HTC One X Review
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Introduction:
There's always a certain amount of coolness involved with being the first at something. Usually, the products that manage to be the first to deliver a new exciting technology to consumers are the ones that get the most recognition for their achievement, even if other competitive offerings also do that shortly afterwards.
Such was the case last year with the LG Optimus 2X, which was the first handset to come with a dual-core processor – the Tegra 2. This year, however, phone manufacturers had a new technology to implement in their products – the quad-core Tegra 3 processor, and this time, it was another company that got to the finish line first. HTC needed that. The firm went through a series of underwhelming financial results lately, which made some analysts express opinions that the unprecedented success story of the Taiwanese manufacturer has finally come to an end. However, opening the season early this year, HTC has already launched its new One series of phones, consisting of the One X, One S and One V.
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At first glance, there's a lot to love in the HTC One X – the quad-core Tegra 3 processor, brand new ImageSense camera technology, beautiful 4.7” S-LCD 2 HD screen, massive amounts of internal memory and pretty much everything else a smartphone aficionado might dream of. However, we never judge a book by its cover...
Design:
It must be difficult to come up with a phone which has a very large screen, beautiful and thin body, as well as a relatively reasonable weight, all at the same time. HTC has done it for the most part. For the casing of the One X, the company hasn't used aluminum, as it often does with its handsets, but polycarbonate. This has basically ensured that the giant One X actually doesn't weigh that much at 4.59 oz (130 g). At the same time, its polycarbonate body doesn't feel bad at all. To tell you the truth, it's completely the opposite – the One X feels incredibly solid and fine to the touch.
In terms of size, there's just no way that it doesn't feel bulky, and that's exactly what it is, both in your hand and pocket. Alas, one can't have a small phone with a 4.7” display. But who says that the One X is even trying to be compact?! This is a smartphone targeted at the hardcore user who needs more function than form.
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The HTC One X feels incredibly solid and fine to the touch | ||
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When it comes to its looks, we can only speak of the white variant, because that's what we tested, but the other color variants shouldn't be too different, of course. At least in white, the One X is a great-looking handset. It's very thin, but not too much, and has that sense of elegance to it, unlike previous HTC handsets, which also had premium written all over them, but where thicker and thus had a generally more masculine appearance. The front of the device features a nicely-shaped black glass framing the display, which also contributes to a somewhat sophisticated retro look. Interestingly, HTC has decided to stick with capacitive keys under the display, rather than on-screen ones. On one had, this leaves more space to display the interface at any time, but on the other, accidental presses are more likely. Above the screen is where you'll see the 1.3MP front-facing camera.
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Android buttons | Front-facing camera |
Taking our sweet tour around the sides of the handset, on the left we find the microUSB port, which doesn't fit the white casing really well. If it had some kind of a cover, that would have been a different story. However, we can imagine that it probably won't look bad in the darker versions of the handset. On the right is the volume rocker. It reacts OK when pressed, though the volume down key could have used a bit more travel. On the top of the HTC One X sit the power/lock key — which could also be a bit clickier, but is mostly fine — as well as the 3.5 mm headset jack and the second mic for noise-cancellation. Right behind the lock key is the Micro SIM tray, which is ejected in the same way that you eject the iPhone's Micro SIM tray – with a special tool, or, if you are a professional, with a clip. The bottom side of the phone houses only the primary microphone, while on the back you'll get to see the 8MP ImageSense camera with LED flash, awesomely-designed speaker grill, some dock connectors, as well as the HTC and Beats Audio logos. The 8MP camera actually sticks out like a sore thumb due to its protruding shape, and when we factor in the contrasting gray color that HTC used to distinguish it, this pretty much becomes the only area of the device that we find hard to look at (again, this is for the white version). Of course, this might be totally subjective, and some users might even like it just the way it is.
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microUSB port (left) | Volume rocker (right) | Bottom edge |
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3.5mm jack and power key (top) | Speaker grill | SIM card tray |
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All in all, HTC has done a terrific job with the One X's design. The phone is very big, as we said, due to its gargantuan display, but it still manages to appear elegant and pretty. Its polycarbonate body may not be anything that fancy, but it's solid, light and feels relaxing to the touch.
HTC One X 360-degrees View:
Drag the picture or use the keyboard arrows to rotate the phone. Double click or press keyboard Space to zoom in/out
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109 Comments
1. JackDude posted on 02 Apr 2012, 02:14 27 2
Only 7,8/10?! My crapy LG Optimus One 8/10!!! Is it because of the price?
2. android_hitman posted on 02 Apr 2012, 02:22 48 17
it's because it's not an iphone..!
i will wait and see other reviews.. i never trust PA when it comes to reviews.. they are too apple oriented
24. Chronos posted on 02 Apr 2012, 06:05 19 9
No, it's because PhoneArena believed the One X deserved a 7.8.
49. bobfreking55 posted on 02 Apr 2012, 10:39 10 2
The Verge, Engadget and other Apple Biased Sites gave it a very high mark in their reviews. They even said it's the king of all android phones right now, why 7.8 then?
57. Chronos posted on 02 Apr 2012, 13:36 5 5
Different opinions.
77. boingboing posted on 03 Apr 2012, 05:12 2 1
Apple "biased". Ha, good one!
80. boingboing posted on 03 Apr 2012, 05:48 1 1
I like how 4 people disliked that comment. The truth hurts!
83. saket.shrivastava posted on 03 Apr 2012, 09:44 5 3
phoneArena iBiased
35. benfrost100 posted on 02 Apr 2012, 07:59 7 3
This is true. Engadget has a more balanced review as well as the verge. I read PA for laugh breaks only.
46. cripton805 posted on 02 Apr 2012, 10:17 18 0
I agree. They list the iPhone 4s as having cons and theres essential features that are missing on the iPhone like Flash, a longer battery life, the SAME DESIGN, the same UI with tiny tinks, etc...
Its a good phone, but its not outstanding.
Phonearena was too harsh and based its score on opinions like the keyboard layout. Some might prefer it that way. 7.8 puts it around some low2mid end Android phone and the hardware was enough to give it more.
What did it for me was the Razr Maxx review. The Razr got a 9 and the Maxx got an 8.5? Its the same phone with a longer batt. Its a winnn. Not drawback. Its like saying a 120gb iPhone is worse than the 16gb because it would be thicker by a tiny amount. Doesnt the + outweigh the -?
58. Chronos posted on 02 Apr 2012, 13:36 9 1
The One X and 4S were reviewed by two different people.
63. Commentator posted on 02 Apr 2012, 16:54 10 0
I'm generally content with PA's reviews, but I have to speak out on this one. I agree that some points should be docked for the browser issues (which look weird, to say the least), but they seem to be nitpicking to the extreme. The keyboard layout, for instance, is a complete matter of opinion. I personally love the directional arrows on my Evo 4G. As for the 23 fps 1080p, that seems a little strange. If I may quote Engadget, "the One X captures 1080p video at a silky smooth 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo audio." Something seems a little fishy here.
Oh, also, I'd think this phone would get higher marks simply for the fact that its the FASTEST FREAKING SMARTPHONE PRODUCED TO DATE (with the possible exception of the One S). I'd think that warrants a few more points...
69. Birds posted on 02 Apr 2012, 21:57 0 0
I see what you mean but PhoneArena said that the Razr Maxx should have been released at the same time as the original so there wouldn't be a lot of disappointed people who bought the original device months ago. They also argued that this phone is only for power users and if you don't need the extensive amount of juice of the battery then the original is fine. But my opinions are a little different from theirs though. In my opinion. If you are selling it for 100$ more than the original, put in a 32 gigabyte SD card and we have the perfect phone.
79. boingboing posted on 03 Apr 2012, 05:37 3 5
Or maybe the iPhone got a better score because it's the better phone? I know that may be a little hard for you to understand - after all, it doesn't run Android, so how could it be better? And so what if the new iPhone shares the same industrial and UI design as the last one? It's a good design that's held up very well (only the Lumia 800/900 and One X come close to matching the elegance of the 4/4S hardware, imo). Sure, the software may not be as eye-catching as Windows Phone or ICS, but it works and works well, which is the one thing most people want from their phones.
Also, Flash is missing on every smartphone now because Adode simply isn't developing a mobile version of it anymore. Never understood why Android fanatics put such credence in Flash anyway - it was always just another way for app developers to put even more ads where they weren't wanted.
As for "the same UI with many tinks"... erm, isn't that Sense 4.0 all over or am I missing something here? I'll admit I'm not the biggest Android fan, but I do think what Google did with the UI design of ICS was a huge improvement and a massive step forward for the platform. Where Sense and other, similar skins once pushed Android forward in the early days, I can't help but feel they're now holding it back. There's something to be said for consistency in design language, but as long as OEMs continue making these skins, this will unfortunately never be a reality for Android. The impression I got from reading the review was that the writer believed this too, which may go some way to explain why such a promising phone scored so...averagely. Shame, 'cause it is a really nice phone - if it ran something closer to stock ICS, I'd be all over it.
81. kshell1 posted on 03 Apr 2012, 06:12 0 0
its not missing they just will not advance it to next version of android os. or further develop flash on mobile devices. it is not missing
91. cripton805 posted on 04 Apr 2012, 01:42 2 0
If you really think the iPhone is better thats dumb. LoL
If you like it better, thats another story.
You do realize you gave 0 reasons to why the iPhone would be better and you bashed on things that are offered through Android Os as flaws. "Even though it gives a better experience offering a FULL pc like browser..." Are you sure thats a con? Sound more like excuses and you dissed the iPhone in your own words lol.
53. ZEUS.the.thunder.god posted on 02 Apr 2012, 11:16 14 0
one of the best reviews i have ever seen (yeah sarcasm). this phone deserved 7.8 because as reviewer said 4.7 inches keyboard is not spacious enough in comparison to iphone`s 5 years old, BIG, 3.5 inches, perfect and magical keyboard.
iPA.
66. glentomas123 posted on 02 Apr 2012, 18:57 0 0
lol!!!
3. Crossblade posted on 02 Apr 2012, 02:25 12 1
http://www.phonearena.com/howd
owerate
The Optimus One is not better than the One X :)
