Gadgetory

if you're an American shopping for unlimited data and voice odds are good you've looked at spread but an unlimited plan as only as good as the smartphone that gives you access to it so is HTC's newest flagship a good match for the now Network let's find out I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is our video review of the HTC One on Sprint we've talked about the hardware on the HTC One before in our review of the European version and our comparison videos follow us on social media and subscribe here on youtube so you don't miss those the one features stunning build quality with an all-aluminum construction broken up only by strategically placed injected polycarbonate that helps break up the monotony of the back cover around front the precision machined holes for the boom sound speakers and the beveled edge around the display contribute further to the ones distinctive look that distinctiveness translates to the feel in hand as well a feel you can't really get at the retail store when the phone is tethered to a post the 9.3 millimeter thick center section butts up nicely against your palm while the four millimeter thick edges fool your fingers into thinking the one is thinner than it actually is the weight is perfect at 143 grams neither too heavy nor too light and the aluminum body is often cool to the touch we're a little worried about how well the metal will hold up to wear and tear that chamfered edge dents pretty easily but the deluxe look and feel is well worth it if you're into hardware aesthetics it's all held together by the 1080p s LCD 3 display which at 4.7 inches kicks out an absurdly high 468 pixels per inch the pixel density the excellent colors deep blacks and outstanding sidon visibility make this the best screen available on Sprint right now the 5 inch Sam OLED screen on the forthcoming Galaxy s4 will give it a run for its money but to our eye the differences are slight enough that this shouldn't be your deciding factor if you're considering both phones the software running on that display is Sense 5 the new HTC skin running atop Android 4.1.2 jelly bean our demo unit was a pre-production model with a very few minor bugs but HTC and Sprint informed us those would be ironed out in the release devices since five changes a lot about the stock Android look and feel but unlike previous versions of sense it adds to the experience rather than detracting from it colors are muted and used judiciously classy grays and blacks dominate the flat and low Chrome widgets and the screen real estate is used intelligently for the most part the care that HTC took in designing its software can easily be seen in apps like the dialer or the messaging app the latter of which is almost magazine like in its clean easy-to-read layout you have to get used to scrolling which is less continuous and more page-by-page and there are touches that you'll either love or love to hate like blink feed the social media and news scroller is a lot like Flipboard and while it's a pretty experience it's also slower to load and tougher to read than just using the stock Twitter or Facebook apps and its aggressive permanent positioning on the leftmost homescreen is a little overbearing we understand why HTC did it and blinkfeed is a pretty cool feature but it's not the grand slam the rest of the experiences at least not yet overall the HTC one's software build is beautiful useful and responsive thanks in no small part to the 2 gigs of RAM and that speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 CPU every corner of the UI is fluid and speedy it's not until you get over to the network side that things start to slow down a little bit we tested the HTC One on Sprint's 3g and 4g LTE networks in and around the Greater Boston area over a period of seven days speeds over 3G CDMA were pretty dismal while speeds over LTE were about average for Boston area 4G connections while outdoor coverage kept pace with AT&T and Verizon indoor coverage didn't the Sprint's version of the HTC One is only equipped for LTE at 1900 megahertz which makes sense because right now the only spectrum block on which Sprint has deployed LTE is 1900 that higher frequency means indoor coverage suffers and the one frequently Waffles back and forth between 3G and 4G inside that might have contributed to a bit of battery drain on our unit though the embedded 2300 milliamp hour lipo did generally get us through more than a full day of moderate use Sprint has announced plans to deploy LTE on its 800 megahertz Holdings next year but the one in its current form won't be able to take advantage of that so if you're buying for the long term you'll have to be okay with the one being a little harder of hearing in the reception department then smartphones of 2014 are likely to be fortunately it's eight or 2.11 AC compatibility means it's screams on Wi-Fi networks using that technology getting back to more conventional testing there's some good news the one is a very solid performer in the phone call department callers said we sounded very clear compared to other phones and even in noisy environments we could still hold a conversation with no problem though callers did say they could make out more background noise when we rolled down the window in a speeding car for example similarly in loudspeaker mode callers said they could tell we were on a speakerphone but that the effect wasn't bad on our end the earpiece delivered rich nuanced and plenty loud sound and that effect only grew more pronounced when switching over to speakerphone mode whether it's phone calls YouTube or Netflix watching or streaming music on Spotify the combination of Beats Audio front firing speakers and the amplifier driven boom sound technology gives the HTC One almost unreal audio performance if you're planning on using your unlimited data plan to stream media the HTC One offers the best audio experience available from a sprint smartphone there's candy for the eyes here too in the ones ultra pixel camera we've talked extensively about the ones oversized pixels and how it's shooter compares to other devices so we won't retread our steps here in brief the HTC One delivers photos that you'll be happy to share on social media and via MMS and given the right lighting it's actually capable of some really beautiful photos at least in terms of smartphone photography its colors are a little warm and the four megapixel resolution means you can't zoom in on the photos too far after the fact but it does incredibly well in low-light scenarios keeping pace with the king of dim room photography the Lumia 920 that combined with good video performance cool innovations like Zoe and an immersive gallery make the ones camera a solid performer worthy of praise despite our reservations about its lower resolution sprints HTC One isn't perfect its lack of a removable battery and no expandable memory or a 64 gigabyte option means some users might feel a little constrained also Sprint's 4G build-out is still in its early stages so many users will be stuck on 3G as they wait for big yellow to catch up but those Network realities will affect any Sprint customers and the one is certainly not the first phone in history to lack Hardware customization options the bottom line is this if you're shopping for an Android smartphone on Sprint you're not going to find a device with more beautiful hardware or software design the forthcoming Galaxy s4 will definitely give the one a run for its money in terms of specs but it's not bringing all that much new to the table compared to the earlier Galaxy s3 you'll have to wait for our full review on the Galaxy s4 for more but if you're in the market right now for a premium Android experience on one of the nation's last remaining unlimited carriers or you're an existing sprint customer curious about what the luxury Evo line has evolved into the HTC One is a perfect fit we give it an eight point eight out of ten for more on the spread HTC one including our written impressions and benchmark scores and a whole lot more see our full review at pocketnow.com and check out our comparison videos here on youtube leave us a like if you enjoyed the video leave us a comment if you have something to say and thank you for watching we'll see you next time you