Last month, I was kindly sent the HTC One mobile phone from Three Mobile to try out for a couple of days; I have been a steadfast iPhoner since 2010 and literally have no idea how to use any other smart phone (iPhone institutionalization will so that for ya!) and so I was more than up for the challenge of learning how to use all the nifty features of the HTC One!
Let me quickly note and apologise for the lack of photos in this post by the way; during the use of the phone, I wasn’t at home and therefore had no access to my DSLR camera!
Before I talk about how I got on with it, let’s talk about the specifications and features of the phone:
- The HTC One weighs 160 grams and boasts a 5 inch display screen which is fully1080 HD compatible.
- 1.7GHz Core quad processor.
- It is hosted on the Android platform and has about 10GB of storage available (on a 16GB handset and 18.4GB on a 32GB handset).
- The camera has a hardened sapphire lens to protect it from scratches and contains UltraPixel technology, which captures more light and detail than ordinary megapixels. The “selfie” camera on the back is also 20 megapixels, for crystal clear photos.
- The video option on the phone offers 12 different themes to choose from when editing the video.
- DuoFocus lens gives the option to bring subjects within the photo into focus, while blurring the rest out.
The phone itself is very light and is slightly curved to fit your hands comfortably. The phone also takes a nano-sim, but comes with a handy micro and regular sim card stencil, making it very accessible. In terms of weight, in comparison to the iPhone 6 I would say that the HTC is a tad heavier.
The userface itself is easy enough to navigate; when the phone first starts, it offers you the option to sign in with your Google account, which automatically syncs to all related google programs such as Youtube and G+.
Camera
The camera has a small sensor but much larger pixels to allow in more light, and therefore more data, to make the pictures look that much better on the go. With the Android 4.3 you can change the orientation of the panorama camera, so like the iPhone you can take the wider pics in landscape as well as portrait – it’s a nice touch and the interface is really simple to keep you in line. The combination of fast shooting, accurate focus, sharp continuous shooting and the HDR mode makes photos look lovely on the screen.
While I like the overall design and camera specs of the phone, I do prefer the iPhone in terms of interface use and apps such as the iStore and iTunes. The camera on the HTC is powerful and would be great for amateur photographers and the like and the phone itself is very fast, I’ve always been a bit wary of Android, having never used it before but it’s not as foreign a concept as I had thought!
HTC One available from Three Mobile here.