So the HTC 10 has been released in certain regions and currently shipping out in others. I thought I'd start a thread for those who own the HTC 10 to post their first impressions.
Previous Phone: Nexus 6P
Purchased: Carbon Grey, 32gb
Location: Australia
So I picked up my HTC 10 today have set it up and been playing with it for on and off during a 12 hour period and thought I'd give my initial impressions:
Build/Hardware: Extremely good. I've had a long history of Android phones from all different manufacturers, but I've always felt that HTC were best in the business when it came to their hardware design and build and the 10 looks and feels excellent. The metal is smooth, the phone feels super solid, has a great heft to it, the chamfered edge on the back surprisingly gives it a bit of extra grip (the texture of the chamfered edge is ever so slightly different from the rest of the phone). The phone is a really nice size and the curved back makes the phone really comfortable in the hand. Coming from the Nexus 6P, the size of this phone is very welcome as it's very easy to reach all parts of the screen without stretching or having to use two hands. The power button had a really accentuated texture to it so you'll never mistakes it for the volume rocker and all buttons are very clicky, which I love.
Display: Excellent. Love the display more than the 6P's display. The whites are far truer whites (Nexus has a slightly blue hue to it) and colours still pop but aren't oversaturated as I find AMOLED displays to be. Add to that the blacks are extremely deep for an LCD display. The screen looks great. I don't know what makes AMOLED supposedly superior. Maybe people like extremely saturated displays, but I don't. I've ways found the colours too intense on the S6, Note 4 and Nexus 6P I own/owned previously. This is a touch more natural while still looking very vibrant and punchy.
Software/Performance: It's essentially stock Google with a few Sense tweaks. If you like stock Android, then you'll like this. HTC have really pulled back on the software and only made enhancements where the phone benefits such as the camera which looks to be quite powerful with a lot of tools. As far as speed is concerned, the phone flies. I haven't had it hang or stutter on anything just yet. You press something, it loads up, simple as that there's no 1+ second wait for the phone app or multitasker app to fire up (which I've had on previous non-Nexus phones) it just flies through the UI. Love it.
Sound: So HTC have been known for a while about its exceptional sound experience and the HTC 10 mostly lives up to its reputation. The twin external speaker setup the 10 has is good, however the HTC One M8 did sound better with the dual front facing speakers. The 10's speaker setup isn't bad, and hearing bass/low freq sounds from the bottom speaker and the vocals/higher pitched sounds from the tweeter is clever, but it's not a 'woah that's awesome' experience. The little woofer on the bottom is cute, but don't expect substantial bass out of it. This is a phone afterall. The headphones however are 'WOW THAT'S AWESOME'. I wasn't really expecting too much with the 'high res' headphones and the new DAC or whatever they're using. I figured the headphones would just be a little louder and that's it, but no, they sound absolutely amazing. The quality is superb for pack-in headphones. It's a shame the US won't be getting them (I believe they won't be anyway).
So the sound from the speakers are good, sound from the headphones are awesome.
Camera: Of the very few images I've taken, I'm really happy with it. The photos are better than the Nexus 6P with images looking well resolved and colours quite nice. Seems like the 10 goes for a very natural and true-to-life representation of the image rather than over sharpening and oversaturating. I'm currently on the 1.21 software, and I know the 1.30 software update has camera tweaks. I'm already very happy with the current camera, it's very good.
Battery: Too early to make any definitive statements about it, but using it normally, the battery doesn't drain too much. However I will say that quick charge 3.0 is the real deal. It charges SO fast. Just a few minutes on the charge will juice it up substantially. USB type C also helps avoid the hassle of needing to put the cord in the right orientation. It might not sound like a big deal, but it is a nice convenience.
So those are my first impressions of the phone. Overall it does extremely well in all aspects. There doesn't seem to be anything that sticks out that looks like a fault or even as a personal gripe. Hardware is good, software looks great and runs great, great camera, great sound etc. Granted this is still in the honeymoon period where everything looks great so I'll have to revisit this thread in a month or so once it has all sunken in and maybe some negatives start to reveal themselves. But as of now, I think the phone is excellent and HTC have done an excellent job this time round.
Previous Phone: Nexus 6P
Purchased: Carbon Grey, 32gb
Location: Australia
So I picked up my HTC 10 today have set it up and been playing with it for on and off during a 12 hour period and thought I'd give my initial impressions:
Build/Hardware: Extremely good. I've had a long history of Android phones from all different manufacturers, but I've always felt that HTC were best in the business when it came to their hardware design and build and the 10 looks and feels excellent. The metal is smooth, the phone feels super solid, has a great heft to it, the chamfered edge on the back surprisingly gives it a bit of extra grip (the texture of the chamfered edge is ever so slightly different from the rest of the phone). The phone is a really nice size and the curved back makes the phone really comfortable in the hand. Coming from the Nexus 6P, the size of this phone is very welcome as it's very easy to reach all parts of the screen without stretching or having to use two hands. The power button had a really accentuated texture to it so you'll never mistakes it for the volume rocker and all buttons are very clicky, which I love.
Display: Excellent. Love the display more than the 6P's display. The whites are far truer whites (Nexus has a slightly blue hue to it) and colours still pop but aren't oversaturated as I find AMOLED displays to be. Add to that the blacks are extremely deep for an LCD display. The screen looks great. I don't know what makes AMOLED supposedly superior. Maybe people like extremely saturated displays, but I don't. I've ways found the colours too intense on the S6, Note 4 and Nexus 6P I own/owned previously. This is a touch more natural while still looking very vibrant and punchy.
Software/Performance: It's essentially stock Google with a few Sense tweaks. If you like stock Android, then you'll like this. HTC have really pulled back on the software and only made enhancements where the phone benefits such as the camera which looks to be quite powerful with a lot of tools. As far as speed is concerned, the phone flies. I haven't had it hang or stutter on anything just yet. You press something, it loads up, simple as that there's no 1+ second wait for the phone app or multitasker app to fire up (which I've had on previous non-Nexus phones) it just flies through the UI. Love it.
Sound: So HTC have been known for a while about its exceptional sound experience and the HTC 10 mostly lives up to its reputation. The twin external speaker setup the 10 has is good, however the HTC One M8 did sound better with the dual front facing speakers. The 10's speaker setup isn't bad, and hearing bass/low freq sounds from the bottom speaker and the vocals/higher pitched sounds from the tweeter is clever, but it's not a 'woah that's awesome' experience. The little woofer on the bottom is cute, but don't expect substantial bass out of it. This is a phone afterall. The headphones however are 'WOW THAT'S AWESOME'. I wasn't really expecting too much with the 'high res' headphones and the new DAC or whatever they're using. I figured the headphones would just be a little louder and that's it, but no, they sound absolutely amazing. The quality is superb for pack-in headphones. It's a shame the US won't be getting them (I believe they won't be anyway).
So the sound from the speakers are good, sound from the headphones are awesome.
Camera: Of the very few images I've taken, I'm really happy with it. The photos are better than the Nexus 6P with images looking well resolved and colours quite nice. Seems like the 10 goes for a very natural and true-to-life representation of the image rather than over sharpening and oversaturating. I'm currently on the 1.21 software, and I know the 1.30 software update has camera tweaks. I'm already very happy with the current camera, it's very good.
Battery: Too early to make any definitive statements about it, but using it normally, the battery doesn't drain too much. However I will say that quick charge 3.0 is the real deal. It charges SO fast. Just a few minutes on the charge will juice it up substantially. USB type C also helps avoid the hassle of needing to put the cord in the right orientation. It might not sound like a big deal, but it is a nice convenience.
So those are my first impressions of the phone. Overall it does extremely well in all aspects. There doesn't seem to be anything that sticks out that looks like a fault or even as a personal gripe. Hardware is good, software looks great and runs great, great camera, great sound etc. Granted this is still in the honeymoon period where everything looks great so I'll have to revisit this thread in a month or so once it has all sunken in and maybe some negatives start to reveal themselves. But as of now, I think the phone is excellent and HTC have done an excellent job this time round.
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I've went from the S7 edge to the G5 - was really hoping to hold out until the next Nexus is released, but the M10 looks really tempting. How does it compare in hand to the likes of the M7, M8 & M9 (whichever one you've previously had)
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