HTC One XL review: is 4G enough to steal Samsung’s thunder?
With all the attention on the release of Samsung’s Galaxy SIII, it’s easy to forget another smartphone that was released this week; HTC One XL, the LTE-enabled version of HTC’s already popular One X smartphone. With the LTE version of the SIII still yet to be released, can the HTC take some of the shine away from the Samsung launch for data hungry power users? Does it have what it takes to compete with the SIII for the general consumer?
In this review, I'll go through the pros and cons of HTC’s flagship device and even give some comparisons to the daddy of ICS devices; the 8-month old Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Specs
In order to accommodate the LTE radio, HTC have had to switch processors from the Tegra 3 on the One X to Snapdragon’s S4 dual core processor. Despite not being quad-core like the Tegra 3, various benchmarks show that the S4 chip holds its own while offering better battery life compared to NVIDIA’s quad-core powerhouse.
Certainly, in day-to-day usage their seems to be no disadvantages to the dual core chip. Another specs common with the One X are 1GB RAM, 32GB storage, 8 megapixel camera with an F2.0 aperture (for better low light performance) and a 1800mAh battery.
Design
Picking up the HTC after using the Nexus after 7 months, the polycarbonate shell of the One X has a “premium” feel to it. While the Galaxy Nexus and the SIII are well made the HTC just feels like a better built device, even though the SIII also uses polycarbonate.
HTC also has been adventurous with the design, with a more striking appearance compared to the simple yet ergonomic design of the SIII. It reminds me a lot of the recent Nokia smartphones (particularly the Lumia 900); so much so that you could easily replace the HTC logo with a Nokia one and the general consumer would be none the wiser.
In many ways, this feels like the true successor to the original HTC Desire. There are a few downsides to this design over the SIII however:
-The camera protrudes out from the back, leaving the lens venerable to scratches
-The Samsung’s more rounded back and sides make it a more comfortable fit in the hand compared to the One XL. While both the SIII and the HTC are roughly the same size, the Samsung feels smaller in the hand given it’s ergonomic shape.
-The one piece shell means there is no removable battery or MicroSD slot, something that the SIII has.
Screen
If the Galaxy Nexus screen is good and the Galaxy SIII screen is great, then the HTC One XL screen is magnificent. The 4.7 inch Super IPS LCD screen manages to be almost as vivid as the AMOLED for colour saturation, but is much more accurate in reproducing those colours. It also reproduces whites a lot better than both the Pentile based Galaxy Nexus and SIII AMOLED displays (as shown below)
HTC One XL (left) and Samsung Galaxy Nexus (right) both at 100% brightness
The really amazing part of this display though is the viewing angles. The display seems like its floating on top of the glass and doesn’t fade no matter what angle you view it from.
HTC’s auto brightness configuration is also miles ahead of both Samsung Galaxy models, which tend to be overly aggressive to help save battery life. While I have a toggle widget to enable full brightness when I need to, I haven’t had to use it yet and probably never will have to.
This is one category where the One XL truly has the goods on the Galaxy SIII.
Software
From left to right: HTC home screen, Recent Apps menu, Lock screen with weather
I was reluctant after using the pure Google experience of the Galaxy Nexus to go back to a manufacturers skin like the Sense UI, however for the most part I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Sense 4.0 is easily the most streamlined UI yet and adds some nice additional features compared to stock ICS.
While I was sceptical of the full screen Recent Apps menu system compared to the overlay method used in Stock ICS, it actually works extremely well purely for the performance. It is instant to activate and scrolling through apps is smooth.
HTC also adds value through customisable shortcuts and the ability to show different information from the lock screen. The 4 customisable shortcuts on the bottom of your home screens also appear in the lock screen, giving you quick access to your most used apps. You can also set the background of the lock screen to display different information such as calendar appointments, weather info (as shown in the screenshot above), stock quotes and others.
While HTC adds some useful features, there are areas of the UI which they can improve. Once the leading soft keyboard for Android, HTC’s keyboard is now cumbersome, slow and inaccurate compared to Samsung’s SIII and the stock ICS keyboard; while also using the most screen real estate. While Sense 4.0 is definitely HTC’s least intrusive UI yet, there are still areas where it feels like it’s bogging down the system. It’s nothing deal breaking but every now and then you notice a stutter or hesitation of input that wouldn’t happen on the Galaxy Nexus, and certainly doesn’t happen on the lightning quick SIII.
However the biggest issue is with the 3 dot menu bar that appears on apps that don’t contain the action bar as advised by Google for ICS devices. The SIII has gone against Google’s guidelines and kept a dedicated menu button while the One XL has gone for the ICS standard back, home, recent app button format. As such when an app that requires a menu button is loaded, a 3 dot menu bar is shown across the bottom of the device; purely acting as a on-screen menu button (see below)
HTC keyboard, app drawer, Flipboard showing the 3 dot menu bar
This wastes valuable screen real estate for a lot of popular apps including Facebook, Twitter and Flipboard which haven’t introduced the action bar into their apps yet. While there is a mod available online to remove this bar and remap either the home or recent apps button as a menu key, it requires root access which can potentially void your warranty or even worse, brick your device if done incorrectly.
4G/DC-HSPA+ connectivity
In my mind, the major bottleneck in modern smartphones is data speeds. To be honest, if the Galaxy Nexus gave me usable data speeds while in the city or at work I probably wouldn’t have bought the One XL. The performance and specs of the Galaxy Nexus in all other area is still more than capable for my usage patterns.
If you work in or around a CBD like I do you would have noticed even on Telstra’s strong Next G network, congestion will slow your data speeds to a crawl at times. 4G eliminates that congestion and while it too will suffer from congestion once more people are on the network, the extra bandwidth available will be better equipped to deal with it.
Once you get this phone into a 4G zone it is very impressive, both in speed and battery drain (more on that later). So I got into the city and was on a train when I did the below speed test.
While 4G will be the big selling point of this device; there is another, possibly even more important, cellular technology on-board the One XL for consumers: Dual-Cell High-Speed Packet Access (DC-HSPA+).
In basic terms, DC-HSPA+ allows a device to access 2 downlink signals simultaneously to achieve up to a theoretical 42Mbit/s download speed over 3G. With the standard Galaxy SIII and Galaxy Nexus having only HPSA+ 21Mbit/s capacity, the One XL shows improved data performance on 3G networks.
I tested this with a number of speed tests over 3G at my workplace in East Perth. Where the Galaxy Nexus would struggle to hit 900kbps, the lowest result I got with the One XL was 1500kbps. However the average result was around the 4000kbps mark as per below (I’m guessing the towers weren’t as congested at the time as well).
With DC-HSPA+ technology on-board, it not surprising that Telstra have given this handset a Blue Tick rating as one of only 5 current smartphones recommended for rural handheld coverage.
Camera
It’s unfair to compare the One XL’s 8 megapixel shooter to the 5 megapixel disappointment on the Galaxy Nexus. Obviously the One XL produces much better photos than the Nexus and it’s F2.0 aperture means that it performs fantastically in low light as well.
There have been tests done between the Galaxy SIII and the One X that shows the SIII has the advantage overall but the One X triumphs in low light. Either way I think you wouldn’t be disappointed with either camera sensors and I’m certainly not with the One XL. I’ve attached a few examples below and would suggest going to the GSMArena’s head-to-head review of these phones for a more detailed comparison of the two.
From left to right: In Perth Underground train station, 100kmph+ train shooting cars travelling in opposite direction, semi-macro shot on lemon tree leaves
The camera interface itself is nicely done, with the important functions easily accessible. A bunch of filters are included within the app as are a range of different shot modes including Panorama and HDR. The one flaw I could find is that the touch focus is very sporadic and doesn’t work as well as I hoped.
Video recording is also available up to a full 1080P resolution at a claimed 30fps. However, I did notice that the video would drop frames if shot under incandescent or fluorescent lighting. Under natural lighting conditions the frame rate was as expected. A disappointing result and as such I would have to recommend the SIII if you want better video recording.
Beats audio
Not much to say here apart from Beats audio is just a glorified equaliser and probably best used with the Beats in-ear/headphones you can get for this phone. To HTC’s credit, it’s quite easy to turn Beats mode off and get a clean signal to your headphones of choice. The result is actually quite nice and should please most users.
The included headset included with the phone actually don’t sound too bad but are uncomfortable to wear. Any pair of $40+ earphones will do a better job though so spend the money.
Battery life
As I alluded to before, 4G connectivity burns through batteries and the One XL is no exception. Especially in my workplace where 4G reception is spotty, after 5 hours of general usage and full syncing I was down to 50% battery.
Put it in 3G mode however and things are actually quite impressive. The 1800mAh battery performs just as well as the 2000mAh extended battery on my Galaxy Nexus, using around 1% per hour in standby and will end up giving you around 4 hours screen on time throughout the day. The above screenshot was taken after 15 hours on battery, 2 hours screen on time and full syncing on 3G only mode.
The battery savings and the surprising 3G performance in the CBD has meant that I will turn off LTE unless I really need it. While it’s not that difficult to do this from the settings, it would have been nice for HTC to include a 4G toggle widget to make these changes on the fly.
Conclusion
So which one should you buy, One XL or SIII? Well, it really does depend on what you’re looking for.
For most people, I would say the SIII is the better all round choice. It’s more comfortable to hold, it has more features, a removable battery and MicroSD slot, it’s blazingly fast and probably has the better overall camera.
However if your priorities include network performance, the DC-HSPA+ capabilities of the One XL means it’s has better performance on 3G as well as access to 4G if available. In addition, the One XL has the superior screen and feels better made of the two (although that last point is more personal preference than anything else).
Personally, I’m more than happy with my choice and have no regrets.