HTC One Google Play Edition Review

Introduction:

Highly prized and lauded by industry experts, even by us, HTC’s flagship smartphone for the first half of 2013 proved itself to be a serious contender in the upper echelon of the smartphone kingdom. What’s there to not like about this gorgeous looking thing? Everything about it screams precision and meticulous attention, as every part about it, both in the design aspect and software experience, was dissected to ensure that hungry power users were presented with a venerable smartphone. So what more can we ask for?

Well, after it was announced during Google I/O that there was going to be a pure Android version of Samsung’s very own flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, things seemed to stir up over in HTC’s camp regarding a similar offering. Just like boxers trading blows with one another, HTC threw its own uppercut by announcing a pure Google version of its outstanding HTC One. Naturally, purists and enthusiasts will drool with anticipation knowing that this is going to be a serious offering – even more knowing that it’s bound to receive software updates significantly faster (we hope) than its Sense 5 running sibling. In the past, there was a sense of notoriety with devices running the pure Android experience, however, there’s something peculiarly different this time around.

The package contains:

• microUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• Stereo headphones
• Quick Start Guide
• Product Safety and Warranty Guide
• HTC decal stickers

Design:

Cosmetically, the Google Play Edition of the HTC One is an exact facsimile to its Sense 5 running sibling, which isn’t a bad thing obviously – especially when its design was favorable from the beginning. It’s stunning, seeing that its design is distinct and carefully crafted from quality materials. Employing the same aluminum chassis, there’s no arguing that it contributes to its premium nature – plus, it helps when its chamfered edges and the slight curve of the rear also makes it so unique amongst other things.


Instead of finding three capacitive buttons beneath its display, the HTC One is only packing two – the home and back buttons. We can get access to the multi-tasking trayby double pressing the home button. So that’s not a biggie!

It’s worth noting that the dedicated power button, which continues to be flat and unresponsive, still incorporates an IR blaster in it. However, since this is running a vanilla Android experience, it’s not activated – therefore, it’s unknown at this point if it’ll be activated with some sort of future update. Indeed, it’s one feature we’re sad to not see here!

Meaning, you still have microdots surrounding both sides of its display for its front-firing speakers with HTC BoomSound, which delivers some astounding tones with its built-in amplifiers. And as we take a tour around its bezel, we spot its volume control, microUSB port, standard mic, noise-cancelling mic, microSIM slot, and 3.5mm headset jack with Beats Audio support.

Armed with the same cameras a before, it’s yet again a front-facing 2.1-megapixel camera and that fancy schmancy “UltraPixel” -megapixel camera in the rear.


Display:

It was an eye-catching thing before, so it’s back here on the Google Play Edition. Dazzling the eyes, the HTC One’s 4.7-inch Super LCD 3 display with 1920 x 1080 resolution continues to be gorgeous, vivid, and still one of the most detailed out there. Boasting an immaculate pixel density of 468ppi, detail is no doubt one of its strongest aspects, as fine text is sharp and visible to the eye from a normal viewing distance. At the same time, its color reproduction continues to deliver deep blacks and lively colors that aren’t overblown or saturated in tone. Outdoor visibility might still be a bit of a challenge, since the glass tends to show reflections, and its brightness output isn’t the strongest. Despite that, we can soundly say again that it’s a beauty to behold!

Interface and Functionality:

From the outside, most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference with this version. However, that’s not the case upon turning on the smartphone for the first time, as we’re instantly presented with a vanilla Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean experience. Gone is the Sense 5 UI that made the HTC One so different amidst the Android landscape, and instead, it’s the same untouched experience of Android that’s found on Nexus devices. Naturally, serious Android users will appreciate the stock experience, as it’ll no doubt receive updates significantly faster than other Android devices with custom UIs.

Taking a peek at the interface, it’s clean to say the least with its minimalist appearance – while that omnipresent level of customization continues to be seen here. We won’t get into detail about every single part about the stock experience, but we’ll just mention that it makes the handset, well, nothing special. There are people who are opposed custom experiences, rightfully so, mainly due to lengthy waits for certain updates and hitches to the performance.


Quickly running through some of the core organizer apps, it’s obvious that the biggest change here is the layout of the apps – whereas functionality remains the same. Now that the switch is made, gone is the Sense 5 keyboard, and it’s been replaced with the stock Android on-screen keyboard. Thanks to its sizable display, we can’t complain much about the typing experience, since it’s super responsive to keep up with us. However, it doesn’t offer as many alternate characters/punctuations from the main layout, which means that we’re required to switch to the second layout constantly for them.


Processor and Memory:

Still sleek on the outside, still a beast on the inside – just slightly more in fact thanks to the vanilla experience! Armed with the same quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor with 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 320 GPU, the Google Play Edition of the HTC One runs a smidgen faster than its Sense 5 UI running sibling. Well, it’s mostly seen in the homescreen, which isn’t as intensive as what Blinkfeed pushes with Sense 5. Beyond that, the performance difference with this new version is barely noticeable with other tasks – like opening up apps and playing games.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	GLBenchmark 2.5 (Egypt HD)	Vellamo (HTML5 / Metal)
HTC One Google Play Edition	12108	23921	4515 / 40 fps	2370 / 780
Samsung Galaxy S4	12078	24701	4437 / 39 fps	1702/704
Sony Xperia Z	8221	20835	3382	2198/626
LG Optimus G	7669	9565

It would’ve been stellar to find a microSD card slot here, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Rather, we’re left to live with the 25.59GB of free storage it has out of the box.

Internet and Connectivity:

Relying on a 4G LTE connection provides for a fantastic web browsing experience with the stock Google Chrome Browser. Much like many of today’s high-end stuff, pages load relatively quickly without much hesitation seen with page rendering and navigational controls – thanks in part to its mighty processing power. What more can we say about is aside from that it’s superb?


Matching AT&T’s version of the HTC One, this GSM-based version is also enabled to work with T-Mobile’s network too – albeit, it lacks the radios to support T-Mo’s specific HSPA AWS band. Therefore, T-Mobile users will have to suffer with slower 2G/3G speeds if they are not located in an LTE supported area. Despite that one key difference, the rest of its connectivity features are intact – these include aGPS, Bluetooth 4.0, 5GHz 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, NFC, DLNA, and MHL.

Camera:

Running the camera app, those familiar with the Sense 5 camera UI of the HTC One will notice this handset’s slimmer features set. Essentially, it lacks the comprehensive set of controls, shooting modes, and HTC Zoe feature. Instead, the camera UI is typical stock Android and might seem dumbed down to those used to the former, seeing that it has a cleaner interface and some basic custom controls. However, it’s worth noting that it’s now enabled for Google’s Photosphere – giving us a 360-degree look of our surrounding, something not offered by the original version.


Many of us were cautious when it was revealed that the HTC One was sporting an “UltraPixel” camera, which seemingly delivered 4-megapixel sized shots. Right off the bat, we notice that the Google Play Edition of the HTC One is noticeable faster with its post processing effects, but the end result remains largely the same. Its main beneficiary, of course, is most notable with shots taken in lower lighting conditions, as it’s able to brighten up shots without too much compromise with noise. As a whole, though, it’s good enough for small print outs, but its snapshots lack the fine detail that its rivals are able to muster up. When it comes to colors, it’s rich in tone as long as there’s sufficient lighting. However, it becomes washed out looking under low lighting.


It’s good enough, but nothing overpowering like its esteemed competitors. Basically, the HTC One’s 1080p video recording quality is missing that level of sharpness and clarity, but at least everything else seems to be up to snuff with today’s standards. In fact, it features silky smooth capture, clear audio recording, quick focus, and gradual exposure to balance things out. Details might not be its strong point, but it’s again a reliable thing to use under low lighting situations.

HTC One Google Play Edition Sample Video:



Multimedia:

Bye-bye Sense 5 music player, and hello usual Google Play Music! Without question, there’s nothing new here because it’s the same familiar player we’re used to finding on all Android smartphones. On the audio front, though, we’ll admit that its front-firing speakers, with HTC Boomsound, produce crisp and loud tones like no other. The sound is way better than other phones, and even has stereo effects, if you hold the phone horizontally in front of you.


Likewise, that astounding audio quality also benefits the video watching experience, seeing that we never come across a situation when we’re asked to “turn up the volume.” With that fine and dandy display, too, combined with its beefy processing power, the handset handles any and all high-def videos with no fluff.

Call Quality:

Using it exclusively with T-Mobile’s network, we’re happy to find that call quality is also excellent this time around. Voices are distinctive, vibrant, and noise-free to ensure we’re able to comprehend every word muttered through the earpiece and speakerphone.

Battery:

Amazingly, for a device of this caliber, we’re impressed with the battery life put out by its 2300 mAh battery. To be specific, heavy usage that consists of web surfing, texting, sending emails, and occasional phone calls permits almost 24 hours of battery life – a pretty good tally for a 4G LTE packing smartphone.

Conclusion:

As we’ve detailed at the beginning of this review, diehard Android fanatics will fancy over the Google Play Edition of the HTC One – mainly for its pure Android experience. And it helps too that it’ll more than likely receive those spiffy new updates faster than other devices running custom UIs, which tend to add a lot of time before they’re available.

The HTC One is stickered with a $600 off-contract price point through the Google Play Store, though, that probably won’t be too much of a shock to Android users who are accustomed to picking up contract-free phones. In contrast, though, people used to subsidies will undoubtedly be repulsed by its pricey cost.

Software version of the review unit:
Android Version: 4.2.2
Build Number: 2.14.1700.15 CL211149
Kernel Version: 3.4.10