First Impressions
Do you remember 2010? Those were the days for HTC. The HTC Desire and HTC Legend were winners playing in their own league. Nothing could defeat them, nothing could touch them. In 2011, the consumer market changed hearts. The Samsung Galaxy S2 won the battle against the Sensation. It was dark skies across all HTC forecasts.Despite facing a mountain of obstacles, HTC pressed on. Unlike Samsung, which has its own Bada operating system, HTC is all-in Android and Windows Phone 7. In the face of vicious competition, investing in another OS made little sense for the Taiwanese. It was time for HTC to raise the pot and play its aces. And aces it played.
Everything about the HTC One X is astounding. Every touch that lagged on the HTC Sensation, excels on the One X. It feels unstoppable. It’s like all processor lag bumps were sliced up, Ninja Fruit combo style. It is almost unthinkable that HTC has created this phone.
HTC One X specs:
- Dimensions: 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm, 130 grams
- Micro SIM
- 4.7″ HD LCD screen, with Gorilla Glass protection
- 1280×720 resolution
- 1.5 Ghz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor
- 1 GB RAM
- 32 GB built-in memory, no microSD slot
- 8MP rear camera with ImageSense, 1.3MP front camera
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
- NFC support
- 1800 mAh battery
- Beats Audio integration
However, this HTC flagship does feel strangely Nexus-like. It’s like a statement to Google – “here it is Google, a Nexus Prime done right.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t ready to fight the Galaxy S2, the Note, or the Galaxy Nexus. I hope, however, that HTC is ready to take on the unreleased Galaxy S3.
Like Google’s flagship Nexus, the One X has a slightly curved display and a blazing fast camera. Unlike the Galaxy Nexus, the display is a Super LCD2 and the camera is obviously far better.
I will say though, that it is a shame the HTC One X is constrained in a polycarbonate unibody. I love the HTC One S aluminium unibody, and I’m sure the One X would look and feel better in metal. If I wanted something plastic, I would have bought a Samsung. I think that the decision to go polycarbonate may cost HTC dearly in the long run.
To make matters worse, the battery is not removable. The One X’s 1800mAh battery isn’t that impressive considering what Motorola has achieved with their 3300 mAh battery in the Droid RAZR MAXX. I’m pretty sure that Samsung will use this shortcoming to push their Galaxy S3 further, hopefully something close to or beyond the 2400 mAh range.
The camera on the HTC One X is without a doubt, the BEST camera on any Android device. It’s an 8MP f2.0, 28mm lens with BSI sensor. To raise it a notch higher, there’s an image processor called ImageChip that enables the One X to take 99 continuous shots (all 8MP) at four frames per second. There’s also the ability, called Video Pic, to snap a photo while recording a video.Beats Audio gets a boost too. Whereas previously, it only functioned in the stock music and stock video apps on the Sensation XE, but now, it works throughout the OS. Apparently, it now works in “ films, YouTube clips, games and music.”
Parting Thoughts
Quite simply, the HTC One X is the best Android phone out right now. The question is – for how long? There are two other phones that consumers have been waiting for – the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the ASUS Padfone. The One X might defeat the Padfone, but I doubt it will be able to fend off the Galaxy S3.
