Tag Archives: HTC One

The successor to the HTC One – the HTC One+ – specifications

Android, Tech News

Let’s hope these specs on the rumoured replacement for the HTC One turn out to be correct. If so HTC have a killer phone in the making more than the original.

HTC One+ (HTC M8)

-5-inch full HD 1080p display with Gorilla Glass 3
-Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, 2GB LPDDR3
-6MP or 8MP “UltraPixel” camera with possible dual-lens with 2.1MP front facing camera -OIS unknown
-2,900mAh battery
– No capacitive buttons (software)
– Android KitKat with HTC Sense 6.0
– Micro-SIM
– NFC
– SD card slot – country dependant

Advertisement

HTC One 4.3 android update

Android, Tech News,

HTC president Jason Mackenzie tried tweeted in a cool way, maybe all to do with their new marketing campaign –

“Lots of questions re 4.3 release for One. We r wrking hard (needs cert) to release 4.3 across all US, Canada skus by end Sept. DNA as well.”

Good news for everyone with a HTC One.

Fight – HTC One versus Samsung Galaxy S4

Android, Tech News,

Last month I sold my HTC One which I obtained on the first day it got released in the UK. I tried using the Samsung S4 Zoom and Huawei Ascend P6 afterwards, but both suffered from issues that I could not long term accept. So while I wait for the next wave of phones to be released for the last quarter of the year, I decided it was time to use the Samsung S4 again. I had tried this when it first came out for a week, but found it buggy versus the HTC One. So has anything changed? And what are the real differences between the two?

The HTC One and S4 both look good, but there is no denying the HTC One has the slight edge. But the S4, by using a consistent boring approach to manufacturing its phones, actually has a larger screen for a similar size. It is also lighter and feels better weighted and more comfortable in the hand.

Both come with superb sharp screens, but the HTC One has a better screen that is so much brighter and also readable in bright sunlight. The S4 in bright sunlight is a struggle. The S4 despite have more saturated colours still does not look as bright as the HTC One. That is not too say the S4 is shabby, just the HTC One is better.

Sound. No contest again. The HTC One has front speakers that are more practical for listening to music, films or podcasts. The S4 sound level is acceptable nonetheless. Both phones have Bluetooth APT-X for high quality audio. But whether it is listening via the headphone jack or via bluetooth the HTC One just sounds considerably better and more refined than the S4. Beats Audio does make a difference with the HTC One. Again, the S4 is not a poor quality sound, it is just not as good as the HTC One. USB Audio. That is taking the digital sound out via the micro usb port to a dedicated USB DAC. The HTC One has this built in and works with more USB DAC’s out of the box than the S4.

Moga Pro Game Controller. The MPGC works better with the S4 than HTC One. Both work very well in Mode A, but with the HTC One, Mode B requires a third party app from the Play Store to enable this mode to work.

So far we have looked at core features, and so far the HTC One is in the lead by a small margin. Next we move on to camera. The HTC One has optical image stabilisation and that means it can take clearer photos in low light and also you will have less blurry shots. It also takes photos and videos from an event and automatically creates a wonderful 30 second video highlight. But the S4 has better quality resolution, so for stills, landscapes and similar types of shots it has the advantage. A draw here, but for people not fussed about image quality, the HTC One is a better option as it will more than likely always capture that special moment in all conditions. Ideally, you would want to combine the camera quality and features from both phones.

The launchers could not be more different. HTC use Sense 5, while Samsung use Touchwiz. Sense 5 includes Blinkfeed and a stylish looking interface. Touchwiz on the other hands includes more features and functions but this in turn causes the phone not to be as fast and fluid as the HTC One.

Features and functions. HTC One has focused on the media and social sharing front. The HTC One even includes a FM radio, unlike the S4 which does not include one. The HTC One does not claim to be everything to all mankind, and this is where the S4 differs dramatically. It features a catalogue or options larger than your kitchen sink, which actually do make a difference to the way you use your phone.

The S4 features motion control, voice control of alarms, camera, music player and more. It S Voice (Siri clone ) is more featured than that on the HTC One. It features air gestures to flick through photos by just waving your hand over the photos for example. In fact exploring the options reveals over 30 plus different tweaks; multi window, air view, smart scroll, air gesture, blocking mode, smart stay to name a free. The S4 also has a health app and Samsung have included their Samsung Apps and Samsung Hub. This is their version of the Google Play store. The S4 includes a pedometer and barometer. If you have not realised, you must surely get the picture how different the two phones are. The S4 has feature after feature and feature. You just have to ask yourself how useful any of these actually are in real life.

The S4 also has a removable replaceable battery, and expansion by a micro sd card for media and documents. It also features Gorilla Glass 3, whereby the HTC One is Gorilla Glass 2. The S4 also features glove mode. The battery life lasts longer on the S4 and when the battery starts fading you can replace it.

Cost. The silver HTC One is approximately £445 versus the S4 at £489 if bought directly from Amazon. The HTC One comes with a fixed 32gb memory. The S4 16gb plus memory card. With the HTC One you have 25gb free to use as you will for apps, games and media. The S4 has 9gb free so you can install less apps and games, but can use a 64gb memory card for all your media.

Also bear in mind you can now buy in the UK, sim free the S4 with 32gb internal memory instead of 16gb. So with a 64gb micro sd card, you would have 96gb. The price for this higher model version is currently £517.

Accessories. The S4 has the edge by a large margin. There are more cases and accessories available for the S4. Samsung offer the S View Flip Cover. This replaces the battery back and adds a flip front cover with a cutout at the top. This can display the time, notifications and even allows you to answer a call without open the case. It also saves battery, since the screen is only powering a portion of the display.

So really, these two phones are so different, it is difficult to say one is better than the other. They are just so different, it really boils down to what features mean the most to you.

I personally miss my HTC One, but at the same time I am enjoying the S4.

Macro Mode on the HTC One – tips

Android, Tech News,

Thanks to my twitter friend @richardcyates , I have been able to achieve some incredible macro shots. The trick is to select macro mode, turn flash on and shoot around 10cm from subject. Then with the free photo editing app snapspeed, crop the flower area to create the finished articles below.

2013-07-26 10.12.28-1

2013-07-26 10.11.10-1

2013-07-24 19.34.47-1

All the above shots were taken first time every time. Such a good camera on the HTC One.

Why the HTC One is a better camera than the Nokia Lumia 1020

Android, Tech News, Windows,

The Nokia Lumia 1020 has just become available in the US. It won’t arrive in the UK until September. However, the reviews are up and I’ve read most of them and watched the YouTube videos too.

This was going to be my next phone, but at the moment I believe my HTC One is a better choice as a camera. I know what you are thinking. The HTC One is a 4mp vs The 1020 at 41mp.

Well, sadly Nokia may have engineered the best damn piece of hardware ever, but it is sitting on windows phone 8 that cannot cope with it prowess. Often the key to taken a good photo, is to be able to quickly capture that magic moment.

The HTC One from removing out of your pocket, and then firing the camera up, to taking the photo can be over in a second. In fact, you could have taken a Zoe or even 20 burst photos in three seconds and put the phone back in your pocket. Smile captured, animal snapped before it ran off and so on. And this is why it’s a better camera than the 1020. The 1020 needs 3-5 seconds to take the first shot, and up to 3 seconds between shots to save the photo. WTF. So even though the 1020 is capable of capturing far better quality shots than any other camera on a phone, it takes too long.

The 1020 uses a snapdragon s4 pro processor (this has nothing to do with the Samsung S4) when in fact it could do with the snapdragon 800 which is designed to work with lenses up to 55mp. The S4 pro had to have special drivers developed by Nokia to work around this processors weaknesses.

And the other issue with the 1020 is there are 3 camera apps loaded on the phone. One is the default window phone camera app, then smartcam and the the pro app. Why on earth didn’t Nokia remove the default windows phone camera app. Then to create a panorama or burst mode you have to exit the pro app and switch to the smartcam app. WTF. Too long a process and unnecessary. I believe changing apps to get different options has to be done, as this was the only way Nokia could get windows phone 8 to work.

Now the next problem with the 1020. It’s only got 32gb but takes shots at 41mp. The HTC One has the same amount of memory but as its a 4mp shooter needs considerably less space. In addition the 1020 can take two photos at once. The full sized 41mp (actually 38mp) and creates a 5mp so you can share it easily with social networks and email. The 5mp gets uploaded to Skydrive but not the 41mp version. This has to be manually copied via USB to a computer. So in essence you are in danger of running out of memory on the 1020, but once again you won’t get that issue on the HTC One.

Nokia clearly delivered the hardware, but Microsoft haven’t matched on the software front. The HTC One wins on speed and concept of its ultra pixels. Just to make sure everyone is clear, the Nokia Lumia 1020 is by far the better quality camera in reality. If the camera is already fired up, then the shot will be captured beautifully. You will just have to learn to work around the 1020 speed of initial camera start up time, and time between shots to save photos.

OMG – The HTC One in red

Android, Tech News,

20130722-072834.jpg

The other day I ventured in to Phones4u and enquirer about the HTC One in red. The sales person disappeared and returned with the phone. It was taken out of the box and wrapper.

20130722-073124.jpg

20130722-073140.jpg

Now the renders shown in the post make it look quite good, a number of my twitter friends who have already seen it said it looked amazing in red, but until you see to for yourself you will not be able to appreciate the drool worthy aspect of the colour and overall look. The red colour is a metallic finish, and more of a kick ass red than lipstick red as might appear in the renders.

I have seen many phones in my time, but without a doubt the HTC One in red is the most beautiful finish, style and look of anything to date. It made my delicious silver HTC One seem the poorer cousin.

My next dilemma was trying to leave the store and not purchase it ….. to be continued …..

Your advice is required – name an app that creates video highlights like the HTC One

Android, Tech News, Windows,

One of the coolest features of the HTC One is video highlights.

Lets say you go to the zoo with your friends or kids. You film some video, take photos. That event now has a 30 second video highlight automatically created by the HTC One. You can remove some of the photos you don’t like, change the random order and select from a dozen different themes that change the music and effects. And it’s all instant.

If you don’t know what I mean, see below. This was created using a few photos of my dogs George and Fury.

So do any of you know of a third party app that can create something similar on android and or windows phone 8?

Warning – don’t apply a vinyl skin to your HTC One

Android, Tech News, ,

Smartskins was a post I recently posted how you can change the look of your HTC One.

Well in the UK we have had 30℃ temperatures. Consequently, your phone is going to get hotter. Playing music and using the GPS will increase the temperature too.

Unfortunately, the black carbon skin doesn’t allow the HTC One to dissipate the heat and will therefore prevent charging until the phone is cooler.

So my advice, is don’t use this type of skin, unless you live in an igloo.

HTC One – don’t panic its repairable

Android, Tech News,

Those who have bought the HTC One probably have been very careful not to drop the unibody designed phone, especially after it was given a 1/10 score for repairability.

However, it appears HTC had a hidden feature, and that is with a special tool it is as easy to repair as the next phone. Only that you cannot do this yourself at the moment, it can only be fixed by HTC themselves.