Which went on sale already in April and May (for which HTC can only express respect - it was the first to launch a line of new smartphones on Android 4.0 without sacrificing quality), HTC One S went on sale only in the middle of summer. At the exhibition in February, it looked very tasty with its thin metal body, where plasma electrolytic oxidation was used to give it additional strength. At the time, the new product looked very balanced and was clearly going to appeal to geeks interested in phones with a rugged case. In fact, something wrong happened with HTC's positioning of this model in the market.
HTC stepped on the same rake as last year and overestimated the potential of the One S by introducing the term “sub-flagship” (if I’m not mistaken, I came across this term on one of HTC’s social media accounts, after which I adopted it ) it is unclear what it means. Or rather, it’s clear - it’s like a model that is both a flagship and not. Sony did something similar in the second half of 2012, creating three models in the high price segment - the flagship (the face of the line) XPERIA S, as well as a model with little different characteristics, but with a different appearance and a prohibitively high price for the non-Japanese market XPERIA Ion display. And also a protected analogue of XPERIA S called XPERIA acro s. Just like last year, a buyer loyal to HTC is faced with a choice - he has no guideline on what exactly to buy “for a lot of money.” Or a device with the largest display and a 4-core processor (One X). Either a simpler and thinner model, but with a metal body. To complicate matters, there isn't much of a price difference between the One X and One S, which only further confuses potential buyers. It’s also worth saying that I had in my hands a gray device with the new Qualcomm MSM8260A (S4 Plus) processor. And there is an interesting story here. Now models with Qualcomm MSM8260 (S3, Scorpion core, Adreno 220 graphics, 1.7 GHz) are officially supplied to Ukraine. This happened due to the fact that the company decided (according to the official point of view - due to the shortage of the new processor) to put a previous generation processor in the One S. As a result, a strange paradox happened, which is also not good for this model, its perception and the HTC company - a smartphone in a gray package is now not only cheaper, but also with a more modern processor. Let's leave its performance out of the equation - the difference there cannot be large or noticeable to the user. But you can’t take the words out of the song - the S4 Plus class processor is more modern than the S3. I will try to make a comparison of the performance of both versions of HTC One S in the near future and publish it as a separate news and update of this review. By the way, Samsung has the opposite with advertising, everything is in order - all advertising messages are simple and clear as three kopecks - buy the Samsung Galaxy SIII, because it is uncompromisingly the best. With the opening of the Summer Olympics in London, this message flashes with a high degree of obsession, being the final chord in attracting attention to its device on a global scale, which I wrote about three months ago. We all know the results of all this very well - without being technologically anything special, and definitely inferior in design to the flagships of Sony, HTC and LG, the Galaxy SIII is approaching in sales the cherished dream of all phone manufacturers (skeptics, keep your emotions to yourself - it's just a business) - the level of iPhone sales.
Briefly, let me remind you what the characteristics of the HTC One S are. This is a smartphone with a 4.3-inch display made using Super AMOLED technology, with a resolution of 960x540, a 2-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM8260A processor (S4 Plus, Krait core). The device uses an 8-megapixel camera with FullHD video recording and all the same miracles that the One X camera is capable of. It is worth noting a 1650 mAh battery and Android version 4.03 with the HTC Sense 4.0 shell. During the work on the review, firmware version 1.53.401.2 was updated to 1.78.401.2, which gave a good increase in performance (more on this later). Back in May, I managed to use the prototype with firmware 1.40.401.1 for a couple of weeks, but it worked so unstable (it rebooted spontaneously several times a day) that there was simply no point in doing a review then.
| HTC One S specifications | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 131x65x8mm |
| Weight | 120 g |
| operating system | Android 4.03 |
| CPU | dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260A, 1.5 GHz, Adreno 225 graphics |
| Display | AMOLED, 4.3", 960x540 pixels (pixel density 256 ppi), Gorilla coating, 5-finger multi-touch |
| Memory | 1 GB RAM, 16 GB storage (no memory cards) + 25 GB Dropbox |
| Camera | 8 MP (3264x1840 pixels), autofocus, LED backlight, panoramas, burst shooting, HDR, FullHD video recording (24 fps), slow-motion video |
| Front-camera | VGA |
| Communications | Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, A-GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, MHL |
| Battery | lithium polymer, 1650 mAh |
The HTC One S package is just as meager as the flagship's - lousy headphones, a USB cable. Let's say, for 2005, a device priced at $650 with such meager equipment would have looked strange. On the other hand, Apple sells its devices even more expensive and no one cares about the lack of good equipment.
Since the current line of HTC smartphones with Android 4.0 are already on sale, and their prices have already “settled down,” you can take a quick glance at the One S’s place in it. Below are Desire C, which replaced Wildfire (and killed this name), with a resolution of 480x320. By the way, moving the Desire line to the lower price segment will still play a cruel joke on HTC, “dropping” the perception of these smartphones from “flagship” and “outstanding” to “cheap” (once again about the confusion in the minds artificially created and cultivated by the company). Above it is the One V that I really liked, then the interesting Desire V model with two SIM cards. This is the first Android smartphone on the market in which you can implement the “one SIM card for calls, the other for mobile Internet” scheme more or less comfortably. Because even marketers who claim this cannot enjoy using the Internet on a screen with a resolution of 480x320, let alone ordinary users. Finally, above the HTC One S is the flagship HTC One X, which differs from the One S in having a larger amount of internal memory (32 GB versus 16), a 4-core processor and a 4.7-inch screen with a resolution of 1280x720.
The device itself, as I already said, is thin. It has a completely recognizable appearance - it cannot be confused with, say, identical-looking Sony smartphones with a transparent insert from a distance of 3-4 meters. The frame around the display and the side parts are reminiscent of the plastic body of the One X. The display itself is quite bright, although it loses to its direct competitor - the Sony XPERIA P. In the bright summer sun it is difficult to use, although it is possible - the text remains readable, you just have to strain your eyesight more. If there is no bright sun (shade, indoors), the brightness of the display can be called excessive - in the dark (for example, in a cinema), maximum brightness will definitely hurt your eyes. The most correct use case would be to set maximum brightness outdoors during the day and approximately in the middle in other conditions. Although I personally am lazy and always use smartphones with the brightness settings as high as possible.
I personally like the back of the smartphone. Although I have met people who find this arrangement of elements repulsive. I see this as a recognizable HTC style. Metal (the same plasma-electrolytic oxidation that gives strength) non-removable cover and two modules with soft otuch plastic. It’s worth saying that after a month of use (though I only carry this smartphone in a case), it looks like new. To restore its original appearance, simply wipe the device with a cloth (or even your finger). The inscription beats audio only indicates the use of proprietary sound processing algorithms when headphones are connected. Although you subconsciously expect some additional goodies (the inner voice is screaming now: put at least good headphones in the package!) By the way, about how you could effectively use beats audio, it’s worth reading the most interesting article by Artem Lutfullin on Mobile Review.
The hardware controls have no surprises, everything is predictable - the power button and headphone output are on top, the paired volume control key is on the right, the microUSB connector is on the left.
Someone asked me on Twitter how tightly the lid fits. I answer - it “walks” a little, about a millimeter. This doesn’t bother me even once, but there are people who are sensitive to the issue, and manufacturers should also listen to their opinion. But in general, I really began to like smartphones where minimal actions are available to the user, as here - you can only insert/replace a micro-SIM. And I like completely non-separable cases even more. Apparently, the market will move in this direction. Such solutions are appearing more and more, and they do not repel buyers (this brings to mind the serious battles over the iPhone, Nokia N8 and further down the list).
As I already said, while working on the review, HTC One S updated the firmware from 1.53.401.2 to 1.78.401.2. This immediately affected the performance of the smartphone. (Although, to be fair, it is worth saying that in most cases this is not the case). Performance in AnTuTu increased from 3919 to 6912 points, although this looks incredible. The increase in Vellamo is much smaller - from 2271 points to 2418, but there is one caveat: this is noticeably higher than the browser performance of all 4-core flagships that we came across this year: Samsung Galaxy S III (2081), HTC One X (1531) and LG Optimus 4X HD (1649).
And the performance of the HTC One S in the official package with the MSM8260 processor (frequency 1.7 GHz) turned out to be slightly lower in the AnTuTu benchmark (6531 points) and noticeably lower in Vellamo (1780 points), which is responsible for the browser. Dealers cry, geeks spit bile and poison. It is worth adding that the measurements were made on firmware 1.11.401.110.
I also screwed up with the measurements of the multi-touch points, having written at first that there were two of them. I completely forgot about the special checkbox in the settings. Correction: there are five multi-touch points in the HTC One S.
The topic of autonomy, beloved by geeks, as always, comes down to one simple thing - display operating time. With an Internet connection (Wi-Fi at home and in the office, mobile Edge Internet in other places), the smartphone can last more than 2 days. At this time, he received mail, updated applications and executed all applications running in the background. But you shouldn’t delude yourself - the same exact indicators can be obtained in the same exact situation on any Android smartphone. And like any other smartphone, the HTC One S will drain the battery to zero after 4-5 hours of intensive use (for example, watching videos).
You can read about the new features of HTC Sense 4.0 in the review of HTC One V, so here I would like to dwell on what I don’t like about it. After enough time to make these judgments (and corresponding experience with other smartphones on Android 4), I became convinced that I did not like the way they changed the management of wireless modules. Previously they were in the notification menu. Now, to turn off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or GPS (it has become even more difficult there), you need to not only enter the notifications menu, but also press the “settings” key (with the gear in the corner). Why it was necessary to do one more action is unclear.
But switching between running applications or closing unnecessary ones in Sense 4.0 is implemented worse than in bare Android. Instead of a convenient list with icons of running applications, we see inconvenient horizontal scrolling. Why uncomfortable? Because fewer apps fit on the screen. And the manager itself is called not by long pressing the Home button, but for some reason by pressing the “properties” key. In this case (which is completely illogical) the manager will not start until you release the button. That is, there is no way to reach this intuitively. What is not good.
But I would like to talk a little more about the capabilities of the HTC One S camera. Traditionally, HTC cameras have been the manufacturer's weakest link. In 2012, there was a dramatic change for the better. And although in Pavel Urusov’s excellent review, which compares the cameras of the HTC One X, iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy SIII, the HTC camera loses, this is a high bar that the company has still reached. Functionally, the camera in the HTC One S is exactly the same, which, at a lower price than the iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy SIII, allows the buyer of this smartphone to feel like a “full-fledged” person. True, unlike the One X camera, only a resolution of 3264x1840 pixels (16:9) is supported, where the resolution of 3264x2448 (4:3) went is unclear. It is worth saying that when shooting at close range it is impossible to focus on a single subject, no matter how hard you try. Continuous shooting doesn't help, neither does the touch focus function. This problem is common with most phone cameras today. Maybe I just didn't pay attention before? Or maybe focusing worked better before?
The camera's dynamic range is good if there is no sky in the frame.
If there is a sky in the frame, it doesn’t look very nice
But in this case, the HDR function comes to the rescue
Sometimes it turns out really nice
A simple change in angle or slightly different framing of the photo can affect the result. Summary: don't skimp on film.
The question of direct competitors to the HTC One S smartphone comes down to the same table that you could see in the Sony XPERIA P review. In fact, this smartphone is the only serious rival to the HTC One S and is inferior only in terms of interface and the earlier version of Android 2.3 (can be treated with an update, which will appear, I hope, this year). In all other respects, I liked the XPERIA P more. On its side is the design, a monolithic aluminum body with a recognizable transparent insert, a good camera, excellent equipment with the ability to play with NFC tags. The rest of the devices, including the rather trashy Fly IQ285, are presented more for form's sake.
HTC One S is one of the most controversial Android smartphones of 2012. On the one hand - excellent characteristics, high performance, interesting appearance and metal in the body. A good camera, finally, with all sorts of goodies in the form of rapid-fire burst shooting, panoramas, slow-motion video, HDR and a ton of built-in filters. On the other hand, there is the inexpressive role of a sub-flagship, which costs only slightly less than the HTC One X. In my opinion, HTC did something wrong with the positioning of the One S. It should have been made cheaper (albeit for the sake of less impressive technical characteristics), or brought to some completely different niche, as, for example, Samsung did with the Note model, which has two simple and understandable things - a huge display and a stylus for drawing. As a result, I don’t see an army of buyers for One S - a fan of the brand should immediately buy One X, which costs only 15% more. Which in the high price segment is not at all critical for the buyer. 5 reasons to buy HTC One S:
1 reason not to buy HTC One S:
In terms of size, the HTC One S is a typical smartphone with a 4.3-inch screen, wide and tall. The dimensions of the smartphone are on the verge of comfortable use with one hand. The main material used is aluminum.
HTC One S screen diagonal is 4.3 inches, resolution 960×540 pixels, matrix type is SuperAMOLED, PPI value is 256, protective coating is Gorilla Glass. The strengths of the screen are bright, contrasting colors and low power consumption. Cons: Pentile technology, which makes the text on the screen seem loose.
The smartphone has an 8 MP camera with LED flash. The maximum resolution for video recording is 1920×1080 pixels, recording speed is 30 frames per second, sound is recorded in stereo mode.
The standard keyboard on the HTC One S is one of the best keyboards for Android smartphones. It has a swipe text input feature (Swype), as well as the ability to enter numbers and most special characters (,!?#-_) without going into extra character mode. To switch the language, just press one key.
The HTC One S browser is functionally very good, but has one unpleasant drawback. Pros: the ability to resize the page multiple times with auto-fitting text to fit the width of the screen and a mode for reading pages without pictures; it is convenient to use when reading a large amount of text on the Internet. Cons: Inability to open a large number of tabs. There is a special “reading mode”.
HTC One S supports all common wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS. The device has the Android Beam function, with which you can quickly transfer files, contacts, browser pages and other information from one smartphone that supports Android Beam or S Beam to another; for this, the devices just need to be placed back to back. The smartphone does not support Russian LTE networks; dual-band Wi-Fi and NFC are also missing.
The HTC One S video player does not support common formats and codecs; the player plays videos in high quality, up to 1080p. There is no choice of subtitles or audio tracks. The audio player on HTC One S plays both popular formats like MP3 and uncompressed audio in FLAC format.
In terms of operating time, HTC One S shows average results. The device plays HD video at maximum brightness for 4 hours. While listening to music with the screen off, the device was discharged in 30 hours.
The speed of the HTC One S is high, which is clearly visible both when testing with “heavy” games and during everyday use. On your smartphone you can play any games available on Google Play, watch videos in high quality, up to 1080p, and just work comfortably. The device uses the Qualcomm MSM8290 Snapdragon platform with a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, Adreno 225 graphics subsystem and 1 GB of RAM. In benchmarks, the smartphone performs averagely.
The total amount of internal memory in the HTC One S is limited to 16 GB, there is no slot for a memory card and this is a huge minus.
The smartphone runs the proprietary HTC Sense shell. In it, the manufacturer changed the following programs: dialer, SMS client, web browser, music and video player, and also added its own keyboard and widgets. The dialer in Sense is considered one of the best among programs of its kind on Android, and the same can be said about the built-in keyboard.
Advantages of the phone:
Thin, metal body, screen, gorilla glass, htc sense, processor, glitch-free, lightweight, good camera with hdr mode, not a shovel - the size is just right for your hand, really good sound in the headphones (beats audio turns on automatically).
Full TunelnRadio comes pre-installed, no need to buy, just like SoundHound.
The battery lasts for two days with fairly intensive use; at a certain discharge, the energy saving mode is activated, although it can be forced to be turned on constantly. I really like this phone, I've been using it for more than a year and a half and have no plans to change. Well balanced. And it copes well with the main task - communication. The reception is confident, and I hear well and they hear me well, even when I speak while pressing with my shoulder or on a loud speaker, when I’m just lying on the table. Pressing works clearly, there are no errors.
Disadvantages of the phone:
The covers on it do not completely cover the top and bottom parts, there is not enough memory and there is no expansion slot, howl
There is a limited amount of memory allocated for applications, the speaker is on the rear side - you have to place your palm at the back to hear normally. There are no updates. Sometimes, when you communicate for a long time in the summer and sweat forms at the point of contact with the phone, which gets on the screen, then htc media starts up on your cheek, for some reason it’s the only thing that starts up...
Comment about the phone:
In reality, the phone is good, and games run fine and are not buggy. And he fell several times and it didn’t matter to him! There are cool features, for example, when talking, if you put the phone with the screen up, the speaker will immediately turn on, or when making a call, if the phone is lying down and you pick it up, the sound will begin to fade. Convenient notebook. All movements are smooth and without brakes. When typing, it vibrates a little when pressed, barely noticeable, which is very convenient when using. For those who have bad GPS reception, mine also had bad reception, until I threw out the case with the metal back and replaced it with a plastic one. In total, four cases have already been replaced, they are worn out... and despite such intensive use, it looks good. Anyone who claims that the screen gets scratched quickly must have bought a Chinese counterfeit or used a special knife to do this. The phone has Gorilla glass, I carry it along with the keys and there are no scratches, the second phones - two Philips, in turn, have already become matte from scratches, but the HTC does not have them.
At a temperature of -20 during shooting, I wrote on the screen - the temperature is too low, the flash is turned off... I always changed my phone when the old one started to irritate me, but after a year and a half this one does not irritate me, I consider this its main advantage!
Well, Microsoft came to its senses in time and significantly improved its position. Conclusions have been drawn, measures have been taken, those responsible are punished: the notorious Don Mattrick is now engaged in cheerful farms at Zynga, and the stern Phil Spencer is in charge of the Xbox gaming division. Keen gamers can breathe a sigh of relief and think about buying an Xbox again, because a new version of the Xbox One S has arrived on our market, which brings together all the improvements over the past years. We'll tell you everything in the full review!
The new Xbox One S is noticeably different in design from its predecessor, and it’s not even due to its reduced size. Aesthetics and ergonomics come to the fore: the console looks beautiful and neat, and most importantly, it has finally gotten rid of the huge external power supply that has been an eyesore since the days of the Xbox 360! This bold innovation completely changed the perception: you look at the little white console, from which only HDMI and a standard power cable stick out, and you can’t believe your eyes. It's as if it has not only become 40% more compact, but also got rid of unnecessary ballast.
There are no complaints about the quality of materials - white matte plastic (color name - Robot White) is pleasant to look at and to the touch. In any case, it will not collect micro-scratches as easily as the black glossy surfaces on the cases of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 of the first version. The assembly also inspires confidence: nothing creaks, there is no play, and in general, the body feels monolithic and weighty - 2.9 kg after all. The ventilation holes set an interesting theme: holes of different sizes adorn the snow-white device.
There is something in this from Scandinavian design and other Bang & Olufsen. True, if the first Xbox One received the comic stigma of a “VHS player” from sarcastic gamers, then the Xbox One S from the top angle turned out to look like... a Soviet radio! It’s as if there’s a speaker hidden in the round hole on top, not a cooling fan.
By the way, according to our feelings, the noise level when operating the Xbox One S has become slightly higher than before. Apparently, the fan of a smaller diameter and a different grille have an effect. But there are no problems with heating, despite the denser packaging of the filling. If you look closely, you can see through the ventilation that the insides are cooled by a large aluminum radiator - and it copes with the task quite well. After a couple of hours of gaming, the temperature of the console is not at all alarming, even if it is installed vertically. Let us remind you that the previous Xbox One could only be used in a horizontal position.
Xbox One S lived up to expectations and left only one rhetorical question: why, oh why couldn’t the console have been made like this from the very beginning? This is not just “the same Xbox One, only smaller,” as it might seem at first glance. This is a thorough work on bugs, which eliminated the main ergonomic flaws and made the device much more pleasant to use. As for technical improvements, support for 4K and HDR formats looks like something familiar and ordinary these days - however, it all depends on the capabilities of your TV, and the experience will vary markedly. If anything, the Xbox One S is ready for a near future where even toasters can upscale images to 4K.
The disadvantages of the console remained the same: for example, we did not like the installation of games on the HDD that took too long. The console's GPU power is quite modest, which is why multi-platform projects are often released on Xbox One with a lower resolution. Probably, for market balance, a black version is still missing, although the white console looks very nice. But all this is easy to put up with for the sake of good games - and this time you won’t have to find a place for a hefty power supply or fiddle with the “mandatory” Kinect 2.0.
The verdict is very simple: if you are going to buy a console from Microsoft, then you should choose the Xbox One S! If you already have an Xbox One, then it might make sense to upgrade and get some nice newfangled features. It’s better to leave the first version to collectors and residents of spacious American homes; we now have a much more enjoyable way to play the main exclusives like Gears of War and Forza Horizon.
Three smartphones, each of which is ideal for a specific group of users. The ambitious and rich buy the powerful one, the modest and youth buy the curved One V, everyone else is suited to the confident, average One S, which we'll take a look at.
The smartphone has an AMOLED screen with a diagonal of 4.3 inches and a resolution of 540 by 960. Pen Tile is there, what would you do without it? There is enough memory here - 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, which, unfortunately, cannot be expanded.
Many will agree with the opinion that the dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260A processor with a frequency of 1.5 GHz and the Adreno 225 graphics core is a more pleasant combination than in the older X. This is a free question, so we will leave it to everyone’s personal judgment.
I still believe that you need to look not at the number of bagels, but at the operation of the phone. In the case of One S, there are no complaints. It would seem that an overloaded sensor works without obvious brakes. Sometimes the address book twitches, but this is due to loading avatars from social networks. Probably, the comparison is not entirely successful, but in the browser, pages load faster on the S-ke than on the custom firmware SGNote imilka 07. Forgive me, we tested on what was at hand.
The performance is absolutely enough and the bulky sensor is not a hindrance to this.
Almost all the authors of our site have always liked Sense. Sometimes he heavily loaded the system, but somehow I didn’t want to blame him for this. Everything is very beautiful and understandable for people, unlike govnoWiz from Samsung. Sorry, but everything is learned by comparison, and in this regard, HTC is in a winning position.
It feels like they took the best of bare android and left it as is, and those things that needed to be completed by Google themselves were completed by HTC. Take, for example, an alarm clock, a flashlight, clock widgets and power management. If we talk about Android 4.0, then thanks to Sense you can now synchronize your social accounts with your address book. All these little things unpleasantly surprised me.
We continue the list of positive aspects of Sense 4.0 in comparison with bare android. The curtain in ICS is minimalistic. There is simply nothing in it and you only have to take it out when you need to do some general cleaning. HTC Sense's address book search is brilliant. You simply type numbers or email letters, or a name and immediately see the result.
The gallery fails Sense's assessment. #Thank you I don’t need any groupings. Maybe this is a matter of taste, but let the applications create folders for themselves and store their pictures there. But displaying a full preview screen in multitasking mode is a clear WIN. Comfortable.
In the new version of the add-in, they removed the desktop carousel, which was activated at the most inopportune moment, and added buttons for quick access to various settings, the market, etc. Now HTC smartphones have become even more convenient to use.
Pichal. Headphones are no longer included in the package. HTC representatives say in a single line that people did not really buy the Sensation XE and XL because of the overall high cost of the bundle with such ears.
Even harsh rap packs did not correct the sales dynamics of last year’s flagships.
However, there are innovations. Now we can proudly say that there are beats in both software and hardware. The fact is that now a more powerful signal is output to the minijack, allowing you to use even professional headphones without an amplifier. Thus, your smartphone may well become one of the main sources of media content in your home.
Finally, a family photo and a little story.
There lived three brothers. One Chernobyl survivor has four heads with another head sticking out from under his tail. Life had bent the youngest, but the middle son was thin, but strong. And whoever listened, well done.
P.S. Sorry for the wind, we didn't order it :(
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