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

Video recording is possible with a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080. You can evaluate the quality of the shooting yourself from the above videos. We also recommend downloading the source files as YouTube is unlikely to convey the full picture.

An additional camera is designed for video communication. It supports a resolution of 1280x720, so video calls will no longer be so dull and ugly. By the way, the front camera of the One X also had HD, but the picture quality in the new model has improved slightly.

Hardware platform, autonomous operation

The smartphone is equipped with one of the fastest mobile processors available today - the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 AP37 clocked at 1.7 GHz. The processor provides an amazing speed of work, even the Android OS with its regular "brakes" can not yet load HTC One X + enough to cause delays.

The only lag we noticed during testing was inherited by the smartphone from its predecessor. HTC Sense's user interface takes up most of the RAM, so if you launch a demanding game and then exit it abruptly, you will have to wait a second or two for Sense to load again into RAM. By the way, games on the device also fly: some developers even release special versions for Tegra 3 and integrated graphics ULP GeForce 2 to demonstrate the maximum capabilities of their creations on this platform.

It is worth saying that in terms of computing power, the smartphone is bypassed by the recently announced and even some released models - in particular, the Nexus 4 and Optimus G, both developed and manufactured by LG. Why such high performance is needed, even if our hero easily copes with any possible tasks, is still unclear. Apparently, this is a groundwork for the future. The advantages of these models can be judged by synthetic tests.

HTC One X - Review of the most expensive smartphone

19.04.2012

I'm not wrong? Is HTC One X the most expensive smartphone to date? Well, forgetting about iPhones and fads for the rich like the Mobiado or Tag Heuer. Like so. They ask from 25 to 30 thousand. Big money. And for them, of course, I want to get the perfect, perfect, very-very smartphone without the slightest flaws. Did it work out? Well, I'm not sure.

When I studied the screen, of course, it was useful to see what kind of multitouch there was. And I was stunned - only two touches! Can not be! It turned out that it really cannot. You just need to rummage a little in the settings and disable "Enable 3-finger output gestures and ignore gestures with more fingers". In general, multitouch is here for at least ten touches (hereinafter - fingers run out, do not check). But it is disabled by default.

Separately about screen glitches (see news). A glitch with distorted colors, if you press on the edge of the screen, I confirm, but you have to press quite hard. In real life, phones are rarely squeezed like that. So it's not scary. I did not encounter flickering stripes.

Iron

There are many parrots. The latest platform is NVIDIA Tegra 3. A processor with four main and one auxiliary cores, the maximum frequency is as much as one and a half gigahertz. Where such a heroic strength can be really useful - I do not know. We still have a smartphone here, not a mainframe designed for theoretical research of the consequences of nuclear explosions. Well, maybe the games will write, focused on this multi-core splendor.

In general, the speed of the smartphone was quite satisfactory for me personally. It is enough for all my daily activities. But. But let's not forget that we have a flagship that should be perfect. And here - sometimes a little rough switching between screens. A heavy page is loaded in the browser - there may be lags. The zipped book opens with Cool Reader "in three or four seconds. I don't know. Maybe there are problems in Cool Reader?" But, in my opinion, E-Ink-readers working on much more modest hardware load books with equal speed.

But what completely and completely killed me was Teeter. There is such a wonderful toy on HTC smartphones. Drive the ball into the holes by tilting the apparatus. I met her in 2009-2010, when HTC HD2 was staying with me for quite a long time. And there, on the ancient Windows Mobile, this toy flew. And here, on the flagship of 2012 and on the most modern operating system, she frankly lays... To say that I was shocked is to say nothing. Do not know. Calm down, tell me, please, that they are launching it here through some crookedly written Windows Mobile emulator and it slows down only for this reason.

I'm not saying that everything is bad. Again, in general, the speed of the One X was quite satisfactory for me. And I can say with a clear conscience that, on average, everything is quite smooth and beautiful. But. I expected more from this device.

Not all the super flags of the telephone industry fall into my hands, I have not seen many of them. Therefore, it is difficult for me to compare the performance of One X and other devices. For my modest everyday needs, it will be enough with a multiple supply. But, for example, Roman Stikhanov swears on Habré - they say, One X slows down worse than the "old man" HTC Incredible S. Or here. Artem Lutfullin claims in his review that he does not see a speed advantage over Sensation or Sensation XL.

I liked how the white balance catches.

What impresses is the speed of the camera. Click, click, and you're done.

We were pleased with the small handy features such as continuous shooting with the ability to choose (both automatic and manual) the best picture. Or here's another - in the process of filming a video, you can take photos. On the one hand, I'm not sure that such an opportunity will ever be useful to me in real life. On the other hand, it is certainly nice that it is there.

HTC One X as a GPS Navigator

This is how the One X navigator made me happy. It looks like a very high-quality satellite acquisition module has been installed. My main GPS fitness test is very simple. Disable all-all positioning aids, turn off the Internet and see how long it takes for the device to catch satellites. It usually takes about five minutes. Well, three, if all is well. And then it didn't take a minute. Excellent result! Especially it should please tourists in roaming.

As a car navigator, the One X is also quite good. The screen is large, you can see a lot.

In general, if not for the restrictions imposed by the non-infinite battery, everything would be a miracle as well. Sockets and external batteries to help you.

HTC One X for Internet access

For couch or subway reading tweets and news - an excellent machine. Screen size, weight - everything is convenient and comfortable. I’m lying on the couch, I’m reading Twitter to myself, and I don’t even want to crawl over to read on the computer.

Introduction

The past year was not the best for HTC. Despite the fact that the manufacturer was moving, as it seemed at the time, in the right direction, financial indicators by the end of the year were unsatisfactory, and the development of several model lines led HTC to a dead end. Cooperation with Beats Audio, the release of products with the same name on the case and high-quality headphones in the kit gave some hope, at least it was clear that the company was trying new ideas and ways of development, and what would happen next, we should have seen at the beginning of the new year ...

And now this moment has come, at MWC 2012 the Taiwanese manufacturer demonstrated three new products, two of which are in the “above average” segment, and one falls into the models below the middle class. The company has really changed a lot, it seems from the outside. This is a new principle of naming smartphones, now these are families, the first of which is called HTC One. This is a design work that is clearly visible in the new flagship. This is a change in the principle of building a model range, and much more. I want to talk about all this with you in the review of the HTC One X smartphone, which should help HTC regain shaken faith in the company or, on the contrary, sow even greater doubts about the correctness of the direction chosen by the manufacturer.

New naming system

From beautiful and memorable names like HTC Legend, Desire or Sensation, the company decided to move to simpler names, more precisely, to using just letters. This direction was chosen even before the presentation of the HTC One line, because the Sensation smartphone received two whole sequels, Sensation XE and XL devices, and earlier the company released a continuation of the Desire model with the S index. Now HTC is switching to families, devices released at about the same time and united by a common name. The first line is HTC One with three smartphones: the flagship X, the device is simpler - S, and the most affordable of the line - V.

In the future, this family will be replenished with models and operator versions of these smartphones with similar characteristics. The first variations have already been announced, for example HTC One XL, a complete copy of HTC One X, but for the American market, with support for LTE networks and based on a dual-core platform from Qualcomm instead of NVIDIA Tegra 3.

I still cannot decide whether I like this HTC move or not. On the one hand, I was very attracted to the old names, they were bright and memorable, emotional. Now HTC has followed the path of other companies in terms of names, so the market will be filled with variations of XPERIA S, One S, Galaxy S and others.

Positioning

As a flagship, HTC One X replaces the company's previous device in this class, which was HTC Sensation and its variant, Sensation XE. The smartphone will have to compete with the not yet released Samsung Galaxy S III, as well as with the LG Optimus 4X HD and, possibly, the Sony XPERIA S. a different model and many other factors. You just need to understand that HTC One X will be the most expensive smartphone of the company in the first half of 2012.

It can also be assumed that starting with the One family, the company wants to smoothly change the approach to the release of devices and the principles of their promotion, taking Apple's ideas as a basis. This is indirectly confirmed by two features. Firstly, the new flagship does not have a slot for a memory card, there is only 32 GB of internal memory for storing data. In the future, the company will logically come to the conclusion that the same device will be presented with different amounts of memory, as is now happening with the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S II.

The second moment, together with the start of sales of HTC One X, the company plans to start selling branded accessories specifically for this model. For HTC, the issue of accessories is painful, in Russia the company does not pay attention to this topic at all, although accessories for HTC can be found on sale. In the history of the manufacturer, there have been examples of smartphones for which a series of accessories were produced before, we can say that for almost every device HTC made their own accessories, sometimes there were fewer of them, sometimes more. In the case of HTC One X, the company itself focuses on the fact that along with the device, sales of branded accessories for it will begin, these will be: HTC One X Car Upgrade Kit (CAR D110) car holder, HTC One X Car Mic Bluetooth Speakerphone (CAR V100), an adapter for streaming video from a smartphone to a TV screen, HTC Media Link HD Adapter for HTC One X (DG H200), as well as original covers and a docking station.

Contents of delivery

The company in its entire history, if my memory serves me right, only once offered a device with a rich bundle, it was recently, in HTC Rhyme. The HTC One X smartphone is offered in a standard minimalist configuration for the manufacturer, along with the device, the user will find in the box a microUSB-USB cable, a charging block, a couple of quick instructions and earplugs with thin wires, the same as in the package for HTC Rhyme. Despite the fact that the body of the smartphone is adorned with the Beats Audio inscription, the complete headphones are simple, not from Beats, albeit with a microphone and a remote control for conversations (a key on the wire).

Design

Initially, it seemed that the new flagship of the company would look like this:

Closer to the announcement, a photo, slightly closer to the original, appeared on the network, in which the device looked like this:

In this picture, there are three keys instead of four under the screen, on the whole the device is identical to the one in the first picture. And only a day before the official announcement of the smartphone, renders with the final design appeared on the network. This design seemed to me the most successful of all the three that "floated" on the network.

However, questions remain. The company says that the design changed shortly before the release, and initially the smartphone was really close in appearance to those pictures of HTC Endeavor, which you can see above. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe, because the cases of these two devices are completely different, in the first case metal, in the second plastic, in the first one used inserts and removable parts, in the second one - unibody construction.

You can call the HTC One X a plastic remnant, and if you are a metal lover and you don’t like the monolithic plastic body ideology that came to the mass market not so long ago with the Nokia N9, then the design of the HTC One X will hardly be pleasant either. But for me this device turned out to be literally a breath of fresh air among HTC products of the same type. Its appeal lies not so much in the interesting shape of the case with curves, in two classic colors or curved protective glass, no. The device attracts by the fact that it differs from all previous flagships of the company. It turned out to be unexpected in terms of design, and this, as it seems to me, is its advantage.

Body materials

The front side of the smartphone is a scratch-resistant toughened Gorilla Glass 2 glass that protects the screen. This model is not yet listed on the Gorilla Glass website, it will be added later. It is very easy to remove marks and fingerprints from the screen.

The body of the smartphone is white, made of smooth plastic (polycarbonate, as in Nokia N9), the edges and ends are glossy, the back is matte. The material is pleasant to the touch, traces are invisible on it, however, the smartphone slips a little in the hands. If you scratch something on the surface of the case with a ballpoint pen or pencil, it is easy to wipe it off with a damp cloth.

Assembly

Until a certain point, I had no complaints about the build quality of the device. In addition, the smartphone has only one detachable part - the “tongue” for the microSIM-card, but the rest of the body is monolithic, nothing creaks or dangles here, so it seemed that everything would be fine in the future.

However, after about two weeks of operation, I began to notice that when I touched the screen in the left area, it flexes a little. As a result, it turned out that on the left side the screen moved a millimeter away from the place where it should be, that is, it just peeled off or something like that, I tried to show this in the video, because I cannot convey the effect in the photo. Now, when I click on the screen in the left area, I can see how it moves back and forth by about one millimeter. From the point of view of smartphone operation, this has so far led to only one problem: dust clogs up in the gap that formed between the left area and the edge of the screen, technically the screen did not work worse or process clicks more weakly, all its characteristics remained unchanged, but the very fact of this marriage or problems, of course, not happy.

Dimensions (edit)

In terms of dimensions, HTC One X is closest to Sensation XL, it is a little narrower and slightly taller.

• HTC One X- 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9mm, 130g
• HTC Sensation XL- 132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9mm, 162g
• Samsung Galaxy S2- 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5mm, 116g
• Apple iPhone 4S- 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm, 140g

The device lies comfortably in the hand, during long conversations it is not hard to hold it, I personally felt comfortable wearing it in all sorts of different pockets, but it will not be very convenient in a breast pocket. However, people wear their iPhones in this way, so HTC One X is also possible.

Control elements

The smartphone runs on the fourth version of Android, and all controls in it have been redesigned in accordance with the requirements of the "four". This means that the company has abandoned the traditional until the last moment for HTC four keys under the screen, including the search button, and switched to three buttons. From left to right, these are the "Back", "House" keys and the call to the "Recent Apps" menu.

The touch keys are spaced apart, their markings are simple and clear, and the keys are backlit in white only when there is a lack of lighting. It is convenient to press the keys, when you touch any button, the device vibrates slightly. This is where the pros end. I don't like the new button block for several reasons. First, the context menu button has been replaced with a dubiously useful button from Recent Apps. Secondly, there is no longer the usual search button for HTC. Thirdly, but this is already a feature of all devices based on Android 4.0, most of the programs from the application store are now displayed with a black stripe that takes up tangible space, which is nothing more than a shortcut menu key.

In addition, if earlier some of the four touch-sensitive keys performed two actions, touch and hold, now this luxury is not. Accordingly, it is no longer possible to quickly call up a voice search or open the keyboard where necessary (the keyboard is hidden by the key on it).

On the right edge of the smartphone there is a volume control button, which is rather long, although not enough, in my opinion, protruding above the surface of the case.

On the left is a microUSB connector, on top is a power key, a 3.5 mm mini-jack and a slot for a microSIM card. To remove the slot, you need to insert a needle or other thin object into the hole near it and push.

When you hold down the power key, a menu appears with the ability to turn off the smartphone, put it into “airplane” mode and reboot.

On the front side, in the upper part, there is an earpiece, inside on the right there is a light indicator, and below and to the left - a light sensor and a proximity sensor. Slightly to the right of the loudspeaker grill is the peephole of the front 1.3 MP camera.

The indicator light blinks green if there are missed calls, unread text or mail messages or other notifications, lights up green when connected to a PC or fully charged battery (when the smartphone is still connected to charging). When the battery level is low, it blinks in red, when charging, it lights up in red.

Screen

The smartphone uses a "SuperLCD 2" display. Some sources indicate the type of matrix, IPS, in others nothing, except mentioning that this is a classic TFT. One way or another, but in terms of characteristics such as viewing angles, brightness and color reproduction, I really like the screen. And what is even more important is that it is good in the combination of all these characteristics, it is pleasant to look at it, the picture from the display pleases the eye, it seems very voluminous and lively.

Perhaps, the role in this is played not only by the screen itself, which is certainly not bad, but also by the protective glass through which we see the image on the screen. In the case of HTC One x, the protective coating, if you allow me this expression, ennobles the picture on the screen, making it just deeper and more voluminous. But there is also a drawback, in the sun the glass glares and makes the image from the screen difficult to see, and in general, the surface of the display can be compared to glossy monitors, if you don't like them, then the display in HTC One X will evoke the same feelings.

Now about the characteristics of the screen. Diagonal 4.7 ”, physical dimensions 103.5x58 mm, pixel-per-inch ratio ~ 312 ppi (data from gsmarena.com), resolution 1280x720 pixels (HD). The screen displays 16 million colors, has maximum viewing angles and a good supply of brightness.

In the photos of HTC One X with three glowing keys under the screen

The surface of the display is protected by Gorilla Glass 2, a slightly curved glass is used here, it is slightly concave towards the edges of the surface on the left and right, and the frame around the glass made of a similar material creates the impression that the surface of the protective glass is strongly curved towards the edges. The glass is non-scratch, more precisely, it is not scratched by light and accidental touches with a sharp object, such as keys, for example. If you set out to leave scratches on it, then you can do it, just pick up a clerical scissors and hold them with an effort over the surface of the screen.

In the screen settings, you can choose the font size for menus and programs, there are four options.

Below are screenshots with different font sizes:

The screen supports multitouch technology, the response to finger presses is excellent. Initially, in the display settings, the option for processing a maximum of three touches is enabled, if you uncheck it, the screen is able to process up to 10 clicks at the same time. A three-finger tap from the bottom to the top of the display launches the Media Link HD application.

Nevertheless, my overall impressions of the screen are positive. Despite the fact that it can be scratched, despite the fact that the screen is glossy and HTC did not use the new "super-duper-pro-amoled plus two squared" display in their flagship, the smartphone screen is really good and gives a high-quality, clear and juicy picture, it is just pleasant to look at it. However, it should be noted here that the screen may seem too contrasting to some, this is especially noticeable when compared with the display in HTC Sensation XL (right / top), for example, in which colors appear calmer and more natural.

Here I can only notice that in photographs the contrast looks higher than in reality, in practice the screen is just juicy and bright, but not overly contrasting, in my opinion.

Screen comparison

For a cursory assessment of the screen quality (it is best to evaluate it by picking up the device yourself) you can look at the comparative photos below, they show HTC Sensation XL (top), HTC One X(center) and Samsung Galaxy Note(bottom).

Camera

At the presentation of HTC One X, it was the camera that was given the most attention. The main characteristics of the camera: 8-megapixel module, BSI sensor, F2.0 / 28 mm, LED flash. Among the main features of HTC, they noted a very high shooting speed, the ability to take photos during video recording without stopping the recording, as well as a "neat and correct" post-processing mode for pictures with the HDR effect. In this chapter, I will try to cover all aspects of camera operation, as well as its pros and cons. I want to note in advance that I had not the final sample in my hands, but very close to it, with non-final software, but, again, quite stable.

The camera eye is located in the upper part of the device on the back, the flash is located near it on the right. The camera module is raised relative to the rest of the body.

The camera interface has changed slightly in comparison with previous models, so, now there is no photo-video switch, and the buttons for shooting and starting recording are simply located next to each other.

Above these keys there is a button for calling up a menu with a choice of effects, below is a button for going to the gallery, and on the left there are three icons: flash modes, calling up the settings window, and below - selecting a shooting mode.

There are 10 modes available for shooting:

• Slow motion video
• Panorama
• Portrait
• Group portrait
• Landscape
• Whiteboard
• Close up
• Low light

The following standard and widescreen (16: 9 aspect ratio) resolutions are available for photos:

• 8 M - 3264x2448
• 5 M - 2592x1952
• 3M - 2048x1536
• 1M - 1280x960
• Small - 640x480

White balance:

• Incandescent
• Fluorescent
• Daylight
• Cloudy

In addition to the described settings, you can change the level of sharpness, saturation, contrast and exposure, you can turn off the shutter sound, the grid in the viewfinder mode on the screen, a timer, and turn on shooting with geotags using GPS. The ISO value ranges from 100 to 800.

There is a continuous shooting mode, shooting with face detection, and automatic smile detection.

Self-portraits can be taken with the front camera.

Below you can evaluate the quality of the photo in different modes, I will only briefly comment on the pictures, leaving you to evaluate them yourself.

Photos during the day:

The first block of images (top) was taken in the first days of testing, the second recently, the difference between them is only in weather conditions. We used the same device with the same firmware. Pictures on a sunny day (the first block was taken in the evening, the second during the day) look better, in my opinion, although the pictures are still noisy, this is clearly visible in pictures where there is a lot of snow or sky. There are also problems with determining the white balance, although in such good weather they are less noticeable and the electronics are not as often mistaken as in cloudy weather.

Macro photography:

Here, personally, I have no complaints, the text is shot clearly literally on the first or second frame, and it can already be recognized, and this is the main thing in this case.

Below are examples of shots with different effects. There are new effects, known from various programs for working with the camera in smartphones, such as Instagram, for example.

Effects:

The smartphone stitches photos together surprisingly well into a panoramic frame. Taking panoramic shots is easy, you can see the line along which you need to move the camera, and the points at which you need to stop in order for the camera to take another shot from the series for the panorama.

Video... Video is recorded in mp4 format (h.264 codec) with variable recording rate, from 10 to 31 frames per second. In FullHD resolution, video is recorded in a variable bitrate (average 9661 kbps, data from Media Player Classic). Sound is recorded using the aac codec, in stereo mode, 128 kbps quality.

The following resolutions are available for video:

• FullHD - 1920x1080
• HD - 1280x720
• High - 640x480
• Low - 320x240
• MMS - 176x144

For videos, you can turn audio recording on or off, and turn on image stabilization while recording. During video shooting, you can manually change the focus by pointing a point on the screen, in addition, tracking autofocus works during shooting. At any video resolution, zooming is possible right during shooting. You can also take photos while recording, below you can see several of these.

You can judge the quality of the video by the examples below.

Comparison of cameras

In order for you to get a more complete picture of the camera quality in HTC One X, I took examples of pictures with several smartphones for comparison. Also taking part in this mini-test is my old digital point-and-shoot camera, a Canon Ixus 70 with a resolution of 7.1 MP.

The following devices took part in the test:

HTC One X, HTC Sensation XL, Samsung Galaxy S II, Canon Ixus 70.

Crop examples (From left to right HTC One X, HTC Sensation XL, Samsung Galaxy S2, Canon IXUS 70):

In my opinion, HTC One X is in last place in photo quality in this comparative test, slightly not catching up with HTC Sensation XL. Don't know if comments are needed here. Of course, now everything can be attributed to pre-production samples and the dampness of the firmware, but my experience shows that the company's final devices hardly differ in terms of the camera from what is given to journalists for reviews, even when it comes to engineering samples. The picture is not the most rosy, the component of the flagship, to which the company pays the most attention, on which the public's attention is focused, is very poorly made in the smartphone.

The camera really has its strengths, it is a very high shooting speed, at the level of the best samples of Sony Ericsson, in terms of the rate of fire HTC One X is generally one of the fastest smartphones. This is the ability to take photos, albeit not of the highest quality, during video recording. In addition, the video player in the smartphone allows you to take frames from an already captured video or any video that is playing with one button.

However, the main thing is the quality of photos and it is in this component that the camera of the new HTC flagship, in my opinion, has not become better in comparison with the current model line of the company, that is, One X shoots no better than the Sensation XL or the usual Sensation. At the same time, the comparative test shows that the same SGS II allows you to take better pictures, although the device is already a year old.

Autonomous work

The smartphone uses a 1800 mAh Li-Pol battery. On the one hand, One X has a new platform from NVIDIA, which the developer calls a very economical one, on the other, a huge display with high resolution. Overall, the One X battery life is not too different from the latest HTC models such as the Sensation n Sensation XL.

My scheme of using a smartphone was as follows: listening to music 2-3 hours a day, the push-mail function turned on for two mail accounts, the Internet via Wi-Fi and EDGE / HSDPA (about an hour), 50-60 minutes of calls, as well as sending and receiving about 20-30 text messages. In this mode, HTC One X "lives" until the evening, discharges closer to 20-22 o'clock. The figure is typical for an Android smartphone, nothing supernatural, and this is what disappoints. Considering how many words were said by NVIDIA representatives about the new platform, its incredible economy, the use of a special core for ordinary tasks, and only in extreme cases, activation of four cores to full capacity. In practice, I personally have not noticed any increase in battery life compared to the current generation of Android devices.

When watching a video, the charge lasts for 4-6 hours, it all depends on the quality of the video being watched and the selected screen brightness level.

Performance

The smartphone is built on the new NVIDIA Tegra 3 platform with a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor. This is the company's first device based on Tegra 3 and, probably, one of the few, because even the operator's version of the flagship, HTC One XL, is powered by Qualcomm. In the case of the One X, the choice of a quad-core platform, frankly, was probably primarily due to the ability to present the device in the best light as a top-end one on the fastest, multi-core platform. In practice, for example, I can't feel the difference in speed between HTC One X and Sensation or Sensation XL at all. The speed of the menu, flipping through the windows with programs, unlocking time - all these actions on a smartphone of the new generation and the previous one are performed equally quickly. The device has 1 GB of RAM, this volume is enough, there is no shortage of "RAM".

To work with running programs and free up some of the RAM, the smartphone has the Task Manager program, with its help you can end selected processes or close all running programs at once.

The smartphone has 32 GB of internal memory for storing data, of which approximately 26 GB is available to the user. There is no memory card slot. For me 26 gigabytes is more than enough for storing music, a couple of movies and software, but still the issue of free space and the required amount of memory is very individual, for someone even 32 gigabytes may not be enough. It is unclear why HTC decided to follow in Apple's footsteps and release a flagship without a slot for a memory card, but with a fixed capacity. Moreover, because the company does not yet offer modifications with more memory or less, there is only one version with 32 GB and that's it.

The speed of the smartphone is excellent, there are no delays or slowdowns in the menu, the flipping of windows with programs is smooth, the call of the system line goes smoothly. It takes a matter of seconds to launch applications, and with a large number of programs running, the smartphone does not slow down. In a word, everything is fine. Just in case, below are the test results of HTC One X in various benchmarks.

AnTuTu Benchmark v2.7

Quadrant Standart

Games run great on HTC One X, including toys from the Tegra Zone. Moreover, this is one of the few current smartphones on which Grand Theft Auto III runs without problems and dancing with tambourines. I can't say that the game runs perfectly on the device, there are jerks and sometimes delays, but, in my opinion, on the whole, GTA III on the device is going quite smoothly, and if desired, the toy can be passed on the HTC One X without throwing the smartphone on the floor. anger and glitches every half hour.

Below is a video with a fragment of the game in GTA III on the HTC One X smartphone.

With HD video playback, not everything is as straightforward as we would like. On the one hand, it is clear that if you take an average quality HD video or movie, then it will run on the device without any problems. However, before us is a flagship, moreover, based on one of the most productive mobile platforms with a quad-core processor, so it is quite natural that the buyer of such a device wants to watch it exclusively HD and FullHD video in high quality.

Below I will give the main characteristics of the videos that I ran on my smartphone and describe how they went on it. I used trailers of various blockbusters from the end of 2011, downloaded from various sources. The MX Video Player Pro was used to play the video.

Trailer of the film "Chronicle". 720p quality. Mkv (H.264 codec), resolution 1280x688 pixels, bitrate 6 431 kbps.
The video comes with delays and jerks, there is a noticeable delay in the sound (2-5 seconds). It is impossible to watch.

Trailer of the film "Chronicle". 1080p quality. Mkv (H.264 codec), resolution 1920x1056 pixels, bitrate 10 100 kbps.
Everything said for a 720p video is true, although delays and jams are even more noticeable. It is also impossible to watch.

Trailer of the film "The Dictator". Quality 1080p, Dub (H.264 codec), resolution 1920x796 pixels, bit rate 6 211 kbps.
The video runs smoothly, without the slightest delays and freezes, the sound is on par with the video. The video can be watched without any problems.

Then I tried to run several movies on my smartphone.

Video in 720p quality. Mkv (H.264 codec), resolution 1280x720 pixels, bitrate 5 829 kbps.
The video runs smoothly, without delays or slowdowns, the sound goes without problems or delays. The video can be watched comfortably throughout its duration.

Video in 1080p quality. Ts (H.264 codec), resolution 1920x1080 pixels, bitrate12,700 kbp.
The video runs relatively smoothly, but there are jerks and delays in sound, frame drops. It is not possible to watch the video.

In general, it all depends on the selected bitrate, with a relatively low bitrate (up to 7,000) even FullHD video in 1920x1080 pixels goes to HTC One X more or less smoothly, you can watch it comfortably. At high bitrates, the picture starts to twitch, the sound lags behind, it is no longer possible to watch such a video. Video in HD quality (720p) goes smoothly and without problems on the device, in my case there was only one exception - the first trailer from the list (Chronicle), I don't know how to explain this, probably the trailer was simply unsuccessfully converted to this format ... The rest of the HD video that I ran on the HTC One X played without problems or lags.

All of the above applies, first of all, to fast films, action films, where there are many scenes and moments quickly replacing each other. You can watch a calm movie even in FullHD quality and with a high bitrate on a smartphone without noticing those small lags and signatures that will occur during playback, such a video itself, it seems to me, is less demanding on the performance of the device.

It should also be noted that the smartphone's memory module uses the FAT32 file system, so not every FullHD rip of a movie with a duration of one and a half hours will fit into the device, because this file system does not support files larger than ~ 4 GB. And if you try to format the media, say, in NTFS, then immediately after disconnecting the smartphone from the PC, it will reformat the system to FAT32 again.

Interfaces

The device works in GSM (850/900/1800/1900) and UMTS (900/2100) networks. Both high-speed data transfer standards are supported - EDGE and HSDPA. You can enable and disable different communication modules in the settings menu or using widgets. Unlike Sense 3.0, which also had a tab on the system bar with interface control keys, Sense 4.0 does not.

For synchronization with a PC and data transfer, a complete microUSB cable is used. USB 2.0 interface. When connected to a computer, a menu appears in which you can select one of five connection types: Charge Only, HTC Sync, Disk Drive (internal memory visible), Internet modem (using the machine as a modem) and connecting to a PC to access the network through a PC.

Built-in module Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP.

Wi-Fi (802.11а / b / g / n)... The Wi-Fi module works flawlessly. In a smartphone, you can configure the rules for switching Wi-Fi to sleep mode, use only a static IP address when connecting, add security certificates. There is also a maximum Wi-Fi performance mode. During the operation of the module, the device practically does not heat up.

When this option is enabled, you can connect to the Internet, for example, from your laptop through routing to HTC One X, and use the GPRS / EDGE- or UMTS / HSDPA-connection that is pre-configured on your smartphone to access the network. This function can be used, for example, at the dacha or on business trips, in a hotel where for some reason there is no Wi-Fi, but there is a local SIM card with relatively inexpensive 2G / 3G traffic.

DLNA, HDMI... The smartphone supports DLNA technology, so if you have a DLNA-compatible media server and other devices at home, you can use HTC One X together with them. For example, output sound or video from the device directly to the TV.

In addition, the device has support for HDMI, the connector is combined with microUSB (MHL), so in order to use HDMI, you first need to buy a special cable.

NFC... HTC One X has NFC support, but I had nothing to test it on, there was no other NFC-enabled device at hand.

Navigation

The smartphone has GPS support. When you first start navigation, it takes about 30 seconds to search for satellites, then this process takes 10-15 seconds. For navigation, the device has a navigation program НТС Navigation based on Route 66, as well as Google maps and Google navigation... You can use Google Maps to get directions, search for addresses by street names or places. With Google Navigation, you can enjoy route guidance and voice guidance.

HTC Navigation is launched using Locations. It is a full-fledged navigation software with support for points of interest (POI), route log and the ability to create routes. The device provides an overview map of Russia and a 30-day demo map of Russian cities. For the program, you can buy any of the available cards, the purchase is made directly through the program interface using a bank card (VISA, Master Card, American Express, Diners Club). You can also buy cards on the Internet at the developer's website, and then simply enter a special voucher code in the device and download the already purchased card. It's nice that you can choose one of several license options when purchasing, for 30 days, for a year or for an unlimited period. You can estimate the order of prices yourself using the example of the cost of Russian cards (5.99 USD for 30 days, 24.98 USD for a year, 37.99 perpetual license).

The "Car" application converts the smartphone to a horizontal orientation. This is a set of links to special versions of applications with larger fonts and icons for more convenient work while driving. The program is intended for use in a car, as the name implies.

In addition, I tested the navigation program "Navitel Navigator" on my smartphone in order to evaluate the speed of the full-fledged navigation software and the convenience of working with it on a large display. For the test, I downloaded a trial version of the program, which can be used in this mode for 30 days.

There are two ways to install the application: from Google Play or by downloading the program in * .apk format from the official website (link). It's the same with maps, they can be downloaded directly to the device if you have a Wi-Fi connection, this method is convenient because you don't need to throw the map anywhere, they swing and are immediately indexed. The second option is to download maps from the site. , for example, a 1.8 GB file, a map of Russia. If you use this method, download maps from the site, then you need to create two folders in the device's memory: “NavitelContent” and “Maps” inside it, and then copy the downloaded file rus20111024.nm3 there. The program downloaded from the site in * .apk format is installed on the device using an explorer. Next comes the initial configuration process, you need to select the language of the interface and maps, the type and language of voice prompts, as well as the gender of the commentator.

And a little about how Navitel Navigator works on HTC One X. After the first launch, all online services were turned on: traffic jams, events, data exchange, weather and online information. Their work requires about 1-2 MB of traffic, which is not so much.

Search in the program is available for different types of data, for example, by address. You need to select a city (usually it is already selected automatically), street and house. When entering letters, extra characters are eliminated, so when I type an address like "Tverskaya", with each next letter I enter, I see fewer and fewer options available, which is convenient.

It takes less than a second to create a route, and it will take the same amount of time to rebuild the route in the event of a traffic jam or other unpleasant situation.

There are two modes of displaying the map, three-dimensional and flat (2D), the second one seems more convenient to me. You can choose the color scheme (night and day) manually or leave them switching to the conscience of the "auto" mode. When guiding along the route, the program notifies about all maneuvers and important points of the way with voice prompts.

The program on the smartphone did not slow down at all, it worked smoothly and without delays. As the main navigation software, Navitel Navigator seems to me to be a reasonable choice, especially considering the fact that you can download the application and use its full version for a month for free. During this time, you will definitely determine whether you need such a functional navigation software and whether it is worth buying for further use.

Sound, audio player

I can compare the sound of HTC One X with previous models, for example, with HTC Sensation XL. My hearing damaged by the paws of a bear finds no difference in sound quality between these two smartphones, in both cases I used the same Marshall Major headphones.

The music player in HTC One X has been redesigned, or rather, the logic of working with music in a smartphone has changed. Now, when you launch the Music icon, the user sees not only the list of artists and the library, the icons of all music-related programs are displayed at the top of the player.

Initially, there is a “My Phone” icon to go to the smartphone library, SoundHound application for determining the currently playing music, TuneIn Radio program and 7Digital - an application for buying music. The user can add to this block any programs that he needs, not necessarily only musical ones. The first thing I did was add an FM radio, as it makes sense to have it here.

Now about the player itself. The player has the ability to download album covers in manual or automatic mode, for a selected album or for the entire music library. On the main library screen, music is displayed as album art. This, of course, is beautiful and effective, but personally I do not like that you cannot change the type of presentation. If I have a hundred albums loaded, then flipping through the list is much more convenient and faster than scrolling through a matrix of large album covers.

In the playback mode, the album cover, artist name, track name, and music control keys are displayed. You can change the playback queue of tracks within the album, as well as the playback mode (in a circle, one track, one track in a circle).

There is an equalizer, you cannot configure it manually, only pre-prepared options are available. When you scroll through a track, you see the timing.

Screen lock displays album art and music keys. If you drag this element to the blocking ring, you will find yourself in the player window.

There is also a playback line in the system menu, here you can also pause music.

The device has an FM-radio with the ability to manually and automatically search for radio stations, and found stations can be saved under certain names. There are several widgets for radio.

Text and voice text input

HTC One X uses a redesigned HTC on-screen QWERTY keyboard. This is still one of the best implementations of on-screen keyboards among all Android devices, and indeed among smartphones in general. The only drawback that persists over time is this. When entering in Latin, additional characters can be entered simply by holding one or another key (characters are drawn directly on the buttons with letters and are entered by holding down), and when entering in Cyrillic, in order to put some not most common character, you must first go to the character input menu which is not very convenient.

In the original, the message sounded like this: "A little boy wandered through the forest, tripped over a tree stump, fell and died."

You can hide the onscreen keyboard by pressing a key on it. In order to move the cursor inside the text, you just need to touch any letter, after which something like a magnifying glass appears, as well as a special "green garbage" for moving through the text. There are also four directional keys at the bottom of the keyboard to navigate within text.

If you double-tap a single word in the text, it will be highlighted, then you can select other pieces of text to copy or cut them.

There is a Trace keyboard option in the keyboard settings. If you enable it, words can be entered with one movement of your finger, without having to take off to enter the next letter, this is an analogue of the Swype keyboard. In the settings, you can change the line color for the Trace keyboard.

The keyboard contains a personal dictionary, where the device stores new words that you often use. The dictionary can be edited and also synchronized with a backup on a memory card.

As far as voice input is concerned, this is one of the basic functions of Android. Using voice input, you can search for information on your phone or on the Internet, enter addresses for Google Maps or Google Navigation, and dictate text messages, which is very convenient. For me, for example, when entering a text message by voice, the system recognizes about 80 percent of the words correctly, and often the entire text.

HTC Sense 4.0

The smartphone runs on Android 4.0.3 OS, HTC Sense 4.0 is used as an interface. You can familiarize yourself with an overview of the new version of the proprietary interface.

Below I will briefly talk about the most important, in my opinion, shell changes. The main window and virtual desktops are almost unchanged. The clock widget has changed, now it is more sophisticated (in the literal sense of the word, the fonts have become thinner), and also changes depending on the selected skin (skins). The bottom panel with program icons has been changed, now you can put any icons there (up to four), as well as folders.

The system panel called from above has changed a bit. There is no longer a second tab with buttons for controlling wireless interfaces.

The settings window has been seriously redesigned, now there is quick access to different types of wireless interfaces, and the rest of the settings are divided into Personal and Phone. True, the presence of certain settings items inside these submenus is not always obvious.

Contacts are still displayed with pictures in the list, however, the contact card window has been changed, now the photo here occupies a tangible part.

They should look something like this, although, of course, even these images the system somehow manages to spoil and squeeze:

In groups, the type of displaying contacts has changed, before it was a list, now a tile with pictures of contacts. It looks impressive, but using such a presentation system for groups in which you have hundreds of contacts will be, to put it mildly, inconvenient.

Some changes have taken place in the browser. So, in the new version of the browser installed in HTC, we introduced an option, if you enable it, the screen backlight will fade while loading pages, this is done to save energy. There are also disadvantages, the main one of which is the inability to quickly call up the address bar. Previously, in HTC devices, it was enough to press the Menu key under the screen to bring up the field with the address bar and the browser control buttons. As you may recall, HTC One X does not have a Menu button. You cannot call the address bar exactly when you need it. If you are somewhere in the middle of the page you are viewing, then you can try to scroll a little up and down it, sometimes after that the menu pops up. Sometimes not. A partial way out of the situation is the inclusion of side menus, which are called by touching the left or right area of ​​the screen, but they do not always work as needed.

In general, the browser works well, quickly, you can open many tabs in it, there is a convenient window for working with bookmarks and history, but the lack of a convenient tool for invoking the address bar personally just throws me into a stupor. It is impossible to fully use the browser without this function, you are reading the page and want to open a new site. How? Very simply, I open Recent Apps, remove the browser tab from there, then reopen it, in which case I will 100% get the browser window with the address bar. Otherwise, even if you close the browser and go to it again, you will see the already loaded page without the address bar, and again you will have to dance with a tambourine, poking your finger across the screen and trying unsuccessfully to call the address bar. In theory, the address bar can be called by the "plus" button on the sidebar, but, as I wrote above, the sidebar itself is called every other time in the browser, so there is no way to hope for it yet.

Now let's briefly go through the programs installed in the smartphone.

Programs

Mirror... The program allows you to look at yourself using the front camera.

Movie editor... Application for adding simple effects to videos. You can merge multiple videos, add selected music and one of the templates with effects to them.

Dropbox... The new devices from HTC are equipped with an app of the same name, and users also get 25 GB of space in dropbox.com for two years. It is enough to go into the program from your HTC One X and register a new account, after which you first receive a confirmation letter, and then a letter informing you that you are getting an additional 23 GB of space on the service (in addition to the existing 2.5 gigabytes).

Notes... A note-taking program, with its help you can create text, voice and handwritten notes, as well as synchronize them with the Evernote service.

Polaris office... A program for viewing and simplest editing of documents in MS Office formats, allows you to read files and tables, as well as make simple edits to them. The application is very simple, you can't even align the text to the width when zooming, so all it will do for it is a quick glance at the documents and making a few edits to them. You can view files from your smartphone's memory, as well as from the dropbox and skydrive services.

Tasks... An application for composing notes, its main use is that it "knows" how to synchronize notes with MS Outlook, which the Android system initially cannot do. So if you're using Outlook Notes, the Tasks app will come in handy.

In the new version of Sense, the “clock” and “weather” applications have been improved, the weather now has more detailed forecasts, and the clock now has a globe that displays the weather for the selected cities, looks impressive, besides, the globe can be zoomed in / out. There is no practical benefit from this innovation.

I won't talk about standard Android applications, such as a client for Google+, Youtube, Google Search and others, I think you are already familiar with them.

And the last thing to say. By and large, the Sense of the new version does not differ much from the previous one, although there are a number of unsuccessful, in my opinion, changes that I wrote about above, this cannot spoil the overall positive impression of the shell. So Sense is still HTC's edge, even with Android 4.0. has become much friendlier and more beautiful than the previous versions of the system, Sense is still better and more convenient to work with a smartphone out of the box.

Conclusion

I have no complaints about the signal reception quality in the test sample, although, of course, I don't like the company's switch to microSIM cards. The volume of the earpiece in the phone is average, in most situations I could hear the interlocutor, albeit not always well if the conversation took place in a noisy room. The outgoing speaker in the sample I had on my hands is below average. Standard melodies sound even more or less loud due to the fact that they are ringing and selected in this way, but if you put your music on the call, you may not hear the incoming call, even if you are in the same room at home, and the smartphone is in another. I didn’t like the loud speaker at all. Vibrating alert is a small and frequent beat, you may not even notice it while walking, if the device lies on the table and starts vibrating, you will most likely hear it.

The device should go on sale on the day of publication of the review, that is, on April 2, the cost of HTC One X at the time of the start of sales will be 30,000 rubles for Russia. We are not talking about gray deliveries yet, there price tags will be formed a few weeks after the launch and the difference between the official price and the cost of "gray" devices will already be visible.

The time has come to take stock, and, unfortunately, in many respects I have to admit that HTC One X turned out by no means the way I personally drew this device for myself. As a user and a fan of the brand, what did I want to see in the new HTC flagship? First, there are significant improvements in the camera, and such changes were announced by the company itself. Based on the sample I had in my hands, I can say that the quality of the camera HTC One X not only did not leave from the previous models of the manufacturer, but in some ways even became worse. Secondly, I would like the new flagship to become more flexible and open, in the sense that buying a phone for 30,000 rubles, I would get a high-quality and highly customizable tool in my hands. However, HTC One X does not have a commonplace memory card slot, so the flagship volume is limited to 25 gigabytes, it uses the still not the most common microSIM format, which also does not add points to the smartphone. Thirdly, HTC over the summer of last year taught its users that if there is Beats Audio on the case and a smartphone costs 30,000 rubles, then you will definitely find high-quality headphones from Beats in the kit. This is not here.

Of course, the smartphone has many strengths, offhand it is an excellent display, high-quality plastic and, for my taste, just a chic, fresh design for the company. In addition, HTC Sense 4.0 should not be disregarded, although the company "improves" this interface is also not entirely unambiguous, it still remains the strongest link in the company's devices, providing HTC users out of the box with convenient phones for calling, working with mail and much more.

With all the disadvantages described above, I must honestly admit that I like the HTC One X. First of all, by its design (I'm talking about a white phone), secondly - by the still convenient Sense, and thirdly - by the fact that in terms of the combination of qualities this smartphone stands out at least a little against the background of dozens of monotonous Android clones. Simply put, I see a zest in it, there is a feeling that they put their soul into it, even if it turned out to be such an ambiguous product. But if you try to answer the question, would I buy HTC One X or wait for the Samsung Galaxy S III - the answer will be unambiguous, you need to wait for the flagship from Samsung and only then draw conclusions. The new flagship from HTC was a success from some points of view, but from others it was not good enough, the potential is felt in this device, but the company was unable to reveal it to the end. I would like it to be, like in a fairy tale, HTC took into account the problems and mistakes made during the release of One X (lack of a slot for a memory card, a frankly damp camera, I don’t know what’s the matter, in the module itself or in the software) and then offered users an updated version of, say, HTC One X2 or something like that. But is this possible in today's world of commerce and the endless technology race?

Description:

• Class: Smartphone
• Form factor: candy bar
• Competitors: Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S III, LG Optimus 4X HD, Sony XPERIA S
• Body materials: matte plastic (white device)
• Operating system: Android 4.0.3, HTC Sense 4.0 proprietary interface
• Network: GSM / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS / HSDPA 900/2100
• Processor: Quad-core 1.5 GHz nVidia Tegra 3 platform
• RAM: 1 GB
• Storage: ~ 26GB plus 25GB dropbox.com
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi (a / b / g / n /), Bluetooth 4.0 (A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0) connector for charge / synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset, HDMI (via microUSB), DLNA
• Screen: capacitive, SuperLCD2, 4.7 "with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels (HD), automatic backlight level control
• Camera: 8 megapixel with autofocus, video is recorded in 1080p resolution (1920x1080 pixels), LED flash (works as a flashlight), 1.3 megapixel front camera for photo and video shooting and video calls
• Navigation: GPS (support A-GPS)
• Optional: accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor, FM radio
• Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 1800 mAh
• Dimensions: 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9mm
• Weight: 130 g.

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.

	HTC One X	Samsung Galaxy Nexus i9250	Sony Xperia S	Apple iPhone 4S
Screen (size in inches, type of matrix, resolution)	4.7 ″, SuperLCD2, 720 × 1280	4.65 ″, Super AMOLED HD PenTile, 720 × 1280	4,3 ″, TN, 720 × 1280	3.5 ″, IPS, 640 × 960
SoC	NVIDIA Tegra 3 @ 1.4 GHz (4 cores + 1 auxiliary, ARM Cortex-A9)	TI OMAP 4460 @ 1.2 GHz (2 cores, ARM Cortex-A9)	Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 1.5 GHz (2 cores, Scorpion)	Apple A5 @ 800 MHz (2 cores, ARM Cortex-A9)
RAM	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	512 MB
Flash memory	32 GB	16 or 32 GB	32 GB	from 16 to 64 GB
Memory card support	No	No	No	No
Operating system	Google Android 4.0 + shell HTC Sense 4.0	Google Android 4.0	Google Android 2.3.7, updated to Android 4.0	Apple iOS 5
Cameras	rear (8 Mp; video - 1920 × 1080), front (1.3 Mp)	rear (5 Mp; video - 1920 × 1080), front (1.3 Mp)	rear (12 Mp; video - 1920 × 1080), front (1.3 Mp)	rear (8 Mp; video - 1920 × 1080), front (0.3 Mp)
Actual price	$480()	N / A ()	$123()	$156()

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.