HTC One X: specifications, reviews, prices, descriptions. Review of HTC One X - a peppy old man One X

HTC's new flagship with NVIDIA Tegra 3 and Google Android 4

One of the most anticipated smartphone novelties of this year, One X, the flagship of HTC, has entered the Russian market. You may have already read our report from the Russian presentation of the One line, so we will not list general things about the new line here and will focus on a practical acquaintance with the HTC One X.

But before we start testing the device, let's take a look at its technical specifications and compare them with the main competitors. Of the models already on the market, these can be considered, first of all, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250 and Sony Xperia S: both of these smartphones are flagship, both with a large screen, and both are running Android 4.0. Of course, one cannot but include the Apple iPhone 4S in the comparison. By the way, reviews of all of the above devices have already been published on our website.

As you can see, the characteristics of all three Android smartphones are very similar to each other. At the same time, the Nexus i9250 is the cheapest, but the SoC is also weaker. The most expensive is our today's hero HTC One X, but it also has the most powerful filling: NVIDIA Tegra 3 has not yet been seen in smartphones. But comparing the HTC One X (as well as other models) with the iPhone 4S is difficult. Since, for example, the presence of 1.5 GHz processor cores in the Sony Xperia S does not mean that this smartphone will be twice as fast as the iPhone 4S (with 800 MHz cores). The same goes for RAM. However, at the cost of the iPhone 4S from the official "white" shipments, it is still the most expensive. So it all the more makes sense to take a closer look at Android competitors. The most relevant of which is the HTC One X.

Design

The smartphone arrived to us for testing without any packaging, so it's better to find out about packaging and packaging in the store before buying. We will focus on smartphone design.

HTC One X is available in black and white. We tested a version with a white case, and I can tell right away that I didn't like the look of the smartphone. First, white plastic looks cheap (unlike, say, the white iPhone 4 / 4S); secondly, the shape of the device is uninteresting, boring (compare with the same Nexus i9250); thirdly, the rear surface of the Nexus i9250 is much nicer and more original to the touch than that of the HTC One X.

The downside is also the non-removable back cover (sometimes the only way to restart a dead smartphone is to pull out and insert the battery back; we are not talking about a specific model, but about smartphones in general). The SIM card is inserted in the same way as in the iPhone - you need to insert a pin or paper clip into a small hole and push, after which the cradle comes out of the case. And - yes, just like the iPhone, it requires a Micro-SIM card.

Of the unusual, it is worth noting a speaker for reproducing music and sounds on the back. Judging by the row of holes, it is larger than many other smartphones, although it is clear that in any case, the smartphone speaker will not be the best solution for playing music.

There is no SD card support. In principle, this is not such a big problem, since the amount of built-in memory is 32 GB. But sometimes using microSD can be very convenient if, say, you need to transfer a movie from one device to another.

With the connectors, the situation is as follows: on the left side - Micro-USB for charging and connecting to a PC. On the right side there is a volume rocker.

HDMI is not available, but the Micro-USB port supports the MHL (Mobile High-definition Link) standard, which allows you to output Full HD video and eight-channel audio to a TV / monitor with HDMI. However, this requires a special adapter. HTC has already used MHL in its Flyer tablet, and you can read some details regarding MHL in our review of that device.

The last thing I would like to note is the camera that rises above the back cover, surrounded by an aluminum edging. From the point of view of appearance, the decision is dubious, but functional, probably quite justified.

Overall, the design of the HTC One X did not strike me as good. His appearance is boring, ordinary, without zest. It’s interesting what the HTC designers were guided by when creating the One X. Here it is appropriate to remember that Apple first invented the case, and then the engineers had to cram all the components into this case. HTC obviously has the opposite sequence. Or they approached the assignment without any enthusiasm.

In terms of convenience and functionality, the HTC One X demonstrates the same shortcomings that the iPhone has: an inconvenient mechanism for placing a SIM-card (it cannot be pulled out without materials at hand), a non-removable back cover, and no memory card slot. On the other hand, all this does not prevent the Apple device from being one of the most popular (and objectively the best) smartphones. So it wouldn't be entirely correct to blame HTC One X for that. It's just worth considering these features when buying the One X.

The device weighs 130 grams, which is quite normal for a male model.

Screen

The screen makes a very good impression. The SuperLCD2 sensor provides good viewing angles, sufficient brightness and pleasant colors.

Comparison with a Nexus i9250 screen of the same diagonal shows that SuperLCD2 produces slightly less saturated colors than Super AMOLED HD. The black color is also not as black as the Nexus. But this is a common feature of all LCDs (as opposed to OLEDs). In this case, we do not think that the SuperLCD2 screen depletes colors too much, but in general this is a matter of subjective feelings. Therefore, we advise in the store before buying, just grab the HTC One X and any phone with an AMOLED display and compare the sensations. Perhaps you will like the One X more.

Compared to the Nexus, the One X's screen has one advantage: the picture on it looks a little smoother, no pixels are simply impossible to see.

The screen is capacitive touch, multitouch is supported, but by default - only two simultaneous touches. After the publication of the article, readers pointed out to us that in the settings you can activate support for more simultaneous touches, but the meaning of such a solution (disabling multi-finger multitouch support by default) remained a mystery to us.

Automatic brightness control works well, quickly adjusting the brightness both up and down.

Physical dimensions of the usable screen area: 10.4 × 5.8 cm. Diagonal - 11.9 cm (4.68 inches).

Performance

Let's start with benchmarks. The result in the Quadrant Standard is excellent: 4635 points.

This is an absolute record among smartphones.

In the SunSpider 0.9.1 browser benchmark, Tegra 3's advantage is less obvious. And it's time to admit that SunSpider is no longer so indicative for powerful modern SoCs. Their performance is sufficient for browsing the Internet and processing Javascript. Therefore, a browser can have a greater impact on the result than the SoC.

Note: for testing HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250, we used the stock Android browser, and for iPhone 4S - Safari. The table shows the best results demonstrated by the devices.

Amazingly, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime performed worse in this test! Thus, we can say that by counting the number of Pi, HTC One X is still an absolute record holder.

In the comprehensive AnTuTu Benchmark, the smartphone scored 10,043 points.

This, again, is an undoubted victory over other smartphones (including the flagships of Samsung and Sony), and the defeat here is only for the ASUS tablet.

In the multiplatform GeekBench 2, the gap between competitors is not so impressive. However, as we have noted more than once, we have doubts about how well GeekBench behaves on non-Apple devices.

We tested the graphics performance in NenaMark2 (v2.2). The result is expectedly excellent - 47.7 fps.

So, the benchmarks showed the undisputed leadership of the HTC One X among Android smartphones (it's more difficult to compare with the iPhone, and we don't have enough reliable tools for this yet).

Testing video

We were going to test the HTC One X for video format support (according to our test method, an example of which you can see in the article on the Galaxy Nexus i9250), but failed. Believe it or not, the HTC One X doesn't have a stock video player. We installed Dice Player (which NVIDIA employees recommend for testing Tegra chips) and MX Video Player, but both applications did not work quite correctly. Dice Player simply crashed right after trying to start a video (any), and MX Video Player could not play the sound correctly. Perhaps this is a sample problem (we had a copy not from a commercial batch), but in any case, the situation is alarming. As we remember, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet based on the same NVIDIA Tegra 3 coped with the playback of test clips perfectly (provided that the Dice Player is used). This means that the One X is not about the platform, but about the firmware. One way or another, we cannot recommend this smartphone for use as a media player yet.

After the article was published, we received a comment from NVIDIA representatives: the Dice Player worked correctly on their copies and there were no such problems with video playback. In the near future we will try to test it on another copy of HTC One X and will update the article.

Operating system and applications

HTC One X is the second Android 4.0 smartphone that came to our editorial office. However, the novelty is distinguished from its predecessor Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250 by the presence of a proprietary shell HTC Sense 4.0.

HTC continues to develop Sense and equips all new products with its shell. One X was no exception. The difference from the original Android 4.0 was manifested, first of all, in the organization of desktops, pre-installed widgets and in the changed appearance of the icons. Also, the folder icons look completely different (see the screenshot above).

You don't get used to some changes quickly - for example, the browser icon is very confusing; it's hard to find it outright.

The view mode of the last launched applications looks very curious: it is made in three dimensions (like Cover Flow in iOS). The only confusion is that in horizontal mode the application thumbnails "lie on their sides."

HTC offers a range of apps in addition to the ones that come with Ice Cream Sandwich by default. Among them is the office suite Polaris Office, which allows you to view, create and edit text files, spreadsheets and presentations, applications for receiving FM radio and Internet radio, as well as various useful utilities such as the "Task Manager". It can be very useful when you need to free up the device's RAM.

The application "In the car" is very interesting. In fact, this is another shell, only significantly limiting functionality and focused on use while driving a car.

The general impression of HTC Sense and the preinstalled software is the following: in fact, there is nothing unique or expensive here, but it is obvious that the smartphone manufacturer wants to remove maximum worries from the owner of a brand new device. No need to look for third-party shells, all the necessary software is already installed (including useful little things like "Flashlight" and "Mirrors"). It's clear that all of this can be found in the Google Play Store, and it's free. But HTC relieves its buyer of the need to search.

On the other hand, purely aesthetically, HTC Sense is no longer as superior to the original Android 4.0 as it was in versions 2.x. I would even say that Android on the Nexus i9250 is prettier for my taste. But this is a matter of subjective preference.

Camera

HTC One X has a front camera for video calling and a rear camera for capturing photos and videos.

The manufacturer emphasizes the advantages of the rear camera. There really is something to be proud of. Firstly, the characteristics of the rear camera of HTC are quite consistent with the current flagship level. Not superior, but consistent. Secondly, there are some additional features that not all competitors have. First of all, this is burst shooting. We hold down the shutter button - and the smartphone makes a burst of machine-gun shots, from which it is then offered to choose the best one.

Here is an example of one shot from a series (original available on click).

Regular shooting, of course, is also possible, and its speed is very high, as well as the quality of the resulting images. As an example, here is a fragment of an image enlarged to 100% (the full picture is available by clicking on it in original quality).

Note the small amount of digital noise. And although there is still room to increase the clarity, in general the quality should be recognized as high.

Another snapshot (the full picture is available on click in original quality):

The shooting of a page from the magazine also pleased: the text is legible, you can quickly shoot documents or texts and then read them or recognize them with special programs.

There is a digital zoom, but its use does not affect the quality of pictures in the best way.

In addition, a number of effects are available (in addition to the standard settings).

Videos can be shot in 1920 × 1080 resolution (1280 × 720 by default). Examples of videos: how the camera handles small details in a wide shot (29 seconds, MP4, 31.2 MB) and moving objects (29 seconds, MP4, 33.3 MB).

Overall, the camera is one of the strengths of the HTC One X.

Autonomous work

Despite the claims about the special energy efficiency of NVIDIA Tegra 3, it did not seem to us that this smartphone lasts any longer on a single battery charge than other Android devices. The owner of the One X will have to recharge it every day.

A video on a smartphone can be watched for about 4.5 hours without recharging (MKV, 720p) - however, this is the result for our "inferior" playback in MX Player without sound. And at full processor load, the device will work for less than two hours, as shown by testing in AnTuTu Tester.

NVIDIA Company represented by Irina Shekhovtsova (Head of PR Service) commented on the situation with the power consumption of NVIDIA Tegra 3 and the battery life of the HTC One X smartphone:

Of course, thanks to the use of the fifth companion core, which operates at lower frequencies, in some scenarios, devices based on Tegra 3 will consume more battery power than devices of the previous generation. But in general, so far we are not talking about a fundamental increase in battery life, but about providing devices with greater performance and better capabilities without increasing their power consumption. The term "energy efficiency" in this context should be understood as the best ratio of performance per watt. The Tegra 3 platform is more energy efficient because it provides devices based on it with more resources, while maintaining their power consumption at the level of the previous generation flagships. And, of course, it is worth distinguishing between the capabilities of the platform and the capabilities of the product on its platform. In fact, the battery life of each specific device is highly dependent on the features of its design, display optimization, battery capacity, etc.

conclusions

So what do we end up with? A large male smartphone with a big good screen, great camera and outstanding performance, but with mediocre design, short battery life and strange video playback problems. Does it deserve flagship status? Yes, if you evaluate the smartphone by its technical characteristics. Could this smartphone be of interest to an ordinary user who needs performance for specific tasks, and not as such? In our opinion, at the current price - hardly.

The same Galaxy Nexus i9250, which can be found for an amount in the region of 21-22 thousand rubles, looks much more attractive. And although in terms of performance it is significantly inferior to HTC One X, this does not affect the usability in any way. At least for now. Yes, of course, an expensive device is worth taking "for growth", and in this sense, the cost of Tegra 3 can be fully justified. But if Tegra 3 is so needed, I would recommend waiting a while. Anyway, now there is no sense in such performance. But soon other manufacturers will also release smartphones based on this SoC. And some of the future innovations may seem more attractive to you than the HTC One X.

I. Introduction

In the new line, HTC presented the world with three devices focused on different price ranges - One V, One S, One X. And if the first model is much worse in terms of technical characteristics (and the price of which, accordingly, is much lower), then between S and X everything not so unambiguous - each of them has both advantages and disadvantages in comparison with each other.

Today we will talk about One X, which is positioned by the company itself as a flagship, and, in fact, it is - it has everything that you can imagine (and even a little more):

II. Specifications

Screen: 4.7 "" (119 mm), 1280x720, SLCD2, capacitive, Gorilla Glass 2

Processor: NVIDIA Tegra 3 AP33H, 1.5 GHz

Graphics Accelerator: NVIDIA ULP GeForce GPU, 307MHz

RAM: 1024MB, available on average 300MB

Flash memory: 32GB, available 27.35GB

Camera: 8MP (3264x2448), F2.0, 28mm lens, HTC Image Chip autofocus, LED flash, BSI back-illuminated matrix, dual shutter, simultaneous photo / video shooting

Front camera: 1.3 MP, 720p

Wireless interfaces: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100, Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, GPRS / EDGE / HDSPA / HSUPA / HSPA +, GPS, UMTS / WCDMA, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, FM radio

Multimedia:

* audio: aac, amr, ogg, m4a, mid, mp3, wav, wma, flac

* video: 3gp, 3g2, mp4, wmv, avi

Battery: Li-Pol 1800 mAh, non-removable

Dimensions: 134.36 x 69.9 x 8.9

III. Package Contents, Appearance, Impressions and Feelings

The device is available in two colors - black and white. In our case, the second option will be considered.

The phone comes in a small white box made of environmentally friendly cardboard, from the side resembling a soap dish - already here HTC began to distinguish their product from the crowd. Opening it, you will see the smartphone itself with a loud-speaking inscription telling that this is the one and only product that you have been waiting for.

The scope of delivery is meager and in line with current trends - a little waste paper in the form of all kinds of brochures, spare stickers with IMEI numbers, etc., ordinary penny earphones, a micro-USB cable and a charger.

The design is minimalistic - the device is made of a single piece of polycarbonate (plastic), there are no patterns like “I am a transformer”. In front, we are greeted by a large 4.7-inch display, covered with a new-generation Gorilla Glass 2 protective glass and without an air "cushion" (interlayer) - the image lies directly on the surface, as if printed on paper. Similar technologies can be seen in the latest smartphones from Nokia. Part of the glass comes to the side edges of the case, which, when viewed from the side, gives the impression of a slight curvature a la Galaxy Nexus. Do not be fooled, there is nothing like that here.

The device leaves a positive feeling - thanks to the matte texture, you want to keep it in your hands (the ends are glossy). Despite the white color, the case is practical - it is difficult to scratch and / or stain it. According to HTC, it is 4 times stronger and stronger than aircraft grade aluminum (the advanced version of which is used in the One S), which they have gladly demonstrated at several exhibitions.

I would like to note that the display, like the case, is hard to scratch, smudge or stain - there is an oleophobic coating, which in this case really plays its role. No, traces, of course, remain, but almost imperceptible, and it is very easy to erase them. Thanks to it, the screen feels slightly oily to the touch - the sensations are extremely pleasant.

Despite the relatively impressive size for most people, the device is almost always convenient to use with one hand (only the power button located on the upper end can cause problems - you will have to show the wonders of finger gymnastics or, intercept the device or use the other hand) and, in addition to all this, it is outrageously light. The closest analogue is the same Galaxy Nexus.

On the ends of the case are already familiar to everyone micro-usb and mini JACK connectors, a power button and a paired volume control key, which is very convenient to press, although it may seem a little long to some; on the back there is a small bulge hiding the camera. This glass, by the way, is on the same level with the protective rim, so that scratches may appear in the future.

Both speakers are hidden behind perforated body parts. The external speaker leaves much to be desired - the sound could be louder. The earpiece speaker hides an indicator of notifications about missed messages, calls, e-mails, dead battery, etc.

The first thing the user sees, including the device, is the display. It is made using Super LCD2 technology (based on the IPS-matrix, in contrast to the previous version with TN). What does this mean for the user? First of all, excellent color reproduction with soft midtones and great viewing angles - although some may not like this due to the slightly warmer gamut and not as high contrast that the nucleic acid AMOLED counterparts provide the user with. Secondly, an extremely clear image, because there is no PenTile syndrome - fonts are perfectly readable at any scale and on any background. Thirdly - high "voracity". This technology is far from being as economical as the notorious AMOLED - increasing the brightness level by an arbitrary unit makes the battery literally "leak" before our eyes. It is worth noting that by default in native firmware (which is very, very damp, but we'll come back to that), the auto-backlight levels are heavily "raised", which translates into even greater energy consumption. The display fades noticeably in the sun, but a large supply of brightness negates this drawback.

There are three control buttons on the front panel - "back", "home" and "recently launched applications" - as you can see, there is no "menu" button, which results in its on-screen version in non-optimized applications (read: 90 percent of the currently available), and it takes up a lot of space. In insufficient light, they light up in blue-white (blue, if you like), and there is no way to customize their behavior at the moment. Some devices have problems with uneven backlighting - be careful!

In general and in general, despite the presence of recognizable features of the company's previous devices, One X stands out favorably against their background with its integrity and completeness. It should be noted that our sample is assembled with high quality and conscientiously - no creaks, no backlash, the device is solid like a rock. However, after the purchase, checking the phone from all sides, pressing on the top of the display, a click was heard - the screen fell into place, so when buying, you should pay close attention to the build quality - buyers report a high number of defects, which, however, is quite natural for the first batch of phones.

IV. Software

To begin with, I want to note that this device is my first from HTC, so I was almost not familiar with their proprietary Sense interface until today. This graphical shell is rightfully considered one of the best among those provided by other manufacturers and can become a key and decisive moment when buying a new device. In its latest iteration, Taiwanese professionals managed not only not to lose the advantages that Android 4.0 brought, but to embellish and make the OS even more user-friendly.

When you turn it on for the first time, a setup wizard will appear in front of you, which will help you to centrally enter all the necessary information, configure the time zone, set the date, connect all kinds of accounts (the number of which is impressive), import contacts from another phone / carrier, etc.

Upon completion of this operation, the desktop of the new version of Sense will appear in front of you. The grid is 4x4, which, in my opinion, is small and wasteful for such and such a display size and resolution. Scrolling of desktops occurs with cube animation (outside view). Their number can reach 7 pieces, the position relative to each other can be varied to suit your needs. Folders are created in the same way as "pure" ICS: just drag one application icon to another. A convenient moment - by holding one or another element of the interface, you can move the desktops with another finger, thereby not wasting time, dragging the notorious element to one or another edge of the table, wasting time waiting until it turns over itself. In addition, the elements interchange each other if you want to move them to the occupied place of the slave. table - there is no need to delete and then add icons to the slave again. table.

The built-in widgets are beautiful and informative, dynamically changing - for example, the widget of the "music" application has a control element for the built-in SoundHound song recognition program, if it is not installed on the phone, it disappears from the widget as well.

The dock bar can hold up to four applications or folders, there is nothing special or new here.

Pulling the notification bar, you will not see any icons for quick launch of wireless interfaces, which is, of course, a minus, but you can quickly go to the phone's settings. Left-right swipes to clear notifications are saved here.

Lockscreen is standard - to unlock you need to pull the ring to the middle of the screen, to launch applications - pull the icon or folder into this ring. There is a minus here - the icons available for quick launch from the lockscreen cannot be configured - they duplicate those from the dock bar, which, in our opinion, is very, very inconvenient.

The entire interface is provided with beautiful animation, the appearance of the rescrolling in various system menus is especially remembered - similar to an accordion. Screenshots, alas, do not render the effect properly:

In the settings menu, we are greeted by a modified version from the usual ICS, where there are some additional functions, such as:

Customizing the appearance of Sense - choosing covers, plots, etc .;

Compass inaccessibility warning;

Ability to mute the ringtone by turning the phone face down;

Automatic volume adjustment - the phone detects where it is (in your pocket or hand), due to which the sound volume increases or decreases;

Setting up light indication - what and how to react;

Various problems may be associated with fast loading - applications from the market may conflict, increased power consumption, the lack of automatic reconnection of Wi-Fi after the phone "sleeps", etc., I recommend disabling this function.

The menu of recently launched applications has also undergone considerable changes - some will like them, some will not. The downside is that only one running application can be seen "fully" on the screen, plus it is shown in full screen mode and displays the last visible information to the user, on which he minimized the application. When you click on a thumbnail, it shrinks in size, and then smoothly expands to fill the entire screen. Closing applications is done with a swipe up.

However, Sense is not a single piece of graphics - much more important is a set of very high-quality software that comes with the bundle, which allows you to use the phone out of the box. This set is very, very impressive:

Adobe flash player

In addition to the above applications, there is also a set of its own proprietary software:

Weather (forecast from AccuWeather)

Locations (navigation)

Task Manager

Wi-Fi router

Dictaphone

Flashlight

Mirror

Movie editor

Car dashboard

From this list, a separate mention is the "Car Panel", which makes the interface large and convenient for use in the car, without losing its beauty. Like a regular shell, this panel has several desktops that display all the important information - music, wireless connections, phone, navigator, etc.

The built-in music player is beautiful, convenient and intuitive, but I can only call it "not bad" (although it is more than enough for my needs) - there are several equalizer presets, the ability to sort songs by album / artist / etc., but the option "by folders "no, just as there is no way to set your own equalizer settings.

The device has an extremely convenient and advanced application "phone" - everything is done as it should - there is a t9 dialer and a search for contacts, which occurs both in numbers and in letters (and you just need to type the name of the contact, the phone will prompt it) , all kinds of sorting, and even the "call" button opposite the contact is on the right, so that it is convenient to press and not reach anywhere.

The built-in browser is based on the usual one from ICS, but it has a number of features, the main of which is the adjustment of the font to the zoom size.

The charms of Sense can take a long time to paint - how convenient, beautiful and beautiful it is, but there is one "but" that brings us to the next, penultimate part of the review.

V. Smartphone operation

And here the HTC programmers made a mistake. Not even a blunder - there are full seams here. No, the device works quickly - applications start instantly, do not lag (most of them, at least), etc. - however, the system interface itself does not work as smoothly as we would like. From time to time (quite often, for that matter) there are slowdowns even when scrolling desktops; after a heavy load, the launcher starts to reboot; a huge menu button that eats away a decent part of the screen and does not pass through any gate; disconnecting and not reconnecting automatically Wi-Fi.

Moreover, the device does not work very long - a productive processor, a large and uneconomical screen ... but there is a more serious problem - the processor mismanages the load and power consumption of the device, because HTC "confused" the location of the NvCPLSvc.apk file responsible for this item. Returning to the sound - when playing heavy files in FLAC format with the bit-audio profile running and the display turned off, the sound is interrupted every now and then, shut up, and very, very often - the processor cannot cope. It was experimentally found that it is necessary to raise the processor frequency from the minimum 51MHz to 475MHz - then there are no problems. Or install custom firmware, as I did.

Despite the fact that the device is still completely new - official sales began on April 2, now new tweaks, firmware, mods and others like them are updated and appear every day. There are few differences between each other, tk. everyone takes everything from each other, however, the experience of using third-party crafts shows that the device immediately flourishes before our eyes - lags disappear, the operating time improves, additional and convenient settings and tweaks appear (such as landscape mode of desktops, beautiful animations, accelerated memory work, percentage battery, etc.). All of them, with the exception of one, are based on stock versions, so, as I said, they do not shine with a variety - but the sensation from using a completely different level, so if you are not afraid to lose the guarantee - welcome to a better world.

You can evaluate the work of the camera yourself by the photographs you have taken. We have already talked about the main features of the camera from the software side.

Vi. conclusions

This phone is highly controversial. On the one hand - excellent technical stuffing, excellent appearance, beautiful and powerful Sense; on the other hand, it is extremely crude software in general and in general, and the situation does not yet seem to be corrected for the better, because the recently released update does not fix such an important problem with power consumption.

Should you buy? If you do not want to wait for the Galaxy SIII, you want a great display and a pleasant case in every way - you are welcome. If you are not ready to put up with the rather average life time of the device (daylight hours, about 3.5-4 hours of screen time) and are not ready to make efforts to seriously modify the device with a "file", then it is better to bypass it.

HTC has given the world many legendary smartphones. For example, HTC Dream was the first in the world to receive the Android operating system, HTC Advantage (x7500) became the first phablet, HTC Touch Pro personified the world of communicators, and HTC HD2, released in 2009, remained perhaps the most popular smartphone in the world for several years.

Reliable models with advanced features were loved and appreciated by "advanced" users. However, over time, Apple, Samsung and numerous Chinese manufacturers have taken a significant portion of the market away from HTC. But the company remained true to itself - it produced solid smartphones with excellent characteristics, did not save on materials and assembly, and also did not copy models from other brands.

HTC One X10 is a smartphone with good cameras and powerful hardware at a reasonable price. Traditional brutal design, high-quality workmanship, excellent autonomy are its main advantages, and we'll tell you about the rest of the HTC One X10's features in our review, let's go!

HTC's designers decided not to experiment with the One X10's look. Signature strict design is recognizable by rounded corners and stripes located at the top and bottom. The body is made of aluminum, the camera is in the center of the upper part, the logo is in the middle. The metal was painted in an unusual way: a diffuse method was used, in which the paint molecules penetrate to the required depth inside the aluminum. As a result, the paint becomes part of the metal surface, which means that it will not wear off over time, and small scratches on the case are unlikely to appear - a very practical solution.

The smartphone screen is covered with 2.5D glass. Today it is a sign of good form for branded smartphones. HTC One X10 looks elegant and solid at the same time.

Under the screen there are three familiar keys - "Menu", "Home" and "Back", provided with backlight. The power key (on the right side) has a raised surface. Nearby is a volume rocker. The fingerprint scanner is placed on the back cover (just below the main camera), the index finger is automatically placed on it when you pick up the smartphone. The microUSB port for charging and syncing is located next to the speaker on the bottom, and the 3.5mm jack is on the top.

The diagonal of the smartphone screen is 5.5 inches, the frames are of medium thickness - when you hold the device in your hands, it is almost impossible to accidentally hook your finger on the touch area. The SuperLCD 3 matrix is ​​a quality IPS panel with wide viewing angles and natural color reproduction.

The display resolution is high - Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels), the density is 400 dpi. On average, the human eye is able to distinguish 300 dpi of screen area, so the picture is perceived as very realistic. When tilted, the display loses a little contrast, but this does not change the perception of the image. Under the sun's rays, you can read a message, and pass the level in the game.

The screen is protected from damage by tempered glass Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The oleophobic coating is high-quality - the finger easily glides on the screen, prints are erased in one motion. There is also an anti-reflective coating, if you often use your smartphone outdoors - this is a very useful feature.

Performance

The basis of the smartphone is the Helio P10 chipset. This is the first serial MediaTek platform to use the TSMC HPC + 28nm process technology. It has reduced processor power consumption by 30% compared to its predecessors.

The chipset includes eight ARM Cortex A53 cores with a frequency of 1-1.8 GHz and a 64-bit ARM Mali-T860 graphics chip. Four processor cores are more efficient, the other four are energy efficient. This solution extends the operating time of the smartphone without losing power.

The HTC One X10 has 3 GB of RAM. Of course, this is enough not only for the fast operation of standard applications, but also for launching the latest games, the simultaneous operation of the browser, instant messengers, navigation and several other applications.

The volume of permanent memory is 32 GB. For apps and music, that's more than enough, but if you're short on space, there's a microSD card slot up to 2TB.

The HTC BoomSound sound processor is worth a separate mention. It provides high quality sound for any style of music playback, both through the built-in speaker and headphones.

The cameras on the HTC One X10 are very decent. The resolution of the main module "OmniVision OV16880" is 16 megapixels, the aperture is f / 2.0, the size of the matrix is ​​1 / 3.06 inches. Fast and accurate phase detection autofocus is implemented - just what you need for photographing children and animals. The bright dual LED flash will improve the quality of shooting indoors and at night. Fully manual mode is supported.

The results of photo and video filming are at a high level. During the day, there is no noise in the frame, the color rendition is natural at any time. The quality of night shooting HTC One X10 also bypasses other smartphones in the category "up to 25 thousand rubles."

By the way, video can be shot in FullHD resolution at up to 30 frames per second and, thanks to three built-in microphones, with stereo sound. And photos of HTC One X10 can be saved in RAW (DNG) format for further professional processing.

Communications

HTC One X10 has got a hybrid slot - you can install either 2 SIM cards, or a SIM card and a memory card. The HTC One X10 chipset integrates the third generation 4G WorldMode with support for LTE Cat.6 networks and frequency aggregation. It will provide a stable connection and fast Internet access even in areas of poor reception.

In addition, the smartphone has Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n Dual Band and Bluetooth 4.2 modules, as well as a GPS adapter. "Cold" start of navigation takes about 30 seconds, "hot" - 3-5 seconds. So you can connect accessories to HTC One X10 without any problems, and it will replace the navigator.

Software

Works HTC One X10 running Android 6 in the proprietary shell HTC Sense. It is convenient to use the system - everything is at hand, the menus are logical, the Russification is good. By the way, Android 6 works effectively with hardware, saves memory and battery power. Additionally, the Boost + system is used, it optimizes the consumption of smartphone resources.

The smartphone supports proprietary HTC Connect functions. Swiping three fingers across the screen activates music or video playback on the external device. When you pick up your smartphone, the ringtone volume is automatically reduced, and if you turn HTC One X10 upside down, the ringtone is muted.

Autonomy

The 4000 mAh battery is 1.5-2 times larger than that of its closest competitors. It will be enough for 25 hours of talks on the mobile network and for 20 days in standby mode. The smartphone will allow you to continuously watch videos for 10 hours, surf the Internet or play for 6 hours. With an average activity of use

In 2012, the NTS company presented to the whole world a new line of smartphones of the One series. The company has taken into account all the flaws that have been associated with Desire and Incredible, and paraded three new smartphones. Among them was one flagship - HTC One X, the characteristics of which were designed to compete with the Galaxy S3 from Samsung, which, in principle, he did at a fairly high level. The phone, like the entire line of new smartphones, was recognized as one of the most successful models of 2012. In the wake of this success, the company from Taiwan tried to consolidate the success, so in the following years more and more interesting models from HTC could be observed.

Ergometric features of the smartphone

The review of this smartphone should start with the fact that it "sits" very comfortably in the hand, and the sensations conveyed by the matte surface of the panel are very pleasant. It should be noted that the phone is monolithic, therefore, when using it, there will be no backlash, which was possible on other models of this company. In general, the company made a very serious claim with the release of X. The characteristics of the phone's external condition speak volumes. Just use it as a glass on the screen in order to avoid unwanted scratches!

If you look at the front of the phone, then at the top of it you can see a speaker for a conversation and a camera that can only be used offline as a mirror. At the bottom of the screen there are 4 buttons: Home, Back and Task Manager. On the right side of the smartphone, you can find a volume control, and on the top, there is a power button for the smartphone, as well as holes for a SIM card and headphones. There is a hole for USB devices on the left side of the smartphone. If you turn the smartphone over, you can find an 8 MP camera. The smartphone itself can be of two colors: black or white. If you choose the white option, the camera border will be silver, if you choose black, then it will be red.

Characteristics of the technology used in HTC One X

The characteristics of this phone are such that it is one of the first smartphones to use a quad-core processor with a clock speed of 1.5 GHz. Another plus of this smartphone is its screen. Apart from that, the HTC One X boasts a gigabyte of RAM. Of course, this may not seem enough, but this phone loads fairly "heavy" games quite simply. The only drawback in the device is the 1800 mAh battery, and that is for the reason that it is non-removable and cannot be replaced with a more capacious one. Problems can also arise if the battery breaks down and has to be replaced.

Operating and software

As an operating system, HTC could have supplied Windows Phone, because we know that they have practiced using this operating system in the past. But today the HTC One X has Android 4.0 with the possibility of a subsequent upgrade to version 4.2. Very good is the HTC Sense program, which gives the standard Android interface its originality. As additional features that are new compared to previous phones, we can highlight the ability to unlock the phone only when your face matches the photo.

Camera and smartphone image quality

HTC One X, specifications, price

By purchasing the 2012 flagship smartphone from Taiwanese hi-tech phone maker HTC, you will receive a few more additional items in the kit. Firstly, this is the branded box, the design of which has been updated. It has no pointed corners. Secondly, this is all that can help you if you have any questions about how to use your smartphone. Thirdly, this is a charger, which is better not to pull out of your pocket at all and always carry with you, as the phone can be discharged very quickly. Fourthly, this is a USB adapter, which is designed to connect a smartphone to a computer in order to transfer any files or to set up a pass-through connection. And finally, fifthly, these are branded headphones from NTS. There is nothing special about them, so if you are a music lover, then it is better to immediately buy yourself an additional higher-quality version of such a headset.

As for the prices for this smartphone, initially after the announcement it cost about $ 700. Gradually, it became cheaper, and by now this smartphone can be easily purchased for 350-400 US dollars.

Summary of the review

Summing up all of the above, we can conclude that this phone is a very interesting option and will be quite relevant even today. The advantages of the smartphone, which was developed by the Taiwanese manufacturer of high-tech smartphones NTS, include its amazing ergonomics, large screen and great sound. And the last plus is the merit of not only the company itself, but also the partners who, with each new line of smartphones, try to make the sound more and more rich and pleasant to the ear. The disadvantages of this smartphone are the battery and the camera. And the battery should be mentioned for two reasons. The first is that it discharges quickly, and the second is that it cannot be changed without assistance. As for the camera, everything is ambiguous here.

Overall, the smartphone is great, but if you want something newer, you can go for the HTC One M7. Description, characteristics and reviews about this model indicate that this is a high-end smartphone.

It's no secret that according to financial indicators, HTC is not doing well. Although, it would seem, many interesting ideas were introduced, quite successful "pipes" were released on the market, cooperation with Beats Audio flourished. However, facts remain facts, sales as of early 2012 were poor and HTC is forced to take some serious steps to rebuild a previously successful mobile business. One of these steps was the clear division of smartphones into families. We will get acquainted with the flagship representative of HTC One - the phone in this review.

So, HTC One X should help restore the consumer loyalty and trust to the electronics giant. Or, on the contrary, turn out to be a complete disappointment. Looking ahead, let's say that HTC fans shouldn't worry - the smartphone, at least, does not disappoint. As already mentioned, HTC now divides phones into families, each of which includes devices released in approximately the same period, united by a common name. HTC One is a line of smartphones in the above-average price range.

On the right side there is a volume rocker. At the top is a power on / off button, a jack for standard 3.5mm headphones or headsets, and an auxiliary microphone hole that is used for noise cancellation. The main spoken microphone hole is at the bottom of the phone. There is no HDMI connector, but its functions can be taken over by a microUSB connector with support for MHL, Mobile High-definition Link. This option allows through a special adapter to output the image in Full HD and eight-channel sound to a monitor or TV with HDMI. On the back of the device there is also a built-in camera lens, which has an aluminum edging and is slightly raised above the back cover itself. The shape of the device is slightly rounded, but the fillets are cut off by sudden right angles. Due to the slight curves at the top and bottom of the hull, the side looks a bit like a boat. It's nice to hold a smartphone in your hands, but it would be strange if it were otherwise. However, the notorious iPhone is still more pleasant to hold. Probably, this is due to the fact that Apple first came up with the case and design of the device, and then selected a suitable "filling", and HTC engineers went the other way. The dimensions of the device are 134.4x69.9x8.9 millimeters and weighs 130 grams, so it is bulky smartphone can not be named with all the desire.

The screen only makes a pleasant impression. Its diagonal is 4.68 inches, with dimensions of 10.4 x 5.8 centimeters. The matrix is ​​made using SuperLCD2 technology. The resolution is 1280x720 pixels, but the grain is large enough and if you really want to, you can see individual points. Viewing angles, brightness reserve and color rendering are all at the highest level. One can argue for a long time about the advantages or disadvantages of SuperLCD2 over Super AMOLED HD. Some argue that the latter color is more "alive", others - that they are so "alive" that they seem unnatural. The only undeniable advantage of OLED technology is natural black color. For the rest, you should trust only your own eyes, and it is very likely that you will like the SuperLCD2 display, and not the Super AMOLED matrix, despite all the technical and technological advantages described many times. The sensor is capacitive, with multitouch support, but there is one interesting feature here - for some obscure, banal logic, the recognition of only two simultaneous touches is enabled by default. But let it not mislead you - in the options you can "restore justice", because the sensor is not cheap two years ago, and return the multi-finger multitouch. The screen is covered with the famous glass from Corning - Gorilla Glass 2. I was pleasantly surprised by the automatic brightness control, which works well and quickly.

The hardware "filling" is very, very impressive. Judge for yourself - the NVIDIA Tegra 3 platform, with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor that runs at 1.4 GHz, plus a fifth auxiliary core for undemanding tasks to save energy. The video core is GeForce ULP. The amount of RAM is 1 GB, and the capacity of the built-in storage is 32 GB. We can safely say that this is one of the most productive smartphones on the market. Synthetic tests only confirm this. In the Quadrant Standard - an impressive 4635 points. In SunSpider 0.9.1 - 1929.8 ms, however, due to the loss of relevance, this benchmark is gradually becoming a thing of the past. In SuperPi, when counting 512,000 decimal places, the result was 267.202 seconds. In the comprehensive AnTuTu Benchmark, the smartphone scored 10,043 points. Often HTC One X far ahead of flagship devices from other manufacturers.

This new product from NTS runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. The user interface has been replaced with the proprietary HTC Sense 4.0 skin. The company continues to promote the proprietary shell and installs it on all new devices. The differences lie in a slightly different organization of desktops, a changed appearance of icons, and so on. Some changes are really pleasing to the eye, others, on the contrary, are controversial - for example, the browser icon is corny difficult to find. The view of the latest running applications, made in 3D, in the spirit of Cover Flow on iOS, looks beautiful and informative. In the horizontal mode, however, the miniatures are located "on the side". In addition to the standard Android 4.0 applications, some other programs are also preinstalled, such as a fairly functional office suite Polaris Office, applications for listening to FM radio and Internet radio, and other useful utilities like Task Manager, which helps a lot to free up RAM. Interesting is the application "In the car", which is designed for convenient use in the car, and provides enlarged icons and a redesigned interface. In general, the preinstalled software is not unique, you can freely download it yourself, but I am glad that the manufacturer is trying to minimize the user's hassle.

Cameras in new product, as usual, two. The front one is designed for video calls, has a resolution of 1.3 Megapixels and does not stand out in any way. But the rear, the main camera deserves a special mention. The resolution of the main camera is 8 Megapixels, there is autofocus and LED flash. According to its characteristics, the camera is of a very, very high level, quite matched to the price of the device. The quality of photos is excellent for a smartphone, it is quite possible to send two-three-year-old digital compacts to a well-deserved rest. There are also some useful additional features that other manufacturers often forget about. For example, continuous shooting - while holding the shutter button, you can quickly take a series of pictures and choose the best one. Normal shooting itself is also quite fast. Photos are not cluttered with digital noise. Of course, the phone easily copes with filming documents or other texts. It also provides digital zoom and a number of additional effects. Video is recorded in resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 pixels, and it also turns out to be of very high quality.

Gadget capable of operating in GSM / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and UMTS / HSDPA 900/2100 MHz networks. Supported Wi-Fi standards a / b / g / n and Bluetooth 4.0 with the A2DP profile. There is support for A-GPS navigation and FM radio.
NVIDIA Tegra 3 is announced as an energy efficient platform, not least thanks to the additional fifth processor core. However, the device does not work much longer than other Android devices. The non-removable lithium-ion battery has a capacity of only 1800 mAh. So with an average intensity of use, you will have to recharge the phone every day, if you wish, of course, you can stretch the battery charge for two days, but you will have to turn off the wireless interfaces. When watching video in 720p resolution Smart"Lives" for about 4 hours. When the processor is fully loaded, the battery lasts for a modest 2 hours. Alas, with this Android phone it is still undesirable to go far from the outlet if you want to use all the functions to the fullest.

What did HTC do in the end? A large smartphone with an advanced hardware "filling", an excellent screen and camera, a decent design and a modest battery life. Most likely, the device will interest men more than women. Most likely, the popularity of this phone will be moderate - after all, the price tag is not the most democratic, from a practical point of view it is better to choose the “simpler” devices. But if the choice is from the best that is available on the market - why not, if you are not confused by the disadvantages voiced above.
If you still have questions, you can watch a video review of the phone HTC One X: