HTC One X+ – Is This Phone a Plus For You? [Review]

HTC had a successful launch last year with the One X.  It gave the phones a brand new look and feel and the crowd loved it. Announced at Mobile World Congress last year, and released in April 2012, the HTC One X became the flagship product of the HTC One series.

The original phones for the one series were the HTC One X (AT&T), HTC One S (T-Mobile), HTC 4G LTE (Sprint), and HTC One V (Virgin Mobile).

Given its popularity many were surprised when HTC decided to release the HTC One X+ months later.  The HTC One X+ is supposed to be a revamp of the original. It only came to AT&T. I will be comparing the One X+ to the original One X often

What Changed?

The original HTC One X has:
Display: 4.7” display with 1280 x 720 resolution,
Processor / RAM: 1.5 GHz dual-core processor / 1 GB RAM
Battery: 1800 mAh

HTC One X+ – Hardware and Layout

The design of the One X+ is basically a splitting image of the One X. It has the exact same body type except it doesn’t come in white. The body is made of a black polycarbonate plastic. Feels pretty smooth to the touch. It has a raised Gorilla Glass screen. This allows for awesome viewing angles.  It’s nearly impossible to notice the pixels on this screen.

On the top border of the phone you have the power/standby button accompanied by the 3.5mm headset jack. On the left and right borders you have the charging micro USB port and volume rockers respectively. On the front face of the phone you have the 1.6 megapixel front facing camera. Like the One X the bottom has three capacitive touch buttons, back, home and recent apps buttons.

The screen is 4.7” 1280 x 720 resolution (Super LCD 2 screen).  On the back of the device you have the 8 megapixel camera, LED flash, and speaker. What you won’t find on this phone is a Micro SD expansion slot. That’s because it has 64GB of internal memory. Do you think that’s enough for you? For some it may be a deal breaker. I think it’s a lot more space than the usual 16GB that most Androids come with.  On the inside of the One X+ you get a NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.7 quad-core processor. That’s the most significant upgrade to the One X. You also have the 2100 mAh nonremovable  battery.

The phone fits comfortably in my hand. It doesn’t feel like it would slip out when texting rapidly or multi-tasking. It was pretty easy to use one-handed on the train. It’s a bit heavier than the One X, but not by much.

HTC One X+ – Experience

My last HTC Android phone was the original HTC EVO 4G. Coming from Android Gingerbread and the original Sense, I was of course going to enjoy the software. I am familiar with Android JellyBean 4.1. HTC Sense remains pretty good for the most part, as I don’t feel that it’s overly intrusive. (The phone has HTC Sense 4+.) You can use app shortcuts on the lockscreen to open apps quickly. For example if I drag the phone icon into the lockscreen ring, it will open up the dialing pad.

I must say that the fluidity of this phone is spectacular. It’s the best yet. It really just flows. I can’t emphasize that enough.   With crisp screen and the weather changing widget, is just nice to look at. It’s the little things. I just hate how difficult is for me to take a screen shot. You take it by holding the power button and the volume down button. But the volume button very flat, that it’s difficult for me to get it.

Network and Call Quality

The One X+ is on AT&T’s network. I had good reception most of the time. Streaming content was surprisingly smooth. I had the best reception in Queens. Reception in Manhattan wasn’t a problem either, As always, I don’t talk much on the phone, so I wouldn’t know the difference over good and great. I heard the other party clearly, and they heard me too. The call didn’t drop or cut up. I actually got service  It didn’t sound muffled.

Battery Life

The phone surprised me. With a large screen and quad-core processor It won’t be a problem for me since I always carry a portable chargers, and always use power save modes.  It barely made it all the way through my commute home with medium to heavy use. Which is pretty good considering all of the tweeting, instagramming, and news reading I do. I also run Spotify on my way to and from work. The phone got warm on occasion.

Camera

Ah, the camera a lot of us have begun to completely rely on the smartphone camera. I am one of those people. According to HTC, the camera hasn’t changed from the original One X.  It’s and 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, smart LED flash, and BSI sensor (for better low-light captures). You can record in 1080p HD.

The flash on this camera is amazing! The flash doesn’t “whiten” the picture. It’s just so clear for a smartphone camera. You can capture pictures when recording video which is a feature I need since I am so indecisive as to whether I want to record or snap away. If I forget to snap pictures while recording, I can go back to the video in slow motion and choose which stills I like.  But the focus is just wow.

The camera also has filters to make picture taking fun again. If you don’t recall, Divas and Dorks Publisher Christen took pictures at the President’s Inauguration in January. Check those out HERE. Those pictures came out vivid with clear detail. Even with the bright sunlight, the shots were still good.

Of course I took self portraits with the front facing camera. It even has a timer, which works pretty well. Quality was pretty good. But it doesn’t have a wide angle lens like the HTC Droid DNA or HTC 8X.

Music

Like most recent HTC phones, the One X+ comes with Beats Audio. I am not so heavy on the extra bass. But on certain songs, the bass comes in handy. It makes the music sound a lot louder. With my Monster Diamond Tears headphones, it was easy to zone out. You can hear crisp vocals and booming beats. If you don’t need all the extra funk, you also have the option to turn it off.

As for the HTC Music Player, you can now access your stored music, Spotify, Google Music, Amazon MP3. The only downfall is that you can’t make a playlist across all the apps. It’s still a step forward in the right direction.

Apps

Like most phone manufacturers are doing now, the HTC One X+ has a movie streaming service that allows you to buy and rent movies, called HTC Watch. I didn’t use HTC Watch. One preloaded app that I did use was TuneIn Radio. It’s one of my must have apps. An interesting app, is the NVIDIA TegraZone app.  This app helps you find the best Android games to play with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor. For those who read on their smartphones, the HTC One X+ comes preloaded with the Nook app.

Is the HTC One X+ Really a Plus?

There a few questions you have to ask yourself before considering the One X+ If you have the One X, are the upgrades worth the price and extension of a contract. If you need a smoother phone (if the upgrade to a quad-core impresses you), the lack of a SD expansion slot, and the embedded battery isn’t a problem; you would definitely enjoy this phone.

In comparison to other phones on its level and price range would be the LG Optimus and the Samsung Galaxy S III. When deciding between these three phones, what would differentiate them is the price, and screen preference. Soon the prices for all three will go down since the successors were recently announced. Check out your options for purchasing the HTC One X+ (plus) with AT&T.

HTC One X + – Comparison (Samsung Galaxy Note II, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III)

I think the HTC One X+ is a great phone. It has a solid weight (light but too light). The camera and fluidity were on par to my standards. While it didn’t feel like it would immediately slip out of my hands, I would definitely get a case for it. The screen is just so big and goes nearly from edge to edge. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.

If you still have some time left, you might wait for the HTC One. You can find out more about it here. The release date has not been announced yet, but it should be before the end of March.

Do you think it’s worth the upgrade from the original HTC One X? Are you willing to wait for the highly anticipated HTC One?

Tags: at&T, htc, htc one series, htc one x plus, htc one x+, htc one xplus, htc onex +, review
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