***The Official HTC One Thread***

[Amp34]

I don't see the problem honestly, but then I've not had an android phone before...

Anyone got an image of the gap issue? I'm not sure if mine aka affected or if I'm being too picky, I noticed yesterday that the glass wasn't 100% flush at the top and that there were a couple of spots round the edge you could see minute gaps, but then its a black gap on a white phone...

Overall the phone is lovely, however the battery life is only ok so far (obviously waiting to see if it improves with time and I have only put it through one full recharge since I got it on Wednesday), it just lasts a day, similar to my Omnia 7 did after a year or so.

Some annoying biggest and a massive issue however:

The lack of a dedicated camera button. I knew it didn't have one but it is annoying. Why do HTC not like them, they didn't have one on my old HTC either.
When downloading/ saving images from the web it doesn't seem to actually put them in the picture gallery, the only way I could see it was using the file manager in emails, then guessing which file name it was... There must be an easier/way of having it show up automatically in the gallery?
How do I delete some programs, such as twitter, that came with the phone?

And the major gripe, it won't connect my work exchange account! How can a smartphone not do this in 2013!? It seems this is a fairly standard HTC Android issue? A massive pain in the butt however!

Overall though I like it. The UI is so much better and smoother than other android phones I've used (friends) and its nice to have a change of scene after the WP UI for two years, however there are some features of Android that just aren't there yet compared to WP, such as the exchange support, the inability to delete any app you want (on WP other than the core MS apps like maps and messages you can remove anything manufacturers add) and the poor connectivity between galleries/ other file types and their respective programs.

 

[Sampsy]

Well mine has just arrived. There doesn't appear to be major gaps in the case anywhere. Currently doing the initial charge so will try it out later.

 

[momo56]

Mine arrived yesterday. I've noticed the small gap at the top and a speck of dust stuck between the glass and the lcd panel. Also got some glue leaking on the top right.

Fortunately three will replace it on tuesday. Aside from the minor issues I'm impressed with it.

 

[android guy]

Mine arrived yesterday. I've noticed the small gap at the top and a speck of dust stuck between the glass and the lcd panel. Also got some glue leaking on the top right.

Fortunately three will replace it on tuesday. Aside from the minor issues I'm impressed with it.

What colour did you get?

 

[momo56]

What colour did you get?

Silver

 

[thep02]

Is the silver bare metal, could the gaps be apparent because they needed slight gaps in the build so as to accommodate the anodising process, I note they occasionally had the opposite problem on American Chopper when they got stuff back off the powder coating and stuff no longer fit together because they hadn't left space.

The O is out of the question for me now though I can appreciate why others may not share this view.

Edit to add the grin smiley isn't a comment just a touch screen FUBAR, it doesn't show when I try to edit it out.

 

[Sampsy]

Well my first few annoyances, although these may just be due to me having not figured out the ui yet.

• I can't seem to rearrange the home screens. I can add and remove them but I can't seem to change their relative position.
• There is no mail widget other than the gmail one. I like a combined inbox widget that the gmail one does not provide.
• The widgets are not sorted alphabetically and there doesn't appear to be an option to change how they are sorted.
• There is no messages widget

 

[Nexus18]

Anandtech review is up! (by Brian Klug, reviewed all the top end handsets and is an expert in digital photography)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6747/htc-one-review

Now that is what you call a proper in depth review by someone who clearly knows his stuff!

Summing up the camera (he apparently has the final unit with the current software running on it as opposed to the majority of other reviewers who have preproduction models and/or old software running):

What sticks out about the HTC One to me is what I get from looking EXIF, which is why I pulled that data out for each image in its comparison. Because there’s no way to manually set exposure on any smartphone right now (because nobody is willing to treat smartphone users like adults, apparently), I wind up using auto mode and looking back at what each camera selected in each setting. In the daytime images, what sticks out is that the exposure time is incredibly short, or fast. The result is that the One is incredible at stopping motion outdoors, and this seems to have been HTC’s big priority with tuning the One, rather than pushing noise down even further by going perhaps to ISO 50 like we see the iPhone and LG Optimus G Pro do, if the ST CMOS in the One even supports it.

What’s important for HTC is whether the One is the best shooter among Android phones, and that is definitively the case right now. In low light scenarios that are important to me, the One makes the difference between a totally dark image and something usable. It’s only outdoors in broad daylight that the resolution tradeoff is occasionally difficult to stomach, but only if you’re viewing images 1:1 on a computer. Viewed at 1080p or shared online with most services, the One ends up being more than adequate and at the same time able to reach out in low light.

I think the tradeoff that HTC has made with the One is an ambitious one and the correct industry direction. It’s awesome to see an OEM other than Nokia continue to prioritize camera on their smartphones, and the One is absolutely the smartphone I’m reaching for to take photos now. I strongly believe that against 13 MP shooters, the One will be even more competitive since what I’ve seen so far of images from cameras with 1.1 micron pixels isn’t a pretty picture. My only big unfulfilled wishes were for the One to have a dedicated camera button and in-box tripod mount.

The combination of OIS, unique CMOS sensor, and special microphones makes the video recording experience on the HTC One demonstrably better than pretty much all other smartphones. I’m impressed that we have not one but two handset makers now including OIS, even though I feel that there’s room for additional tuning of OIS even on the final hardware and software to damp out more low frequency events and make the video even more buttery smooth. HTC’s dual membrane MEMS microphones also don’t saturate in even the most challenging environments, HTC is using the fullest output of the encoder, and video quality for the most part is good enough that I don’t have a problem using it when recording demos at shows or of things that are important to me. Low light performance is also head and shoulders above the competition.

On the camera side I still fundamentally believe larger pixels is the correct way to go. Most digital photographers know that bigger sensors are better somehow, fundamentally what they're talking about are bigger pixels with more sensitivity. I've been asked what I believe the best course of action is, and I think either staying at around 8 MP with 1.4 micron pixels or moving back up the scale to larger pixels is the dream. Obviously the ideal situation would be an 8 MP sensor with 2.0 micron pixels, but there's no way to do that conventionally without moving to a thicker phone or including a big bump. There's no right answer here, and camera is one of the places that we see each OEM offer a huge amount of differentiation, from including just a module bought from a supplier, to designing the optics and talking to a CMOS vendor for something custom. For the past few generations HTC has been pushing further and further into the custom side, and I thought the One X/S/V optical system was the best that generation. There is no question in my mind that the One includes the best camera in the Android space right now with the right tradeoff between resolution and sensitivity. Resolution just isn't all there is to a good camera, and HTC now finds itself knee-deep in fighting the megapixel myth.

The flip side of the coin is that the One and the Lumia 920 trade positions for top dog quite a bit (to say nothing of the 808, which I honestly consider more of a connected camera than smartphone, having one myself). The Lumia 920's resolution advantage outside in well lit scenes is hard to overlook, and in very dark scenes their default mode pushes OIS to its limits with long 0.3 second exposures that HTC only enables in Night Mode. The One will produce the equivalently exposed shot with a shorter exposure and a bit more noise, which makes it better for shooting moving subjects, and if you toggle Night Mode, you'll get the longer exposure, less noisy equivalent (maybe HTC should rename that mode Lumia mode? I jest). The problem for OEMs isn't that low light performance is inaccessible, it's how best to do it without sacrificing too much in the best case scenario. At the same time, OIS is still new in the smartphone space and even Nokia hasn't finished tuning it and pushing out updates, I expect we'll see HTC do the same with the One. To be honest, I find the Lumia 920 versus HTC One comparison to be besides the point since one runs Windows Phone and the other runs Android. At least for me, camera performance still isn't enough to push me between platforms. HTC doesn't have to beat Nokia for HTC's gambit to be the right one — it only needs to beat the rest of the Android shooters, and that's a market which is, quite honestly, up through now so bad it really has been HTC's to lose, and with the One, HTC just set the bar even higher.

There you have it regarding the camera

Everything else looks/sounds really good too, especially the speakers/audio, shame it takes quite a while to charge the phone up though (qualcomm's quick charge tech. isn't enabled )

I've never given any smartphone an editors choice award before, though I daily regret not giving the One S an award of some kind. For the HTC One I'm giving our Editors Choice Gold award, which is our second highest award. The One is an incredibly awesome device.

If the x phone doesn't impress, I think I'll go for this.

EDIT:

Regarding the ISO bug

First of all it bears going over that there is a known bug with ISO as of this writing on the HTC One, and the issue is twofold. First, setting an ISO manually from the UI doesn’t guarantee that the ISO will be used, instead, this behaves like an upper bound for what ISO the camera software can choose to use. Think Maximum Auto ISO and you’ll get what I’m talking about if you’re a Nikon shooter. This means if you’re in a well lit scene and select ISO 1600, even though EXIF will report 1600 and you’ve selected 1600, it’s up to the ISP to choose whatever it feels is best, probably well short of 1600. If you’re in a dark scene, most of the time the manually chosen ISO will wind up being the one you get, however. HTC also has chosen to prioritize stopping action when a manual ISO is selected, meaning in a dark environment the maximum exposure time appears to be 1/20 of a second. I took a series of images at each of the manually selectable ISOs to demonstrate this, in addition to the Auto (Normal) mode and Night Mode setting. Note that in Auto, HTC also chooses to prioritize stopping motion with a very high ISO of 1520 in this dark scene and with an exposure time of 1/7s. Going to Night Mode will get you shutter times of up to 1/3 of a second, and ISO of basically 800. I spent a lot of time figuring out what the various modes do, and this is it — Auto goes down to 1/7s with maximum ISO of just short of 2000, and Night Mode goes down to 1/3s with maximum ISO of 800. There’s no real documentation about what these do, which is my gripe with the modal approach to camera UX.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I've upgraded from a Desire HD - I didn't feel like the One X was a significant upgrade - glad I waited for the One - I'm blown away by the whole look/feel/speed of the device.

The "three dot" menu doesn't bother me either - it's not like all apps have it anyway. I've also not found myself reaching for the "absent" nav buttons.

For photos - I'm perfectly happy with them

http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/891852_10201106133714243_1376272519_o.jpg

Knocked the sharpness down a bit and sometimes the Auto ISO setting seems a bit hit and miss but I'm sure that'll get sorted in a software patch. I love the panorama and the Zoe feature - shooting a few seconds worth of photo's and having 20 of them to pick the best one is a great feature.

 

[jonneymendoza]

All phone camera's suck. thats why i have a DSLR.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Yes, the 3 dots button is almost as bad as the gimp camera.

Get a S4 then

 

[Sampsy]

I haven't been blown away by the camera on my one but it isn't terrible either. Apart from the niggles I mentioned earlier everything else is great. The GPS signal especially is night and day compared to my my DHD. My DHD can't see any satellites after 2 minutes of searching while in comparison the One detects 21 within a second and locks to approx 10 within 4 seconds, increasing to ~17 after a further 20s or so.

 

[Robbo]

HTC really had the potential with the HO it could've been the phone to change their fortunes and this is no disrespect to anyone who has the HO on this forum.

There's far too many little niggles that seem to be holding this phone back, from lack of stock, build quality to camera issues. Granted all these things will be ironed out eventually and the HO will be a viable and great alternative but with the S4 looming over the horizon and the "X" phone there's other options to take into account and unfortunately at this moment in time the HO is no longer in my sights.

I did say you'd find yourself in this position.

Forgetting the disappointing camera, the 3 dot menu button is what's done it for me. I mean, seriously, that is just so, so, so, so, so terrible. Better yet, you can't even fix it without voiding your warranty. Good one HTC.

All phone camera's suck. thats why i have a DSLR.

No they don't, and wow, way to totally miss the point.

 

[Nexus18]

Emm did you read the anandtech review robbo?

The camera "overall" is far from disappointing At least with the one he has anyway. Whilst out in bright conditions it might not be as good (it is far from terrible though and the macro shots looks excellent), it makes up for it in the video recording department i.e. smoothness, audio recording etc. and low light conditions (especially in the video recording), which is exactly why HTC went the way it did with the pixel size and lower MP count. Plus as he said, lower MP means smaller photo sizes and other advantages due to this. Not to mention all the camera features i.e. zoe are great.


Personally for me the xperia Z and GS 4 just are not options, crappy display on the Z is the big and only main killer (not fussed on their skin either, crappy UI and limited features imo) and the design and touchwiz are the killers for the GS 4. The HTC one ticks the most boxes for my usage/important areas, especially the design and software part.

The 3 dot menu is damn annoying but it isn't just HTC faults tbf, supposedly google are the reason for the removal of the tweak and it is up to the app developers to update their apps to follow the design holo/ICS guidelines. I have removed an awful lot of apps and just use stock sense stuff so it isn't as much of an issue as what it was when I first got my S (had replaced everything with 3rd party apps pretty much)



Still don't get why people get so upset with issues when they buy a brand new product though, it is to be expected tbph (yes it shouldn't happen at all especially considering the cost), look at the iphone 5, nexus 4, galaxy S3/S, one S/X, nexus 7 etc. and the issues they had when first released, just return the device and wait for new batches, if you like the device for certain reasons i.e. the one for its front speakers, design, build etc. then wait it out (and it shouldn't be much longer with new batches supposedly coming in this month), why go for a different phone if it doesn't have what you really like about the one?

 

[Robbo]

I don't think Klug's sample pictures looked that great. Seems very good overall though, he definitely likes it - a lot.

Also, I don't care who is at fault for the menu button, just that it's there - which is terrible.

I'm not 'upset' about the issues, I just wanted to get one and I know that when I'm looking to buy, the GS4 will likely be out and despite the 'nasty plastic', it'll probably be better.

I'm sure that the camera will be good enough (for me at least), but I completely refuse to buy a phone with such a flawed menu system. It annoyed me immensely on the One X and it'll annoy me on this. If Google are to blame then that's even worse as it means they may not be able to fix it.

I want an easy decision, I'm not unhappy with the iPhone 5 at the moment either, the only thing I really want is the screen, but then it's more fiddly to use in one hand (but it's worth it )!

 

[stoosh]

I did say you'd find yourself in this position.

LOL! Am I that predictable Dude?

I really wanted something fresh and different asides from the Galaxy range and I was really looking forward to trying something different hence checking out the Z and HO but in my post earlier there's too many niggles with the HO for me to consider it as my daily driver. Will sit back and wait to see what the next batch of phones bring to the table.

 

[Nexus18]

Sorry didn't mean you regarding being upset about issues Also, it isn't a "dig" at anyone, just curious as to why since it is unfortunately a common problem these days with pretty much every new device but can be easily solved generally.


Suppose it comes down to what you want from the phone, for me the htc one is the better phone, front speakers (most likely better quality too), design/build/perceived quality (don't mind the type of material used i.e. plastic, it is just the finish that annoys me!), sense V5 and the camera overall (this includes features) are what win me over, if touchwiz was better in the UI and other areas and the finish of the plastic was like the one X then I would be a lot more tempted by the GS 4, only main rw advantages of it over the one when it comes to my usage is the screen size and type and the air gesture stuff is cool/useful, gorilla glass 3 looks/sounds good in theory but have to see how it actually holds up in real world usage first........

Performance (more or less the same), storage and battery life (the htc one is great in this area, am sure the GS 4 will be better though) aren't issues for me.

Indeed, won't be disagreeing with you on that, it is extremely annoying and I hope hTc can do something else, like a gesture tweak or something to access the menu button thus hide the 3 dot menu thing, however, supposedly google told them to remove it as the menu button has to be "visible" (I fear the one S/X etc. will suffer the same fate when they receive sense V5 if that is true)

Likewise but with my one S I originally just really wanted a bigger/higher res. screen but the front speakers and camera are tempting me a lot as well now.......

 

[Robbo]

LOL! Am I that predictable Dude?

Yep!

I really wanted something fresh and different asides from the Galaxy range and I was really looking forward to trying something different hence checking out the Z and HO but in my post earlier there's too many niggles with the HO for me to consider it as my daily driver. Will sit back and wait to see what the next batch of phones bring to the table.

The thing is as well, there's no real night and day difference going from, for instance, the S3 -> new phones. I suspect a lot of people will be quite happy to keep their S3, especially if it's an LTE model with the 2GB RAM etc.

I've no doubt the people (such as the ones here) going from the Desire HD -> One are going to be blown away and rightly so, it's an epic improvement.

Sorry didn't mean you regarding being upset about issues Also, it isn't a "dig" at anyone, just curious as to why since it is unfortunately a common problem these days with pretty much every new device but can be easily solved generally.

That's true, though my HTC One X was actually fine (and is still going strong now even though I don't use it). It's flawless and was one of the very first batches.

Suppose it comes down to what you want from the phone, for me the htc one is the better phone, front speakers (most likely better quality too), design/build/perceived quality (don't mind the type of material used i.e. plastic, it is just the finish that annoys me!), sense V5 and the camera overall (this includes features) are what win me over, if touchwiz was better in the UI and other areas and the finish of the plastic was like the one X then I would be a lot more tempted by the GS 4.

Performance (more or less the same), storage and battery life (the htc one is great in this area, am sure the GS 4 will be better though) aren't issues for me.

Yes, the S4, regardless of how good it is, won't have the same premium feel overall. It probably won't even be close. I can overlook that though if it's very strong in other areas.

Indeed, won't be disagreeing with you on that, it is extremely annoying and I hope hTc can do something else, like a gesture tweak or something to access the menu button thus hide the 3 dot menu thing, however, supposedly google told them to remove it as the menu button has to be "visible" (I fear the one S/X etc. will suffer the same fate if that is true)

Yes, hopefully they can resolve it, but it's quite concerning. Had they known I'm sure they'd have left a menu button in there.

 

[str]

Still don't get why people get so upset with issues when they buy a brand new product though, it is to be expected tbph (yes it shouldn't happen at all especially considering the cost), look at the iphone 5, nexus 4, galaxy S3/S, one S/X, nexus 7 etc. and the issues they had when first released, just return the device and wait for new batches, if you like the device for certain reasons i.e. the one for its front speakers, design, build etc. then wait it out (and it shouldn't be much longer with new batches supposedly coming in this month), why go for a different phone if it doesn't have what you really like about the one?

Don't try to understand it. It's mostly trite and you're supposed to ignore it.

 

[stoosh]

@Robbo Outrageous! I must change my ways and become mysterious then!

I agree with you, those who own a S3 LTE needn't bother upgrading to the S4 as it doesn't offer much in the way of upgraded features. If I still I had my S3 LTE I certainly wouldn't be swayed by the S4 and I'm sure kona also feels the same.

@Nexus The three button menu that appears at the bottom was extremely annoying and it has hampered the HO somewhat that added with the gimped hardware buttons that sometimes failed to respond just doesn't make you warm to the phone.

As discussed many times before its like HTC come up with things on how to annoy is customers on purpose! It's not the first time they've done something like this and it certainly won't be the last.

The HO is the closest HTC have come to giving Samsung a run for their money. The last couple of years they haven't had a chance in hell, although had they pushed the HOS and the HOX XL to the public they may have made a small dent in Samsung's juggernaut that continues to roll over everything.