Gadgetory

hey everybody it's michael fisher with pocket now and this is the HTC one x this isn't the international variant we reviewed a few weeks back though this is the carrier specific version for AT&T in the united states that doesn't just mean a different logo so let's dive in and see what's different what's new and exciting and maybe what's not exciting about the AT&T HTC One X ok so starting off with the box itself I have to say this is a very very average presentation for an AT&T device pop in the box open we're immediately greeted by the device itself I'm going to put that aside for a second though and we see the sim removal tool under this piece of cardboard a quick start guide your standard wall plug and USB charger both done up in white that's very nice all in all a pretty standard pretty unimpressive presentation 18t really could have done better here now the reason I'm giving AT&T such a hard time about this kind of mediocre packaging is because the device the box contains isn't just one of your standard run-of-the-mill middle-of-the-road Android handsets it's one of the most beautiful pieces of tech hardware I've ever handled seriously now it is so great to see manufacturers focusing on hardware design again this is a beautiful beautiful device the screen is 4.7 inches across which is beastly but it doesn't feel like it's that large because of how well engineered the phone is the white polycarbonate really showcases this airfoil like design and the feel in the hand is just incredible so up front we've got that big super LCD panel down bottom three capacitive buttons for ICS and up top some nice patterned machined holes for the earpiece behind which is also the status LED and next to that we've got the front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera up top a three-and-a-half millimeter headphone jack and noise cancelling microphone next door along with a sim tray and the power standby button on the right side all we have is a volume rocker and nothing else and on the other side of the phone we have just the micro USB port and finally on the back that huge very pronounced lens for the 8 megapixel camera with the offset flash looking like an orbiting moon or something cool like that Pogo connectors on the side and finally the Beats Audio branding and the speakerphone grill at the bottom the tape here is covering up this devices imei and serial numbers sorry cloners now while the AT&T version of the 1x might look effectively identical to the global version there are some very important differences inside because of its LTE support the AT&T version of the 1x ships with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon instead of the quad-core Tegra 3 on the international version this has led some people to say that this version of the 1x is more like a 1s in One X's body does that ring true let's check it out now since 4 is definitely the lightest version I've seen in a long time 18 he told me that HTC's focus with this version of sense was to add features it thought were missing rather than to mess with features already present but at the end of the day it's still a skin and it still got some shortcomings on the plus side sense really does add a lot of customizability to android which is already the most customizable OS out there things like personalized lock screens and adaptive skins and themes like this weather theme will be a real value add for some people and the ability to jump right into a dock application from the lock screen is very useful this makes up somewhat for the lack of a dedicated camera key for example also the multitasking button exhibits no delay when pressed and HTC's cards view which borrows heavily from webOS is more intuitive than the stock ICS switcher is also the usual complement of widgets and added features on the downside even in its lighter form sense is still heavy enough to slow the phone's boot time and responsiveness noticeably and it's uglier elements are all present apps nowhere is sense less satisfying than in the keyboard which is oversized and the layout just isn't very good it's autocorrect dictionary is not as good as the stock ICS version it's not as quick and the faux swipe mode might be useful to some but to me this keyboard is one of the weakest parts of sense now as far as overall performance of this device versus the quad core version I found exactly what I expected to find which is to say not much difference in day-to-day use in his review of the quad core version our editor-in-chief Brandon minimun pointed too laggy performance I can see the same kind of occasional slowdowns and stutters on my device and yeah you know considering the powerful Hardware under the hood it's a little annoying the occasional stop and stutter weather problems like this are a deal breaker for you well depends on how much you value a truly fluid UI and frankly though it's come a long way Android still has a way to go in that department I found battery life to be fairly standard the non removable 1,800 milliamp hour battery gave me better performance than the 2100 milliamp hour battery and my Galaxy Nexus but you're definitely going to want to carry a charger around if you're engaging in any kind of heavy use especially making use of that LTE connectivity speaking of LTE performance over 18 T's network in New York City and Boston here in the United States was spectacular now while my speeds did vary according to speed tests the perceived speed my experience as a user was that I was almost never waiting for the phone to catch up phone calls were just fine callers reported that I sounded very clear but even the noise cancelling mic couldn't deal with a sustained stiff breeze outside as far as the value adds that HTC is pushing with their authentic sound amazing camera brand statement I found the experience to be just fine it's obvious that the saturation on the camera is a bit on the high side and the device doesn't hold on to focus terribly well but still if you're viewing the photos on this beautiful s LCD panel they really really do look incredible it's not until you get them onto a computer that they're somewhat mediocre nature becomes evident and this kind of performance would be atrocious from a dedicated point-and-shoot camera but this is a phone camera I think it's really really okay it's no iphone 4s but it's also no Galaxy Nexus so it could be worse the real advancements are in the camera UI which doesn't force you to decide between a video recording button and a camera shutter key this is the same viewfinder for both modes which is really awesome it's a huge time-saver the ability to shoot still shots when you're in a video is a nice add-on as is the burst shot mode you just hold down the capture key and capture many images in sequence then the software saves all of the photos at once and allows you to decide the best one then it'll discard all the rest once you decide that that is the best shot the filters on the camera are a lot of fun to play with as well at least until the novelty wears off and some of them are even cooler than what you could find an admittedly basic Instagram as far as sound goes I'll only say this real audio files aren't going to be depending on their phone to deliver a professional-grade experience and that's good because beats won't do it to my admittedly untrained the ears beats really does very little besides boosting the base and upping the volume some what does that mean I think it shouldn't be included absolutely not I actually found it more enjoyable when beats was enabled it helped out in noisy environments like the subway but I also don't think it's nearly as special as HTC wants it to be and it certainly doesn't warrant a special logo on the back from a design standpoint this is without a doubt one of my favorite devices ever from the materials chosen to the design lines everything about it is just beautiful really from a software perspective I commend HTC for listening feedback and lightening up on their skin this is definitely the best version of sense I've used and some of its add-ons are really very pretty and very useful but even the best of skins demand a trade-off and for my money I'd rather have stock ICS which still offers a better user experience in my opinion at least the option to run stock would have been very nice although this hardware is beautiful the phone is truly massive it doesn't feel huge in the hand due to its slimness but trying to use it one-handed is an exercise in futility I have to shift it in my hand to get my thumb up to get up to the notification drawer and if I want to go down here I have to shift it again to get down to these buttons here creating a very real risk of dropping the phone if I'm using it one-handed because of this slippery polycarbonate shell which feels great but which could easily result in you dropping it to the floor I wouldn't call it a deal breaker but you're definitely going to want to handle this phone yourself before you consider picking one up it's that big even though it has some shortcomings though if I were in the market for an android phone on AT&T this device would definitely be on my short list it's the best version of sense yet on the most beautiful hardware design i've seen in a long time and the 720p display is out of this world our score on the AT&T HTC One X is 4 out of 5 this has been Michael Fisher with pocket now check the website for a full review and photo galleries don't forget to give us a thumbs up here if you like what you saw and thanks for watching we'll see you next time you