Real world reviews & comments from actual users

[KOLIO]

K, got the appstore fix. Thanks for the tip of the gear in the menu. i overlooked it, but one would have to agree it's just way easier to have all the usefull widgets (wifi, bt, etc) in the dropdown tray.

now i'm annoyed that the power button is on the top left corner instead of the top right. why HTC? my last two HTC phones had it on the top right. now it's a reach to actually hit it and totally unnatural if using your right hand.

the back and home hard buttons i'm finding also take multiple attempts sometimes to hit it right. the touch zone for those buttons is too small

I agree w/the notification bar,as this is one feature I'll miss from the SGS III.
However,there are some great apps in the GOOGLE PLAY STORE to fill the void.

Some are better than others,so try a few out & see what works best for you.

I think I used this one on my MOTOROLA PHOTON:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.j4velin.notificationToggle&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImRlLmo0dmVsaW4ubm90aWZpY2F0aW9uVG9nZ2xlIl0.

 

[Lason]

Been using the One for a few days now and love it. Came from a Note 2 and although I miss the screen size, the One is just a beautiful piece. I do have some critiques though....

screen size a bit small for my personal taste but the clarity makes up for it. I would have prefered a full 5" though.

Boom sound sounds great! Speakers could be a bit louder though but FINALLY front facing speakers! I still cup my hand when holding this phone though out of sheer habit.

Software......ugggg the software. HTC REALLY needs to invest in some better testers. Although not terrible, there are some bonehead things going on in Sense 5. Changing out shortcuts on the bottom launcher comes to mind. I almost returned this phone when I thought I couldnt change stuff around. The lack of a launcher on the drop down screen is another. The note just seemed to have endless settings compared to this thing. Oh and the facebook mess in the gallery! My wife has already said she is not getting this phone and instead getting a S4 due to that. Shes a big facebooker but refuses to have to sift through her friends pictures everytime she looks in HER gallery. Just dumb all around. Also any live wallpaper I put on here is just not fluid. I have read that it was a issue with previous HTC's and Im bummed to see it hasnt been fixed yet. Its not all bad though, I do really like the camera features. I really like Zoe and how the phone makes the little videos. That was a homerun in my opinion.

I almost returned this phone more than once and went back to my Note 2 but the hardware kept pulling me back. Its just a stunning looking phone and I keep telling myself all the flaws I find are fixable with software updates.

 

[erichg1000]

Been using the One for a few days now and love it. Came from a Note 2 and although I miss the screen size, the One is just a beautiful piece. I do have some critiques though....

screen size a bit small for my personal taste but the clarity makes up for it. I would have prefered a full 5" though.

Boom sound sounds great! Speakers could be a bit louder though but FINALLY front facing speakers! I still cup my hand when holding this phone though out of sheer habit.

Software......ugggg the software. HTC REALLY needs to invest in some better testers. Although not terrible, there are some bonehead things going on in Sense 5. Changing out shortcuts on the bottom launcher comes to mind. I almost returned this phone when I thought I couldnt change stuff around. The lack of a launcher on the drop down screen is another. The note just seemed to have endless settings compared to this thing. Oh and the facebook mess in the gallery! My wife has already said she is not getting this phone and instead getting a S4 due to that. Shes a big facebooker but refuses to have to sift through her friends pictures everytime she looks in HER gallery. Just dumb all around. Also any live wallpaper I put on here is just not fluid. I have read that it was a issue with previous HTC's and Im bummed to see it hasnt been fixed yet. Its not all bad though, I do really like the camera features. I really like Zoe and how the phone makes the little videos. That was a homerun in my opinion.

I almost returned this phone more than once and went back to my Note 2 but the hardware kept pulling me back. Its just a stunning looking phone and I keep telling myself all the flaws I find are fixable with software updates.

How did you change the launcher shortcuts? I still have not figured it out. Hoping over the weekend the phone grows on my as I'm about to return it. It's really weird not having a hard-menu button

 

[Lason]

How did you change the launcher shortcuts? I still have not figured it out. Hoping over the weekend the phone grows on my as I'm about to return it. It's really weird not having a hard-menu button

Yeah I miss the settings button too. HTC missed a real opportunity to use the HTC logo as a button.

To change the shortcuts you have to open the app drawer first and change them from in there. open the app drawer and drag and drop the factory shortcuts into the app drawer and then drag and drop whatever you want from the app drawer to the shortcut bar.

 

[Androidcurious]

I've had mine since Thursday.

Simply put:

If you've ever picked up an iPhone and thought "I wish I could have this phone with an Android OS" you've got your wish.

 

[Abird!]

Okay so I wanted to write this late friday night, but had some issues activating it so I had to wait until saturday morning to get it up and running, then I was at the waterpark all day, and today I was at church all day, but besides all of that time away from getting to know my One, OMG I love this phone!

I'm coming from the EVO Shift (rooted ) which don't get me wrong I loved that little beast but the second I held the One and looked over at the Shift I was like I was using that toy of a phone this whole time lol
So reguarding size I did have to get used to the lager but wayyy thinner phone, I am a girl so my hands aren't huge lol but day 2 with it I'm getting comfortable with it moving apps in places that's easy to get to without having to hold the phone with 2 hands. That being said I only have/use a screen protector so you better believe I got that kung-fu grip on it when I'm walking around with it.

The things I've heard about the sensitive home/back buttons the paper thing gaps along the speaker grill, jagged/sharp edges, volume rocker stuff, power button stuff, ummm I'm not bothered by it.

sensitive home/back- yes I know what you guys speak of sometimes I hit the sweet spot 100% other times I don't
paper thin gaps - noticed that on my phone but doesn't look like it'll be a problem until I'm up for my next upgrade
jagged/sharp edges- i found that on my One top left corner the speaker grill overhangs just a bit, i don't come in contact in that area much so no big deal
volume rocker/power button- i like how they aren't protruding out and don't care where there are placed, change is good

Blinkfeed not a fan of at all that is far off to the left in a space of oblivion, I don't keep up with news and I don't have FB, I do have Twitter did turn that on but I much rather use the Twicca app (best twitter app out there IMO) so that's about it for that

Sense is fine I've got no issues, I always get a new phone knowing I'll have to get used to different things so I have no complaints about that.
I think the camera is great I'm no shutterbug so I'll use anything actually lol the Zoe is pretty neat don't know the full purpose of it though, it's just like a mini vid right?

All in all I fricken love this phone and haven't even begun to scratch the surfuce of it's awesomeness I'm sure, sound is great, screen is amazing I couldn't ask for more in a phone, I'm so pleased with my purchase of this phone.

I do want to root it soon though, I don't do too much crazy stuff with it rooted flash a rom here and there have the free wireless tether and the ad free app and to get rid of the bloatware of course...but I'm a little weary doing it this time because of having to do the whole HTCdev stuff seems like a long process. I followed a vid on youtube something like root in 7mins for my shift lol hopefully there is an easy way like that for the One I haven't been reading up on it lately but I definitely want to be rooted at some point I just like know that I have that SU access.

This was a lot longer than I thought it be, but again fricken LOVE this phone!

 

[doldfield]

I've been using the ONE since Saturday, almost nonstop. I previously had the onex+, so I'm pretty familiar with Sense. I like the camera. My wife has the SG3, and she's already jealous of the highlight reels in the gallery. Zoes are very cool! We have a 15 month old so the camera features are great for me. I agree with others that removing icons from the dock is a bit cumbersome, but once ya figure it out you're fine. I see HTC changing that system. The onex+ was easier to add widgets, icons to the homescreen.
Obviously fit and finish are incredible on the phone. The screen is awesome... Blinkfeed needs more options on feeds to display. Hopefully HTC allows us to remove Facebook from the gallery soon.

 

[djbasik]

Is the speaker loud? The loudest speaker phone you have seen?

The speakers are better than any phone ever. I can say that with confidence. Thy are on par with my Bang and Olufsun speakers on my laptop (ASUS N56 VZ).

 

[AM2]

I'm coming from a sprint Evo 4glte and I have the sprint one. lte antennas are vastly improved. no problem picking up lte in my city, and we are not fully built out yet with it....speakers are night and day improvement....I didn't think I'd notice difference with screen but I was wrong...definitely even more crisp than evo....I'll miss the built in kickstand but my flip case will serve the same purpose.....having full metal back vs half is definitely noticeable improvement as far as consistency throughout.....both are fast but the one is fast...ER.....big adjustment for me is not having removable sd card....not cuz of storage quantity concerns, but mainly how to prevent my music etc from erasing if I have to factory reset....haven't figured that out yet...have always had removable storage....pics to me are better on the one vs the evo....way better at least so far with the few photos I've taken....Zoe's are very cool looking and i can see myself using them often, but I have to figure out if I remove any of the 20 or so pics from a Zoe folder in file explorer, will it affect the Zoe in my gallery ie will I lose the live footage stuff....I don't want that when I enable instant upload for Dropbox all the pics jam up in there ....remote control feature is AMAZING to me...love it and use it daily....overall it's a considerable upgrade IMO coming from the evo going to the one....glad I did it....the weaknesses on the evo are strengths on the one, and even the great things about the evo are either carried over to the one or easily remedied

 

[ArmchairBear]

I've finally seen and touched the HTC One in person. I was at an AT&T store. First thing I noticed was that it's not as shiny as the pictures I've seen on the web. The overall white and aluminum is fairly dull. Because of this the speaker grills don't stand out as much as I thought.

The phone is definitely big, but being that it's so tall looking, helps it appear skinny. Like some reviews have said, it is easy to hold even though it's big. The bad thing is, it does look too big in my hand. I'm not sure if I want a phone this big.

The speaker volume was not as loud as expected, but I was in a mall, and it was very noisy.

Seems like BlinkFeed is getting a lot of hate, but I actually like it. I already use the Flipboard widget on my homescreen. And I actually like Sense. And Sense 5 looks good to me. And also, since the HTC One is so powerful and fast, Sense wouldn't slow it down.

I would really like this phone, but I'm stuck on Verizon for a while.

 

[clsA]

big adjustment for me is not having removable sd card....not cuz of storage quantity concerns, but mainly how to prevent my music etc from erasing if I have to factory reset....haven't figured that out yet...have always had removable storage....

This solved the removable storage for me.
Amazon.com: eForCity Micro USB OTG to USB 2.0 Adapter: Computers & Accessories
I have 2 nandroid backups on flash drives already.

 

[mattjlomax]

here is the fix for the amazon app store
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2242265&highlight=amazon+appstore

My app store would not work either until I used this link, thanks for that. One question, should I or should I not do the app store update. Since this seems to be an older version, I wonder if updating it would break it?

 

[clsA]

My app store would not work either until I used this link, thanks for that. One question, should I or should I not do the app store update. Since this seems to be an older version, I wonder if updating it would break it?

don't update, if you do you have to install this version all over again

 

[Cbot]

I'm reposting this because I think it is important. Leave some suggestions on this reddit thread we can see some nice improvements in the next htc one update! HTC One launch questions/issues? : htc

 

[kidcarter93]

Just updated my review here to add sections for IR Blaster and build quality

 

[Androidcurious]

So now that I've had the phone for a few days I wanted to give some more initial impressions.

First, like many of you, I'm kinda into smartphones. I live and breathe this stuff. However, unlike a lot of you, I am mostly platform agnostic. I have owned, and enjoyed. *every* platform that has been available for the last 7 years or so. I really don't have a dog in the Android/iPhone fight, for instance. I think both OS's are awesome and we live in pretty cool times when the old OS vs OS fights now center around PHONES WE CARRY IN OUR POCKETS.

Anyway, so now that I've been able to use the One at work, over a weekend, work again I can say the bloom is NOT anywhere near off the rose.

WOW, what a phone!

The phone has taken everything I've thrown at it, ripped it to pieces, and asked me if that's all I got.

Battery life has been pretty good, at least equal if not better than my iPhone 5. And before you ask, I have an exchange server email set to PUSH on it all day, location services, and bluetooth. I usually can make it through a whole work day before plugging it in when I get into my car at night.

This is easily the first Android phone without a replaceable battery that doesn't make me nervous.

The camera: anyone making any claims about the camera that don't end with "one of the best I've ever used on a phone" is just completely full of crap. Sorry, no two ways about it. This is a fantastic camera and puts a lie to the megapixel arguments. I have been blown away by the pics Iv'e taken, especially at night.

I could go on about the obvious stuff, like the build and screen quality. But I won't. What you see is what you get in those regards: they're awesome.

If you're on the fence about this device, don't be. It's a joy, an absolute joy to use.

 

[dski93]

Does anyone find the power button hard to push? My only gripe so far is the left side power button and I think its hard to push.

Otherwise, loving the design, HD screen, zippy processor. And still working on holding it - feels a little slippery in the hands sometimes.

 

[Cbot]

Does anyone find the power button hard to push? My only gripe so far is the left side power button and I think its hard to push.

Otherwise, loving the design, HD screen, zippy processor. And still working on holding it - feels a little slippery in the hands sometimes.

Yes that is the first complaint anyone ever has about the One, I hold my phone with both hands when I'm in public, for safety reasons, so it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it might.

 

[sikclown]

Had it for only a day, but I'd like to point out a few things that I have already noticed. Good and bad.

Good:
- Build quality, weight, design, looks, "boomsound", battery life, processing power, everything else everybody has already pointed out is accurate.
- The camera is much better than I was using with the horrible EVO 3D, but really was not AS great as I have seen on like the Note 2. Good in low light but has a slight blur even in a perfect outdoor setting. I think I can live with it though. And I know I can mess with settings a little
- Blink feed looks nice but doubt I will ever look at it. Just hope it doesn't affect performance of the phone or battery very much.

Bad:
- Once again, HTC leaves a very vulnerable camera lens. It seems to be completely flush with the backing and makes me baby it every time I set it down on hard surface. I don't want a case, but plan on getting the Ghost Armor today, hopefully that will protect it enough.
- As much as I love the "boomsound" for videos and music, I find that even the quietest setting on the ringer and notification is awfully loud for my liking since I despise loud ringers but also don't want it just on vibrate.
- You can't change the fixed icons on the bottom bar/lock screen. Loved on the EVO 3D (and others) that you could customize them and even make them folders. Why are they taking away our customizing capabilities when that is what people love about Android? i.e. the bar has the stock browser on it, but I want to use Chrome. But I cannot replace that spot on the bar with Chrome. Now it is just wasted space on all home screens and lock screen
- As my wife pointed out (compared to her EVO LTE), the fixed icons, and many other icons, look very generic and cheap. Not much detail or shadowing on any of them making them look very "cartoonish" as she said. To where the LTE actually looks like a camera or phone as an example.

I'm very happy with it, but made sure I had enough return/exchange time at BB for when the GS4 comes out... Just in case

Just to point out that you can absolutely change the icons on the launcher bar. Open your App Drawer and then drag off the icon you don't want there and then drag on the new one. You have to do this inside of the App drawer. I haven't tried it yet but you should be able to drag a folder onto the bar. I saw someone had 4 folders on the bar over in the home screen thread.

 

[sikclown]

Yes that is the first complaint anyone ever has about the One, I hold my phone with both hands when I'm in public, for safety reasons, so it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it might.

I am now completely used to the power button and can one hand it every time. Just took awhile to condition my muscle memory

 

[Samcanadian]

Quick comment before I do a more complete review later on: The speakers on this thing ARE impressive. My Laptop doesn't play sound as loud as thing does. Extremely happy with the result, as the speakers were a huge part of why I decided on this phone over the S4.

 

[BKayrac]

Thanks, typical Android behavior. Have to go in through the backdoor to do something so simple.

This is something specific to sense, not android by any means. So not sure what you mean by 'typical android behavior'.

 

[tyneusch]

I have been reading through all of the reviews so I am not going to add a whole lot but a few of the things that I am very pleased with: Screen size and quality, build quality and battery life.

A few things that I am not so pleased with: Home/Back button issue. Honestly, that's it and it can be fixed if they decide to update the software.

I came from the One X which I had no issues with, infact my wife now has it and we sold her Windows phone (good riddence). I was in a pickle when I was deciding what I wanted to do, SGS4 or One and I decided on the One due to the fact that I have had no qualms with HTC and Samsung have been dragging their feet on release.

This phone feels solid, it looks great and performs very well. I can easily over look the home button issue because I have already put in an IT ticket to HTC and was informed that a fix is coming. All phones suffer from issues in the beginning, just like video games. The big test is whether they attack the issue or let it slide.

That's just my 2 sense

 

[EarlyMon]

Even stock Android is quirky on some stuff.

We get used to it, it's stuff we don't do often, imo, but sometimes I think that all of them change some of this just for the sake of changing it.

 

[erichg1000]

Alright about 1 week in... we all know what is good to like by now so I will only complain about stuff LOL:

1.) the hard buttons are so difficult to press. I end up pressing them so many times, you have to hit it just right.

2.) in the email app, (non gmail, for my work), on my Evo 3D you could long press on the header to copy the email address. On this phone I cannot do that. I may not have a sender in my address book so it doesn't prompt automatically in a new email message. And then if I want to copy the email address from a previously sent message, I long press all day and it won't let me copy the address. So frustrating.

3.) the menu button taking up screen space is just complete BS. Waste of screen space and you accidentally hit it in some apps when the keyboard comes up and you want to hit the space button, fat finger it, and then the menu app comes up. If you are typing fast you will end up hitting menu selections as well. Really annoying.

4.) The alarm is freakishly loud even on the lowest sound setting

5.) I have not figured out a way to just have the phone vibrate for the alarm instead of having an actual sound. On my Evo 3D that was an option.

HTC really made a nice phone and then screwed it all up