VIDEO: We Unbox the HTC One Android Smartphone

By Alex Davies
published

HTC's latest is a jewel, and we open the box.

HTC’s latest Android smartphone is the gorgeous HTC One - probably its last chance to reclaim the former glory as the Android handset leader from Samsung. While it has been available since late-March in the UK, Germany and Taiwan, due to some component shortages, the North American launch was delayed. It is now finally being launched this week on multiple U.S. and Canadian carriers.

 
The One has an impeccably crafted all-aluminum body, housing a 1.7 GHz Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, and HTC’s new UltraPixel camera. It runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with the new Sense 5.0 UI. It has already been getting rave reviews, many calling it one of the best smartphones ever made, and we couldn’t wait to be able to get our hands on one to test. Telus Mobility was kind enough to send us a retail boxed version of the HTC One, and you can check out our unboxing of this sexy phone, and a quick overview of the hardware, in the video below.

The HTC One will be available in both silver and black in the US on April 19th from AT&T and Sprint, and April 24th from T-Mobile. The 32GB model will be $199.99 on a 2-year term, and the 64GB model, which is exclusive to AT&T for $299.99 on a 2-year term. As part of T-Mobiles ‘Uncarrier’ re-branding, their HTC One will be available for $99.99 with no contract, the catch being you have to make 24 monthly payments of $20 to cover the credit they extended you.

In Canada the One will be released on April 19th from Telus, Rogers, and Virgin Mobile for $149.99 on a 3-year term (yes, sadly Canadians still have to lock themselves in for that ridiculous term to get the best deal), and only the 32GB model in silver will be initially available. Hopefully the black version will show up at a later date.

You can check back with us soon for a more detailed look at HTC’s latest masterpiece.

You can also check out some of our previous coverage of the HTC One – an interview with HTC Design Director Jonah Becker, and our hands-on from the February NYC launch event.

Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback

Alex Davies
Topics
HTC
Smartphones
6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tipoo
    Hardware-wise I think this may be the best phone out right now. The GS4 is undoubtedly high end, but the aluminum body on the One is really unrivaled, even the iPhone 5 has to have glass windows on the back for reception, while the One does without. I hope HTC can pull through, marketing is a very important thing and they really can't compete with how much money Samsung burns on that, if it was just down to phone quality the One X would have sold much closer to the GS3 but it wasn't even close.
    Reply
  • ap3x
    10679465 said:
    Hardware-wise I think this may be the best phone out right now. The GS4 is undoubtedly high end, but the aluminum body on the One is really unrivaled, even the iPhone 5 has to have glass windows on the back for reception, while the One does without. I hope HTC can pull through, marketing is a very important thing and they really can't compete with how much money Samsung burns on that, if it was just down to phone quality the One X would have sold much closer to the GS3 but it wasn't even close.

    I have to agree with you although your statement about the iPhone 5 is incorrect. iPhone 5 also has a aluminum unibody design. You would be correct on the iPhone 4. In any case the industrial design of android phones has been horrid until now. I like the solid feel and the weight of phones that use aluminum. This is the first android phone I have ever considered buying. Looking forward to reading more about it.

    Reply
  • pocketdrummer
    The camera is still a worthless piece of crap.

    White balance is perpetually wrong, and if that weren't bad enough the Auto-Focus is CONSTANTLY RUINING THE VIDEO! It isn't as pronounced when taking photos, but if you're shooting video you're going to notice it the entire time. It's the same problem they had with the One X. I've had tons of great videos ruined because of that worthless auto-focus.

    Also, they should have stuck with 8mp and made the pixels bigger. Either let the camera protrude a bit or only make the pixels big enough to satisfy the chassis and MP count. If you have ever cropped a picture, you will want at least 8mp.

    Apart from that, Zoe would be more worthwhile if you could adjust the time the videos recorded. 3 seconds is just too short for me. It's like sitting on the couch watching someone else flip through channels. You don't have enough time to appreciate what you're looking at before it changes. Not to mention, the audio should fade in/out. It would make it less jarring.

    Blinkfeed is useless if you have Flipbook.

    They STILL have not included WIFI, GPS, etc buttons in the notifications menu. Huge disappointment.

    Standby power is TERRIBLE!!! Same problem as the One X. The One matched the GS4 in all battery tests right up until standby..... in which it got absolutely spanked.

    That said, the GS4 doesn't have everything either. Still crap plastic. Still a rear facing camera (because I like watching my videos from the back??W?T??F??). Still the same boring UI. Low light camera performance doesn't hold a candle to the One and apparently no other phone can touch the iPhone 5's camera in all around photo/video quality.

    Just a bunch of disappointments all around. Guess I'll wait until the next gen.
    Reply
  • house70
    10681530 said:
    The camera is still a worthless piece of crap.

    White balance is perpetually wrong, and if that weren't bad enough the Auto-Focus is CONSTANTLY RUINING THE VIDEO! It isn't as pronounced when taking photos, but if you're shooting video you're going to notice it the entire time. It's the same problem they had with the One X. I've had tons of great videos ruined because of that worthless auto-focus.

    Also, they should have stuck with 8mp and made the pixels bigger. Either let the camera protrude a bit or only make the pixels big enough to satisfy the chassis and MP count. If you have ever cropped a picture, you will want at least 8mp.

    Apart from that, Zoe would be more worthwhile if you could adjust the time the videos recorded. 3 seconds is just too short for me. It's like sitting on the couch watching someone else flip through channels. You don't have enough time to appreciate what you're looking at before it changes. Not to mention, the audio should fade in/out. It would make it less jarring.

    Blinkfeed is useless if you have Flipbook.

    They STILL have not included WIFI, GPS, etc buttons in the notifications menu. Huge disappointment.

    Standby power is TERRIBLE!!! Same problem as the One X. The One matched the GS4 in all battery tests right up until standby..... in which it got absolutely spanked.

    That said, the GS4 doesn't have everything either. Still crap plastic. Still a rear facing camera (because I like watching my videos from the back??W?T??F??). Still the same boring UI. Low light camera performance doesn't hold a candle to the One and apparently no other phone can touch the iPhone 5's camera in all around photo/video quality.

    Just a bunch of disappointments all around. Guess I'll wait until the next gen.

    For how long have you had your HTC One and your GS4? Just curious.
    Reply
  • hyperstalker
    10681530 said:
    The camera is still a worthless piece of crap.

    White balance is perpetually wrong, and if that weren't bad enough the Auto-Focus is CONSTANTLY RUINING THE VIDEO! It isn't as pronounced when taking photos, but if you're shooting video you're going to notice it the entire time. It's the same problem they had with the One X. I've had tons of great videos ruined because of that worthless auto-focus.

    Also, they should have stuck with 8mp and made the pixels bigger. Either let the camera protrude a bit or only make the pixels big enough to satisfy the chassis and MP count. If you have ever cropped a picture, you will want at least 8mp.

    Apart from that, Zoe would be more worthwhile if you could adjust the time the videos recorded. 3 seconds is just too short for me. It's like sitting on the couch watching someone else flip through channels. You don't have enough time to appreciate what you're looking at before it changes. Not to mention, the audio should fade in/out. It would make it less jarring.

    Blinkfeed is useless if you have Flipbook.

    They STILL have not included WIFI, GPS, etc buttons in the notifications menu. Huge disappointment.

    Standby power is TERRIBLE!!! Same problem as the One X. The One matched the GS4 in all battery tests right up until standby..... in which it got absolutely spanked.

    That said, the GS4 doesn't have everything either. Still crap plastic. Still a rear facing camera (because I like watching my videos from the back??W?T??F??). Still the same boring UI. Low light camera performance doesn't hold a candle to the One and apparently no other phone can touch the iPhone 5's camera in all around photo/video quality.

    Just a bunch of disappointments all around. Guess I'll wait until the next gen.

    10681775 said:
    10681530 said:
    The camera is still a worthless piece of crap.

    White balance is perpetually wrong, and if that weren't bad enough the Auto-Focus is CONSTANTLY RUINING THE VIDEO! It isn't as pronounced when taking photos, but if you're shooting video you're going to notice it the entire time. It's the same problem they had with the One X. I've had tons of great videos ruined because of that worthless auto-focus.

    Also, they should have stuck with 8mp and made the pixels bigger. Either let the camera protrude a bit or only make the pixels big enough to satisfy the chassis and MP count. If you have ever cropped a picture, you will want at least 8mp.

    Apart from that, Zoe would be more worthwhile if you could adjust the time the videos recorded. 3 seconds is just too short for me. It's like sitting on the couch watching someone else flip through channels. You don't have enough time to appreciate what you're looking at before it changes. Not to mention, the audio should fade in/out. It would make it less jarring.

    Blinkfeed is useless if you have Flipbook.

    They STILL have not included WIFI, GPS, etc buttons in the notifications menu. Huge disappointment.

    Standby power is TERRIBLE!!! Same problem as the One X. The One matched the GS4 in all battery tests right up until standby..... in which it got absolutely spanked.

    That said, the GS4 doesn't have everything either. Still crap plastic. Still a rear facing camera (because I like watching my videos from the back??W?T??F??). Still the same boring UI. Low light camera performance doesn't hold a candle to the One and apparently no other phone can touch the iPhone 5's camera in all around photo/video quality.

    Just a bunch of disappointments all around. Guess I'll wait until the next gen.

    For how long have you had your HTC One and your GS4? Just curious.

    Well ive had mine for a day so far and everybody that has messed with it has been very impressed. Sorry I dont buy my phones just for the camera i usually look more than just one feature to sway me away from something. Your argument would be more valid and worthwhile had you not ranted about one thing on the phone that people were already skeptical about and in regards to blinkfeed its personal preference use flipboard or that one is buit into the phone the other is an app.
    Reply
  • house70
    10684871 said:
    Well ive had mine for a day so far and everybody that has messed with it has been very impressed. Sorry I dont buy my phones just for the camera i usually look more than just one feature to sway me away from something. Your argument would be more valid and worthwhile had you not ranted about one thing on the phone that people were already skeptical about and in regards to blinkfeed its personal preference use flipboard or that one is buit into the phone the other is an app.

    Dude, no reason to quote me. I was also questioning the actual hands-on experience of pocketdrummer, because I find it highly unlikely that he managed to score both phones and be able to post reviews of them.
    As usual, there will be some units that have H/W faults, NO manufacturer puts out 100% perfection. That being said, I don't believe for a second that HTC put out a fundamentally flawed device. Unhappy people will always be more vocal than happy ones, and online opinions reflect that.
    Reply