HTC One tested at speed in Melbourne

At the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix, Vodafone and HTC were both keen to show off the new flagship HTC One smartphone. EFTM got its hands on one, and can honestly say that this will be one of the best phones this year.

How do you connect F1 to the HTC One? Well, F1 cars are fast, Vodafone has a huge involvement with the McLaren team, and with Vodafone selling the new and fast HTC One then things are all coming together. The truth is, I’d accept any invitation to be at an F1 Grand Prix so didn’t even bother to overthink the reasons.

The Look

HTC has been a bit quiet for what seems like a year now, with no major new devices, or headline grabbing announcements. But Its silence is justified from the very first moment you hold the HTC One in your hand. 

Solid feel, metal construction, intricate detail and a fresh looking design all combine to create a stunning device. The lines along the back, combined with the speakers on the front give it a unique look which you respect even more when you feel it in your hand.

For me, the HTC One is the best looking smartphone on the market, and it easily matches Apple for quality of fit and construction.

The Features

With a 4.7 inch Full HD display running 468ppi, this is one of those large phones that seem to be all the rage right now.  It’s powered by a quad-core processer and weighs just 143grams so it’s not going to weigh you down but it will certainly be able to keep up.

For the HTC One, the front-facing speakers make for a great mobile gaming experience.  Why more phones aren’t doing this is beyond me.

BlinkFeed is a silly name for a great idea. On the home screen of your HTC One is a world of content drive by your social networks or and or your categories of interest. Tell it you like Motorsport and Technology you’ll always see the latest trending news and stories from those topics.  

Because it’s the home screen of your device you’re always going to see it and it does become, even in a very short space of time, a compelling place to glance and scroll through to keep up to date.  

It’s a top feature which you may find being canned by hardcore phone nuts but that’s just because they’re looking for the “raw” Android experience.

The second great feature is the camera. But not because it takes photos at a certain resolution. The HTC One has some simple software features that will give your photos a new lease on life. 

One-press and you can capture 20 photos and 3 seconds of video. You can choose the best shot, and combine the shots using Photoshop-like functions to get rid of those people who walked past while your friend was posing for the photo.  

For action shots, you can use multiple images and overlay them together to give a new perspective to a still photo. If all that is too much, as a base line camera it takes great photos.

Add to that quality sound and the ability to use the phone as your TV remote using infra-red combined with an online interactive program guide and you’re starting to get the picture that this is one cracking good phone.

The summary

Overall it’s hard not to fall in love with this device. Stunning good looks, excellent quality of design and construction, great sound, great screen, innovative features and you’re going to be scratching your head putting it side by side with the big guns of Smartphone world to decide what to buy.

Price: $0 on a $50 plan
Web: Vodafone / HTC

Trevor Long travelled to Melbourne as a guest of Vodafone