Did anyone order HTC One?

[VashHT]

My gf picked one up over the weekend, she was planning on getting the S4 but after looking at both she went with the One. She actually likes blinkfeed quite a bit, and she thought the One was a bit smoother than the S4 (I noticed this as well). It's definitely a nice phone, if it wasn't for the slow updates I think I would ditch my N4 for it.

 

[ponyo]

I played with One at Costco today. I was extremely impressed with the screen. Everything was sharp and clear. People are wrong when they say 1080p isn't needed on a phone and people won't notice the difference. Difference between 720p and 1080p is noticeable. I liked the design of the phone except for the convex back. I don't know if it's there to help the feel in the hand but that was a real turnoff for me. How come no one mentions the ugly convex back when they talk about the build quality and shape of the HTC One? The convex back ruins what is a beautiful phone. It's bigger problem for me than any plastic.

They also had GS4 but it was only plastic display model and not working device. But it allowed me to get the idea of how it looked. I prefered GS4 look to One solely due to the straight flat back.

 

[ChronoReverse]

The funny thing about the plastic display model is that it probably doesn't weigh much less than the real GS4 with the battery taken out. I was quite surprised when I first took it out of the box.

I have no idea what those reviewers saying the GS4 is slippery are talking about though. I've gripped it with a single thumb along with a notepad and it doesn't slip at all (and it fits snugly into my hand so it'd never slip if I were holding it normally).




As for the screen, did you happen to compare it to a Note 2, GS3 or Galaxy Nexus? Because the One X LCD 720p was much sharper than those so the jump to 1080p would be less noticeable but coming from a Pentile 720p screen (or a large one like the Note 2), then it'd be a significant difference.

 

[Crono]

How come no one mentions the ugly convex back when they talk about the build quality and shape of the HTC One?

Because most people think it's different in a good way or otherwise not a problem?

Style is subjective, but I prefer the curved back in terms of look and feel compared to a similarly constructed aluminum phone like the iPhone 5. To me, saying you like a straight back is like saying you like the styling of 80s sports cars like the DeLorean or Lamborghini Countach versus modern sports cars like the Lotus Elise or the Ferrari 458. Perfectly fine if you do, but you have to understand there is going to be some appeal to different design.

 

[Bateluer]

How come no one mentions the ugly convex back when they talk about the build quality and shape of the HTC One? The convex back ruins what is a beautiful phone. It's bigger problem for me than any plastic.

Because you're the only person who cares about a trivial thing?

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I finally got to hold a One yesterday and ignoring the "OMG pretty aluminum" aspect I found the design very mediocre. The bezels are freaking enormous and the phone is downright fat considering it's small non removable battery. The capacitive buttons are also beyond stupid, whoever decided to only have two of them should be fired.

I don't get the big deal about the front speakers either, I was going to compare them to my Galaxy S, S2, and S3 until I realized I have never used the speaker on any of them so I have no idea what they actually sound like.

I don't think the industrial design of the S4 is perfect either (the S3 is much better looking imo) but at least it's functional. To me the One was all style over actual substance. They should have stuck with a polycarbonate unibody like the One X which imo was a far more attractive device.

 

[Crono]

I finally got to hold a One yesterday and ignoring the "OMG pretty aluminum" aspect I found the design very mediocre. The bezels are freaking enormous and the phone is downright fat considering it's small non removable battery. The capacitive buttons are also beyond stupid, whoever decided to only have two of them should be fired.

I don't get the big deal about the front speakers either, I was going to compare them to my Galaxy S, S2, and S3 until I realized I have never used the speaker on any of them so I have no idea what they actually sound like.

I don't think the industrial design of the S4 is perfect either (the S3 is much better looking imo) but at least it's functional. To me the One was all style over actual substance. They should have stuck with a polycarbonate unibody like the One X which imo was a far more attractive device.

Most of the One's design is functional.
The top and bottom bezels are wide because of the front facing speakers. The side bezels aren't that wide. The phone doesn't seem "fat" at all to me, though maybe you're perceiving it that way because of the curvature - it is wider in the middle than on the sides which are more tapered. It's not the thinnest and lightest phone on the market, but I don't see the size and weight as being prohibitive in any way whatsoever. Two capacitive buttons versus three doesn't bother me because I'm not as rooted in Android as other users, it took me about 5 seconds to get used to it, but I can see why it might annoy others who are used to phones with three. HTC apparently wanted to simplify, which will annoy old users but probably has little impact on anyone new to Android.

I don't know why you bring up the fact that you don't know what the big deal is about the front facing speakers when you don't use them on other phones, either. You might as well say you don't know what the big deal about having a car is because you choose to walk everywhere. Which is a fine choice, but you should be able to understand why others might appreciate it.

I can't agree or disagree on the polycarbonate thing since that I do like some of HTC's polycarbonate phone designs, and I think only Nokia makes plastic designs as good (HTC's have better texture and feel, though), and Samsung should learn from them if they want to continue to do plastic designs. I do prefer the aluminum body for the HTC One, but the matte plastics they've used on other phones are quite good.

 

[ChronoReverse]

The button issue is a pretty valid one because Google uses three buttons so there wasn't any good reason to use two. By removing the standard Multitask icon, HTC has basically deprived new users of the multitask function because it's not intuitive to double-tap home.

This is also seems to be a problem for iPhones because a great number of people I know with iPhones either don't know or forget about that.

 

[Crono]

Because you're the only person who cares about a trivial thing?

It's okay, I think they made a phone just for him. It's good to have choice if you really, really care about design decisions like that.

 

[Crono]

The button issue is a pretty valid one because Google uses three buttons so there wasn't any good reason to use two. By removing the standard Multitask icon, HTC has basically deprived new users of the multitask function because it's not intuitive to double-tap home.

This is also a problem for iPhones because a great number of people I know with iPhones either don't know or forget about that.

I'll concede that it would have been better to have kept the third button, especially if they are just putting their logo right in the middle in a capacitive enabled area, anyway. Hitting the "HTC" logo does nothing out of the box, and I can imagine some people trying to tap it right away expecting it do something.

It's not a major problem, but I think so long as Google has the multitask function they might as well put in the third button on future phones.

I think it's the equivalent of what Microsoft did by removing the start button for Windows 8. Which annoyed a lot of people, but others (like me) got used to it very quickly. But of course the complaints were loud enough that Microsoft is adding it back for Windows Blue/8.1. Maybe HTC will add the third button back on their next phone, who knows.

 

[ChronoReverse]

The hilarious part about all that is that it turns out the logo IS in the capacitive region.

There are custom kernels mapping the logo to a button now. Htc missed an opportunity here to use their own logo as the Home button.

 

[Crono]

The hilarious part about all that is that it turns out the logo IS in the capacitive region.

There are custom kernels mapping the logo to a button now. Htc missed an opportunity here to use their own logo as the Home button.

Yeah, that would have made a lot more sense (pardon the pun ).

 

[Chrono]

I was about to buy one but decided my Note 2 will be good for now until the Note 3 is out. I'm kind of looking for another phone to play with instead... as a backup/secondary phone for shits and giggles (windows phone).

 

[Crono]

I was about to buy one but decided my Note 2 will be good for now until the Note 3 is out. I'm kind of looking for another phone to play with instead... as a backup/secondary phone for shits and giggles (windows phone).

A cheap Lumia or HTC 8X/8S would be good to play around with.
Just keep in mind (if you haven't used Windows Phone before) that it's about as locked down as iOS, but with less apps, and it's missing some of the major apps from developers like Google. There are plenty of decent apps for just about anything you might want, but not all of the Android/iOS cross platform apps are available for WP7/8.

Otherwise Windows Phone is very smooth and fluid regardless of hardware, and it's pretty stable now. Definitely good with a backup phone, and all the Windows Phones I've owned last a full day (YMMV, of course).

 

[Bateluer]

I don't get the big deal about the front speakers either, I was going to compare them to my Galaxy S, S2, and S3 until I realized I have never used the speaker on any of them so I have no idea what they actually sound like.

Wait, you've seriously never once played a Youtube video, streamed NetFlix, or played any kind of media on your phone before?

The GNex speaker, my previous phone, had a notoriously weak speaker. I'm glad my Razr HD has an excellent, although mono/rear, speaker.

I haven't gone hands on with a working One yet though, only the dummy models. Stupid Best Buy.

 

[Deeko]

I just got the one last week. The physical design is actually quite good - the convex back is attractive and makes it feel thinner than it is (and who is saying it's fat? Really? You think this is a fat phone?). The camera isn't quite Lumia 920 quality, but it's solid in low light. The speakers do live up to the hype...I never use my phone's speakers, primarily because they sound like crap, but I've found myself putting music on with the One because it's actually decent. Sense has it's issues, but I really like BlinkFeed. I got used to double tapping home for multitasking in about 3 seconds, and a custom ROM adds hold-back-for-menu which generally works well, so the button layout doesn't bother me.

However...the battery life is truly atrocious. Like, original Palm Pre atrocious. I'm burning through about 15% per hour. This morning I was navigating in my car with it plugged in to the car charger, and it actually still drained (albeit slower than normal). This is a hefty 2A charger too, it's not some cheap piece of garbage. I don't know if it's the 1080p screen, the beefy processor, Sense, or a combination - but man, it's bad.

Tough call. I like the physical aspects of the phone, but even a battery the size of the Razr Maxx HD's wouldn't make the longevity of this phone acceptable...

 

[Deeko]

Wait, you've seriously never once played a Youtube video, streamed NetFlix, or played any kind of media on your phone before?

To be fair, until the One, I never relied on the crappy speakers in the device for media - I use headphones, particularly because I'm usually in public when doing such a thing.

 

[Crono]

However...the battery life is truly atrocious. Like, original Palm Pre atrocious. I'm burning through about 15% per hour. This morning I was navigating in my car with it plugged in to the car charger, and it actually still drained (albeit slower than normal). This is a hefty 2A charger too, it's not some cheap piece of garbage. I don't know if it's the 1080p screen, the beefy processor, Sense, or a combination - but man, it's bad.

Tough call. I like the physical aspects of the phone, but even a battery the size of the Razr Maxx HD's wouldn't make the longevity of this phone acceptable...

It has to be the screen and processor, it takes a lot of power to run 1080p for a mobile device. With heavy real use (not benchmarks, but video and a lot of browsing) I can drain it in about 5 to 6 hours. Not as good as any of the phones Ive owned in the past, but it's acceptable for me at least because I tend to keep my phone connected a lot.

But on Sunday I was using the phone all morning and recording a lot of video early afternoon and the battery died on me. I do kind of wish I had a backup battery in that scenario (the Samsung fans are yelling out "Aha!" at this point ) or a Mophie juice pack (those things are kind of pricey), but it's usually not the case that I'm using my phone for a lot of video nonstop. I think if your phone is your primary video camera you will want either a phone with a replaceable battery (like the S4) or an external battery pack/reserve battery case.

I did manage to check out the Highlights feature on the phone. It was cool seeing it automatically added to my Blinkfeed after it generated the 30 second clip from all the video I took. The software chose some funny and some appropriate things to focus on, all without me having to edit anything.

 

[Imported]

I haven't had a huge issue with battery life so far, but I'm not a huge power user. Also using Greenify + custom rom so that may be helping a bit.

Also, its been said over and over, but the front speakers are great.

 

[kaerflog]

I liked the design of the phone except for the convex back. I don't know if it's there to help the feel in the hand but that was a real turnoff for me. How come no one mentions the ugly convex back when they talk about the build quality and shape of the HTC One? The convex back ruins what is a beautiful phone. It's bigger problem for me than any plastic.
.

I think you're in the minority.
Not only the convex back on the One is beautiful, its functional.
Holding the One in your hand feels more right than a phone with a flat back.

 

[Hunt3rj2]

I just got the one last week. The physical design is actually quite good - the convex back is attractive and makes it feel thinner than it is (and who is saying it's fat? Really? You think this is a fat phone?). The camera isn't quite Lumia 920 quality, but it's solid in low light. The speakers do live up to the hype...I never use my phone's speakers, primarily because they sound like crap, but I've found myself putting music on with the One because it's actually decent. Sense has it's issues, but I really like BlinkFeed. I got used to double tapping home for multitasking in about 3 seconds, and a custom ROM adds hold-back-for-menu which generally works well, so the button layout doesn't bother me.

However...the battery life is truly atrocious. Like, original Palm Pre atrocious. I'm burning through about 15% per hour. This morning I was navigating in my car with it plugged in to the car charger, and it actually still drained (albeit slower than normal). This is a hefty 2A charger too, it's not some cheap piece of garbage. I don't know if it's the 1080p screen, the beefy processor, Sense, or a combination - but man, it's bad.

Tough call. I like the physical aspects of the phone, but even a battery the size of the Razr Maxx HD's wouldn't make the longevity of this phone acceptable...

You've got some severe wakelock issues. I've gone 7 hours of idle on LTE and lost all of 1%. I can pull at least 4 hours screen on time hopping between LTE and HSPA+ in a crap signal environment.

 

[Deeko]

You've got some severe wakelock issues. I've gone 7 hours of idle on LTE and lost all of 1%. I can pull at least 4 hours screen on time hopping between LTE and HSPA+ in a crap signal environment.

I mean, I use my phone a lot. Considerable amount of emailing, texting, and IMs, and I realize that the phone being awake that much hurts battery life...but like Crono said, its the worst I've had in many, many phones,

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Wait, you've seriously never once played a Youtube video, streamed NetFlix, or played any kind of media on your phone before?

The GNex speaker, my previous phone, had a notoriously weak speaker. I'm glad my Razr HD has an excellent, although mono/rear, speaker.

I haven't gone hands on with a working One yet though, only the dummy models. Stupid Best Buy.

I use my phone for media all the time but I always use quality IEMs for audio.

 

[lopri]

Because you're the only person who cares about a trivial thing?

He's not the only person. ^^

@ponyo: I'm just staying quiet because there are other devices with convex backs and it's hard to dismiss them all. And the HTC One does look pretty (however impractical without a case) and have a lot other virtues that many Android phones lack.

Totally agree that HTC One's screen is beautiful. I don't think it's necessarily the difference between 720p and 1080p, though, since pixel density can differ regardless of screens' resolutions.

 

[vshah]

I mean, I use my phone a lot. Considerable amount of emailing, texting, and IMs, and I realize that the phone being awake that much hurts battery life...but like Crono said, its the worst I've had in many, many phones,

what's your screen on time?