HTC One hands-on

Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t she wonderful? Isn’t she precious!? Well, we know that’s what Stevie Wonder would say after taking a meticulous look at the just announced HTC One – the Taiwanese based company’s flagship Android smartphone for 2013. Seriously folks, we haven’t seen something like this since the original Google Nexus One, which also sported one heck of an iconic design of its own. Quite frankly, it’s not every day we come across a handset that evokes second glances mainly due to its stunning design, but yeah, this one is one of the precious few out there that's able to do just that. Skillfully, the HTC One brings back the metal like no other, which of course, translates to one masterful industrial design worth praise.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way people! The HTC One is one damn fine looking device, especially when it’s utilizing a sturdy metallic casing. Going with a metal unibody design, which HTC details specifically as a zero-gap aluminum body, our hands can’t stop falling in love with the sturdy feel. In comparison to other recent things, the only thing close to this design that we can remember, was the HTC One S from last year – though, the sheer magnitude of the HTC One blows it away. Even more impressive is the fact that HTC is able to keep this one equally skinny amongst the masses with its uniform profile of 9.3mm thin (0.36 inches), while being uber lightweight at the same time. Combining those things with its impeccable construction, the HTC One is simply one gorgeous thing that’s a head turner any way we look at it.

After allowing its hot design to subside, our eyes naturally become affixed to the display. However, for those HTC DROID DNA wielding owners out there, the HTC One’s display might not impress them much – albeit, it’s still one sharp looking beauty. In fact, it’s been blessed with a 4.7-inch 1080p Super LCD 3 display with Gorilla Glass 2, which is indeed lovely looking with its sharp visuals and stunning color, but not quite as immense, mainly due to size, to what we’ve seen already with the DROID DNA. Regardless of that, seeing that it delivers a pixel density of 468 ppi, our eyes have no issues whatsoever when it comes to distinguishing any fine details. Moreover, the lush color tones of the display, combined with its predictable great viewing angles, splashes on that practical amount of vibrancy to wow us from afar.

By now, we’re familiar with the intense hardware of the HTC One – such as its quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 CPU, 2GB DDR RAM, and 4G LTE connectivity. However, if there’s one detail worth mentioning, it’s that the handset is lacking a microSD card slot, which doesn’t come as a surprise in this day and age, but still, it would’ve been helpful to see it tacked on. Nevertheless, the handset will be available in 32GB and 64GB capacities to appease those who have a hunger for storage. With its new and speedy Snapdragon chipset, the HTC One flies with its performance, as every little action is accompanied with a sense of snappiness. In our brief hands-on time, we didn’t see any form of sluggishness or choppiness.

So with that, it leads us to the new >HTC Sense 5 experience, which so happens to be an overhaul. In general, we’ve always been fond of the Sense UI, especially when it’s polished from head-to-toe with its countless and snazzy looking widgets. This time around, however, HTC, has improved the experience by providing us with a cleaner, yet still seamless experience. As the name goes, this version of Sense continues to sense our experience with the new HTC BlinkFeed – an all-in-one solution that aggregates all the relevant content, mainly social networking stuff, directly on the homescreen. In the past, we saw HTC’s FriendStream widget, which accomplished the same thing, but HTC BlinkFeed takes it up a notch by updating us with news, photos, and immersive news that pertains to our needs and wants. Come to think of it, HTC BlinkFeed replaces the typical Sense homescreen we’re used to seeing with a very live tiled one instead. So yes, it does reminds us of Windows Phone a lot. Elsewhere, it’s comforting to know that HTC has refined some other aspects of the Sense experience as well as bring some new things – like HTC BoomSound, UltraPixel, and Zoe.

HTC PRESS RELEASE

HTC One with superfast 4G – only on EE

19 February 2013. London. EE, the UK's most advanced digital communications company, today announced it will exclusively launch the new HTC One smartphone with superfast 4G.

The HTC One will be available on EE's superfast 4G service via the EE online shop, EE telesales and EE retail stores from mid-March. It will be available across a range of 4GEE price plans, and is just £69.99 on a £41 per month 24 month package, with users receiving 1GB of mobile data, as well as unlimited UK calls and texts.

Paul Jevons, Director of Products and Devices, EE, said: "We're delighted to be the only operator to offer the HTC One enabled with 4G from launch. This handset delivers an incredible mobile experience when matched with EE's superfast 4G network - allowing customers to

make the most out of their HTC One when on the move."

In addition to superfast speeds and EE services, customers with an HTC One smartphone on a 4GEE price plan will also benefit from:

· EE Film – the UK film service that features 2-for-1 on cinema tickets

· A discount on EE superfast fibre broadband – so they can get blistering download speeds at home and on the move

· Fast track customer service by dialling '33' from their handset

The HTC One will also be available on the UK's largest 3G network from Orange and T-Mobile across a range of plans including £69.99 on a £36 per month, 24 month plan.

Further information on the HTC One, including full details of EE's price plans and pre-order* will be made available in due course on www.ee.co.uk/shop.