The HTC One X “Real-User” review, Part One: Initial impressions, Design/build quality, Screen and Benchmarks
HTC One X, posted: 2-May-2012 10:45
Firstly I’d like to open with a big thank you to Geekzone, Telecom NZ, and HTC for making me a part of this blog. I’d also like to thank the Geekzone members who put forward my name in the selection process, it’s humbling to know I have your confidence.
Initial impressions
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by the HTC One X in my initial impression. Don’t get me wrong, I really like HTC’s design language, after all I’ve been a fan since the venerable HTC Touch Pro. It’s just that their design language tends to be a bit more staid, less likely to grab hold of you than some of the designs coming out of other stables.
The One X is one arrestingly pretty phone
It took me quite by surprise when I did actually lay eyes on it. This is one beautiful phone. Actually holding it and using it briefly at the HTC launch event only heightened the most favourable initial impression of had of any phone since my HD2 and Sony Xperia X1. The things informing that impression are a combination of the design and materials, which takes a little more time to break down, so let’s get into that now.
The volume rocker, slightly annoyingly placed in my use
Design
In terms of the hardware tour, the front of the device is of course dominated by the 4.7inch SLCD-2 screen. HTC have done a great job in minimizing the bezel in all directions in order to keep the footprint of the device quite manageable despite the screen. There is an earpiece grill at the top, accompanied by the usual light and proximity sensors, while the bottom eschews Google’s direction to forego off-screen buttons and instead sports a trio of capacitive buttons for Back, Home and Recent Apps respectively. Hiding behind the grill is the multicoloured notification LED.
The edges of the device are relatively Spartan. The top of the device sports the power button, the 3.5mm audio plug, and the micro-SIM slot (the small hole visible in the picture below looks like a microphone might dwell there, but it’s for the small tool that ejects the micro-SIM tray). The right hand side has only the volume rocker, whereas the left is home only to the micro USB port used for charging, computer connection, and HDMI out via MHL. The bottom of the device is devoid of ports or buttons of any kind. The rear of the device has the 8mp camera and LED flash, speaker grill, and the pogo-pins for connections to docking type devices.
Naturally there are a few criticisms one could level at the design of the phone.
The first is the slightly protruding camera module. When resting flat it contacts the surface the phone is lying on, and one can’t help but wonder how soon scratches might become an issue here. I was not reassured by one of the HTC employees at the launch event saying that his was already scratched (he did hasten to assure that pictures didn’t seem affected by that).
The second are the placements of the volume rocker and micro USB port. Usually volume rockers occupy the upper left hand side of the device, meaning that they are quite safe from accidental activation when holding the device in the palm of the left hand (for right-hand dominant people at any rate). So on that count it’s slightly unorthodox placement here is mildly annoying (hey, lefties may love it!), but additionally it’s also long and positioned quite far down the device’s edge, and the combination of the two factors means I accidentally activate it with annoying frequency. No doubt there is a bit of a learning curve to come to grips with here, I’ve got two years of Samsung-induced muscle memory to unlearn after all, but even bearing that in mind the arrangement here doesn’t seem optimal.
I presume the placement of the volume rocker is dictated by the necessity to shoehorn bucketloads of technology into the 8.9mm thick unibody casing, and by the same token I suspect the placement of the micro USB port is also a victim to the need for a trim waistline.
HTC’s choice to have off-screen capacitive buttons is another aspect of the design that deserves mention, but there is some crossover into a discussion of Sense and the UI there, so I’ll leave my grumbling about that till another review piece.
Naturally a dedicated hardware camera shutter key is lacking, the absence of which has become the norm for most manufacturers. I used to lament this a lot, and while I would still very much like to have one I’ve grown fairly accustomed to not having one now. Expectations are key I suppose.
(Aside: I note that the Sprint version of the One X possesses a hardware camera key, I have a few gripes to make about that too, and again I will come to that in due course)
The micro USB/MHL connection, the only thing adorning the devices left hand side
Build quality and ergonomics
I want to start out here by drawing a distinction between build materials and build quality. The two terms tend to be thrown about like synonyms, but they're not. It's possible to have one without the other.
The Galaxy S II and HTC Sensation are two examples that spring to mind to make the point. The Galaxy S II build materials are disappointing plastics, like we see here with the Note, but it's durable. There are no moving parts or creaks, and as we saw recently on YouTube, it holds up to drops and knocks better than an iPhone 4S which is made from much nicer materials. In other words its build quality is good.
Contrast this with the HTC Sensation, which is made from great materials with metal and high quality soft-touch plastics, but has a more suspect build quality with the 'sleeve' design causing creaks, dust accumulation under the screen, and volume rockers that break (of course not every Sensation is afflicted by these, but it's sporadic failure rate is higher than I've observed from other high-end handsets). Now obviously I want a handset with both, but if it's a matter of choosing I'll take build quality, thank you very much.
What kind of handset is the HTC One X? It’s a member of what I count a small fraternity of phones that have both quality materials and excellent build quality.
The slightly protruding camera, virtually the only design element of the exterior that clunks just a little
The one-piece polycarbonate body is strong and feels awesome in the hand, giving it a lovely and slightly grippy soft touch texture, but also ensures that the phone is light. In the past I’ve tended to prefer slightly heavier phones for the impression of quality that endows, but as phones move up into sizes past 4.5inches I’m valuing the comfort of holding a lighter hand more than the (sometimes) false impression of quality that a heavier phone might give.
Although I discuss the display characteristics of the screen a little further down, it deserves a special mention here too. It’s a special design where the screen is laminated onto the glass, diminishing the thickness of the screen. It’s covering layer of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 2, which gently slopes to seamlessly meet the bezel at the screens edge, has the best tactile feel to it of any handset I’ve ever had my paws on. I find hard to describe just how nice it feels when your fingers glide off the curved edge of the screen, but suffice to say that like me you might catch yourself finding excuses to swipe the entire width of the screen quite often.
Although it seems slightly counter-intuitive, the very thin phones that are presently all the rage often sport less than ideal ergonomics. The Samsung Galaxy S II is a good example of this. It’s wide, thin, and full of hard angles at it’s edges, all of which can equate to a phone that’s uncomfortable to hold and use for more than brief sessions. How can you improve the ergonomics? Add extra girth, weight and curves via the official extended battery. Fortunately in the case of the One X, the curves of the polycarbonate body fit nicely in the hand, which is very welcome in a handset of this size and thickness.
Anyways, let me conclude describing the physical attributes of the device, before I rave on forever: it’s awesome. The aesthetics, design and materials meld to a level that is rarely attained.
The Screen
You can see it doesn’t quite attain AMOLED levels of inky blacks, but how well does it stack up overall, and should you still be swayed by a tick in the AMOLED column of the spec sheet when weighing up your next smartphone purchase?
I have to admit I came to this section of the review with some bias in tow. I fully expected to walk away still secure in the knowledge that Super AMOLED screens rule the roost for screen tech. The inky blacks, the excessive, eye-popping contrast - you either love it or loath it. I love it. In fact I love it so much, that given the choice of two fairly equal handsets I ‘d chose the AMOLED screened one. Every time. Now I’d read that the One X has an awesome SLCD-2 screen, but given my bias my question heading in wasn’t “Is SCLD-2 better than AMOLED?”, it was “Is it good enough that AMOLED is no longer such a massive differentiator between devices for me?”
The answer surprised me.
Well, firstly, is it good enough to stand up to AMOLED screens such that I could bear to buy an SLCD-2 equipped phone instead? Yes. Unequivocally and unreservedly, yes. Now that’s pretty big, in and of itself, considering the slant I had before I even got the phone. You remember, the slant that made me not expect to even have to frame the question “Is it better than AMOLED?”. It became apparent very quickly that the SLCD-2 screen of the One X demanded that question be answered. The shocking twist that nobody saw coming, least of all myself? The answer to that question is yes.
Let that sink in a minute.
If you read between the lines, that’s as good as saying the One X has the best screen to ever grace a mobile. Let me go on the record now, as a previously unashamed AMOLED fanboy, and state that explicitly: the HTC One X has the best mobile screen I’ve ever seen.
Obviously so momentous a statement needs must be qualified. So let’s break that down a little into the following areas: pixel density and sub-pixel matrix, contrast, blacks, whites, colour accuracy, viewing angles, brightness and sunlight usability, and deal with each in turn.
While it’s hard to truly represent the difference in a photograph of the screen, I think you can still see very pleasing levels of contrast in the One X’s SCLD-2 screen in comparison to the Note’s AMOLED offering.
Pixel density – the 4.7inch 1280x720p SLCD-2 panel sports a pixel density of around 312 pixels per inch. Furthermore, it sports a “full” subpixel matrix, unlike AMOLED screens of the non-+ variety, which use a pentile matrix that carries a reduced number of coloured subpixels for each pixel. What all that technobabble means is pixels that are invisible to the naked eye, lovely pin sharp images and text as far as the eye can see. You’ll see some other handsets boasting higher PPI counts, but once you’ve crossed the threshold where you can no longer see pixels anyway, I just can’t see any rational advantage in that.
Contrast, blacks, whites, colour accuracy – these are all fairly related. Let me keep it brief, black levels aside, SLCD-2 bests AMOLED in each of these display characteristics. As a long time user of AMOLED screens I have to say that increased colour accuracy, particularly in terms of white tone, really won me over.
Another difficult thing to represent fairly in photos – a comparison of the white tone. The overly blue tone of the AMOLED screen is clearly evident compared to the much more pleasing and natural whites of the One X
The viewing angles don’t disappoint either. While I’d perhaps give AMOLED a slight edge in this area, it’s a rather spurious advantage, since I presume most of us don’t view our phones at 160 degree angles particularly often.
Finally, let’s turn our attention to the usability of the screen outdoors. This is a pretty important screen characteristic, and one of the most common ones I get asked about any device I review. Previously sunlight legibility has tended to be one of the areas where LCD screens fall over, but happily SLCD-2 is above all of that. It’s performance outdoors in direct sunlight is roughly on a par with AMOLED, and perhaps even edging it out ever so slightly.
In summary, the screen is marvelous. Believe the hype.
The SLCD-2 screen of the HTC One X above, the Super AMOLED screen of the Galaxy Note below.
Speed and synthetic benchmarks
If you read any major review of a new handset you’ll see a section on benchmarks, and obviously this review is no different. Before you eagerly scroll down to see the One X’s scores, I just want to take a brief moment to pour some cold water on your benchmark lust.
You see, for all that benchmarks can give you a helpful pointer about a devices performance, they don’t really tell you a thing about what buyers really want to know about a smartphones performance. What people really want to know is how fluid is the handset in general navigation of the UI and apps, and in particular under the sorts of multitasking loads that might arise from regular use. For example, will it grind to a halt when I’m listening to music while browsing, and then need to use the camera ASAP to capture the image of Yoda in my espresso’s crema before it dissipates?
In order to talk to how the One X performs overall, I’m going to divide this section into two pieces, the first to show off the One X’s (considerable) benchmark prowess, and the second to comment on how it is in use.
So, without further preamble, here are the benchmarks:
CF-Bench
CF-Bench is one of a number of general benchmarking tools for Android, and in my experience one of the best in terms of generalizability to actual use. The One X flexes it’s quad-core muscle here, with the Tegra 3 doubling the scores from last years best Android handset the Galaxy S II.
Antutu
Antutu is another one of the very highly regarded general benchmarks, measuring a wide variety of activities from CPU calculations, write and read operations, and of course graphics power. The One X scores a whopping 10, 238. To contextualize that a little: most of the present crop of high end Android phones, regardless of their respective SoCs, score around the 6000 mark.
Vellamo
Vellamo is a browser benchmark software made by Qualcomm. The One X absolutely carves this benchmark up, besting the similarly Tegra 3-powered ASUS Transformer Prime tablet by a couple of hundred points and generating the highest score I’ve yet seen on a stock device.
Browsermark
Browsermark is an in-browser benchmarking tool, and as such is OS-agnostic – it’ll run on most anything with a browser. You can feel free to compare results in Browsermark to you iOS and WP7 toting friends. As you can see, the One X manages a good score here. It gets bested by several of the Android tablets, including the Tegra 3 Transformer Prime, but ranks highly in the phone stakes. Crucially, it bests the iPhone 4S by about 10,000. I say crucially, because you know you want to rub that in your iPhone-using workmate’s nose while you huddle around the water cooler oogling your new One X. While you’re at it make sure to point out that the One X is pushing 1.5x as many pixels as the iPhone en route to generating that score.
Nenamark 2
Nenamark 2 is one of the better graphics benchmarks available for Android, being one of the few that is demanding enough to max out current GPUs (graphics processing units). The Tegra 3 scores quite well here, able to push the graphics demo through at 47.4 frames per second. If “quite well” doesn’t sound like that enthused, it’s because the nearly year old Mali-400 GPU present in the Galaxy SII and Note offers nearly identical performance, and several other GPUs in high-end Android devices for 2012 offer even higher performance. I doubt that will actually matter to most buyers though, since the Tegra 3 GPU won’t have any trouble running the most intensive games presently available, and (rightly or wrongly) Nvidia will make sure that lots of the best games get optimized for their devices.
Quadrant
I must admit that I tend to leave Quadrant off my own reviews, it’s really a rather poor benchmark and one of the least generalizable to actual use. That said, it’s something people always tend to ask about, and is another area where the One X is not short on bragging rights, so here it is (for whatever it’s worth):
Actual use
So we’ve covered the fact that the One X benchmarks pretty well. Time for the real nitty gritty; does that bear any relationship to actual use?
Happily I can report that it does.
This is easily the smoothest Android phone I’ve yet the pleasure of using, and I’ve used a few. While you could certainly speculate that a big part of that is merely down to ICS hardware acceleration throughout the launcher, it’s definitely more than that. While I have seen tiny traces of lag, for example when restoring 60 apps and backing out of the Play Store, it’s much less in evidence in terms of magnitude and frequency here than in any other ICS handset. I’d go so far as to say it attains those mythical iPhone levels of smoothness that are so often touted.
Summary
I know most of you just skipped straight down to this section, didn’t you? You’d like all of that above compressed into a few sound bites for easy digestion, wouldn’t you? OK then.
About the author
My name is Murray Winiata. When I'm not on my own time I work as a medical doctor in General Practice, and when I am on my own time I'm a dad, blogger, obsessive home barista, audio enthusiast and guitarist. Online I'm probably better known by my handle "NZtechfreak" via my participation in many online forums including, but not limited to, Geekzone, XDA-Developers, AndroidForums and Head-Fi. Previously I've blogged for Clove Technologies in the UK, and more recently at my own blog AndroidNZ.net. Like most smartphone owners I'm fully social-media'd up, and you can find me on Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Facebook. If you've got burning questions about the HTC One X you'd like me to try and answer, or you want my up-to-the-minute impressions and experiences with the One X, then Twitter would be the best channel to tune in to. Besides that, I'm always available here at Geekzone, which remains one of the best little corners of the internet (even in spite of my membership!). Naturally I'm thrilled to have been chosen to blog about the HTC One X here at the TelecomTech blog, and plan to bring my trademark objectivity to the fray once again. Catch you here again soon!
Initial impressions
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by the HTC One X in my initial impression. Don’t get me wrong, I really like HTC’s design language, after all I’ve been a fan since the venerable HTC Touch Pro. It’s just that their design language tends to be a bit more staid, less likely to grab hold of you than some of the designs coming out of other stables.
The One X is one arrestingly pretty phone
It took me quite by surprise when I did actually lay eyes on it. This is one beautiful phone. Actually holding it and using it briefly at the HTC launch event only heightened the most favourable initial impression of had of any phone since my HD2 and Sony Xperia X1. The things informing that impression are a combination of the design and materials, which takes a little more time to break down, so let’s get into that now.
The volume rocker, slightly annoyingly placed in my use
Design
In terms of the hardware tour, the front of the device is of course dominated by the 4.7inch SLCD-2 screen. HTC have done a great job in minimizing the bezel in all directions in order to keep the footprint of the device quite manageable despite the screen. There is an earpiece grill at the top, accompanied by the usual light and proximity sensors, while the bottom eschews Google’s direction to forego off-screen buttons and instead sports a trio of capacitive buttons for Back, Home and Recent Apps respectively. Hiding behind the grill is the multicoloured notification LED.
The edges of the device are relatively Spartan. The top of the device sports the power button, the 3.5mm audio plug, and the micro-SIM slot (the small hole visible in the picture below looks like a microphone might dwell there, but it’s for the small tool that ejects the micro-SIM tray). The right hand side has only the volume rocker, whereas the left is home only to the micro USB port used for charging, computer connection, and HDMI out via MHL. The bottom of the device is devoid of ports or buttons of any kind. The rear of the device has the 8mp camera and LED flash, speaker grill, and the pogo-pins for connections to docking type devices.
Naturally there are a few criticisms one could level at the design of the phone.
The first is the slightly protruding camera module. When resting flat it contacts the surface the phone is lying on, and one can’t help but wonder how soon scratches might become an issue here. I was not reassured by one of the HTC employees at the launch event saying that his was already scratched (he did hasten to assure that pictures didn’t seem affected by that).
The second are the placements of the volume rocker and micro USB port. Usually volume rockers occupy the upper left hand side of the device, meaning that they are quite safe from accidental activation when holding the device in the palm of the left hand (for right-hand dominant people at any rate). So on that count it’s slightly unorthodox placement here is mildly annoying (hey, lefties may love it!), but additionally it’s also long and positioned quite far down the device’s edge, and the combination of the two factors means I accidentally activate it with annoying frequency. No doubt there is a bit of a learning curve to come to grips with here, I’ve got two years of Samsung-induced muscle memory to unlearn after all, but even bearing that in mind the arrangement here doesn’t seem optimal.
I presume the placement of the volume rocker is dictated by the necessity to shoehorn bucketloads of technology into the 8.9mm thick unibody casing, and by the same token I suspect the placement of the micro USB port is also a victim to the need for a trim waistline.
HTC’s choice to have off-screen capacitive buttons is another aspect of the design that deserves mention, but there is some crossover into a discussion of Sense and the UI there, so I’ll leave my grumbling about that till another review piece.
Naturally a dedicated hardware camera shutter key is lacking, the absence of which has become the norm for most manufacturers. I used to lament this a lot, and while I would still very much like to have one I’ve grown fairly accustomed to not having one now. Expectations are key I suppose.
(Aside: I note that the Sprint version of the One X possesses a hardware camera key, I have a few gripes to make about that too, and again I will come to that in due course)
The micro USB/MHL connection, the only thing adorning the devices left hand side
Build quality and ergonomics
I want to start out here by drawing a distinction between build materials and build quality. The two terms tend to be thrown about like synonyms, but they're not. It's possible to have one without the other.
The Galaxy S II and HTC Sensation are two examples that spring to mind to make the point. The Galaxy S II build materials are disappointing plastics, like we see here with the Note, but it's durable. There are no moving parts or creaks, and as we saw recently on YouTube, it holds up to drops and knocks better than an iPhone 4S which is made from much nicer materials. In other words its build quality is good.
Contrast this with the HTC Sensation, which is made from great materials with metal and high quality soft-touch plastics, but has a more suspect build quality with the 'sleeve' design causing creaks, dust accumulation under the screen, and volume rockers that break (of course not every Sensation is afflicted by these, but it's sporadic failure rate is higher than I've observed from other high-end handsets). Now obviously I want a handset with both, but if it's a matter of choosing I'll take build quality, thank you very much.
What kind of handset is the HTC One X? It’s a member of what I count a small fraternity of phones that have both quality materials and excellent build quality.
The slightly protruding camera, virtually the only design element of the exterior that clunks just a little
The one-piece polycarbonate body is strong and feels awesome in the hand, giving it a lovely and slightly grippy soft touch texture, but also ensures that the phone is light. In the past I’ve tended to prefer slightly heavier phones for the impression of quality that endows, but as phones move up into sizes past 4.5inches I’m valuing the comfort of holding a lighter hand more than the (sometimes) false impression of quality that a heavier phone might give.
Although I discuss the display characteristics of the screen a little further down, it deserves a special mention here too. It’s a special design where the screen is laminated onto the glass, diminishing the thickness of the screen. It’s covering layer of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 2, which gently slopes to seamlessly meet the bezel at the screens edge, has the best tactile feel to it of any handset I’ve ever had my paws on. I find hard to describe just how nice it feels when your fingers glide off the curved edge of the screen, but suffice to say that like me you might catch yourself finding excuses to swipe the entire width of the screen quite often.
Although it seems slightly counter-intuitive, the very thin phones that are presently all the rage often sport less than ideal ergonomics. The Samsung Galaxy S II is a good example of this. It’s wide, thin, and full of hard angles at it’s edges, all of which can equate to a phone that’s uncomfortable to hold and use for more than brief sessions. How can you improve the ergonomics? Add extra girth, weight and curves via the official extended battery. Fortunately in the case of the One X, the curves of the polycarbonate body fit nicely in the hand, which is very welcome in a handset of this size and thickness.
Anyways, let me conclude describing the physical attributes of the device, before I rave on forever: it’s awesome. The aesthetics, design and materials meld to a level that is rarely attained.
The Screen
You can see it doesn’t quite attain AMOLED levels of inky blacks, but how well does it stack up overall, and should you still be swayed by a tick in the AMOLED column of the spec sheet when weighing up your next smartphone purchase?
I have to admit I came to this section of the review with some bias in tow. I fully expected to walk away still secure in the knowledge that Super AMOLED screens rule the roost for screen tech. The inky blacks, the excessive, eye-popping contrast - you either love it or loath it. I love it. In fact I love it so much, that given the choice of two fairly equal handsets I ‘d chose the AMOLED screened one. Every time. Now I’d read that the One X has an awesome SLCD-2 screen, but given my bias my question heading in wasn’t “Is SCLD-2 better than AMOLED?”, it was “Is it good enough that AMOLED is no longer such a massive differentiator between devices for me?”
The answer surprised me.
Well, firstly, is it good enough to stand up to AMOLED screens such that I could bear to buy an SLCD-2 equipped phone instead? Yes. Unequivocally and unreservedly, yes. Now that’s pretty big, in and of itself, considering the slant I had before I even got the phone. You remember, the slant that made me not expect to even have to frame the question “Is it better than AMOLED?”. It became apparent very quickly that the SLCD-2 screen of the One X demanded that question be answered. The shocking twist that nobody saw coming, least of all myself? The answer to that question is yes.
Let that sink in a minute.
If you read between the lines, that’s as good as saying the One X has the best screen to ever grace a mobile. Let me go on the record now, as a previously unashamed AMOLED fanboy, and state that explicitly: the HTC One X has the best mobile screen I’ve ever seen.
Obviously so momentous a statement needs must be qualified. So let’s break that down a little into the following areas: pixel density and sub-pixel matrix, contrast, blacks, whites, colour accuracy, viewing angles, brightness and sunlight usability, and deal with each in turn.
While it’s hard to truly represent the difference in a photograph of the screen, I think you can still see very pleasing levels of contrast in the One X’s SCLD-2 screen in comparison to the Note’s AMOLED offering.
Pixel density – the 4.7inch 1280x720p SLCD-2 panel sports a pixel density of around 312 pixels per inch. Furthermore, it sports a “full” subpixel matrix, unlike AMOLED screens of the non-+ variety, which use a pentile matrix that carries a reduced number of coloured subpixels for each pixel. What all that technobabble means is pixels that are invisible to the naked eye, lovely pin sharp images and text as far as the eye can see. You’ll see some other handsets boasting higher PPI counts, but once you’ve crossed the threshold where you can no longer see pixels anyway, I just can’t see any rational advantage in that.
Contrast, blacks, whites, colour accuracy – these are all fairly related. Let me keep it brief, black levels aside, SLCD-2 bests AMOLED in each of these display characteristics. As a long time user of AMOLED screens I have to say that increased colour accuracy, particularly in terms of white tone, really won me over.
Another difficult thing to represent fairly in photos – a comparison of the white tone. The overly blue tone of the AMOLED screen is clearly evident compared to the much more pleasing and natural whites of the One X
The viewing angles don’t disappoint either. While I’d perhaps give AMOLED a slight edge in this area, it’s a rather spurious advantage, since I presume most of us don’t view our phones at 160 degree angles particularly often.
Finally, let’s turn our attention to the usability of the screen outdoors. This is a pretty important screen characteristic, and one of the most common ones I get asked about any device I review. Previously sunlight legibility has tended to be one of the areas where LCD screens fall over, but happily SLCD-2 is above all of that. It’s performance outdoors in direct sunlight is roughly on a par with AMOLED, and perhaps even edging it out ever so slightly.
In summary, the screen is marvelous. Believe the hype.
The SLCD-2 screen of the HTC One X above, the Super AMOLED screen of the Galaxy Note below.
Speed and synthetic benchmarks
If you read any major review of a new handset you’ll see a section on benchmarks, and obviously this review is no different. Before you eagerly scroll down to see the One X’s scores, I just want to take a brief moment to pour some cold water on your benchmark lust.
You see, for all that benchmarks can give you a helpful pointer about a devices performance, they don’t really tell you a thing about what buyers really want to know about a smartphones performance. What people really want to know is how fluid is the handset in general navigation of the UI and apps, and in particular under the sorts of multitasking loads that might arise from regular use. For example, will it grind to a halt when I’m listening to music while browsing, and then need to use the camera ASAP to capture the image of Yoda in my espresso’s crema before it dissipates?
In order to talk to how the One X performs overall, I’m going to divide this section into two pieces, the first to show off the One X’s (considerable) benchmark prowess, and the second to comment on how it is in use.
So, without further preamble, here are the benchmarks:
CF-Bench
CF-Bench is one of a number of general benchmarking tools for Android, and in my experience one of the best in terms of generalizability to actual use. The One X flexes it’s quad-core muscle here, with the Tegra 3 doubling the scores from last years best Android handset the Galaxy S II.
Antutu
Antutu is another one of the very highly regarded general benchmarks, measuring a wide variety of activities from CPU calculations, write and read operations, and of course graphics power. The One X scores a whopping 10, 238. To contextualize that a little: most of the present crop of high end Android phones, regardless of their respective SoCs, score around the 6000 mark.
Vellamo
Vellamo is a browser benchmark software made by Qualcomm. The One X absolutely carves this benchmark up, besting the similarly Tegra 3-powered ASUS Transformer Prime tablet by a couple of hundred points and generating the highest score I’ve yet seen on a stock device.
Browsermark
Browsermark is an in-browser benchmarking tool, and as such is OS-agnostic – it’ll run on most anything with a browser. You can feel free to compare results in Browsermark to you iOS and WP7 toting friends. As you can see, the One X manages a good score here. It gets bested by several of the Android tablets, including the Tegra 3 Transformer Prime, but ranks highly in the phone stakes. Crucially, it bests the iPhone 4S by about 10,000. I say crucially, because you know you want to rub that in your iPhone-using workmate’s nose while you huddle around the water cooler oogling your new One X. While you’re at it make sure to point out that the One X is pushing 1.5x as many pixels as the iPhone en route to generating that score.
Nenamark 2
Nenamark 2 is one of the better graphics benchmarks available for Android, being one of the few that is demanding enough to max out current GPUs (graphics processing units). The Tegra 3 scores quite well here, able to push the graphics demo through at 47.4 frames per second. If “quite well” doesn’t sound like that enthused, it’s because the nearly year old Mali-400 GPU present in the Galaxy SII and Note offers nearly identical performance, and several other GPUs in high-end Android devices for 2012 offer even higher performance. I doubt that will actually matter to most buyers though, since the Tegra 3 GPU won’t have any trouble running the most intensive games presently available, and (rightly or wrongly) Nvidia will make sure that lots of the best games get optimized for their devices.
Quadrant
I must admit that I tend to leave Quadrant off my own reviews, it’s really a rather poor benchmark and one of the least generalizable to actual use. That said, it’s something people always tend to ask about, and is another area where the One X is not short on bragging rights, so here it is (for whatever it’s worth):
Actual use
So we’ve covered the fact that the One X benchmarks pretty well. Time for the real nitty gritty; does that bear any relationship to actual use?
Happily I can report that it does.
This is easily the smoothest Android phone I’ve yet the pleasure of using, and I’ve used a few. While you could certainly speculate that a big part of that is merely down to ICS hardware acceleration throughout the launcher, it’s definitely more than that. While I have seen tiny traces of lag, for example when restoring 60 apps and backing out of the Play Store, it’s much less in evidence in terms of magnitude and frequency here than in any other ICS handset. I’d go so far as to say it attains those mythical iPhone levels of smoothness that are so often touted.
Summary
I know most of you just skipped straight down to this section, didn’t you? You’d like all of that above compressed into a few sound bites for easy digestion, wouldn’t you? OK then.
- In terms of aesthetics, ergonomics, build materials and quality the One X is something special. It’s rather hard to put into words exactly what it is about the whole package that is so great, it just has that je ne sais quoimost other handsets lack (please note the considered restraint employed there to avoid using the phrase X-factor). Suffice to say that it is a complete package that precious few handsets live up to.
- The One X has the best screen ever to grace a mobile. You could be forgiven for thinking the reviews of the One X to date were dealing in hyperbole with all the superlatives they’ve thrown at it, well they’re not. It really is that good.
- In terms of synthetic benchmarks the One X is awesome, as one might expect from a quad-core device with a gigabyte of RAM…
- …but the even better news is that actual daily usage lives up to the promise of the benchmark scores. If you want smoothness and fluidity that won’t show you up next to an iPhone user this is the handset to get.
About the author
My name is Murray Winiata. When I'm not on my own time I work as a medical doctor in General Practice, and when I am on my own time I'm a dad, blogger, obsessive home barista, audio enthusiast and guitarist. Online I'm probably better known by my handle "NZtechfreak" via my participation in many online forums including, but not limited to, Geekzone, XDA-Developers, AndroidForums and Head-Fi. Previously I've blogged for Clove Technologies in the UK, and more recently at my own blog AndroidNZ.net. Like most smartphone owners I'm fully social-media'd up, and you can find me on Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Facebook. If you've got burning questions about the HTC One X you'd like me to try and answer, or you want my up-to-the-minute impressions and experiences with the One X, then Twitter would be the best channel to tune in to. Besides that, I'm always available here at Geekzone, which remains one of the best little corners of the internet (even in spite of my membership!). Naturally I'm thrilled to have been chosen to blog about the HTC One X here at the TelecomTech blog, and plan to bring my trademark objectivity to the fray once again. Catch you here again soon!Permalink to The HTC One X “Real-User” review, Part One: Initial impressions, Design/build quality, Screen and Benchmarks
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HTC One X - Hardware First Impressions
HTC One X, posted: 1-May-2012 10:19
It was a warm Autumn afternoon, and as bleak as Telecom's headquarters may look on Google Maps, the complex inside is mightily impressive. At first I was surprised that the HTC booth was almost hidden away in the far corner of the foyer. However, like any other smartphone enthusiast this fact was completely disregarded when I first got my hands on the HTC One X.
The first thing that took me back is how light it felt in hand, 130 grams may seem comparatively heavy on paper to something like the Samsung Galaxy S II (116 grams) but in reality it feels light thanks to the larger volume it consumes. To prove this point, my now retired HTC Incredible S weighs 136 grams but since it is so much smaller it feels noticeably heavier in hand.
After that we were greeted by Telecom’s Richard Irvine and I could not help but eye up those five plain white boxes he was couriering around. Once being ushered away to one of the meeting rooms we were given a quick rundown of the device by HTC. Key features mentioned included the amazing 4.7 inch display, quad core Tegra 3 processor, improved camera technology plus the improvements made to Sense.
I imagine our faces were easy enough to read and those white boxes made a return and they were slid across the table. Opening them up revealed the phone and it’s impressive display hidden behind a “I’m the One you’ve been waiting for” protector. A statement that I completely agreed with. At this stage we were also issued our Telecom XT micro SIMs. I’m not sure if our numbers were hand picked, but I have to say, this is probably the fastest time in which I have ever memorized a 10 digit number.
Needless to say, the One X’s body is a uniform 8.9mm thin except for the exposed camera lens. This is easily going to be the first component to be damaged, one of the HTC employees present freely admitted he had already scratched one himself.
If you have small hands this is going to be a two hand use device. If you have average sized hands it will be awkwardly used in one hand. While if you have larger hands it should be comfortably used with one hand, at least in portrait orientation. I’d say I’d fit in between the second and third scenarios and as a result I don’t trust myself fully to walk and navigate around the phone at the same time.
The white polycarbonate body feels really nice in hand and offers enough grip to let you know you’re not going to accidentally drop it under normal conditions. It might just be me but I am fairly sure the sides of the One X have a more glossy (less grip) finish to it compared to the back.
The 4.7 inch Super LCD 2 display with a 1280 by 720 resolution is simply amazing, it is easily the best display I have ever seen on any smartphone, tablet, TV, just anything really.
Something that annoyed me from the get go is the multitasking button being on the right, why? Are you building this phone for left handers HTC? Ok, so maybe HTC are trying to prevent accidental presses of the back button if it was on the right side, but I have yet to press the multitasking key without meaning to.
So far, the HTC One X definitely lives up to its flagship status expectations in every way I’ve investigated so far, at least when it comes to the hardware; it feels good and looks amazing. What else do you really need?
About the author
I’ll be honest: there was once a day when I got bored and sick of seeing all the smartphone related news in my RSS feeds. This day was literally no more than nine months ago. Well here I stand today; known as Blair the college student in the real world, ArchSerpo in this one. Whilst not even considered an adult by the Government I have established myself as a Android and mobile technology news reporter and in depth reviewer for KitGuru, Android Mobile New Zealand, and now (hopefully) the TelecomTech blog. While bias towards the green team may appear given, I have had experience with all the major mobile operating systems except BlackBerry and MeeGo in the last six months and always keep an open mind.
The first thing that took me back is how light it felt in hand, 130 grams may seem comparatively heavy on paper to something like the Samsung Galaxy S II (116 grams) but in reality it feels light thanks to the larger volume it consumes. To prove this point, my now retired HTC Incredible S weighs 136 grams but since it is so much smaller it feels noticeably heavier in hand.
After that we were greeted by Telecom’s Richard Irvine and I could not help but eye up those five plain white boxes he was couriering around. Once being ushered away to one of the meeting rooms we were given a quick rundown of the device by HTC. Key features mentioned included the amazing 4.7 inch display, quad core Tegra 3 processor, improved camera technology plus the improvements made to Sense.
I imagine our faces were easy enough to read and those white boxes made a return and they were slid across the table. Opening them up revealed the phone and it’s impressive display hidden behind a “I’m the One you’ve been waiting for” protector. A statement that I completely agreed with. At this stage we were also issued our Telecom XT micro SIMs. I’m not sure if our numbers were hand picked, but I have to say, this is probably the fastest time in which I have ever memorized a 10 digit number.
Needless to say, the One X’s body is a uniform 8.9mm thin except for the exposed camera lens. This is easily going to be the first component to be damaged, one of the HTC employees present freely admitted he had already scratched one himself.
If you have small hands this is going to be a two hand use device. If you have average sized hands it will be awkwardly used in one hand. While if you have larger hands it should be comfortably used with one hand, at least in portrait orientation. I’d say I’d fit in between the second and third scenarios and as a result I don’t trust myself fully to walk and navigate around the phone at the same time.
The white polycarbonate body feels really nice in hand and offers enough grip to let you know you’re not going to accidentally drop it under normal conditions. It might just be me but I am fairly sure the sides of the One X have a more glossy (less grip) finish to it compared to the back.
The 4.7 inch Super LCD 2 display with a 1280 by 720 resolution is simply amazing, it is easily the best display I have ever seen on any smartphone, tablet, TV, just anything really.
Something that annoyed me from the get go is the multitasking button being on the right, why? Are you building this phone for left handers HTC? Ok, so maybe HTC are trying to prevent accidental presses of the back button if it was on the right side, but I have yet to press the multitasking key without meaning to.
So far, the HTC One X definitely lives up to its flagship status expectations in every way I’ve investigated so far, at least when it comes to the hardware; it feels good and looks amazing. What else do you really need?
About the author
I’ll be honest: there was once a day when I got bored and sick of seeing all the smartphone related news in my RSS feeds. This day was literally no more than nine months ago. Well here I stand today; known as Blair the college student in the real world, ArchSerpo in this one. Whilst not even considered an adult by the Government I have established myself as a Android and mobile technology news reporter and in depth reviewer for KitGuru, Android Mobile New Zealand, and now (hopefully) the TelecomTech blog. While bias towards the green team may appear given, I have had experience with all the major mobile operating systems except BlackBerry and MeeGo in the last six months and always keep an open mind.
Initial Impressions: XT Network with the HTC One X
HTC One X, posted: 30-Apr-2012 11:56
I’ve changed cellphone providers quite a bit over the years. I was a Telecom XT customer when it was initially launched, but was turned off it by the amount of system-wide issues it had in the first year. I ended up going to Vodafone, then 2Degrees, then finally TelstraClear through work.
Now, however, I’m back on XT, with the HTC One X. I’m looking forward to Telecom’s improvements in the system. I’m already impressed by the data speeds, and overall coverage round my work/home areas are vastly superior to the other networks I was on.
The usual Telecom apps are on the phone:
However, unlike previous XT phones, the base image is mostly stock. This should mean Telecom can provide fast, efficient updates, based on official HTC updates. It comes bearing a combination of HTC Sense 4.0, and Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Compared to Sense 3, the new Sense 4 is dumbed down. It doesn’t take over too much of the ICS features which so many want. Yet it has a lot of useful apps, including the camera app, which seem to be much better than the standard ICS offerings.
I look forward to giving Telecom XT and Sense 4/ICS a good run in the next few weeks. I’ll be reporting back on the pros/cons of each. But, for now, I think the One is calling me - telling me that I need to play more games on it.
About the author
I am Vincent Garcia: an ICT Specialist by day; technology geek and DIY handyman by night. I enjoy playing with gadgets, old and new. Taking most of them through the paces, and to within an inch of their lives! I also enjoy tinkering with things; spending most of my weekends repairing my motorcycles, or renovating my house. I live in the windy city of Wellington, with my lovely wife Nicola, and my cat Morange. When I was offered the opportunity to review the new HTC One X series, I jumped at the chance. The short aeroplane trip to Auckland was all part of the fun! If you want to ask any questions, please add a comment below, or email telecomtech@vincentgarcia.net
Now, however, I’m back on XT, with the HTC One X. I’m looking forward to Telecom’s improvements in the system. I’m already impressed by the data speeds, and overall coverage round my work/home areas are vastly superior to the other networks I was on.
The usual Telecom apps are on the phone:
- - Yahoo Tworld – Shortcut to Yahoo search/News
- - YourTelecom – Shortcut to your Telecom account/data caps
However, unlike previous XT phones, the base image is mostly stock. This should mean Telecom can provide fast, efficient updates, based on official HTC updates. It comes bearing a combination of HTC Sense 4.0, and Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Compared to Sense 3, the new Sense 4 is dumbed down. It doesn’t take over too much of the ICS features which so many want. Yet it has a lot of useful apps, including the camera app, which seem to be much better than the standard ICS offerings.
I look forward to giving Telecom XT and Sense 4/ICS a good run in the next few weeks. I’ll be reporting back on the pros/cons of each. But, for now, I think the One is calling me - telling me that I need to play more games on it.
About the author
I am Vincent Garcia: an ICT Specialist by day; technology geek and DIY handyman by night. I enjoy playing with gadgets, old and new. Taking most of them through the paces, and to within an inch of their lives! I also enjoy tinkering with things; spending most of my weekends repairing my motorcycles, or renovating my house. I live in the windy city of Wellington, with my lovely wife Nicola, and my cat Morange. When I was offered the opportunity to review the new HTC One X series, I jumped at the chance. The short aeroplane trip to Auckland was all part of the fun! If you want to ask any questions, please add a comment below, or email telecomtech@vincentgarcia.netFirst thoughts about the HTC One X
HTC One X, posted: 27-Apr-2012 08:00
I’ve owned many phones over the past few years, possibly too many. I tend to upgrade every 6-12 months. Geekzone and Telecom offered me the chance to review the new HTC One X, I couldn’t give up that chance. So, up on the next flight to Auckland it was, and took the opportunity to sample the coffee, beer, and food while I waited for the phone’s launch.
I met up with the HTC and Telecom representatives, who gave a brief run-down of the device, and we had a quick chat about its features. Then, it was off into the real world.
Opening the box, there were the usual HTC headphones (non-beats), white USB charger/combined charger, and the phone. The retail box will - of course - be bigger, with a manual, and a screen cleaner. But it was a developers’ box, so it was what I was expecting at that stage.
The first feature that caught my eye was the colour. It was white. I’d had a white phone before, which ended up getting dirty rather quickly. In the HTC One X’s case, it hasn’t been so, at least not yet. It has polycarbonate shell, with a gorilla glass screen. Polycarbonate is the same material from which many high-quality cellphone cases, eyewear, car headlights, and bulletproof shields are made.
Fortunately, due to its matte finish, it is easily cleanable, and has so far proved resistant to scratches. Compared to the older gloss black cellphone coatings, this one seems very resistant to knocks and grinds.
The design is great: it’s light, and very well constructed. The accidental drop should be survivable.
Its weight doesn’t please everyone though, as a few have noted that it feels like a fake display phone. However, I prefer it because it doesn’t weigh down my pocket much compared with other phones I’ve had.
The camera, however, sticks out like a sore thumb. It is the most likely part to be damaged in a fall, or by keys in a pocket. It would be preferable to have it set further back into the frame. But if the protruding lens means it takes better pictures, then I’m ok with it.
The charging port is on the side, which is fine for playing portrait games while charging. But it does get in the way while holding the phone in landscape mode.
Overall, first impressions are good. I look forward to delving into the phone and finding out all its pros and cons, which will be revealed in my later posts.
About the author
I am Vincent Garcia: an ICT Specialist by day; technology geek and DIY handyman by night. I enjoy playing with gadgets, old and new. Taking most of them through the paces, and to within an inch of their lives! I also enjoy tinkering with things; spending most of my weekends repairing my motorcycles, or renovating my house. I live in the windy city of Wellington, with my lovely wife Nicola, and my cat Morange. When I was offered the opportunity to review the new HTC One X series, I jumped at the chance. The short aeroplane trip to Auckland was all part of the fun! If you want to ask any questions, please add a comment below, or email telecomtech@vincentgarcia.net
I met up with the HTC and Telecom representatives, who gave a brief run-down of the device, and we had a quick chat about its features. Then, it was off into the real world.
Opening the box, there were the usual HTC headphones (non-beats), white USB charger/combined charger, and the phone. The retail box will - of course - be bigger, with a manual, and a screen cleaner. But it was a developers’ box, so it was what I was expecting at that stage.
The first feature that caught my eye was the colour. It was white. I’d had a white phone before, which ended up getting dirty rather quickly. In the HTC One X’s case, it hasn’t been so, at least not yet. It has polycarbonate shell, with a gorilla glass screen. Polycarbonate is the same material from which many high-quality cellphone cases, eyewear, car headlights, and bulletproof shields are made.
Fortunately, due to its matte finish, it is easily cleanable, and has so far proved resistant to scratches. Compared to the older gloss black cellphone coatings, this one seems very resistant to knocks and grinds.
The design is great: it’s light, and very well constructed. The accidental drop should be survivable.
Its weight doesn’t please everyone though, as a few have noted that it feels like a fake display phone. However, I prefer it because it doesn’t weigh down my pocket much compared with other phones I’ve had.
The camera, however, sticks out like a sore thumb. It is the most likely part to be damaged in a fall, or by keys in a pocket. It would be preferable to have it set further back into the frame. But if the protruding lens means it takes better pictures, then I’m ok with it.
The charging port is on the side, which is fine for playing portrait games while charging. But it does get in the way while holding the phone in landscape mode.
Overall, first impressions are good. I look forward to delving into the phone and finding out all its pros and cons, which will be revealed in my later posts.
About the author
I am Vincent Garcia: an ICT Specialist by day; technology geek and DIY handyman by night. I enjoy playing with gadgets, old and new. Taking most of them through the paces, and to within an inch of their lives! I also enjoy tinkering with things; spending most of my weekends repairing my motorcycles, or renovating my house. I live in the windy city of Wellington, with my lovely wife Nicola, and my cat Morange. When I was offered the opportunity to review the new HTC One X series, I jumped at the chance. The short aeroplane trip to Auckland was all part of the fun! If you want to ask any questions, please add a comment below, or email telecomtech@vincentgarcia.netHTC One X First Impressions
HTC One X, posted: 26-Apr-2012 14:20
I am lucky enough to have been selected to take part in the Telecom sponsored initiative for fellow Geekzoners to share their experiences with Telecom’s new flagship Android phone, the HTC One X. Over the next few weeks I’ll be blogging about my time with this phone, as I use it as my primary handset. My first post won’t be digging too deeply, but instead will center around my first impressions of the HTC One X.
I have little experience with Android, and none whatsoever with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android v4.0), which is the operating system version that the HTC One X runs. My primary phone prior to this was an iPhone 4, so you’ll have to excuse me if a few comparisons to that and iOS creep into my posts.
After removing the HTC One X from the box, I was immediately taken with the build quality the handset. The screen is made from the extremely tough Gorilla Glass 2. This is the next generation of Corning’s incredibly strong glass display, and is meant to enable up to a 20 percent reduction in glass thickness without sacrificing any of its robustness. It certainly looks like a screen that should handle a bit of rough and tumble, and the HTC reps I met with today assured me that I shouldn’t need a screen protector at all.
The phone casing is made from a single piece of durable polycarbonate, and the overall build quality of the handset seems to be very good indeed, with none of the plasticky, cheap feel I’ve experienced when examining other Android phones. While I’ve not seen the Nokia N9 or Lumia 800 in person, the way the screen seamlessly integrates into this casing is reminiscent of all the glowing descriptions I’ve read in reviews of those two handsets.
When I first powered on the HTC One, I was immediately taken with the quality of the screen output. The display is vibrant with vivid colours. I’m a big fan of Apple’s Retina Display technology, but I have to say that the display resolution and clarity on the HTC One definitely gives it a run for its money. The large 4.7” screen has a 1280x720 resolution, and reading even the smallest of text on it is a pleasure.
The phone setup is relatively painless, with a wizard walking you through setting up the numerous services that the HTC One supports. These included the expected services such as Google accounts, Twitter, and Facebook, but also extended to a few unexpected services such as Dropbox and Evernote.
The setup wizard also allowed me to sync the contacts from my iPhone 4 over Bluetooth. This initially failed, but I suspect this was an issue with the iPhone, as rebooting that fixed the problem, and my subsequent synchronization attempt finished without any issues.
As I used the various features of the HTC One for the first time, I was often presented with an overlay containing instructions and hints to ensure I understood the functionality that was at my fingertips. As a relative Android novice, I really appreciate this level of handholding. We’re not in iKansas anymore, Toto!
Stay tuned for more in-depth digging as I get to know the HTC One X more intimately, and attempt to discover if it will be a worthy successor to my iPhone 4. I’ve not had a lot of time to spend with it yet, but I can already see that the prospects in this regard are bright indeed. Watch this space...
About the author
Hi I'm David, a self employed software developer on the wrong side of 40, residing in Auckland with my wife and two children. I am a passionate All Blacks and Blues fan, gadget junkie, mature aged gamer, and connoisseur of fine heavy metal (and music in general). I currently own an iPhone 4, but am very open to trying new technologies, and can't wait to see what the best of Android can bring to the smartphone table. I enjoy keeping up to date with the latest technological advances in general, and am encouraged to see that the smartphone market is no longer an iOneHorseRace. I’m very interested to see how the HTC One and Ice Cream Sandwich fares in this regard.
I have little experience with Android, and none whatsoever with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android v4.0), which is the operating system version that the HTC One X runs. My primary phone prior to this was an iPhone 4, so you’ll have to excuse me if a few comparisons to that and iOS creep into my posts.
After removing the HTC One X from the box, I was immediately taken with the build quality the handset. The screen is made from the extremely tough Gorilla Glass 2. This is the next generation of Corning’s incredibly strong glass display, and is meant to enable up to a 20 percent reduction in glass thickness without sacrificing any of its robustness. It certainly looks like a screen that should handle a bit of rough and tumble, and the HTC reps I met with today assured me that I shouldn’t need a screen protector at all.
The phone casing is made from a single piece of durable polycarbonate, and the overall build quality of the handset seems to be very good indeed, with none of the plasticky, cheap feel I’ve experienced when examining other Android phones. While I’ve not seen the Nokia N9 or Lumia 800 in person, the way the screen seamlessly integrates into this casing is reminiscent of all the glowing descriptions I’ve read in reviews of those two handsets.
When I first powered on the HTC One, I was immediately taken with the quality of the screen output. The display is vibrant with vivid colours. I’m a big fan of Apple’s Retina Display technology, but I have to say that the display resolution and clarity on the HTC One definitely gives it a run for its money. The large 4.7” screen has a 1280x720 resolution, and reading even the smallest of text on it is a pleasure.
The phone setup is relatively painless, with a wizard walking you through setting up the numerous services that the HTC One supports. These included the expected services such as Google accounts, Twitter, and Facebook, but also extended to a few unexpected services such as Dropbox and Evernote.
The setup wizard also allowed me to sync the contacts from my iPhone 4 over Bluetooth. This initially failed, but I suspect this was an issue with the iPhone, as rebooting that fixed the problem, and my subsequent synchronization attempt finished without any issues.
As I used the various features of the HTC One for the first time, I was often presented with an overlay containing instructions and hints to ensure I understood the functionality that was at my fingertips. As a relative Android novice, I really appreciate this level of handholding. We’re not in iKansas anymore, Toto!
Stay tuned for more in-depth digging as I get to know the HTC One X more intimately, and attempt to discover if it will be a worthy successor to my iPhone 4. I’ve not had a lot of time to spend with it yet, but I can already see that the prospects in this regard are bright indeed. Watch this space...
About the author
Hi I'm David, a self employed software developer on the wrong side of 40, residing in Auckland with my wife and two children. I am a passionate All Blacks and Blues fan, gadget junkie, mature aged gamer, and connoisseur of fine heavy metal (and music in general). I currently own an iPhone 4, but am very open to trying new technologies, and can't wait to see what the best of Android can bring to the smartphone table. I enjoy keeping up to date with the latest technological advances in general, and am encouraged to see that the smartphone market is no longer an iOneHorseRace. I’m very interested to see how the HTC One and Ice Cream Sandwich fares in this regard.
