T-Mobile HTC One S - Ask me anything

[ImTheDuke]

A few questions. First, I listened to the Vergecast podcast review and they loved the phone but said the display was poor. I checked the screen specs on my current phone, Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and its:

Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density)
Corning Gorilla Glass

I think the display on my Vibrant is beautiful. The display specs on the One S seems similar to me as both are Amoled. From T-Mobile's site

"4.3” qHD Super AMOLED Touch Screen
Experience incredible clarity and vibrant color on a 960x540 qHD Super AMOLED touch screen."

Are HTC's screens just lower quality?

Second question is does the One S have Swype?
Third question is have you tried bluetooth yet? One complaint about my Vibrant is its undependable connection to Sync in my Ford. If I do a factory reset its fine for a while but eventually Sync will fail to detect the phone on its own. I have to manually reconnect it.

 

[Phil Nickinson]

A few questions. First, I listened to the Vergecast podcast review and they loved the phone but said the display was poor. I checked the screen specs on my current phone, Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant and its:

Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density)
Corning Gorilla Glass

I think the display on my Vibrant is beautiful. The display specs on the One S seems similar to me as both are Amoled. From T-Mobile's site

"4.3? qHD Super AMOLED Touch Screen
Experience incredible clarity and vibrant color on a 960x540 qHD Super AMOLED touch screen."

Are HTC's screens just lower quality?

Well, it's not really "HTC's screen." They don't make it. The fact is it's not as good as what's on the One X. Period. Anyone who's seen the One X screen is going to be disappointed by the One S screen. But as I said in my review, it's not necessarily a deal killer.

Second question is does the One S have Swype?

Not out of the box. You'll have to install the beta. But it does have HTC's version of Swype, which has gotten better.

Third question is have you tried bluetooth yet? One complaint about my Vibrant is its undependable connection to Sync in my Ford. If I do a factory reset its fine for a while but eventually Sync will fail to detect the phone on its own. I have to manually reconnect it.

Yes, but not with a Ford. I know BT can be touchy, though. Best bet is to start a new thread here asking Ford owners once they get the phone. (But FWIW, I haven't had BT problems with anything I've tried to connect it to.)

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Phil,

I saw you mention that you are a T-Mobile subscriber and I keep hearing that HSPA+ is actually faster on mobile phones right now that LTE. Maybe you can give some of us non-T-Mobile subscribers an overview of what to expect from HSPA+ (vs LTE), their WiFi calling to fill the coverage gaps, and previous software update release timeliness, if we decided to jump ship and move to T-Mobile for this phone. What would make us regret leaving our current carrier? Thanks!

It all depends on the coverage. If you're in a good T-Mobile area, the speeds can be great. Wifi calling is great if you're on Wifi.

 

[Phil Nickinson]

T-Mobile unboxing videos show that the specs list video recording as 1080p HD video at 60 frames per second..


Is 60 fps a typo?(sounds too good to be true) I always thought it was 30 and fell off my chair when the box listed 60 ..

Click to view quoted image

Sure sounds high, but I just confirmed 60fps with HTC.

 

[unit_three]

I read on another forum that there might be a bug with the audio during Skype and some games (like GTA). Wondering if this happens on yours.

Are there any additional quirks/bugs that you have noticed?

Also, is the firmware a newer version compared to the European version? Maybe that's a dumb question haha

 

[Phil Nickinson]

I read on another forum that there might be a bug with the audio during Skype and some games (like GTA). Wondering if this happens on yours.

Are there any additional quirks/bugs that you have noticed?

Also, is the firmware a newer version compared to the European version? Maybe that's a dumb question haha

LMAO. Last time I checked, Skype was one big bug.

Don't worry about firmware versions. Different phones on different networks with different radios darn well should have different firmwares. I'd worry if they didn't.

 

[Thermalx]

I thought carriers had about stopped with the whole Carrier IQ thing, but according to this T-Mo doc the One S has Carrier IQ, any thoughts on that? Personally I'm not swayed much by it as it'll get CM9'd as soon as it's available

Support: Tech specs: HTC One S

 

[benpierce]

Do you guys at the all-knowing Android Central have any recent 2012 T-Mobile roadmaps showing what other Android devices might be launching this year?? I am very ambivalent to the One S because of the lack of removable battery and lack of expandable memory and I don't want to use my upgrade on May 15th to only have buyers remorse 2 months later if the Galaxy S3 or something else were to launch! I know I can always buy one on Craigslist or something but it's easier to save my upgrade!

Ben

 

[ARich91]

I thought carriers had about stopped with the whole Carrier IQ thing, but according to this T-Mo doc the One S has Carrier IQ, any thoughts on that? Personally I'm not swayed much by it as it'll get CM9'd as soon as it's available

Support: Tech specs: HTC One S

Don't be too sure of that! lol. The Amaze has been out for months, and still doesn't have a daily driver worthy (unless you don't need data/voice) CM9 yet.

 

[venious]

I think Phil may have answered that already, assuming that CarrierIQ is covered by the HTC privacy opt-out:

http://www.androidcentral.com/sense-4-privacy

 

[Thermalx]

I can't disagree, my G2, which seemed to be a CM fav phone, still doesn't have CM9 either...

 

[cornasto]

I have a value plan with Tmobile, and I was sold on forking out $600 for the oneS until this morning when google started selling the unlocked galnexus for $400. Does the $200 difference justify the faster processor and better camera in the oneS or is the $400 pure google phone with no contract extension going to suffice? How would you compare the two?

 

[venious]

Don't forget that the unlocked Nexus is only HSPA+ 21 too, while the One S is HSPA+ 42.

 

[Thermalx]

It all depends on the coverage. If you're in a good T-Mobile area, the speeds can be great. Wifi calling is great if you're on Wifi.

I think Phil hit the nail on the head with "If you're in a good T-Mobile area". In the Denver area I've seen up to 6 MB downloads and don't usually have issues getting at least 2 MB. I don't know where the LTE service tops out around here, but I know several people who can't consistently beat those numbers on Big Red's LTE.

 

[Jim]

HTC One S, Nexus, S2 or wait for the S3?

 

[KoukiFC3S]

How much will the phone be with the value plan? 200 with 20 payments of 20?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Lightning Wolf]

Hey Phil thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.... I used to have an Amaze 4G and I was SO dissapointed by the screen... although it`s qHD at 256 PPI I used to see pixels ALL OVER the damn screen... colors and shading was pixelated... it was a disaster while my wife`s Vivid looked REALLY crisp.... does this happen with the One S screen since they have the same resolution and ppi? maybe it was just a S-LCD thing...

 

[p3rljam]

I have a question for all the audiophiles.
I love the DAC that's in my Vibrant and GalaxyTab 10.1. The Wolfson Micro WM8994 Series for those that don't know. What DAC comes with the One S? and is the speaker on the phone loud enough for use with humans?

Thanks!
-Rob

 

[jrsmith43]

I'm on the verge of snatching up ONE S, especially with t-mobiles upcoming $100 trade in for a working smartphone. Bye, Bye old G1.

But wait with the pentaband GNEX on Google Play for $399 I'm not sure what to do. The GNEX would obviously be a bigger, purer experience.

Which way to go? I will say I love the sense calendar and agenda widgets.

 

[Phil Nickinson]

I think Phil may have answered that already, assuming that CarrierIQ is covered by the HTC privacy opt-out:

http://www.androidcentral.com/sense-4-privacy

Actually, no. That's for Sense and Tell HTC.

Gonna do a separate post on the T-Mobile thing here in a minute. (Meant to do it in the review, actually.)