There's a lot riding on the HTC One X. After taking almost a half year breather from making Android smartphones, the One X is the paragon of HTC's new philosophy: make fewer but much better phones. HTC's thing was high end phones with excellent fit, finish and materials, but they diluted that with a mass of low to high tier phones. The One X, priced at $199 with contract on AT&T and $549 without contract, is one of their best efforts yet. It's insanely gorgeous, fast, runs Android OS 4.0.3 ICS and it has a superb 720p display. Available in white or gray polycarbonate, it has a distinct curvy HTC look that will never be confused with the polycarbonate Nokia Lumia 900.
The HTC One X is one of the first phones with Qualcomm's fourth generation Snapdragon S4 CPU based on the new 28nm process. It's a dual core but it benchmarks as fast or faster than the quad core Tegra 3. Overseas, the One X has a Tegra 3, but the AT&T version has the Qualcomm CPU because Nvidia and Qualcomm aren't playing well together for LTE radio integration and AT&T wants LTE in all their high end smartphones. We're not sad: it's super fast and power frugal.
Design and Ergonomics
The HTC One X looks much like its smaller brother the HTC One S on T-Mobile. Both have very thin curved bodies (the X's curve is more pronounced) and a unibody design. While the 4.3" One S has a metal casing, the One X's casing is made from a single piece of polycarbonate, a very durable material that's also wireless radio-friendly. We have the white version and the back is matte while the sides have a low gloss, likely to resist grime. Our phone hasn't gotten dingy or dirty in a week of use, but schmutz can be cleaned off with a damp cloth. My gut feeling: avoid contact with things that stain, like blueberries, ball point pens and cranberry juice.
The HTC One X, Nokia Lumia 900 and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket AT&T LTE smartphones.
The 4.7" One X is surprisingly not much bigger than the 4.3" One S. HTC works miracles with their 4.7 phones--the 4.7" HTC Titan and Titan II Windows phones are likewise not significantly larger than some 4.3" and 4.5" phones. That doesn't mean this isn't a large phone: it is. But if you're used to 4.3" or 4.5" smartphones, it won't feel much different. What helps? Like Samsung Android smartphones, it's incredibly thin at 0.36". Like the HTC One S, it does feel tall relative to its width, and that swipe bottom-to-top to unlock gesture is a long trip.
The phone has a gentle curve that looks chic and modern, and we suppose it improves face contact and comfort as with the Samsung Nexus S. The Gorilla Glass is curved as well, and it wraps around the sides just a bit. Yum. HTC definitely has a strong counter to Samsung's excellent but plasticky Android phones. Controls are logically placed and easy to operate with the power button up top, volume controls on the right side and the micro USB port on the left side (dock-friendly location). Though Android 4.0 doesn't require hardware buttons for Home, back and Multi-tasking, HTC includes capacitive front buttons and we find them convenient.
