AT&T HTC One Review

Posted By Jacob Krol on April 18, 2013 10:42 pm

Our friends over at AT&T have sent us the HTC One for us to review. The HTC One is one of the most antipicated devices of the year and now it is time for our full review on it! The HTC One brings many new features to the table inclduing an UltraPixel Camera, this ftures a new image chip that lets even more light. This is why it perfomrs so well in low light condtions. It feels great in the hand thanks to it’s full metal unibody design. It has great sound quality from HTC BoomSound and much more! Now let’s dive into the full review of the AT&T HTC One!

Unboxing

NJTechReviews unboxed the AT&T HTC One and gives some first impressions on the device, you can see it below!

Design

The HTC One features a full metal unibody design and it feels phenomenal in the hand. You can really see the dedication to the design of the phone, it is a really awesome design. It feels like a very high-end device and looks this way as well. The body of the device is curved and this makes it feel “right” in your hand. You can really see the little details on the HTC One and it shows the precision that is needed to make each one. Going around the device you have 2(two) strips of aluminum siding with white in the middle. It could almost be considered like pinstripes. Once again this adds to the high-end look and feel of the device. Above and below the display you have the silver aluminum here as well. The entire back is the silver aluminum color as well. The back has the white pinstripes as well, they appear on the top and bottom of the device. It is super thin at just 9.3 millimeters and weighs just 143 grams. It is certainly not going to break your hand due to weight. Another great thing about the device is that it has almost no branding on it, in total it has 4(four) logos on the device. On the front you have a HTC logo, while the back gets a Beats Audio logo, AT&T logo, and another HTC logo. It is a very clean  and simple device, that is also very high-end. There is no plastic cover or plastic build on this device, it is a full metal design and this does pay off.

HTC made sure the layout of the device was a good as the build quality. The volume rocker is a solid of piece of aluminum on the right hand side. There is a cool design on it, in the middle you have a circle that radiates outwards. It does not stick out of the device, as it is completely in line with the side of the device. The HTC BoomSound speakers are on the front, both above and below the screen. Each of these individual speaker holes were micro drilled. This adds to the high-end feel of the device and this technique first appeared on the AT&T HTC One X with the speakers on the back. Above the screen you also get a LED notification light, some sensors, and a 2.1 megapixel front facing camera. Below the display you get the HTC logo, a touch back button and a touch home button. Both of these buttons are backlight as well. Your SIM card slot is located on the left hand side, to insert or remove the SIM card you have to use the tool that is included in the box. The bottom of the device is home to the micro USB port and the main microphone. While on the top you have the headphone jack and the power/sleep button that has a built-in infrared sensor. If you flip the device over to the back you will find the HTC UltraPixel Camera with LED flash, a HTC logo, an AT&T logo, and a Beats Audio logo. HTC got the design of the One just right!

Hardware

Speed is important on any smartphone and luckily the AT&T HTC One has got this covered. Powering the HTC One is a 1.7GHz Qualcomm SnapdragonTM 600, quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM. This keeps the HTC One moving and performing very well, I experienced no lag with the HTC One throughout my entire testing. HTC BlinkFeed scrolls quickly and sharing articles is very fast, when you want to share an article simply tap the button and the menu pops up very quickly. Streaming Netflix, watching a YouTube video, browsing the web, swiping through home screens, and basically everything on the devices happens fast. HTC made sure that your experience with the One would be fast, solid, quick, and smooth.

The HTC One for AT&T does have a LTE chip inside, this way it can take full advantage of AT&T’s 4G networks! As you may know AT&T does not only have a 4G LTE network, but it has an extensive backhaul thank’s to their 4G HSPA+ network. AT&T is continuing to roll out their 4G LTE network and is planning on expanding to a number of new cities in the summer. In the meantime if you don’t have 4G LTE from AT&T just yet, you may be running on their 4G HSPA+ network. While it may not be 4G LTE fast, it is certainly faster than 3G and will provide a nice network experience. Browsing the web was very fast and streaming HD YouTube videos happened quite quickly.

Streaming video looked really nice on the full 1080pHD 4.7” display with 468-ppi, but describing it with the word “nice” would be an understatement.  The display on the HTC One is absolutely gorgeous and incredibly sharp. This makes for a great viewing experience and di I mention that this has the same resolution as most HDTV’s? This is by the far best display on any smartphone, watching videos or viewing photos looks very life-like. There is depth to the images that you are watching and the colors look super vibrant. The display is very clear which means that reading text happens very easily and is a very natural experience. The 4.7-inch display can get very bright as well, this is always a good thing to see. Lastly, HTC did a great job with the viewing angles. A few people can comfortably view whatever is on the screen all at once.

HTC did something that really just make sense with the speakers. When you are watching a video on your phone you are looking at the front of the device, but speakers for the most part have always been on the back. Well with HTC BoomSound they bring the speakers to the front and provide a truly immersive listening experience. These 2(two) speakers are located on the front both above and below the display. Each speaker has many micro drilled holes, that complement the design as well. The sound is further enhanced with Beats Audio. The end result is by far the best sound experience on any smartphone, although it does not get as loud as a Jawbone Jambox or a Bose Sound System. It doesn’t sound like a transistor radio with a lot of static, it is a very clean and crisp sound. Of course this can change depending on what you are listening too. Watching videos that were recorded from concerts on YouTube, sounded pretty clear. The speakers have a pretty good bass experience as well. You could think of BoomSound as your own personal surround sound system.

The AT&T HTC One comes in 2(two) sizes for your choosing, those being either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. There is no micro SD card slot on the One and I personally do not think this is that big of deal. 32GB or 64GB of storage is quite a large amount and there are plenty of cloud storage options available. You could use DropBox which will automatically sync your camera roll if you set it up to do so. The HTC One has an embedded 2300mAh lithium-ion battery and this will last the full day even with 4G LTE. During my testing with a full charge at night, it lasted the full day. If needed I could turn on Power Saver mode, which helps to keep the juice of your battery lasting longer. HTC made sure the 2300mAh battery would last the full day.

Camera

The AT&T HTC One shows that the company is taking a new stand on cameras. No longer do mega pixels count, but the era of the UltraPixel is being announced. To be honest when you hear that a smartphone has a 4 megapixel UltraPixel camera, you kind of have to take a step back and really think about it. I have a feeling you will be pleasantly surprised with the UltraPixel camera. It performs really well in low light conditions, thanks to its special design that allows it to take much more light. You can see around 140 photos that I have taken with the HTC One in the gallery below. You can truly be the judge for yourself on the UltraPixel camera. It has some really nice features in it as well, like a Panorama Sweep, HDR, Scene Modes, Effects, and much more! In fact you can shot with the effects on and adjust them while taking the photo. The UltraPixel Camera has a BSI Sensor, a 1/3-inch sensor size, a HTC ImageChip 2, 28 mm lens, F2.0 aperture, and Optical Image Stabilization. It still has VideoPic, Continuous Shooting SmartFlash, but they are adding HDR Video and HTC Zoe. HTC Zoe is a new way to share both your photos and videos, it also brings some new editing power to the table. It combines a shot video clip with photos, and then uses frames from the video as well. The best part is that it will automatically take your photos and videos from the day, in effort to create a highlight video for you. You can choose from a couple of different themes, but unfortunately as of now you can’t add you own music into it. HTC does have a nice selection of themes with music built-in. You can see 2(two) examples of these highlight videos below. Lastly, the UltraPixel camera on the HTC One allows you to record HDR Video’s in 1080pHD. The end result is a very high quality video that looks great, and you can see our video camera test below as well! The front facing 2.1 megapixel 88-degree wide-angle camera is perfect for taking selfies with a group of friends or video chatting while on the go!

Gallery

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Software

The AT&T HTC One is running Android 4.1.2 with HTC Sense 5. This is HTC’s latest and greatest user interface, it has one big feature and that is HTC BlinkFeed. It brings all of your favorite content, that you care about and want to read, right to your home screen. In fact it turns you home screen basically into a news feed. You will see your entire feed, you can read the entire article, watch the video, listen to it, view the photos, and then share it with your friends. As of now you are limited to the 1400 media sources that HTC has chosen, and from that big list you can choose what you will allow and what you wont. They have partnered with many different media organizations like ESPN, AP, and around 1400 other media sources. You can also through in your Facebook and Twitter feeds into the mix. I would like to see HTC allow you to add your own content like an RSS feed in the future. You could think of it as being your very own RSS feed. I personally like HTC BlinkFeed and think it is a great to way to get the news, read it, and then share it if you would like too.

As I mentioned before the power/sleep button has an infrared sensor built-in to it. This way you can control your TV, right from your smartphone. This explains why the application TV is pre-loaded on the device. This will let you control you television right from your phone and it has very simple to use interface. You can even manage your DVR right from this remote. HTC did not stop there, you can see the TV schedule, have it recommend new content for you, and much more. You can read synopsis of tonight’s latest episode or the episode that is coming later this week. You can search to see if a movie or TV show is currently on or you can find out when it is. TV is a great application that really makes the smartphone the center of your entertainment world.

Other applications that come pre-loaded on the HTC One are Calendar, Facebook, Gallery, Maps, Contacts, Watch, YouTube, Google Play Suite, TuneIn Radio, FM Radio, Soundhound, Amazon Kindle, Google App Suite, News & Weather, Google Chrome, Mail, Twitter, Notes, Tasks, Calculator, Weather, Downloads, Voice Recorder, Stocks, Clock, Play Store, and a few others. From AT&T you will get Live TV, AT&T Drive Mode, AT&T Family Map, AT&T Locker, AT&T Navigator, AT&T Ready2Go, Messages, myAT&T, AT&T Smart Wi-Fi, and Device Help. While there are a good amount of pre-loaded applications, this is relatively small compared to what has come on pre-loaded on other smartphones. HTC did a great job with the software on the AT&T HTC One!

Bottom Line

The AT&T HTC One is an amazing smartphone and clearly is one of the best on the market. HTC really needed a killer device this year, that would let them take on Samsung and the other device makers. I am happy to say that the One does exactly that, it brings new features to the table and raises the bar. The HTC One is currently the Best Android Device on the Market! This is as of now, there certainly will be many other high-end devices coming out in the next few months. We will update this once we get to test these future devices out. The Galaxy S 4 from Samsung will certainly be the HTC One’s main competitor. HTC hit a home run out of the park with the full metal unibody design. HTC BoomSound provides you with a great sound experience and you get plenty of speed. The 4.7-inch full 1080pHD display is incredibly bright, clear, colorful, and sharp. HTC Sense 5 brings a bunch of great new features like BlinkFeed to the table. The UltraPixel camera performs very well and I was quite impressed with it. It has a battery that will last the full day and is super fast thanks to AT&T 4G and a 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, quad-core processor. The AT&T HTC One retails for $199.99 for the 32GB variant with a 2-year contract or $299.99 for the 64GB with a 2-year contract. If you are on the market for a new smartphone I highly suggest you look at the HTC One. For More Information On The AT&T HTC One, Please Click Here.  We would like to thank AT&T for providing us with a copy of the “AT&T HTC One”.