The HTC One - Magic! | Scoop Techlab

Tuesday, 11 June 2013, 12:47 pm
Opinion: Peter Kerr

Now, let it be known right from the get-go that I’m relatively uncool when it comes to smart phones and techy-type stuff.

It was only just over a year ago that I bought an Ideos X5 from 2Degrees after losing (and I still don’t know where it ended up) my relatively primitive Nokia (not a smartphone).

I was somewhat relieved to find it was the same phone that number one son had bought – and he’d gone through much more cost/value/benefit(s) calculations than me.

This was a Google Android phone as well – yippee, all my contacts were easily available and updateable.

It was a gradual introduction to what you could do with a smartphone – and its limitations.

So, when I received a HTC One to review, my first thought was wow – this is so much better looking than my present phone.

The number two son went, ‘heck dad, this is one of the top phones of the moment and you don’t even know what to do with it’.

True. In a world of Facebook and Twitter , gaming and watching Youtube, I merely scratch its surface.

But, I certainly look the part with this new phone.

And where it gets it right from the get-go is it looks gorgeous. According to HTC, (and appealing to my inner-craftsman) its rounded and bevelled aluminium back takes 200 minutes to make using CNC and diamond cutters. (link).

What HTC manage to achieve is a phone which though 9.3mmm thick, feels much thinner because it tapers to 4mm at its edges.

It is a phone that invites being touched, handled – like a good tool from that point of view.

I was also reminded (in fact told off), that I shouldn’t and didn’t need to use two hands/thumbs when using this HTC One.

“Look dad, you hold it in this hand, or this hand, and you just scroll,” which said ironically has a certain amusement.

Mind you, he’d also set up a few homescreen sites and apps and what have you on scroll pages which are handy - including a Flashlight.

The fifth scrolling screen has ‘Cut the Rope Time Travel’, Temple Run 2, Iron Man 3, RF13 (Real Football) and Hardest Game Ever 2 I also noticed.

Better have a look at these. Wow - fantastic graphics. Hell, I’d even be tempted to have a go if I can figure out how to pass and shoot. That’s due mostly to it being a 1920 x 1080 pixel screen (really high definition), across a 16:9 ratio. And given that its screen size is 138mm diagonal, compared to the X5’s 93mm, it makes reading emails and the like just that much easier as well.

It made my test of Youtube and U2, and ‘Whose going to ride your wild horses’ pretty special. HTC’s called their at-the-front stereo speakers BoomSound, (a bit too 1980s for me), but an impressively clear and vibrant sound from such a small set up.

It makes the thought of downloading and watching a feature film quite realistic – and something to try over the next couple of weeks.

So, how does it feel to have this HTC One?

Like a really good Christmas present that you forget you have, and then have the pleasure of reacquainting yourself with when it comes out of your pocket. Magic.

Content Note: This post has been enabled by Telecom NZ , but the thoughts are the blogger's own. Find out more about the HTC One here you can find out more about Android on the Telecom Network here. Scoop TechLab is a project of Scoop Independent Media www.scoop.co.nz. It is edited by Scoop Editor Alastair Thompson.

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Peter Kerr

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