So, with the forerunners in the smartphone industry having all pumped out their latest flagships, it’s time to look at those two smartphones that have stayed at the top of my favorites list. Ok here goes:
HTC One: Released in March 2013, this smartphone has been the best flagship release of the Taiwanese firm, which manufactures smartphones running Windows Phone and Android OS. Its features like BlinkFeed and Zoe have made user experiences a lot easier and joyful, thus making it the One in the market even months after its release.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3: The latest release of Samsung has everything bigger and classier, from bigger screens to refined S Pens, extra classification, fluid navigation between setups and a crystal clear 13MP camera. Upgrading the OS to Android 4.4 (KitKat) next January would only make things sweeter.
The One
There are phones with good security, phones with awesome cameras and large displays, phones that are scratch, dust and water resistant, and phones with user friendly arrangement of apps and decent levels of security. And then there is the HTC One. Combining a stunning array of the best of audio, images, hardware and software, this handheld is the best device running Android so far. Here’s a summary of those features that would make me vouch for it any day:
Build: The HTC One sports an aluminum body with lines along its curved back and rubber sides, giving it a cool feel. The smartphone’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor now supports Android v4.3 Jelly Bean and plans to update it to v4.4 KitKat are in the pipeline. The CPU has a 2GB RAM and 32/64GB internal storage, all contributing to a blazing fast interface for both phones. However, the HTC One doesn’t have an internal memory card slot and the Note 3 scores in this region. Although it weighs 143g and isn’t all that light, it’s still comfortable to hold compared to the Note 3, which is way too large to handle with just one hand and weighs 168g.
Display: The 4.7 inch 1080x1920p screen with LCD3 technology in HTC One has also been maximized till the edges and provides greater brightness compared to the AMOLED and Plastic OLED displays used by Samsung. OLED displays look attractive because of the human ability to discern contrasts, but brightness is visibly reduced in case of AMOLED displays when placed in bright light.
Sense 5: This hugely successful software hands-on introduced by HTC comprises BlinkFeed, Sense TV, where we can just feed in the location and grab all our favorite channels and display our phone’s remote controlling skills, and a new Sync Manager to easily transfer data and contacts from older HTC phones and devices running iOS. Upon unlocking, the BlinkFeed and another standard Android home screen pop up. Of course, the number of home screens can be increased to a total of five. Off the screen, there are just two touch buttons instead of the usual three. And what’s better, we can even choose to not keep a lock screen if we want to, though I really wouldn’t trust anybody with my phone just like that.
BlinkFeed: HTC BlinkFeed steals the thunder of every smartphone by combining live updates from social networks and news feeds in a beautiful tile arrangement, and it can even be customized. This turns up as the default home screen, apart from a maximum of five customizable home screens to which we can add apps and widgets. There’s also a neat 3×4 grid of apps in the main menu as well.
Soundcheck: The speakers lining the top and bottom of the front side of the HTC One and the built in amplifier, collectively called BoomSound, bring a boost in audio quality through headphones. This is noteworthy while capturing videos using Zoe. Now music can even be played from the lock screen.
Camera and Zoe: HTC One boasts of a 4 MP sensor using the Ultra Pixel method, which is nothing short of brilliant. And I mean it literally: the small sensor has larger pixels to allow more light and data and thus improves image quality. It works perfectly in low light conditions, where most cameras fail. Zoe, the latest trick up HTC’s sleeve, lets people edit imperfect photos by creating smiles, removing unwanted objects in pictures and even creating a sequence of events all in one shot. In addition to this, turning on the Zoe mode can help us create a moving picture by adding images 0.6s before and 3s after a camera shot has been taken. This can cause a huge chunk of our memory to be used up, but files can be uploaded on the Zoe Share Server as well.
CONCLUSION
Even though it has its negatives like an average battery life and non-expandable memory, the HTC One has managed to provide what everyone needs in just one device. Its fast interface can prove to be really useful in daily life, and it remains well connected by supporting GSM, HSDPA and LTE on multiple carriers. It has a simple flow that doesn’t confuse the user. The fact that it remains one of the best smartphones to go for despite its early release proves the above point. That’s it, you know the verdict: the HTC One is here to stay.
- Lynn