Gadgetory

from the last gasp of a failed comeback year to a fresh new hope for 2013 in some ways the two latest smartphones that of HTC couldn't be more different in others they're very much the same I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is HTC One versus HTC Droid DNA now we're still relatively new to the HTC One so rather than make guesses or premature proclamations we're gonna leave some conclusions for our full review follow PocketNow on social media and subscribe here on YouTube so you don't miss it to get you the most bang for your buck though we will be covering build quality specs user interface camera performance and a few test notes let's start with build quality the DNA and the one looked incredibly similar from some angles you don't have to read the HTC logos to be able to see that these devices definitely come from the same manufacturer we always found the DNA's design beautiful especially considering the 5-inch screen shoehorn into a relatively slim chassis but side by side with the one it quickly starts looking dated yes the soft touch exterior is more grippy but it's also more conventional more commonplace the one's shiny aluminum might scratch over time but it's absolutely gorgeous in person and there is a black version available for a more subtle look the injection molded detailing really helps break up the vast expanse of the back cover something you can't say about the DNA but the one also retains the palm kissing curve of the DNA doing away with the Troublesome USB flap in the process and the use of metal only increases its weight over the DNA by five grams it comes in at a very nice 143 grams all this combined with the Machine 2 ports above and below the ones smaller display for the speakers and the much-ballyhooed chamfered edge flanking the screen gives the one a much more mature appearance than the DNA just like the old one X helped pull HTC's design language into the modern era after a dull 2011 the new HTC One is setting a modern tone for 2013 and sad to say making the DNA seem quite ho-hum by comparison that modernization includes the gut of these devices and the HTC one packs enhancements there to our global review unit packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 running at 1.7 gigahertz that's 200 megahertz faster than the DNA is Snapdragon s4 pro but both models are backed up by the same two gigs of ram neither of these devices offers expandable memory but the one is much better off than the DNA with 32 gigs on board to the DNA's 16 speaking of stuff you can't remove the 2300 milliamp hour battery is sealed up inside the HTC One but at least it's a bit larger than the DNA's similarly sealed mm 20 milliamp power pack a good thing because it has two power bluetooth 4.0 Wi-Fi a B G and n NFC and of course the HSPA and LTE radios that make it a smart phone an O CDMA here in our global version by the way moving on to something a fair bit more visible the screen both of these panels are s LCD 3 displays putting out a full 1080p resolution the ones display is smaller at 4.7 inches and therefore kicks out 468 ppi to the DNA's 5 inch 441 PPI display color saturation is excellent blacks are quite deep for an LCD and sidon visibility is just unbelievable these screens are as close to perfect as you can get on a smartphone in 2013 it's what's displayed on those screens that's different and here we come to the interface the Droid DNA shipped with sense 4 plus the 2012 version of HTC's Android skin it ran very swiftly on the DNA but the skin still felt pretty intrusive and it didn't age gracefully as we noted in the DNA's recent episode of after the buzz since desperately needed a shake up and a shake up is just what the HTC One provides with Sense 5 will have full impressions in our forthcoming review but sense 5 is an improvement in almost every way over its earlier iteration it's not really any less intrusive this is still a heavy if not a heavier Android UI layer but its flavor has changed from stodgy to hip and the responsiveness has been kicked up even further you may not find use for all the chrome like HTC's new blinkfeed and not all of the new paradigms feel like a step forward the new multitasking screen and home button positioning are sure to be polarizing but sense 5 definitely feels less like another coat of paint over the same rusting bulkhead it's more like a ground-up rethinking of HTC's approach to its skin and that's something we welcome with open arms another thing we are always happy to see is improved camera quality something the HTC lineup definitely needed the verizon phone used the same optics as the HTC One X from last year and produced similarly disappointing results the HTC one replaces the DNA's conventional 8 megapixel primary shooter with a 4 megapixel ultra pixel unit so-called because of the increased pixel size and a more extensive suite of software features the results using automatic settings are encouraging the 1 doesn't produce the best smartphone results we've ever seen and therefore megapixel size means zoom ability is negligible but on the whole the color balance and sharpness of the ones photos is good and it definitely puts out much better photos than the DNA differences in video output are more subtle but low-light performance on the HTC One is amazing right up there with the Lumia 920's miracle-working we've covered the Lumia vs 1 and DNA versus one camera comparison more extensively in a special pair of features at pocketnow.com but there's no getting around it overall the ones ultra pixel camera beats the pants off the Droid DNA's as it should we're continuing to test the 1 so our findings are preliminary and it's difficult to get meaningful results when you're testing a Verizon device against an unlocked global device with an AT&T SIM card that said the one has performed the standard smartphone duties quite well just like on the Droid DNA callers say we sound fine over both earpiece and speakerphone and they come through just fine on our end as well the ones forward-firing speakerphone does offer a much nicer experience than the DNA's rear-mounted unit in this regard and that's not confined to phone calls everything that outputs sound from Spotify to Netflix is just better because the sound is coming at you instead of blasting away from you when you think of it it's amazing more manufacturers don't fix this similar to what we said earlier about HTC Sense the one as a whole feels much more like a ground-up rethinking of the whole smartphone experience than an iteration on an older concept the Droid DNA is still an excellent smartphone with a beautiful display and a flagship class feature set and the presumed software update to the new version of sense will definitely give it some enhanced staying power but from its aesthetics to its camera it's very much a creature of yesterday living in the world of tomorrow a world the new HTC one looks more than ready to take on folks we have much more coming on the new HTC One in the days and weeks ahead stay tuned to pocketnow.com for our full review as well as a whole lot of other content in the meantime thank you for watching once again I'm Michael with PocketNow stay tuned for more