HTC One X review

HTC has been under tremendous pressure. The past year has seen their status as top Android manufacturer slowly whittled away by Samsung. Even Google, who launched the Nexus developer series with HTC, has looked towards the Korean behemoth. Things were looking bleaked for the beleaguered Taiwanese OEM manufacturer, who struggled to come up with new exciting design for the smartphones. That was until they announced their flagship monster, the One X.

The One X is HTC's comeback phone. The initial press rendering doesn't do the phone any favours as the distinctive HTC design language remained the same as it was for a couple of years now. Still and I admit, the One X is one gorgeous looking smartphone and simply the best looking Android smartphone I have ever had the opportunity to use. It features a single unibody aluminium body that beautifully wraps around the display.

HTC One X OTA update fixes camera bug

HTC today released an over the air (OTA) firmware update for their new flagship Tegra 3-powered One X smartphone. No official changelog has been provided, but it is said to provide a number of fixes including battery optimisation, fixes to on-screen menu, brightness level, as well as various minor fixes. While the Android ICS version remains at 4.0.3, the updates increases the firmware version to 1.28.401.9.

I can confirm that the update also fixes the camera bug issue that is documented in my HTC One X camera review. The bug, which has never been acknowledge by HTC, prevents the device from saving images larger than 3MB. Indeed, the first thing I did after applying the update was capture an image of a brick wall (something I always do to test the lens for barrel distortion), which resulted in an image file north of 4MB. Lovely. Good job HTC.

A brick wall may be boring, but it is a demanding test for your puny cameraphone. You can also hurl your phone at it.

My HTC One X unit has also exhibited serious screen flickering and corruption issue but I can't confirm whether this update fixes it as the issue appears at random and there is no real way of replicating it easily.

While the camera bug should never have escaped initial testing before deployment of the One X, it is nice to see HTC providing an update that fixes it, among others, barely two weeks after the smartphone was released. The update should be available on European HTC One X units. An OTA update for other markets will no doubt follow soon.

HTC One X camera review

Once upon a time HTC made very good smartphones with very bad imaging parts. Cameras so bad that when you bought a HTC smartphone that comes equipped with a camera you would assume it doesn't come with one. These days however, HTC phones comes with adequate camera sensors that does the job well. One would even argue that apart from Nokia and Sony (Ericsson), HTC now makes some of the best smartphones when it comes to imaging.

Now, the image quality on the HTC One X isn't the best. In fact images, even those taken in daylight, suffers from plenty of noise and evidence of over processing and sharpening. Having said that, high image quality isn't a deal breaker for a performance-focused smartphone. When I am carrying a cameraphone, what I expect it to do is be quick. And here is where the One X excels. Boy, the camera here is fast. It takes about three seconds in total to unlock the phone, press the touchscreen camera shutter and capture, autofocus and all. It's the sort of camera you want to be with if you are the type of person who does not like missing the moment then post right away on Twitter and Facebook.

HTC One X first impressions

Is there a more exciting Android smartphone announced at MWC this year than the HTC One X? Not many people seem to think so. The HTC One X has been collecting plenty of accolades since its release last week, and it was about time it was put this under the stress of a review by yours truly.

HTC's press rendering of the One X doesn't do it much justice. The One X is simply gorgeous and is easily the most beautiful Android smartphone I have ever held. With a single unibody aluminium body, the HTC One X retains the now recognisable HTC design language but with subtile changes that makes it fresh. With a slightly curved 4.7" 720p HD display, the One X is begging to be fondled the moment you set your eyes on one.