dialer, the Music player (again) and for Voice commands.

Car mode

The app can be set to automatically launch when you put the phone in the car dock and connect to the car Audio over Bluetooth. Theres also an option to resume playback of the music player or radio when the Car mode app launches, for an uninterrupted listening experience.

Theres an interesting option in the phones Security settings, borrowed from Windows Phone 8. Its called Kid mode and is actually an app that lets you set up a profile for each of your kids, with a photo and birthdate and pick which apps they can have access to. One annoying bit is that to enable Kid mode the first time around, you need to sign up via email.

The app also comes with premium features and you can pretty much get it on any other Android smartphone running Froyo and up.

HTC usually includes an app to help you switch from your old phone by transferring the important data, and on the HTC One its been updated. It can transfer data from an old HTC phone or an Android from a different maker (v2.3 Gingerbread and above), a Windows Phone, a BlackBerry an iPhone or even some featurephones.

Transferring your data from your old phone to the HTC One is easy

The switch from an iPhone is pretty easy - the One can even read the data off an iPhone backup file, so even if youve lost or sold your iPhone, youd still be able to copy all your contacts and personal files easily.

Camera features and UltraPixels

The HTC One comes with a camera thats unique in the smartphone world. Its only the second smartphone to feature optical stabilization and its the first to use a new design which involves photosites that are three times as big as those on a 12MP size. However, since the sensor is equally sized to a 12MP sensor, it only gets to capture a third of the resolution. In HTC marketing talk these larger photosites are calls UltraPixels.

The ultrapixels are bigger than you would get on all other current cameraphones. The Nokia N8 had 1.75-micron pixels, while the 808 PureView and the iPhone 5 both have 1.4-micron pixels. So, each pixel in the HTC One camera is twice the size of a pixel in the 808 and iPhone 5 cameras.

Bigger pixels mean lower noise levels and usually, better dynamic range. Low-light performance is also helped by the Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) as we saw on the Nokia Lumia 920.

The sensor used in the HTC One has a 1/3" diagonal with a 16:9 aspect ratio and its mounted behind a 5-element lens with F/2.0 aperture. The sensor takes 16:9 photos with 2688 x 1520 pixel resolution, while switching to the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio limits the maximum resolution to 2048 x 1520 pixels, or just over 3MP.

HTC has included a second-generation ImageChip to process the images captured with the camera and also handle the needs of HTC Zoe.

The HTC One continues the trend of using a unified camera interface for stills and video. We didnt like it all that much on the One X and its siblings, but it makes much more sense here. Since the default resolution of the still camera now matches that of the videos - 16:9, so you dont need to worry about framing different aspects on the same viewfinder.

The only remaining complaint is that all still and video settings get dumped into one menu, instead of just getting the relevant settings depending on the current mode, but we can live with that.

Camera interface and image quality

Update, April 30: Weve updated our HTC One unit with the latest firmware. It promises to bring improvements over the camera image quality, so we have taken the HTC One camera for a spin once again and changed all the samples. Weve also updated the text below to reflect our new findings.

Anyway, the camera interface itself is pretty simple - there are two shutter keys (one for stills and one for video), above them is the gallery shortcut and below is the effects button. On the left side of the screen you get flash mode selector and the Zoe toggle.

The camera interface

Now, we already covered what Zoe does after youve taken a shot, heres how the actual shooting goes. You enable Zoe (an indicator at the bottom of the screen confirms youre in Zoe mode) and tap the still shutter key. The key turns into a progress bar, counting down the three seconds during which the phone records video, reminding you to stay relatively still.

The Optical Image Stabilization offers active correction of the image module in two axis with a frequency of up to 2000 times a second. That, combined with the F/2.0 aperture of the lens and big pixel promises unrivaled low-light performance.

So lets get down to brass tacks here - the image quality. The HTC One promises a lot but does it deliver? Well that depends on the scenario. When used in good lighting condition, the low resolution really takes its toll and while the per-pixel detail level is impressive the total resolving power is quite limited.

Colors are quite decent and images generally look pretty nice when zoomed at 100%, but we were surprised to see that a lot of noise is present. There is some purple fringing, too, so its not perfect either. Overall, the gamble HTC took with the ultrapixels certainly doesnt pay off when in good lighting conditions. Just about every other high-end smartphone will produce better stills in that scenario.

Update, April 30:The camera samples taken with an HTC One running on the latest firmware are indeed better than the one weve taken with the initial retail unit. There is a bit more detail and the noise has also been reduced a bit. Obviously, HTC fine-tuned its sharpening algorithms, which now do a better job than before. Though the difference isnt huge and not quite enough to let the HTC One catch up with its conventional sensor competitors in good light, but its still a welcome for anyone who plans to get the flagship.

HTC One camera samples

To put things in perspective we did an impromptu shootout involving the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4. The One was shot in its native 16:9 aspect ratio while the Samsung flagship camera was used to produce the 4:3 samples.

It doesnt take too much effort to spot the kind of advantage the highly-res sensor on the Galaxy S4 has over its rival, ultrapixels or not. Sure, the per-pixel quality of the HTC One is probably a tad better, but the overall amount of captured detail is far superior on the Galaxy S4 photos.

HTC One vs Samsung Galaxy S4 daylight samples

Things change quickly in low light environments, though, as HTC takes advantage of its larger pixels and OIS to retain a level of detail closer to that of its good light shots. The Galaxy S4 on the other hand has no OIS to rely on so it has to push the ISO higher up and noise starts to eat into the fine detail.

Indeed the two cameraphones are on par in the first couple of low-light shots, while the HTC One is already ahead in the second pair, which was taken later in the evening.

HTC One vs Samsung Galaxy S4 low-light samples

So all in all, the HTC One camera might not impress when it comes to shots in good light, but it makes up for it with superior low-light shots. Depending on where and when you do most of your shooting this might make the One the cameraphone of your dreams or a pretty mediocre performer.

The HTC One has HDR support for both its still image and videos. Previously, the company had a hard time tuning that particular feature on its smartphones, but the One is a clear step up. HTC has tuned further the HDR photos with the new firmware and there is no oversharpening. They look pleasant, there is enough detail, lots of detail in the shadows and the in the highlights, and the contrast seems great too.

HTC One HDR off • HDR on

To wrap up the chapter weve prepared a few macro samples. The HTC One came surprisingly good in this category, allowing us to get really close to the subject and produce some great close-ups. Check them out!

HTC One macro shots

Photo quality comparison

Update, April 30: Weve also reshot our photo quality comparison charts with the updated HTC One unit.

The HTC One has made its way to our photo quality comparison tool. HTCs low-megapixel sensor suddenly doesnt feel very comfortable in the controlled environment of our studio and the fact that we had to use the 4:3 mode and waste precious pixels is only part of the reason why. Its just that the first two charts were specifically designed to test absolute resolving power and thats certainly not the low-res sensors element.

The HTC One in our Photo compare tool

FullHD video camera with HDR

The HTC One can shoot videos at up to 1080p resolution at 30fps. It has an HDR option for the video, but note that the frame rate falls to 28fps, if you enable it and the field of view gets narrower in this mode. It also supports 720p @ 60fps high framerate video recording.

Video capture options

The camera features continuous autofocus and you have the option to lock the focus during video recording, if it hunts too much in dynamic scenes. The videos, of course, benefit from the Optical Image Stabilization as well.

Videos are recorded in MP4 files with an impressive 20Mbps bitrate - among the highest weve seen. Sound is captured in stereo with 192Kbps bitrate and 48kHz sampling rate.

As it turned out the video recording is definitely the better part of the HTC One imaging capabilities. Videos have plenty of detail and the noise is very low. Colors are slightly off, but the built-in OIS makes videos so steady that the overall look is pretty impressive.

Here is a fullHD video sample captured with the HTC we uploaded to YouTube.

HDR video capture is more of the same in terms of detail levels. As for the actual benefits of the two merged exposures we can say that the HTC One produces better HDR videos than the pioneer of the feature, the Sony Xperia Z. The HTC flagship squeezes a good amount of extra highlights and shadows without making its videos appear too flat or unrealistic.

Keep in mind, however, that the field of view get significantly narrower during HDR video capture, which means youll be able to fit much less into the frame than you normally would.

Here goes the HTC One HDR video that we captured.

Theres a 60 frames per second mode on the HTC One but it reduces the maximum resolution to 720p. This doesnt sound too bad, but the actual output is disastrous - the videos look like upscaled VGA samples rather than proper 720p footage. Theres very little detail and even though the clips are really smooth, wed advise you to stay away from this mode.

Heres an untouched 1080p sample (0:10s, 24.6MB) taken straight off the HTC One. You can also download a 720p 60 fps sample (0:30s, 44.0MB) made with the HTC One.

Video quality comparison

Weve enlisted the HTC One in our video quality comparison tool. Here it really managed to show what its capable of, particularly when you look at the low-light video where it easily trashed its competitors.

Final words

So this is it - the One has brought out the best in HTC. Its sure as shooting that five different people will say that about five different HTC smartphones. And at least four of them will be right. But therere certain things that make this one the One.

There was no rush this time around to be the first to the market - HTC actually did it again but with the J Butterfly and the DROID DNA. The One on the other hand was the ace in the sleeve, HTC took their time with it, as if waiting for the magic to happen. Well, it did.

The HTC One claims no major firsts, it arrives to a market that has already experienced a couple of Full-HD five-inchers. No rabbits are being pulled out of no hats - sorry, but Zoe and ultrapixels is not what makes the HTC One special.

Its good old HTC stuff that works better than ever though. Theres the best Super LCD yet, the latest Sense UI, and another wicked unibody. There are stereo front-mounted speakers and for the first time since Sensation XE Beats Audio actually means something. That one came with an actual Beats set, which fetches a hefty price on its own. The HTC One however has some of the best audio quality weve experienced in a phone, matched only by its Butterfly sibling.

Theres a lot to like about Sense 5 too. The whole OS has been reworked from the ground up. Not only has every icon been refreshed, but the way you use Android has been rethought. Unlike Samsung, who aim to throw as many software features as possible in their handsets , HTC is looking to set itself apart and win you over with simplicity, character and charm. Okay, were charmed, but lets see what else is out there.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the pride and joy of the worlds Number One smartphone manufacturer. The S4 manages to squeeze a 4.99" FullHD Super AMOLED screen, a 13MP snapper and expandable storage into roughly the same body as the 4.7" HTC One. The Galaxy S4 also comes with either a higher-clocked version of the Snapdragon 600 that powers the One, or the Exynos 5 Octa, which is expected to set new standards in processing power.

Samsung I9500 Galaxy S4 • Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4

The Sony Xperia Z is relishing a head start on the shelves and costs about the same as the HTC One. It has the upper hand in terms of imaging, is dust and water resistant and boasts a larger screen. However the One has a slight edge in terms of processing power, handily beats it at audio and screen quality and generally looks better.

Sony Xperia Z

Theres no shortage of challengers coming from less likely places like the ZTE Grand S, the Oppo Find 5 and Huaweis Ascend D2. All of them have 5" FullHD screens, capable processors, high-megapixel cameras and acceptable price tags. The problem with them is that theyre not readily available, so you might need to jump through hoops to get them (if ever).

ZTE Grand S • Oppo Find 5 • Huawei Ascend D2

Anyway, if less prominent makers are unafraid to match up with the big guns, a lot of people mustve been looking to HTC to rise above its usual standards. We think they delivered bang on target in terms of design, screen quality, the custom Android skin and audio.

Theres no microSD card slot but 32GB of inbuilt storage on the base version (at no extra cost) should make this irrelevant to most users. Zoe and BlinkFeed are nice things to have but they just wont be the phones key selling points. The 4MP ultra-pixel camera is probably better than any five-megapixel on a phone, but well behind most proper cameraphones. What cant be downplayed though is HTCs determination to bring something new and interesting to the table each time they unveil a new product.

The HTC One is just about starting and is yet to have a schedule confirmed on quite a few markets. The Sony Xperia Z has been doing well at the box office for a while now, and Samsungs Galaxy S4 will launch in about a month or so. Its a magnificent trio, which will most likely produce the Android smartphone of the year.

We can bet HTC is relishing memories of 2011 and trying hard to forget last year. We think the HTC One is the right phone to help them in that. It is certain to put plenty of pressure on the competitions flagships, just about as much as its certain to turn heads.

user manual computer and technology

Sunday, May 26, 2013