HTC One X+ Review

HTC One X+ is released the same year its predecessor was released with few major upgrades. Although, the One X+ may not look any different than the One X – its predecessor but in actual fact it comes with some decent and very well welcomed updates on the inside. For this reason, we can say that the HTC One X+ is a revamped version of its predecessor and it brings with it a better processor, 64GB of storage and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. On the other hand, it does share many features with its brother the HTC One X.

There's no second opinion that the HTC One X was an amazingly solid smartphone, but the upgrade was necessary to keep the phone into the holiday season and compete with the other flagship phones in the market. Although, the HTC One X itself was an impressive phone but the One X+ is here to put all those issues to bed that users encountered with the HTC One X, and possibly tries to snatch top spot away from its main competitor and the massively popular Galaxy S III. The HTC One X+ comes with a faster processor, a bigger battery, more storage and a newer version of Android.

While unboxing the HTC One X+, you will find a standard retail package that includes:

• The HTC One X+
• Wall Charger
• MicroUSB cable
• In-ear Stereo Headphones
• Warranty and Information Leaflets

The HTC One X introduced the curved unibody chassis that remains the same in the HTC One X+, thus the upgraded version will fit your palm quite comfortably and nicely, and the cascading side bezel makes the front look seamless. The thickness and weight of the handset are also no issues – thanks to the polycarbonate housing the phone is very thin and light as well, and its soft touch finish allows firm grip. The excellent use of space is one of the best things about the HTC One X+. The phone measures at 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm making it more compact to handle. Moreover, the darker polycarbonate of the X One+ makes it look more stylish. On the whole, the refreshed polycarbonate unibody is quite impressive.

Painted in red are the capacitive keys that match the overall accent style and they are pretty responsive to the touch. Furthermore, the metallic lock or power key that are present at the top is almost flat with the surface in order to minimize the accidental press. Moreover, the volume rocker that is present on the right is also flush making it difficult to feel and press when you are not looking.

1.6 megapixel frontal camera is capable of HD video recording that is far more clearer than before, and there is a helpful LED notification light next to the frontal camera that indicates missed calls, messages or charging status.

The excellent 4.7” S-LCD 2 display is the main attraction on the HTC One X+ that is quite similar to its predecessor. It is a 1280x720 pixels HD panel, bringing pixel density to 312ppi, meaning crisp text and apparent details. The HTC One X+ screen is one of the best screens out there taking the good color representation, high contrast and excellent viewing angles into account. And, now it is protected by Gorilla Glass 2nd edition which is less thinner and less brittle.

The One X+ display offers remarkable image quality that very few other LCDs in the market can match. Images not only are really sharp, at about 312 ppi, but also it is nearly impossible to tell individual pixels apart. On the whole, the HTC One X+ display is something that company can be proud of and one that will make every user happy.

The HTC One X+ runs on Android 4.1.1 which is the latest version of Jelly Bean. The user interface of the HTC One X+ is called HTC Sense 4+ which is the version of HTC own Android UI overlay. Since the UI is pretty much the same, everyone who has already used an ICS-powered HTC droid will feel right at home. HTC is well-known for its deep customizations to the interface of the host operating system and the latest version of Sense UI is no exception at all. It runs more smoother as compared to its version 4.0 because of Project Butter.

Text is also much easier to read because of the shadows and embossed effects have been replaced with slightly crisper and more defined lines. HTC has also stripped out textures from fonts and backgrounds. Though, this is something which is not instantaneously apparent unless you place old and new one side by side, and you will not notice any difference unless you have a good old stare.

Furthermore, HTC also did not mess up with a great feature and put its own “H Voice” speech recognition of sorts in order to outweigh Google’s Solution. Moreover, Google Now and Voice Search are also added to aid your everyday life. This comes with personalized information that is presented in the form of cards and natural language recognition algorithms allowing you to start any song with a voice command.

The aggregated views in the gallery and the music app that are the HTC addition to the new Sense 4+ brings together all your local content together with one in social networks and cloud services such as Dropbox, SkyDrive, Facebook, 7Digital, Picasa and Flicker to name a few. On top of that, it is customarily centered around generating the good things in Android Jelly Bean, like Google Now and the new Voice Search, just as it should be.

The HTC One X+ comes with a slightly speedier version of the chipset that powers the One X and the Tegra 3 T33 that works at 1.6 GHz in multi-core mode and 1.7GHz when only one core is enabled (200MHz higher than the T30) and offers a higher RAM clock speed. However, the HTC One X+ gets reasonably hot under heavy load, specifically around the metal camera area that on occasion makes it difficult to hold while gaming.

The phone offers 1 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage this is where the HTC One X+ really shines. Such a huge internal storage is important for those handsets that do not come with a slot for storage expansion like the HTC One X+. In addition to this, there is about 56 GB of user available storage that is more than enough for most users, and a definite advantage.

The HTC One X+ packs quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and quad-band 3G with HSDPA speeds up to 21Mbps and HSUPA up to 5.76Mbps. Wi-Fi b/g/n and full DLNA support (both client and server, for images, videos and music) and Bluetooth 4.0 are also there.

Talking about the browser, the phone comes with both Chrome that comes with Jelly Bean and its default Sense browser. Both browsers work fine when browsing, scrolling, zooming or panning around.

Qualcomm's MDM9215 radio provides internet connectivity that sports 42 Mbps HSPA+ downloads, and LTE download speeds up to 100 Mbps for certain carrier versions of the One X+, like the one for AT&T.

The HTC One X+ comes with an 8 mega pixels rear camera and with a 1.6 mega pixel front facing camera. The camera is essentially the same as that of the HTC One X however with a slightly improved sensor that can record 1080p video at 30fps. The interface is kept simple and same for the still camera as well as for video camera. The camera captures images truly fast, thanks to the built-in image processing chip.

The camera app is really easy to access and users can easily access all of the settings. Furthermore, the two shutter buttons are there one for taking still photos and the other for videos. This means you do not have to wait for few seconds to switch between still camera and video camera.

Photo quality is usually quite impressive but it varies depending on the situation. Images appear really crisp and sharp with sufficient lighting but with low light condition, images are little bit blotchy. Contrast and saturation of the images captured with 8 MP camera seem too high.

The video recording from the HTC One X+ is also quite good, but color, saturation and noise suppression are off the mark, plus there are plenty of artifacts to go around.

HTC One X+ offers music player and the gallery that aggregate your tunes, photos as well as videos from different sources under roof however this feature is somewhat less evident in music player. The music player only lets you access your 7Digital music store locker, plus TuneIn Radio, but you cannot mix and match playlists among them.

Moreover, the user interface is pretty simple and easy to use with a pleasing look. The loudspeaker is particularly is very clean and loud. Video playback of the One+ also supports DivX/Xvid files. You can also play MPEG-4 files up to 1080 definition. Moreover, the interface of the default video player lets you adjust screen brightness, turn on Beats Audio, and more interestingly also allows you to take snaps during playback.

No doubt that the HTC One X+ truly is a stunning Android phone as it is more faster, more rugged and comes with a better and elegant design along with classic unibody style but it does come with some disadvantages such as its battery life, although it has been improved quite a lot yet quite far from ideal. Furthermore, there are some Wi-Fi software bugs that need to be fixed as soon as possible. SIM-free prices are quite high and on-contract availability is limited to O2 only, and moreover there is no European LTE option at present. Moreover, there is no microSD card slot and dedicated camera key.

To cut a long story short, the phone is still an HTC One X that comes with some changes but fundamentally is the same headset as that of its predecessor. On the whole, the hardware improvements are welcome. Furthermore, the refinements made in software in Sense 4+ are also making their way to the older handsets in a while.

The HTC One X+ surely will not be a runaway success with its limited on-contract availability and strong competition, but it is the best HTC droid phone for those who do not mind paying a huge amount to get it.

The HTC One X+ is certainly one of HTC’s best devices on the market right now with exceptional build quality, extensive storage, a beautiful screen and Jelly Bean out of the box.