-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
Real world reviews & comments from actual users
- Thread starter Howlingdakota
- Start date
-
- Tags
- htc one m7
When searching using the Google widget (or long press home) you can't save images to the phone - you have to go in through the browser for that. You can share an image, but not save. Bit annoying.
Upvote
0
Further observations after owning the phone for two weeks.
The phone has only skipped a beat once when for some reason the Productive Lockscreen crashed and I couldn't do anything except reboot.
Sense 5 has two things that make it flawed, in my opinion.
1. Blinkfeed - I've noticed that now I have emptied my Blinkfeed of feeds, HTC have 'helpfully' filled it with Tips and Tricks help posts instead. There is no getting away from it, it seems. I would rather have the option of removing Blinkfeed and adding it in when functionality inreases (my own feeds plus email accounts showing in there)
2. Only four rows of homescreen icons. Lots of space unused. Whilst I don't like cluttered screens, I do like to have more icons on my homescreen. Currently I have time and battery info on the top line of icons then three wildly spaced icon rows before the dock. I would prefer a fourth row in there a there is easily enough space.
I've switched back to Nova Prime for the moment and kept it as stock looking as I can (except for the two things above). When RSS feeds are implemented, as Earlymon says above, then I may switch back.
The battery life continues to be incredibly impressive for my usage. The average I am getting on one charge (according to GSAM, don't know how reliable it is) is 2 days 21 hours but I did get well over 3 and a half days on my last charge, which is unheard of for me. I consider myself a light to moderate user. For the most part I am a light user but probably once or twice a day I need the phone for a marathon SMS/email answering session and internet surf. Some days I have a heavier but more regular use. The nature of my work means that my phone habits change quite regularly and this phone battery more than keeps up with that schedule.
The phone has only skipped a beat once when for some reason the Productive Lockscreen crashed and I couldn't do anything except reboot.
Sense 5 has two things that make it flawed, in my opinion.
1. Blinkfeed - I've noticed that now I have emptied my Blinkfeed of feeds, HTC have 'helpfully' filled it with Tips and Tricks help posts instead. There is no getting away from it, it seems. I would rather have the option of removing Blinkfeed and adding it in when functionality inreases (my own feeds plus email accounts showing in there)
2. Only four rows of homescreen icons. Lots of space unused. Whilst I don't like cluttered screens, I do like to have more icons on my homescreen. Currently I have time and battery info on the top line of icons then three wildly spaced icon rows before the dock. I would prefer a fourth row in there a there is easily enough space.
I've switched back to Nova Prime for the moment and kept it as stock looking as I can (except for the two things above). When RSS feeds are implemented, as Earlymon says above, then I may switch back.
The battery life continues to be incredibly impressive for my usage. The average I am getting on one charge (according to GSAM, don't know how reliable it is) is 2 days 21 hours but I did get well over 3 and a half days on my last charge, which is unheard of for me. I consider myself a light to moderate user. For the most part I am a light user but probably once or twice a day I need the phone for a marathon SMS/email answering session and internet surf. Some days I have a heavier but more regular use. The nature of my work means that my phone habits change quite regularly and this phone battery more than keeps up with that schedule.
Upvote
0
I use GSAM Battery Monitor a lot, including for development work. I'll vouch for its authenticity and reliability, it's totally legitimate.
Pleased but not surprised by your battery life. Recall my battery standby graphs on my previous generation phone when you were shopping. HTC has been nailing it in this area for some time.
Fwiw, I switched to Nova myself almost a year ago. I keep my screens clean, and scroll the dock. I keep my apps organized by folders there. I'll back your recommendation on Nova 100%, fwiw to anyone as a second opinion.
Pleased but not surprised by your battery life. Recall my battery standby graphs on my previous generation phone when you were shopping. HTC has been nailing it in this area for some time.
Fwiw, I switched to Nova myself almost a year ago. I keep my screens clean, and scroll the dock. I keep my apps organized by folders there. I'll back your recommendation on Nova 100%, fwiw to anyone as a second opinion.
Upvote
0
Right, okay - a follow-up post re: my GPS issues
By yesterday (Saturday) morning the issue hadn't solved itself, so I popped into Phones4U and they replaced the handset for me straight away. They mentioned they were aware of a small number of similar issues so I guess it is a matter of initial handset niggles.
New handset taken home, set up... and bingo! GPS stuff all working fine. Excellent. Having now had the chance to road test the phone over a busy weekend, here are my more concise thoughts:
Build, screen and sound Quality
High marks in all categories here. The phone's body itself is gorgeous, and shape/size wise it fits perfectly in my hand. Only slight complaint is that it is a little on the slippy side if you're not careful, but overall it's a really nice handset. The screen is fantastic - having compared it side-to-side with an Xperia Z, I am confident it's the best currently on the market in terms of colour balance and general crispness - really brings out the colours without having the over-saturated brightness that some phones need.
Sound is something else, and the BeatsAudio really is neat. Turning it off mid-song highlights just how much of an improvement it is, neatly increasing the bass a little whilst avoiding any kind of tinny distortion. Superb all-round.
Battery Life
Pretty much on a par with my old Galaxy Nexus - needs to be charged at the end of a decent day of browsing/camera use/general mucking around with. Not a bad thing at all really, wouldn't say it's struck me as a big weakness with the device. Nothing amazing of course and certainly not an improvement over what we've had before, but given what this phone is pushing along the fact it's about the same as my previous phone is pretty impressive.
Camera
So, yeah - the camera certainly is a tidy bit of equipment. I tested it in a pretty ideal location; a reasonably dark pool hall in Northampton (dark room + bright fluorescent table light + multi coloured pool balls = nifty test I reckon!) - it passed with flying colours (no pun intended). The Zoe features are okay and being able to take your video and then snip the best snaps out of it is alright, but to be honest I found the Continuous Shot thing much better for this - the camera basically snaps 20 shots in quick succession and allows you to choose the best of them. Doing this I was able to take quite a few neat little sequences of pots and shots, and even though I wouldn't say the quality of any of the resulting shots was startling, it did a nice job of capturing it all without masses of motion blur and detail loss. Suspect Zoe features probably won't get much use in the long run.
If you're just taking a standalone snap it's very nice, and certainly a perfect example of why this megapixel race most manufacturers are involved in is very misleading in terms of what dictates the quality of a good camera. Can only hope that HTC manage to market it properly and convince the general public that 4MP doesn't mean a severely outdated camera.
Software features
I'm used to stock 4.2 Android given my Nexus, so in some respects I am taking a backward step going to 4.1.1 again. You know what? I've not minded at all. In fact, I've not minded so much that I can't actually pinpoint anything 4.2 gave me that I am missing on the One.
I'm not 100% sold on Blinkfeed, mind. It's a nice idea, but given the lack of anything I really want highlighted (Facebook + Formula One) I get quite a few HTC Tips, most of which I already knew. I have set myself up a more traditional Android homescreen that I have set to my default when the phone is unlocked, so I suppose it's not all-bad - Blinkfeed is now an optional news/social aggregation page that I can scroll to if needs be.
Minor thing, but I love the TV app! Being able to turn on my telly and Sky box and control it all through the phone is cool. Especially when someone is watching something rubbish and you can hop over to another channel as a 'hint' that there are better things to watch (note: don't do this if your other half is prone to losing their temper
).
Overall
A good phone, and I am pleased with my choice (especially now I have a handset with working GPS!). Very solid, very powerful and with a decent set of features. Confident it's going to be every bit as good a sidekick to me over the next 18 months as the Nexus has been for the previous!
By yesterday (Saturday) morning the issue hadn't solved itself, so I popped into Phones4U and they replaced the handset for me straight away. They mentioned they were aware of a small number of similar issues so I guess it is a matter of initial handset niggles.
New handset taken home, set up... and bingo! GPS stuff all working fine. Excellent
. Having now had the chance to road test the phone over a busy weekend, here are my more concise thoughts:Build, screen and sound Quality
High marks in all categories here. The phone's body itself is gorgeous, and shape/size wise it fits perfectly in my hand. Only slight complaint is that it is a little on the slippy side if you're not careful, but overall it's a really nice handset. The screen is fantastic - having compared it side-to-side with an Xperia Z, I am confident it's the best currently on the market in terms of colour balance and general crispness - really brings out the colours without having the over-saturated brightness that some phones need.
Sound is something else, and the BeatsAudio really is neat. Turning it off mid-song highlights just how much of an improvement it is, neatly increasing the bass a little whilst avoiding any kind of tinny distortion. Superb all-round.
Battery Life
Pretty much on a par with my old Galaxy Nexus - needs to be charged at the end of a decent day of browsing/camera use/general mucking around with. Not a bad thing at all really, wouldn't say it's struck me as a big weakness with the device. Nothing amazing of course and certainly not an improvement over what we've had before, but given what this phone is pushing along the fact it's about the same as my previous phone is pretty impressive.
Camera
So, yeah - the camera certainly is a tidy bit of equipment. I tested it in a pretty ideal location; a reasonably dark pool hall in Northampton (dark room + bright fluorescent table light + multi coloured pool balls = nifty test I reckon!) - it passed with flying colours (no pun intended). The Zoe features are okay and being able to take your video and then snip the best snaps out of it is alright, but to be honest I found the Continuous Shot thing much better for this - the camera basically snaps 20 shots in quick succession and allows you to choose the best of them. Doing this I was able to take quite a few neat little sequences of pots and shots, and even though I wouldn't say the quality of any of the resulting shots was startling, it did a nice job of capturing it all without masses of motion blur and detail loss. Suspect Zoe features probably won't get much use in the long run.
If you're just taking a standalone snap it's very nice, and certainly a perfect example of why this megapixel race most manufacturers are involved in is very misleading in terms of what dictates the quality of a good camera. Can only hope that HTC manage to market it properly and convince the general public that 4MP doesn't mean a severely outdated camera.
Software features
I'm used to stock 4.2 Android given my Nexus, so in some respects I am taking a backward step going to 4.1.1 again. You know what? I've not minded at all. In fact, I've not minded so much that I can't actually pinpoint anything 4.2 gave me that I am missing on the One.
I'm not 100% sold on Blinkfeed, mind. It's a nice idea, but given the lack of anything I really want highlighted (Facebook + Formula One) I get quite a few HTC Tips, most of which I already knew. I have set myself up a more traditional Android homescreen that I have set to my default when the phone is unlocked, so I suppose it's not all-bad - Blinkfeed is now an optional news/social aggregation page that I can scroll to if needs be.
Minor thing, but I love the TV app! Being able to turn on my telly and Sky box and control it all through the phone is cool. Especially when someone is watching something rubbish and you can hop over to another channel as a 'hint' that there are better things to watch (note: don't do this if your other half is prone to losing their temper
).Overall
A good phone, and I am pleased with my choice (especially now I have a handset with working GPS!). Very solid, very powerful and with a decent set of features. Confident it's going to be every bit as good a sidekick to me over the next 18 months as the Nexus has been for the previous!
Upvote
0
I have power beats by dre and was wondering if the beats software in this phone actually makes the headphones sound better somehow?
I currently use the beats headphones on my gs3 and they sound great so I just want to know the difference?
I currently use the beats headphones on my gs3 and they sound great so I just want to know the difference?
Upvote
0
I have the same headphones and they sound incredible together but even without the headphones in, you will be blown away by how good this phone sounds... honestly it's something you have to hear to believe, how they've managed to make it sound so good is beyond me.
Upvote
0
Here's my brief review after spending a week with my new HTC One.
I'm coming from the S2, which in my opinion was a legend of a phone.
On the S2 I had Chameleon ROM (Highly recommended) which basically meant i was using a stock UI much like the Nexus 4, but it also ran like hell. The reason i made the jump to the HTC One was a bigger, better screen and the promise of better battery life.
Hardware:
Beautiful looking. Best looking phone available.
Ergonomics aren't great. It feels slightly awkward in one hand. Power button is situated poorly. It basically means I have to use 2 hands to unlock the phone. This is annoying.
Screen is amazing. A few fussy graphic designers in work have seen it and think its amazing.
Camera. I'm no camera nut, but I've taken a few pictures of my kid in different situations and i'm really happy with the results.
Call Quality. Perfect. Big improvement over my S2.
Sound Output. Great sound from the headphones. Great sound from the speakers but you wouldn't listen to music on them. They are perfect for video trailers etc.
Software:
I absolutely hate the Sense UI. About as much as I hated the Touchwiz UI on the S2.
Anyone coming from a phone with an AOSP rom will be driven crazy.
Launcher is awful.
The dialer is painfully poor as well.
I pray every night for someone to create a nice AOSP rom for the HTC One.
Battery:
I have all the location bits and bobs turned on, Google Now is on, Power Saving is off.
GPS is working perfectly by the way. Used it to navigate recently.
I read using my kindle app for about an hour or two a day, twitter gets a frequent check, I make a few brief phone calls and add in another hour of screen time for messing around cause its a new phone.
In a typical day, I generally go to bed with about 40% left.
GSam attached.
Overall:
Great phone but I'm very frustrated with the Sense UI which only detracts from my user experience.
I'm coming from the S2, which in my opinion was a legend of a phone.
On the S2 I had Chameleon ROM (Highly recommended) which basically meant i was using a stock UI much like the Nexus 4, but it also ran like hell. The reason i made the jump to the HTC One was a bigger, better screen and the promise of better battery life.
Hardware:
Beautiful looking. Best looking phone available.
Ergonomics aren't great. It feels slightly awkward in one hand. Power button is situated poorly. It basically means I have to use 2 hands to unlock the phone. This is annoying.
Screen is amazing. A few fussy graphic designers in work have seen it and think its amazing.
Camera. I'm no camera nut, but I've taken a few pictures of my kid in different situations and i'm really happy with the results.
Call Quality. Perfect. Big improvement over my S2.
Sound Output. Great sound from the headphones. Great sound from the speakers but you wouldn't listen to music on them. They are perfect for video trailers etc.
Software:
I absolutely hate the Sense UI. About as much as I hated the Touchwiz UI on the S2.
Anyone coming from a phone with an AOSP rom will be driven crazy.
Launcher is awful.
The dialer is painfully poor as well.
I pray every night for someone to create a nice AOSP rom for the HTC One.
Battery:
I have all the location bits and bobs turned on, Google Now is on, Power Saving is off.
GPS is working perfectly by the way. Used it to navigate recently.
I read using my kindle app for about an hour or two a day, twitter gets a frequent check, I make a few brief phone calls and add in another hour of screen time for messing around cause its a new phone.
In a typical day, I generally go to bed with about 40% left.
GSam attached.
Overall:
Great phone but I'm very frustrated with the Sense UI which only detracts from my user experience.
Attachments
Upvote
0
You could always put a third party launcher on it, even install an alternate dialer if you want.
ROMs will give you more options in time, but if those are your main concerns there are alternatives for both.
ROMs will give you more options in time, but if those are your main concerns there are alternatives for both.
Upvote
0
Indeed, I have the apex launcher installed already.
Dialer apps aren't the best though. Haven't really found one I like. The biggest problem I have with the sense dialer is the pull/swipe up to answer calls from the lock screen. Its very awkward given the phones size and shape.
Dialer apps aren't the best though. Haven't really found one I like. The biggest problem I have with the sense dialer is the pull/swipe up to answer calls from the lock screen. Its very awkward given the phones size and shape.
Upvote
0
You have mentioned the phone's sheer size twice, Can I ask what size you are? (No real non-awkward way to ask that haha). Meaning height, hands.
Upvote
0
I'll post my review in here so that others will hopefully do the same, instead of creating separate threads for it
*NOTE* Please don't quote this whole post. If you only need to respond to part of it, edit the rest out of your reply. This will help keep this thread as tidy as possible
I've had the One since March 23rd and I'm extremely impressed with it. Normally I'd test out a phone before I buy it but that would've meant waiting an extra week or 2 to actually get hold of the device. So I did take a risk by doing so but I'm glad I did.
UI
This is something which I didn't think I'd really like considering I've never owned or even used a HTC before and I'm used to the AOSP feel of my Nexus 7 and even AOSP ROMs on my S2 and Xperia S previously. However, I must say that Sense really isn't as bad as a lot of people made it out to be and I rather like the look and feel to it because it just feels extremely smooth and usable unlike some other UIs that I've used before.
Blinkfeed
Again, this is something which I didn't think I would like because it just seemed like another version of Sony's Timescape widget, which I couldn't stand. As of right now, I haven't really gone into Blinkfeed's settings yet and seen the limit on topics which I can add so I can't truly say too much about it, but from what I have seen so far it does seem like a good addition and has a rather sleek look about it which helps it to blend in well with the rest of the phone.
I don't like the fact that it can't be turned off but if I get to the stage where I really don't like it, all it takes is a quick install of a launcher and it'll be gone anyway.
HTC Zoe
Surprisingly, this is something which I haven't really tested out yet. Before I got the phone I was saying to myself that Zoe would be the first thing I would want to use but I haven't really had a go yet. I have done a sequence shot but it was more just to see exactly how it worked.
Hopefully I'll get a good opportunity soon to test out it's features on a good image. I really am looking forward to testing it properly though because I can imagine that I'll be taking lots of Zoe's once I'm used to it.
-EDIT- At the time of originally writing this review, I hadn't really used Zoe so couldn't really comment on it. That's now not the case as I've used it many a time and have been as fascinated by it than I was when I initially heard about it.
Zoe is truly a great addition to the HTC One and compliments it really well. It brings the gallery to life with all the moving previews of our most personal recorded moments.
The part I've actually used the most, which didn't surprise me in the slightest, are the sequence shots. This is perfect for me because quite a lot of my friends either skateboard, BMX or do free-running. Sports like that are ideal for the usage of sequence shots because it produces an amazing picture, which would only normally be available by using photo editing software/apps.
The ability to remove unwanted background objects is also ideal for taking snaps of friends in a crowded city centre while shopping. Although this works well to a certain extent, in quite a few cases it has failed to detect an unwanted object when it has clearly been there. At that point, I just have to revert to the older method of removing the unwanted parts manually.
Boomsound
Wow! Honestly, not a lot more needs to be said about this. The volume is really loud which is great for me because it means that my alarm can finally wake me up
With the speakers being on the front it really helps spread the sound out when with a group of friends and playing a song or video. The quality of the sound is brilliant aswell and extremely clear, which is just an added bonus when mixed with the volume it can produce.
Damn this thing is loud through the headphones though
The only downside in regards to the sound is that it can be slightly distorted when playing at maximum volume through the headphones. I'm sure that messing around with the equalizer settings would help this but haven't looked into it to see whether it would help or not.
Camera
I can't complain about the camera in the slightest, I really can't. It performs great during the day in bright backgrounds and still produces a great picture. It also performs great at nighttime when taking pictures under lower lighting than normal. A lot of people have been saying that 4MP won't look too great when blown up to a bigger size but as I won't be doing that with my pictures, it's really not a problem. The biggest size screen these pics will be going onto is my Nexus 7. Not a bad thing I can say about the camera quality either.
Size
The biggest phone I've had before the One was my S2 so I thought that the screen might be a bit too big for what I'm used to. This really wasn't a problem because for the past few months I've been using my Nexus 7 basically as a phone so this feels like a pretty decent size. When using the phone for everything except gaming, this phone feels perfectly sized and I can cover the vast majority of the screen when using one hand anyway. When it comes to gaming however, it does feel like a small phone but that's just because I've become too accustomed to using my N7 for gaming. All in all though, the size is perfect in my opinion.
Weight
The weight of the One is great considering the size of the phone. I thought it would be about the same weight as the S3, considering it's the sane size, yet there's a significant difference in weight and this simply makes the S3 feel bulkier than ever.
I think the only downside to being so light is that it could potentially be more likely to be dropped because you expect it to be heavier than it actually is.
It kinda feels weird with the weight of it because it weighs about the same as my S2 yet because it's a lot bigger, it just feels strange but that's not exactly put me off the phone
Battery
Another important aspect amongst any phone is the battery life and is a deciding factor with a lot of people.
In this case I've been lucky because I've been able to test the battery life while not using it at work and also over the last 2 days which I've had off work. Thanks to that, I've really been able to see the life in it.
Over the couple of days I was at work, I was only able to use it briefly at lunch and then for about 5 hours after work and it just about lasted over those 2 days. That really impressed me because there had been really mixed reviews about battery life and the only other time I've seen battery life like that is with my N7.
Now, throughout the 2 days I've been off work I've still noticed pretty decent battery life with it lasting throughout the day (just about) and then having to charge it at night when I'm asleep. That's been with about 6 hours of music playback, an hour of video and the rest being general browsing of the net and XDA. That's not exactly my average usage but it was a pretty good test of it.
This phone really does seem to have the whole package.
Design
Lastly, I'll cover the overall design of the One. As we all know, it's a lovely phone and it looks amazing. I don't really like the look of the black One but the silver model looks sleeker than you'd expect. It was actually the design of the One which originally caught my eye and got me interested, as I'm sure is the same for a lot of you, but with all the features and power also built into the phone, it made it a must for me.
Heating
Heating is something which will get spoken about quite a lot in any device forum across XDA and with good reason.
A lot of devices will heat up so much that it can actually hurt a little bit if you touch the device. My S2 was like that a lot of the time but only on the screen. The rest of the device was fine.
With the One there has been mixed response about the level of heat and from which situations the heat issue occurs. In my experience, the One only has a heat problem if I've been charging it for ages and am constantly using my phone throughout the charging period. Even when I feel the heat, it's very moderate (so yes you can feel the heat but it's not bad enough where there's a chance of burning yourself).
Of course this issue may vary between different people dependant on your usage or the build date of your phone. The above is purely my experience.
Damage
Now, when I say damage I don't mean that I've done drop tests or anything remotely similar to that. I simply mean that I've dropped it a couple of times.
The only situation I'm going to mention is when I dropped it onto the tiles on my kitchen floor (simply because the other couple of times have been onto a carpet and therefore wouldn't produce any damage unless thrown onto the ground).
I only managed to drop it because I was about to put my phone into my pocket and I missed and it dropped right to the ground. (Silly, I know.) The moment I dropped it I was thinking, "Sh!t". Obviously the first thing I checked, which I'm sure we'd all do the same, is that the screen wasn't damaged in any way. Luckily it wasn't because it had landed on the back. I then checked the back cover to see if there was any signs of damage and there was none
The only sign of damage on my phone is a couple of light scratches caused by having my phone in my pocket with my keys or lighter, so nothing to do with the drop at all.
Of course this is nowhere near definite proof that the One is a damage-free phone, because I'm sure that's far from the truth, but it was just great to see that it hadn't been damaged in the slightest
Apps
I know this section isn't related to the phone as such but it's still relevant. While a lot of the main apps I use work great, some apps and games won't work yet either because of the screen resolution OR not optimized for the phone yet.
I know the same can be said about a ton of new phones which are released but I feel a lot of the HTC One users will benefit even more once more apps are made available. Not a major problem but figured I may aswell mention it while I'm here
IR Blaster
The IR Blaster is something that is really useful and a lot of fun, all at once.
I, like most of you, will probably only use this on our TVs or at least mostly on our TVs. As such, that's all I've tested it on. Therefore I can't comment on how well it may/may not work on either products.
The only downside is how long it takes to set it all up. You need to be specific about country, model, manufacturer and that's all before you're even allowed to set up the controls.
Once you get to setting the controls up, however, although it seems like quite laborious task to input each button individually but it doesn't actually take too long. Simply face TV remote towards the IR Blaster and press the relevant button on the remote so that the phone can recognize it.
Once you've set it all up, that's when the fun begins. First of all, it's really useful if you're having a lazy moment and can't be bothered to go across the room to get the remotes. You can simply grab your phone and navigate to the TV app and control it right from there. It was good to be able to control the volume of the TV by using our volume buttons as well
It can also become a really funny feature though. Here's how - My sister came and stopped at my house for the night. She woke up the next morning and instantly put Spongebob Squarepants on my TV. It's safe to say that I can't stand that program and knew I could have some fun with it. I just casually sat down and started turning the channel onto something which I wanted to watch. Obviously she was confused as to how it happened and tried changing it back. At that point I turned the TV off with my phone and now she thinks the TV is broke. RESULT!
Build Quality
I wasn't going to address this section because I personally don't think it's a big deal. I'm only covering this section because of all the complaints across this forum.
Have I got a perfect device? - No, of course not. No one has. BUT it's still the best phone I've ever had and it's gonna take a lot to beat this phone.
On 3 of the 4 corners, there's the well-documented problem with a lift of the material, so that it's not 100% flush with the rest of it. The only corner which doesn't have this problem is where the power button is.
I'm not bothered about these slight imperfections because it's still an amazing phone. I'm not silly enough to let such minor problems make me want to get a replacement or change to a different device.
While I'm here, I also have a group of dead pixels on the top right part of my screen. Again, as it's such a minor problem, I don't care about it.
Do some people care about build issues? - Yes of course they do but that's because, in their mind, they should have an absolutely perfect phone considering it's costing them around
*NOTE* Please don't quote this whole post. If you only need to respond to part of it, edit the rest out of your reply. This will help keep this thread as tidy as possible
I've had the One since March 23rd and I'm extremely impressed with it. Normally I'd test out a phone before I buy it but that would've meant waiting an extra week or 2 to actually get hold of the device. So I did take a risk by doing so but I'm glad I did.
UI
This is something which I didn't think I'd really like considering I've never owned or even used a HTC before and I'm used to the AOSP feel of my Nexus 7 and even AOSP ROMs on my S2 and Xperia S previously. However, I must say that Sense really isn't as bad as a lot of people made it out to be and I rather like the look and feel to it because it just feels extremely smooth and usable unlike some other UIs that I've used before.
Blinkfeed
Again, this is something which I didn't think I would like because it just seemed like another version of Sony's Timescape widget, which I couldn't stand. As of right now, I haven't really gone into Blinkfeed's settings yet and seen the limit on topics which I can add so I can't truly say too much about it, but from what I have seen so far it does seem like a good addition and has a rather sleek look about it which helps it to blend in well with the rest of the phone.
I don't like the fact that it can't be turned off but if I get to the stage where I really don't like it, all it takes is a quick install of a launcher and it'll be gone anyway.
HTC Zoe
Surprisingly, this is something which I haven't really tested out yet. Before I got the phone I was saying to myself that Zoe would be the first thing I would want to use but I haven't really had a go yet. I have done a sequence shot but it was more just to see exactly how it worked.
Hopefully I'll get a good opportunity soon to test out it's features on a good image. I really am looking forward to testing it properly though because I can imagine that I'll be taking lots of Zoe's once I'm used to it.
-EDIT- At the time of originally writing this review, I hadn't really used Zoe so couldn't really comment on it. That's now not the case as I've used it many a time and have been as fascinated by it than I was when I initially heard about it.
Zoe is truly a great addition to the HTC One and compliments it really well. It brings the gallery to life with all the moving previews of our most personal recorded moments.
The part I've actually used the most, which didn't surprise me in the slightest, are the sequence shots. This is perfect for me because quite a lot of my friends either skateboard, BMX or do free-running. Sports like that are ideal for the usage of sequence shots because it produces an amazing picture, which would only normally be available by using photo editing software/apps.
The ability to remove unwanted background objects is also ideal for taking snaps of friends in a crowded city centre while shopping. Although this works well to a certain extent, in quite a few cases it has failed to detect an unwanted object when it has clearly been there. At that point, I just have to revert to the older method of removing the unwanted parts manually.
Boomsound
Wow! Honestly, not a lot more needs to be said about this. The volume is really loud which is great for me because it means that my alarm can finally wake me up
With the speakers being on the front it really helps spread the sound out when with a group of friends and playing a song or video. The quality of the sound is brilliant aswell and extremely clear, which is just an added bonus when mixed with the volume it can produce.
Damn this thing is loud through the headphones though
The only downside in regards to the sound is that it can be slightly distorted when playing at maximum volume through the headphones. I'm sure that messing around with the equalizer settings would help this but haven't looked into it to see whether it would help or not.Camera
I can't complain about the camera in the slightest, I really can't. It performs great during the day in bright backgrounds and still produces a great picture. It also performs great at nighttime when taking pictures under lower lighting than normal. A lot of people have been saying that 4MP won't look too great when blown up to a bigger size but as I won't be doing that with my pictures, it's really not a problem. The biggest size screen these pics will be going onto is my Nexus 7. Not a bad thing I can say about the camera quality either.
Size
The biggest phone I've had before the One was my S2 so I thought that the screen might be a bit too big for what I'm used to. This really wasn't a problem because for the past few months I've been using my Nexus 7 basically as a phone so this feels like a pretty decent size. When using the phone for everything except gaming, this phone feels perfectly sized and I can cover the vast majority of the screen when using one hand anyway. When it comes to gaming however, it does feel like a small phone but that's just because I've become too accustomed to using my N7 for gaming. All in all though, the size is perfect in my opinion.
Weight
The weight of the One is great considering the size of the phone. I thought it would be about the same weight as the S3, considering it's the sane size, yet there's a significant difference in weight and this simply makes the S3 feel bulkier than ever.
I think the only downside to being so light is that it could potentially be more likely to be dropped because you expect it to be heavier than it actually is.
It kinda feels weird with the weight of it because it weighs about the same as my S2 yet because it's a lot bigger, it just feels strange but that's not exactly put me off the phone
Battery
Another important aspect amongst any phone is the battery life and is a deciding factor with a lot of people.
In this case I've been lucky because I've been able to test the battery life while not using it at work and also over the last 2 days which I've had off work. Thanks to that, I've really been able to see the life in it.
Over the couple of days I was at work, I was only able to use it briefly at lunch and then for about 5 hours after work and it just about lasted over those 2 days. That really impressed me because there had been really mixed reviews about battery life and the only other time I've seen battery life like that is with my N7.
Now, throughout the 2 days I've been off work I've still noticed pretty decent battery life with it lasting throughout the day (just about) and then having to charge it at night when I'm asleep. That's been with about 6 hours of music playback, an hour of video and the rest being general browsing of the net and XDA. That's not exactly my average usage but it was a pretty good test of it.
This phone really does seem to have the whole package.
Design
Lastly, I'll cover the overall design of the One. As we all know, it's a lovely phone and it looks amazing. I don't really like the look of the black One but the silver model looks sleeker than you'd expect. It was actually the design of the One which originally caught my eye and got me interested, as I'm sure is the same for a lot of you, but with all the features and power also built into the phone, it made it a must for me.
Heating
Heating is something which will get spoken about quite a lot in any device forum across XDA and with good reason.
A lot of devices will heat up so much that it can actually hurt a little bit if you touch the device. My S2 was like that a lot of the time but only on the screen. The rest of the device was fine.
With the One there has been mixed response about the level of heat and from which situations the heat issue occurs. In my experience, the One only has a heat problem if I've been charging it for ages and am constantly using my phone throughout the charging period. Even when I feel the heat, it's very moderate (so yes you can feel the heat but it's not bad enough where there's a chance of burning yourself).
Of course this issue may vary between different people dependant on your usage or the build date of your phone. The above is purely my experience.
Damage
Now, when I say damage I don't mean that I've done drop tests or anything remotely similar to that. I simply mean that I've dropped it a couple of times.
The only situation I'm going to mention is when I dropped it onto the tiles on my kitchen floor (simply because the other couple of times have been onto a carpet and therefore wouldn't produce any damage unless thrown onto the ground).
I only managed to drop it because I was about to put my phone into my pocket and I missed and it dropped right to the ground. (Silly, I know.) The moment I dropped it I was thinking, "Sh!t". Obviously the first thing I checked, which I'm sure we'd all do the same, is that the screen wasn't damaged in any way. Luckily it wasn't because it had landed on the back. I then checked the back cover to see if there was any signs of damage and there was none
The only sign of damage on my phone is a couple of light scratches caused by having my phone in my pocket with my keys or lighter, so nothing to do with the drop at all.
Of course this is nowhere near definite proof that the One is a damage-free phone, because I'm sure that's far from the truth, but it was just great to see that it hadn't been damaged in the slightest
Apps
I know this section isn't related to the phone as such but it's still relevant. While a lot of the main apps I use work great, some apps and games won't work yet either because of the screen resolution OR not optimized for the phone yet.
I know the same can be said about a ton of new phones which are released but I feel a lot of the HTC One users will benefit even more once more apps are made available. Not a major problem but figured I may aswell mention it while I'm here
IR Blaster
The IR Blaster is something that is really useful and a lot of fun, all at once.
I, like most of you, will probably only use this on our TVs or at least mostly on our TVs. As such, that's all I've tested it on. Therefore I can't comment on how well it may/may not work on either products.
The only downside is how long it takes to set it all up. You need to be specific about country, model, manufacturer and that's all before you're even allowed to set up the controls.
Once you get to setting the controls up, however, although it seems like quite laborious task to input each button individually but it doesn't actually take too long. Simply face TV remote towards the IR Blaster and press the relevant button on the remote so that the phone can recognize it.
Once you've set it all up, that's when the fun begins. First of all, it's really useful if you're having a lazy moment and can't be bothered to go across the room to get the remotes. You can simply grab your phone and navigate to the TV app and control it right from there. It was good to be able to control the volume of the TV by using our volume buttons as well
It can also become a really funny feature though. Here's how - My sister came and stopped at my house for the night. She woke up the next morning and instantly put Spongebob Squarepants on my TV. It's safe to say that I can't stand that program and knew I could have some fun with it. I just casually sat down and started turning the channel onto something which I wanted to watch. Obviously she was confused as to how it happened and tried changing it back. At that point I turned the TV off with my phone and now she thinks the TV is broke. RESULT!
Build Quality
I wasn't going to address this section because I personally don't think it's a big deal. I'm only covering this section because of all the complaints across this forum.
Have I got a perfect device? - No, of course not. No one has. BUT it's still the best phone I've ever had and it's gonna take a lot to beat this phone.
On 3 of the 4 corners, there's the well-documented problem with a lift of the material, so that it's not 100% flush with the rest of it. The only corner which doesn't have this problem is where the power button is.
I'm not bothered about these slight imperfections because it's still an amazing phone. I'm not silly enough to let such minor problems make me want to get a replacement or change to a different device.
While I'm here, I also have a group of dead pixels on the top right part of my screen. Again, as it's such a minor problem, I don't care about it.
Do some people care about build issues? - Yes of course they do but that's because, in their mind, they should have an absolutely perfect phone considering it's costing them around
Upvote
0
Ha! I'm 6 ft 2in. And I don't think my hands are particularly small
Maybe I'm just used to being able to operate the s2 single handed and the new phone just takes a bit of getting used to. Power button will always be annoying though.
Upvote
0
Update on the dialler issue: let's call my employer 'Company' and my colleague 'Anna' (that actually is her name, FYI). I want to call work - stored in contacts as 'Company'. I type into the quick dialler and it comes up with Anna Company (as she is stored). I can't find a way of using the quick dialler to dial Company. Very annoying.
Upvote
0
You could change the name to *Company to get to it that way.
Personally, I dial everyone through Google Gesture Search, but that may not be for everyone.
Personally, I dial everyone through Google Gesture Search, but that may not be for everyone.
Upvote
0
K
KOLIO
Guest
+1
Why GOOGLE GESTURE SEARCH isn't baked-in to ANDROID is beyond me.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.gesturesearch..
Upvote
0
Don't think it is.
Quickest is to rename company to *Company in your example.
I have a LOT of contacts and find that Gesture Search is just very handy overall.
Upvote
0
You put in 2, 26, or 266 and Anna shows up, but not Company at all??
Hmm. Must be new then. I put in 26 and get Ana and Connie, as well as others.
Hmm. Must be new then. I put in 26 and get Ana and Connie, as well as others.
Upvote
0
Upvote
0
Upvote
0
Definitely!
Looking for your review and sample photos in those threads in the coming days.
Congrats!
How are signal and GPS quality in your opinion?
Upvote
0
Definitely!
Looking for your review and sample photos in those threads in the coming days.
Congrats!
How are signal and GPS quality in your opinion?
I'll be testing camera tomorrow so I can do GPS as well. Ill be doing a consumer video review by Sunday evening for my friends website so ill be sure to link it.
Haven't tested GPS yet (just got it five hours ago). As far as signal... I'm actually getting a bar (sometimes two) more than I did with my lumia 920 at my house... And same signal as my iPhone 5
Upvote
0
BEST TECH IN 2023
We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.
Smartphones
Best Android Phones
See All- Google Pixel 8 Pro Check Price
- Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Check Price
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 Check Price
- Google Pixel 8 Check Price
- Samsung Galaxy S23 Check Price
Upcoming
See All
Best iPhones
See All- Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max Check Price
- Apple iPhone 15 Pro Check Price
- Apple iPhone 15 Plus Check Price
- Apple iPhone 15 Check Price
- Apple iPhone SE (2022) Check Price
Upcoming
See AllTablets
Best Tablets
See All- Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra Check Price
- Apple iPad Pro (2022) Check Price
- Apple iPad Air (2022) Check Price
- Apple iPad Mini (2021) Check Price
- Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Check Price
Upcoming
See AllLaptops
Best Laptops
See All- Apple Macbook Pro Check Price
- Apple Macbook Air (2023) Check Price
- Dell XPS 13 Check Price
- Acer Chromebook Spin 714 Check Price
- Dell Alienware m18 (2022) Check Price
Upcoming
See AllTelevisions
Best TVs
See All- Samsung The Frame TV Check Price
- Samsung Neo QLED 4K QN90C Check Price
- LG G3 OLED Check Price
- LG A2 OLED Check Price
- ROKU Plus Series Check Price
- Samsung S90C OLED Check Price
- SunBriteTV Veranda 3 Check Price
Upcoming
See AllGame Consoles
Best Game Consoles
See All- Nintendo Switch OLED Check Price
- Microsoft XBOX Series X Check Price
- Sony Playstation 5 Check Price
- Microsoft XBOX Series S Check Price
- Nintendo Switch Lite Check Price
Upcoming
See AllWearables
Best Wearables
See All- Oura Ring 3 Check Price
- Apple Watch Series 9 Check Price
- Google Pixel Watch 2 Check Price
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic Check Price
- Fitbit Inspire 3 Check Price
- Amazfit Amazfit Band 7 Check Price
- Apple Watch SE Check Price
- Apple Watch Ultra 2 Check Price
