Love at First Sight: HTC One First Impression

To be honest, I didn't use an HTC smartphone before, except that I played a little bit with my mum's HTC Wildfire (yea, I know..that's from ages ago). While in the Android space, Samsung is taking the lead, HTC is trying its best to stop the declining sales and yes, from this latest flagship: HTC One, I can see that they have put a big bet on it. It is something completely different from HTC's past product line.

Before I saw HTC One, My impression of HTC phones stays at this: plastic phone design, curved corners and big camera right on the back of it. It is difficult to tell what exactly the model is by judging purely on the seemingly identical design. And HTC One just changed all my stereotype. The aluminium unibody build makes the whole design much more tasteful. The white and silver grey are a perfect match and it is suitable for both business and personal.  

The 4.7-inch screen is hidden behind the Corning Gorilla glass. Its resolution is enormous. 1080 x 1920 pixels, which sets the PPI 468. The brightness and sharpness need no further comments. It is just great.

 

Below the screen, there are two touch buttons, Back and Home. That is different from Android's common design of three buttons: back, home and settings. I guess the reason that settings button is removed is that most apps now have the setting button inside the app.

On the back of it, it is the camera and this design reminds of the old generations of HTC phones. I am a bit concerned about whether the camera glass will be scratched by the surface when it is facing down. In addition, this camera is one of the biggest selling point in HTC One and it's called Ultrapixel camera. I will have a more detailed review on the camera in the later post.

 

Beats audio is still part of the HTC smartphone eco-system. The earphones that come with HTC One is beats branded as well. I have not yet try out the earphone though.

On top of HTC One is the power button and audio jack. You can also see that the cutting at the edge is very beautiful. However, it needs to be taken good care of, otherwise it gets dented pretty easily. HTC One is a bit thicker and heavier than iPhone 5 but doesn't feel bulky at all. But the sleek design of aluminium body is somewhat slippery. It is better to put a case on it in case it slipped out of hand.

In all, I really love the design of HTC One, the aluminium unibody case is way better than any 'advanced' plastic. Yet it doesn't add too much bulk in the pocket. t haven't got much time on exploring its functions. I think I will do that over the weekend. Please check back the blog frequently so you don't miss that!

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