Gadgetory

so you're a sprint customer with an eye for HTC's design language but you're not sure whether to choose Android or Windows Phone we can help you with that I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is HTC 8x T versus HTC One on Sprint third largest American carrier Sprint is one of several to carry the HTC One the Android flagship we reviewed several months back but it's the only US carrier to feature the 8xt a special variant of the HTC 8x and Sprint's first Windows Phone 8 device ever we'll have a full review on the 8 xt shortly and to make sure you don't miss it please follow us on social media and subscribe here on youtube and then join us as we put the 8 xt against the HTC One in hardware software camera performance and a few test notes let's get to it these phones might both be branded HTC but it's probably more proper to call them distant cousins than siblings the one feels every inch the flagship device in the hand it's aluminum and polycarbonate construction working together with the Sham furred edges around the display and the machined speaker holes for a premium look and feel whether it's silver or black the ones Hardware screams stylish quality while the 8xt definitely makes a different statement it would be a mistake to call it cheap feeling as you might expect from the brand name the 8x t feels a lot like the older 8 X in the hand with a soft touch paint job wrapping all the way around the tapered sides and giving the phone a grippy texture that inspires confidence so you're not gonna drop it that same rubbery finish means the 8 xt takes a bit more work to get into and out of tight pockets but it might hold up to scuffs better than the ones fancy metal at 140 grams the 8 xt is only 3 grams less massive than the HTC one but thanks to the plastic construction it feels even lighter surprisingly it looks somehow thicker as well at nine point nine millimeters it's only half a millimetre thicker than the one but the different shape matched with that California blue paint job your only choice on Sprint does funny things to your eyes firing up the displays though eliminates any doubt about which of these is high-end and which is the mid-range er the 4.7 inch s LCD 3 on the 1 cranks out 1080p resolution at 4.7 inches for a ridiculous 468 pixels per inch well the 8 xt makes do with a 4.3 inch WVGA LCD at a pretty ho-hum 216 PPI that's basically the definition of mid-range and that continues beneath the screens at the processor level as well while the ones software is pushed along by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 at 1.7 gigahertz the 8 xt runs a dual-core Snapdragon 400 instead at 1.4 gigahertz the spec Gulf continues in terms of RAM with the 8 xt carrying a single gig to the Android phones 2 gigs and the on-board storage is pitiful on the 8 xt only 8 gigs to the ones 32 with only five point five of those available to the user but that's somewhat made up for by the presence of microSD expansion on the 8 xt which is absent on the 1a neither phone offers a removable battery but the 2300 milliamp hour battery on the one definitely outclasses the 1800 milliamp hour pack on the 8 xt and finally the one sports some added trim in terms of its transceiver loadout posting 802 point 11 AC support and an IR transmitter both of which are absent on the a dock see the Android versus Windows Phone comparison is always a tricky one because the philosophies behind the platforms are so different Microsoft's interface prioritizes glanceable information housed in tiles and a very minimalistic very locked down interface whereas Android draws its utility from home screen widgets easily accessible notifications and a very customizable experience normally the differences also include responsiveness with Android usually lagging behind Windows Phone but that's not the case here the one is just as snappy and lag free thanks to its optimized software working together with that powerful hardware we talked about before the 8 xt while often as buttery smooth as we've come to expect from Windows Phone seemed a little easier to trip up than some other devices running the platform you'll want to wait for our full review here's will be checking another 8xt demo unit to see if we can reproduce that performance the bottom line is that you'll still want to choose your platform before choosing your device as there's way too much to compare for an in-store spur-of-the-moment decision definitely do your research first starting with our full Windows Phone 8 review and our HTC One on Sprint full review at pocketnow.com of the software similarities that do exist one of the most surprising is the camera viewfinder HTC has ported much of the design language and functionality of the ones viewfinder to the 8xt including the company's dual trigger approach to Stills and video and a few of its real-time filters there's also an avalanche of options to choose from in both still and video modes on both of these units so you should be able to tweak each cameras software to your particular shooting needs based on almost any environment that said these ones do pack significantly different camera hardware the one earned a name for itself in low-light photography with its optically stabilized 4 megapixel camera and it's oversized ultra pixels whereas the 8 xt features a much more conventional 8 megapixel camera the Edit resolution does it a favor while it doesn't feature the standout low-light performance of the one the 8 xt does manage to deliver some pretty nice captures in proper lighting especially outdoors and especially if the HDR option is used appropriately side by side in brightly lit conditions with a steady hand the phones produce results that are pretty comparable despite their divergent hardware specs even indoors assuming there's enough light it's possible to get similar results each camera tends to wash out a bit in bright light but in dimmer conditions the one pulls ahead rendering more detail and more authentic color than the 8 xt also because HTC's camera app on the 8 xt is pretty heavy and runs a bit sluggishly on our review unit there's more potential for motion blur when snapping off a shot finally in the still category the ones camera lenses both front and back are a little wider angle capturing more at the same distance than the and the front-facing camera on the 1 is a 2 megapixel shooter whereas the 8 xt makes 2 with a 1.6 megapixel sensor that delivers less impressive more ruddy results the video performance between these two is close to par with the 8 xt impressing us more in this category than instill the windows phones 1080p video is crisp well saturated and delivers excellent audio much like the HTC one plus there are options galore in the HTC camera app for slo-mo saturation contrast and resolution adjustments and more if we had to call a winner in the camera overall it to be the one due to its more responsive camera software and it's excellent low-light performance combined with the optical image stabilization and it's fun features like Zoe and the excellent gallery experience but the 8 xt is no slouch under more conventional conditions we were surprised by how consistent the 8 xt was with the 1 in side by side reception tests that took us beneath Boston on the city's subway system from LTE to 3G to full-service to no service to roaming coverage the to sprint devices stayed in virtual lockstep now voice quality wasn't anywhere near as consistent HTC established a reputation for an excellent calling experience on the 1 and that holds true for the Android phone but it's not matched by the 8xt callers could hear more background noise from our side with the XT and said we sounded less clear overall on the Windows Phone the call was less enjoyable on our end - with callers sounding loud but muffled in our earpiece compared to the crystal-clear quality on the 1 fortunately the XT does live up to its boom sound branding the forward firing speakers though not uniform in size on top and bottom do put out a powerful sound if anything sound was louder and bass ear on the 8xt when playing Spotify or watching Netflix you won't have any trouble hearing either of these phones there's a lot to consider when choosing between these devices the $100 price difference on contract doesn't quite go far enough to cover the large Gulf in specs and perform whether the 8xt is a good or a bad device overall will be answered in our forthcoming review but compared to the one it's not really even in the same league yes both devices are very pretty in their own ways and yes each brings some unique touches to its particular platform but the one is a flagship device and despite its name the 8xt is not about the only reason to favor the 8xt besides its microSD expansion is if you're desperate for a Windows Phone on Sprint it's your only option after all but if you're open to Android as a platform and you've got the extra hundred bucks it's the HTC one that has the walk and the talk that's more likely to keep you happiest over the course of a two-year contract kind of an unusual comparison we know folks but thank you for sticking with us to the end if you did enjoy it please toss us a like also leave a comment below if you have some feedback or a question for our full review on the HTC 8x T going up very soon at pocketnow.com and the video review going up here on our channel page so please subscribe to us here on YouTube follow us on social media once again and as always thank you for watching we'll see you next time you