HTC One vs One X +
Comparing smartphones is an interesting activity at times and a boring activity at other times. It becomes interesting when the comparison is between two new high end smartphones that have a lot to offer for the review. On the contrary, stale usual smartphone reviews are rather boring. I can genuinely say I have stumbled upon an interesting comparison with today’s title. HTC One line has been there for some time which was known as the HTC One X at first. This used to be one of the first quad core smartphones out there in the market, and with the Beat sounds enhancement, the device received a lot of love. Then came another version from HTC which was known as HTC One X +. This is again not a separate version but a slightly tweaked and upgraded version of HTC One X. Recently at the MWC 2013, we were able to get our hands on HTC One which was a device that was long rumored and anticipated. We delightfully acknowledge that we are pleased with this elegant device and commend HTC’s bold step in new detailed design of the outer shell. To compare with the all new smartphone, we choose its predecessor, which is HTC One X +. So here is our take one both followed by a brief comparison between these two devices.
HTC One Review
HTC One is the successor for HTC’s flagship product last year HTC One X. Actually the name sounds like the predecessor of HTC One X, but nonetheless, it is the successor. We have to commend HTC on this awesome handset for it is one of a kind. HTC has paid so much attention to the detailing of the smartphone so that it looks premium and elegant as ever. It has a unibody polycarbonate design with a machined aluminum shell. In fact, Aluminum is etched in order to create channels where the polycarbonate is inset using zero gap molding. We hear that is takes 200 minutes to machine one of these stunning and elegant shells, and it certainly shows. The Aluminum used by HTC is harder than what is found on the iPhone 5, as well. HTC revealed Silver and White versions of the handset, but with the different anodized aluminum colors and variety of polycarbonate hues, the color variations can be virtually limitless. The front of the HTC One resembles a bit to Blackberry Z10 with the two aluminum bands and two horizontal lines of stereo speakers at the top and the bottom. The brushed aluminum finish and the square design with the curved edges have some resemblance to iPhone, as well. Another interesting thing we noticed was the layout of the capacitive buttons at the bottom. There are only two capacitive buttons available for Home and Back which are laid out on either sides of an imprint of HTC logo. That is about the physical elegance and the built quality of HTC One; let us move on to talk about the beast inside the beautiful outer shell.
HTC One is powered by 1.7GHz Krait Quad Core processor on top of Qualcomm’s new APQ 8064 T Snapdragon 300 chipset along with Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with a planned upgrade to v4.2 Jelly Bean. As you can clearly see, HTC has packed a beast inside the beautiful shell of the One. It will serve all of your needs without any concern for performance with the super-fast processor. The internal storage is either at 32GB or 64GB without the ability to expand the storage using microSD card. The display panel is also purely awesome having a 4.7 inches Super LCD 3 capacitive touchscreen display panel featuring a gorgeous resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels at a pixel density of 469 ppi. HTC has used Corning Gorilla glass 2 to fortify their display panel. The UI is the usual HTC Sense 5 which has some additional tweaks. The first thing we noticed is the home screen which has what HTC calls a ‘BlinkFeed’. What this does is to bring out tech news and related content to the home screen and arrange them in tiles. This actually resembles the live tiles of Windows Phone 8 and critics have been fast to allege HTC about that. We of course have no offense towards that. The new TV app is also a great addition to HTC One, and it has a dedicated button at the home screen. HTC has included a Get Started wizard that lets you set up your smartphone from the web on your desktop. This is a really nice addition since you are required to fill up a lot of details, link up a lot of accounts etc in order to get your smartphone up and running like your previous one. We also liked the all new HTC Sync manager which features a wealth of new stuff.
HTC has also taken a bold stance in terms of optics because they have only included a 4MP camera. But this 4MP camera is bound to be way better than most of the smartphone cameras in the market. The basis behind this exclamation is the UltraPixel camera HTC has included in One. It has a large sensor that is capable of getting more light in. To be precise, the UltraPixel camera has 1/3 inch BSI sensor of 2µm pixels enabling it to absorb 330 percent more light that the regular 1.1µm pixels sensor that is used by any normal smartphone. It also has OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and a fast 28mm f/2.0 autofocus lens which translates in to a layman as a smartphone camera that is capable of taking extremely low light shots. HTC has also introduced some pretty neat features like Zoe which is to capture a 3 second 30 frames per second video along with the snaps you are taking that can be used as animated thumbnails in your photo gallery. It can also capture 1080p HDR videos at 30 frames per second and offers a pre- and post-shutter recording that mimics functionality similar to Nokia’s Smart Shoot or Samsung’s Best Face. The front camera is 2.1MP and enables you to take wide angle views with f/2.0 wide angle lens and can also capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 frames per second.
Any new high end smartphone nowadays comes with 4G LTE connectivity and HTC One is no different. It also has 3G HSDPA connectivity and has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n for continuous connectivity. You can also set up a Wi-Fi hotspot to share your internet connection and stream rich media content using DLNA. NFC is available on selected handsets as well which would depend on the career. HTC One has 2300mAh non-removable battery that would power up the smartphone to last a typical day.
HTC One X + Review
HTC One X+ is more or less the same smartphone that is been branded as HTC One X with few tweaks and additions. It has the usual outlook of any HTC Android with the rounded edges and three buttons at the bottom. The handset is offered in Stealth Black and Polar White colors with a premium feel to it. HTC One X + is powered by 1.7GHz Quad Core processor on top of NVIDIA Tegra 3 AP37 chipset along with ULP GeForce 2 GPU and 1GB of RAM. It runs on Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean and we are pretty sure HTC will keep it up to date for some time. The hardware setup is undoubtedly one of the best you can see in the market today and marks one major difference between One X + and One X. HTC One X uses an earlier version of the Tegra 3 chipset while HTC One X + uses the new Tegra 3 AP37 chipset enabling them to clock the processor faster. HTC has included their custom UI HTC Sense UI v4+ especially for One X +.
HTC One X + has 4.7 inches Super LCD 2 capacitive touchscreen display panel featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 312 ppi with Corning Gorilla glass 2 to reinforce the display panel. It is undoubtedly a gorgeous display panel although slightly outdated compared to the 1080p display panels coming to the market these days. It comes with either 32GB of 64GB of internal storage without the option to expand using microSD cards. As it is the case with HTC One X, One X + also features Beats audio enhancement for enthusiastic music fans. HTC has included 8MP camera in One X + with autofocus, LED flash and image stabilization. The lens can capture 1080p HD videos at 30 frames per second and features simultaneous video and image recording with HDR. The 1.6MP front facing camera can be used for video conferencing. HTC One X + comes with 4G LTE connectivity along with 3G HSDPA connectivity, as well. Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n is used to ensure continuous connectivity, and it can host Wi-Fi hotspots to share your super-fast internet connection with your friends. HTC One X + also has DLNA which interprets to the ability to stream rich media content to DLNA enabled big screens in layman’s terms. The 2100mAh battery that is included in HTC One X + can power up your device for around 12 hours or so which is acceptable.
A Brief Comparison Between HTC One and One X +
• HTC One is powered by 1.7GHz Quad Core Krait processor on top of Qualcomm APQ 8064T Snapdragon 600 chipset along with Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM while HTC One X + is powered by 1.7GHz Quad Core processor on top of NVidia Tegra 3 AP37 chipset along with ULP GeForce 2 GPU and 1GB of RAM.
• HTC One runs on Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean while HTC One X + runs on Android OS v4.1.1 Jelly Bean.
• HTC One has 4.7 inches Super LCD 3 capacitive touchscreen display panel featuring a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels at a pixel density of 469 ppi while HTC One X + has 4.7 inches capacitive touchscreen display panel featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 312 ppi.
• HTC One has 4MP UltraPixel camera with very good low light performance that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 fps while HTC One X + has 8MP camera with autofocus and LED flash that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 fps.
• HTC One and HTC One X + come with 4G LTE connectivity.
• HTC One is slightly larger, thicker and heavier (137.4 x 68.2 mm / 9.3 mm / 143g) than HTC One X + (134.4 x 69.9 mm / 8.9 mm / 135g).
• HTC One has 2300mAh battery while HTC One X + has 2100mAh battery.
Conclusion
It is obvious that HTC One is the superior smartphone among these two devices. It should be evident by the fact that HTC One is the new product and comes as a sequel to the old HTC One X model. However, HTC One is not just the superior one, but it is one of the best smartphones offered by HTC as of yet; perhaps the best! The attention to detail HTC has paid in One is magnificent and that has really paid off looking at the device. Likewise, HTC One is going to be one expensive device as well having all these premium features inside. As such, the cheap alternative to HTC One would be HTC One X + which is pretty obvious. We still consider HTC One X + to be one of the best smartphones in the market, and it certainly will serve you well while causing a smaller hole in your pocket, but don’t expect the premium looks available with the HTC One. In fact, if you are in to detailing and premium looks, HTC One can be a very good choice for you.