HTC One (Review) : Is it The Number one Phone for you?

Photo Credit - Wired

The HTC 'One'. The name of this phone is quite ironic for HTC because many Tech Reviewers (including myself) have labelled this flagship smartphone the 'Second' best phone of 2013 (So far). If thats not enough, the number one usually represents the word 'first' when infact this phone's design is extremely similar to that of the Blackberry Z10 and let me remind you that the Z10 was released months before. It was 'first' to have this design .  I would suggest to any HTC officials reading this to get a new person to name your phones and maybe hire new people to design our phones while you at it! Well jokes aside, lets see what the HTC One has to offer and whether this phone is the 'One' for you!

HARDWARE AND DESIGN 

At first look, the HTC One seems very familiar (which could or could not be a good thing). Its bold White/Black bezels mimic the Z10's ,  its tapered edges and metallic back remind me of the iPhone 5 and its crisp 4.7 inch , 468ppi screen is similar to that of the S4. Then as you take a closer look, your perspective changes, the details like the front- firing Speakers , the smooth metal uni-body design with each curve and line a brush-stroke of perfection. Its in the details that HTC hooked me onto the HTC One and I found after glancing at it time to time the design grows on me more and more. Dare I say this but I think the design of the HTC One is better than the iPhone 5. Even if HTC did copy Blackberry's design they sure made it a lot better!

Photo Credit - CNET

SPEAKERS & SOUND

HTC without doubt have the best mobile sound system on the HTC One which they call BoomSound. The Dual Front-Firing speakers are stunning and provide crisp and clear audio but I that when holding the phone in landscape, its difficult to place your hands out of the speaker's way. This is for me renders the speakers useless and I watch Videos and listen to music in landscape mode. The HTC One also has Beats Audio integration.

BATTERY

This phone has a colossal 2600 mAh Battery that HTC says should be good for ± 18 Hours of talk-time depending on your Connection (3G, HSPA+ or LTE.) Theres actually been quite an uproar about the battery problem on this phone with users saying they only seem to get 7/8 hours of Battery life out of the box when using 4G LTE. This Shouldn't be a problem anymore as HTC has released a software update that should give you a longer battery-life. The HTC One also gives you better Battery-life if you use it on 3G rather than LTE. 

Photo Credit - Android Australia

CAMERA

The HTC renamed its camera to HTC Ultra-pixel, for any one know doesn't know what an ultra-pixel is - its a word that HTC is using to distract from the fact that the HTC One has a 4MP primary camera! So now that you aren't mystified by that word the Camera seems pretty weak however I remind you that there's much more to a good camera than the number of megapixels and the  HTC One has them all. 

Overall I think the Design is impeccable. Its not unique but familiar (which I'm starting to like.) Its simply a beautiful piece of hardware with a smooth yet grippable back, delicately carved buttons and curved edges. Its like a long lost friend but with more processing power... 

It'll always be there when you need it unless the battery dies... 

CONVENIENCE HAS A NEW NAME ( HTC SENSE 5 ) 

In the past I haven't really liked HTC Sense (their Android Overlay.) It seems very unnecessary and distracts from the beauty of Stock Android . I'm not implying AT ALL that Stock Android is good but you got to admit that its pretty beautiful. The Icons on HTC Sense 5 are better than the previous ones but still look dated compared to iOS and even Blackberry 10! 

BLINKFEED 

Photo Credit - The National

This feature is absolutely amazing! Although it looks a lot like Flip-board and even Windows phone (Again with the Stealing ideas.) Its stunning. Blink-feed breaks away from Traditional Android and bring you all of your selected news, social media updates and glances at your calendar and other applications rather than the boring Application and Widgets screen.  It allows you to truly customize your phone however I find that The news articles distract me from the reason I actually turned on my phone and Blinkfeed can be very heavy on data which is not practical in everyday use. Another thing is with blinkfeed if someone picks up your phone, they have instant access to all of your personal social media accounts and messages. Presently there are no ways of removing blinkfeed. The overall feeling of blink feed and infact HTC Sense 5 is convenience. Blink feed makes life so much easier by putting everything you care about into a simple homepage. 

GALLERY & CAMERA

In this current smartphone war it neccasary for phones to not only have powerful cameras but to have software features to go with it - HTC has amazed me with their line of in-Camera features. These include burst-shot, HDR video which allows you to video in low- light areas, a feature that allows you to combine burst shots into a single frame , Slow motion video recording, Object removal and HTC Zoe and most importantly features that Samsung and Apple don't have! The Gallery app has an amazing feature that present and organizes your pictures by date !

APP DRAWER

For some odd reason HTC thought it fantastic to let you organize your app drawer! You can now list you app in alphabetic order, custom or most recent. Although it'll take some time to get use to, I think It will allow users the customization that Android is known for.

CONCLUSION ( IS IT THE 'ONE' WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR?) 

I Started off by saying the HTC One was just Second best but the HTC One is so much more than that, its complicated in a way thats uncomplicated, its reliable and Convenient (in the form of Blinkfeed.) The HTC One is simply irresistible. Although it makes me annoyed at times and I find certain features to be 'cheesy' and mimics of other phones. Although I find the HTC One to be second best, its lovable and it works and its definitely the one phone i'd keep for a 2-year contract. It's unquestionably the one for me, what about you?