Anandtech's HTC One Review is up!

[Graze]

the htc one is not out yet either,its listed as coming soon for every carrier and on htc home page and I wouldn't be surprised that the gs4 comes out before it.

And do you know if Samsung made them sign an agreement to not publish a phone review before a certain date?
From what I have seen no major website has posted a review of the S4.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I thought it was a great review. I loved that stuff about the CPU seeing as how almost every major American phone will have this SoC this year.

Sure he seemed to fall in love with the build quality, but that is understandable when your job is to compare hardware all day. The little details in build make a bigger difference from that perspective than the perspective of users who care more about pure functionality like us.

Personally my only beef is at the end when he basically starts talking to HTC directly about improving development relations. I would have much preferred some discussion about a big downside to HTC in the back of my mind- slow to deliver Android updates. Some insight from HTC what versions of the One will be easy to ROM would have been great.

Other than that, that was the best Android phone review since the S3.

 

[Deeko]

It feels great held in the hand blah blah, like any sane guy would buy a $500+ phone without putting it in a protective case.

I've never put a case on my phone. I can't stand them. They make the phone thicker, uglier, and don't feel as solid. So, yea - some sane, tech savvy people don't.

 

[Owls]

The hotspot test has remained the same since I put it together honestly since I don't think there's anything that's really necessary to change with it.

Can you guys begin testing in car connectivity? Make sure that manufacturers implement a complete bluetooth stack?

 

[krumme]

All of those for one phone. While mixing in yester-years phones (and select tablets (?!) per different data set), and ignoring current competition. Inevitably it leaves an impression of favoritism. And unfortunately AT has garnered unique reputation when it comes to such over the years. I feel bad for editors who genuinely try to help users but can't escape from the widely perceived notion of AT's reputation.

For products that aim for the masses, IMO, it is best to review them without the manufacturers' input. (Unless you can make a difference for the users) The more incomunicado, the better - since that's how most end-users will use the products. The more you communicate with the OEMs, the more justifications (from the OEM) you will hear, and there is always a risk of being duped or sympathized.

I hope HTC will follow through with this product for AT's sake. ^_^

Well the review you ask for is not AT style, and i perfectly agree about the weakness you describe. I prefer the info, when it as here is used together with good analysis. I i dont think you get the info without some sort of bias, a little intended but especially not intended. That would be naive. I will make my own judgement and think people can do themselves, especially the ones going to AT and reading this sort of review. If people can understand the technical talk, they can judge the rest.
Besides the reviewer is not some objective meassuring instrument, and that adds. to the above.
I have been very specific where i interprete the results differently.
For my personal perspective there is no way i will buy a heavier phone with a smaller, and probably worse, screen for the looks compared to fx. s4, but thats my priority. I perfectly understand people going for the looks. Unfortunately i think its going to be a minority, because Samsung needs some competition.

 

[krumme]

I see no need to trash a good product. It reeks of insecurity. Samsung makes good products (just not good enough for me as I don't like their AMOLED screens) but you won't see me trashing their build quality or hardware, which are , um, durable and expansive, respectfully. Some people here feel they need to justify their purchase by trashing a perfectly good product. It's ridiculous. The leader of the pack is clearly S44. It's sad...

Yeaa i agree, there is no need for trashing, it reeks of insecurity.

 

[pakotlar]

Anyone else amazed at how well the Exynos 4412 compares to Krait 300?

My note 2 seems to do very well compared to top SOC's, maybe this comes down to memory bandwidth, cache performance? For example, on Geekbench @ 1.8ghz my Note 2 scores ~ 2000 int, 3400 float, 1650 memory bandwidth, 790 stream.

 

[s44]

The hotspot test has remained the same since I put it together honestly since I don't think there's anything that's really necessary to change with it.

I didn't say it changed, I said that you posted the most bizarre comparisons on the chart.

Why the heck are ancient phones that no one bought like the Inspire and the Revolution mentioned? Why not post these comparisons showing the One actually doing worse than the international One X? (And how come the Note 2 battery review never listed a hotspot result?)

 

[deathBOB]

Hmm, looks like Samsung also copied Apple's Reality Distortion Field.

Brian, any chance of a battery life test with software power saving features turned on? I value battery life more than absolute top performance, and I imagine other potential buyers share my views. It would be nice to see how effective each manufacturer's solution is and whether the performance trade-offs are worth it.

 

[krumme]

Anyone else amazed at how well the Exynos 4412 compares to Krait 300?

My note 2 seems to do very well compared to top SOC's, maybe this comes down to memory bandwidth, cache performance? For example, on Geekbench @ 1.8ghz my Note 2 scores ~ 2000 int, 3400 float, 1650 memory bandwidth, 790 stream.

+1
Benchmarking phones is a nightmare. Have anyone played with the s3 in the international variant using 4412 and compared it to the s4 variant? what is the perciewed difference of fx. browserspeed?

I dont know, its like the 4412 in the s3 feels notiable faster that the dual core a9 in the s2 when surfing. I cant beliewe its because of the cores???

 

[Phokus]

The hotspot test has remained the same since I put it together honestly since I don't think there's anything that's really necessary to change with it.

Well damn, i didn't notice the author of the review posting in here! Can you give us a timetable on when the Galaxy S4 review is going to be on Anandtech? I'm ***EAGERLY*** awaiting that review so i can decide if i want the HTC One or S4. Thanks!

 

[Dulanic]

Well damn, i didn't notice the author of the review posting in here! Can you give us a timetable on when the Galaxy S4 review is going to be on Anandtech? I'm ***EAGERLY*** awaiting that review so i can decide if i want the HTC One or S4. Thanks!

^^ This. As long as it is before end of the month I'll be happy.

 

[Skurge]

I don't know how I feel about this review. It was really well written and there isn't a doubt the ONE is an excellent phone worthy of standing toe to toe with any phone.

But I get the feeling he was hung up on the cosmetic stuff. There was the usual in depth stuff for the camera and SOC that other sites fail to do. I find it a bit odd that he gave this phone the editors award. When the iPhone, iPhone 4 and Galaxy S2 didn't get it for example which were all awesome phones.

I just seemes like the review gives you the impression that there are no down sides to the phones. Don't get me wrong, I think the review is pretty well done.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

the htc one is not out yet either,its listed as coming soon for every carrier and on htc home page and I wouldn't be surprised that the gs4 comes out before it.

The htc one should be reviewed against its competitors,I wise choice would of been to put it head to head with its main comp,the gs4 and the sony xperia

Look, ONE phone has to come first. If the GS4 review came first, the HTC fanboys would be shouting. Oh wait, there are none here. There are multiple threads bragging about Samsung but about HTC's failures. The point is one review has to come first. Brian is only one guy and even with Anand, you can't expect they want to time the reviews to come out simultaneously.

When Brian and/or Anand finish with the GS4, it will be out. I can only hope it gets the same amount of detail this review got.

I also hope that they do the same for the next Nexus. The N4 wasn't even included in the camera tests, but I somehow think if it did, it would've gotten stomped. The iPhone 5 got a lot of negative press in this review, but TBH the iPhone 5 rocks the GS3 and One X and Nexus 4 completely in terms of camera quality. But maybe we're just at that cusp of seeing a new age of camera sensors. I'm curious to see how the GS4 does.

Edit: Also interesting is that the N4 throttles so much. Is it that it gets too hot or that it throttles easily? The HTC One doesn't get hot? Perhaps temperature reports of the CPU will be interesting to look at during gaming or stress testing. Or even subjective analysis will do.

 

[silverpig]

It feels great held in the hand blah blah, like any sane guy would buy a $500+ phone without putting it in a protective case.

Like any sane guy would buy an ultra thin phone and then double the thickness by putting it in an awkward plastic case.

I just put a thin film screen protector on my phones.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Like any sane guy would buy an ultra thin phone and then double the thickness by putting it in an awkward plastic case.

I just put a thin film screen protector on my phones.

cases are important. I've dropped my Nexus 4 more than once, and I would think that it would've shattered if it weren't for the case. People don't put cases on their phones for it to be fat. They put them on for protection.

 

[Skurge]

Look, ONE phone has to come first. If the GS4 review came first, the HTC fanboys would be shouting. Oh wait, there are none here. There are multiple threads bragging about Samsung but about HTC's failures. The point is one review has to come first. Brian is only one guy and even with Anand, you can't expect they want to time the reviews to come out simultaneously.

When Brian and/or Anand finish with the GS4, it will be out. I can only hope it gets the same amount of detail this review got.

I also hope that they do the same for the next Nexus. The N4 wasn't even included in the camera tests, but I somehow think if it did, it would've gotten stomped. The iPhone 5 got a lot of negative press in this review, but TBH the iPhone 5 rocks the GS3 and One X and Nexus 4 completely in terms of camera quality. But maybe we're just at that cusp of seeing a new age of camera sensors. I'm curious to see how the GS4 does.

Edit: Also interesting is that the N4 throttles so much. Is it that it gets too hot or that it throttles easily? The HTC One doesn't get hot? Perhaps temperature reports of the CPU will be interesting to look at during gaming or stress testing. Or even subjective analysis will do.

If the Nexus 4 still has throttling issues they aren't showing up in 3Dmark where it is consistently at the top of the list thanks to the 4.2.2. I can only imagine the SGS4 will be fastest mobile device around since it's clocked quite a bit higher than the ONE and it's running 4.2.2.

That also begs the question. How well will HTC keep up with Android updates. I think this is the 1st time I've seen a none nexus phone launch with the newest version of android.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

If the Nexus 4 still has throttling issues they aren't showing up in 3Dmark where it is consistently at the top of the list thanks to the 4.2.2. I can only imagine the SGS4 will be fastest mobile device around since it's clocked quite a bit higher than the ONE and it's running 4.2.2.

That also begs the question. How well will HTC keep up with Android updates. I think this is the 1st time I've seen a none nexus phone launch with the newest version of android.

Perhaps we should see how the HTC One does in 3Dmark? The HTC One seems to clobber the Nexus 4 even despite outputting 1080p in the tests Brian's done. I thought we were more GPU limited in Android than CPU limited.

 

[Skurge]

Perhaps we should see how the HTC One does in 3Dmark? The HTC One seems to clobber the Nexus 4 even despite outputting 1080p in the tests Brian's done. I thought we were more GPU limited in Android than CPU limited.

The Nexus 4 already beats the HTC ONE in 3Dmark. The test is run in either 720p or 1080p regardless of the devices display resolution.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6875/3dmark-for-android-performance-preview

 

[Roland00Address]

Well damn, i didn't notice the author of the review posting in here! Can you give us a timetable on when the Galaxy S4 review is going to be on Anandtech? I'm ***EAGERLY*** awaiting that review so i can decide if i want the HTC One or S4. Thanks!

If Samsung made Brian or Anand sign a NDA ( a 99% chance ) they can't talk about the product at all, even announcing a review date breaks the NDA

 

[miadavies]

It feels great held in the hand blah blah, like any sane guy would buy a $500+ phone without putting it in a protective case.

Do you mean you are a user yet?

 

[Face2Face]

So is the difference between the S4 Pro and Snapdragon 600 that big?

 

[lothar]

The hotspot test has remained the same since I put it together honestly since I don't think there's anything that's really necessary to change with it.

If the hotspot test has remained the same, then why did you avoid including recent flagship phones on it?

Why are there so many phones from 2011 and 2010 in the hotspot chart of the HTC One?
The only 2012 phone in the hotspot comparison is the iPhone 5 and Droid DNA. All other phones listed that you compared the HTC One to are older than dirt.

How hard is it to copy results of recent flagship phones from previous reviews?
If you include the results of recent flagship phones from the Nexus 4 review, interestingly enough the HTC One moves from top of the herd to "average" in the hotspot test.

Going forward, I want to see something like this:
Include top flagship phones from all the manufacturers...HTC, Motorola, Samsung, LG, and whatever the latest Google Nexus phone that is out.
In this case, you would compare the HTC One to it's previous gen flagship...the HTC OneX, and the Samsung Galaxy S III, Droid Razr HD, LG Optimus G, and Nexus 4 which are the best flagship phones out today from those other companies.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

cases are important. I've dropped my Nexus 4 more than once, and I would think that it would've shattered if it weren't for the case. People don't put cases on their phones for it to be fat. They put them on for protection.

Isn't the One essentially a write-off if the screen gets broken? Carry one around without a case/insurance and you're nuts imo.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

SNIP.

lol i somehow hope this is a mistake and that Brian selected the wrong batch of phones to compare... because you're right. other than the iphone 5 and droid dna, everything is old as dirt... LG Revolution LOL. Nexus One.