So the HTC One finally has come to Verizon. I went to the 59th street Verizon in NYC to get one and it was pushed way the back with the Windows phones and the S4. The Droid line was upfront with tons of advertising. Not too much of surprise but disappointing to see that the One will get very little support from Verizon.
The phone only comes in 32GB and silver for now. For me 32GB is fine and the silver is the only color I truly wanted and like but for some people 64GB is essential. Either way 32GB is better than the Galaxy 16GB even with the fact that you can use an SD card.
I was a little worried about what kind of HTC One I would actually receive since I have heard the One sometimes has gap issues, protruding glass, or unfinished plastic. The good news is that my One has no gaps and the glass is flush with the phone but the USB port and power button has sub par finished plastic that is rough. These are slight defects and minor compared to the four iPhone 5's I went through with nicks, dents, and scratches before I got a decent one, so no I will not be exchanging my HTC One.
So compared to my last two phones iPhone 5 and Galaxy Nexus (Both on Verizon) the One is fantastic because it seems like a combination of the Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone. The One has the Galaxy Nexus's large high definition screen, curved back, and Android platform and the One also combines elements from the iPhone with its aluminum build, quality camera, and similar battery life. With that said my biggest complaint for my Nexus was the battery life which the One so far seems to surpass with its 2300 mah battery and efficient quad core processor and it solves my issue with the iPhone's small 4" screen by providing a vibrant 4.7" 1080P screen.
My first experience with Android was my brother Droid Incredible which by all means was a very good phone at the time but had terrible battery life and a heavy heavy dose of Sense. From that point on I have steered away from HTC until this point because I thought Sense was way too heavy and I have always thought HTC and good battery life don't mix well. HTC Sense 5.0 is much better, they have trimmed it down and really the main part of Sense is now Blinkfeed which for better or worse is one of your main home screens which you can't delete. For me Blinkfeed is a good idea but just not practical since it doesn't sort content into categories and is feed overload . If I want to read about politics, sports, etc I will go to Pulse and if I want to see what my friends are up to I open up Instagram or Facebook which all organize content much better. Blinkfeed is too much of a mumble jumble of feed overload for me. I understand why HTC implemented Blinkfeed because they needed to differentiate Jelly Bean somehow compared to competitors, but honestly I most of the time I skip over Blinkfeed and wish I could delete it. For the battery I have only had the phone for two days which isn't enough time to properly test and calibrate the phone but so far the phone's battery is much better than my Galaxy Nexus which would probably have 75% battery by the time I got to work.
So the One has a 1.7 GHZ quad core 600 processor which by all means is fast, not S4 fast or 800 fast but fast enough to do mostly anything. The Boom Sound speakers on first glance seem gmmicky but really they are great. They are probably 20%-30% louder than other speakers and as much as I hate Beats by Dre the software actually makes a difference is bass and volume. The camera has gotten good review for it's 4 MP Ultrapixel and for me the camera just doesn't live up to the iPhone 5. Don't get me wrong it is a very good camera and smacks the iPhone in low light performance but immediately you can tell the difference between the two cameras because the iPhone has much more detail and less noise compared the HTC One. So it comes down to whether you take more low light photos with the One or take more day or well lit photos with the iPhone. The 4.7" 1080P screen is the perfect size but it does have a sizable bezel compared to other phones but the phone still feels great because the curved back. The quality is great and the colors are as rich as the S4 but they are more accurate.
Overall the phone has given me a powerful and fun Android OS while in a iPhone esq build. Blinkfeed is annoying but it is not as overwhelming as the S4's millions of feature which probably you will never will use. My main concern is what kind of battery life I really will get. I am hoping after a full battery cycles I will get 12-14 hours so I can last through my hole day and commute 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
The One is late to the game on Verizon but I still think it is the best phone in their current lineup and future lineup because the iPhone 5S adds nothing I want or crave, the upcoming phablets of the Note 3 and HTC One Max are way too big at 6", the LG G2 is just a faster S4 with the same plastic build, and the Nexus 5 would seem the best pick but we know nothing about the phone and as a person that had to suffer through Verizon neglecting the Galaxy Nexus I will pass.
So for Verizon HTC One customers I am asking what kind of battery life are you getting? And why did you buy the phone?
The phone only comes in 32GB and silver for now. For me 32GB is fine and the silver is the only color I truly wanted and like but for some people 64GB is essential. Either way 32GB is better than the Galaxy 16GB even with the fact that you can use an SD card.
I was a little worried about what kind of HTC One I would actually receive since I have heard the One sometimes has gap issues, protruding glass, or unfinished plastic. The good news is that my One has no gaps and the glass is flush with the phone but the USB port and power button has sub par finished plastic that is rough. These are slight defects and minor compared to the four iPhone 5's I went through with nicks, dents, and scratches before I got a decent one, so no I will not be exchanging my HTC One.
So compared to my last two phones iPhone 5 and Galaxy Nexus (Both on Verizon) the One is fantastic because it seems like a combination of the Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone. The One has the Galaxy Nexus's large high definition screen, curved back, and Android platform and the One also combines elements from the iPhone with its aluminum build, quality camera, and similar battery life. With that said my biggest complaint for my Nexus was the battery life which the One so far seems to surpass with its 2300 mah battery and efficient quad core processor and it solves my issue with the iPhone's small 4" screen by providing a vibrant 4.7" 1080P screen.
My first experience with Android was my brother Droid Incredible which by all means was a very good phone at the time but had terrible battery life and a heavy heavy dose of Sense. From that point on I have steered away from HTC until this point because I thought Sense was way too heavy and I have always thought HTC and good battery life don't mix well. HTC Sense 5.0 is much better, they have trimmed it down and really the main part of Sense is now Blinkfeed which for better or worse is one of your main home screens which you can't delete. For me Blinkfeed is a good idea but just not practical since it doesn't sort content into categories and is feed overload . If I want to read about politics, sports, etc I will go to Pulse and if I want to see what my friends are up to I open up Instagram or Facebook which all organize content much better. Blinkfeed is too much of a mumble jumble of feed overload for me. I understand why HTC implemented Blinkfeed because they needed to differentiate Jelly Bean somehow compared to competitors, but honestly I most of the time I skip over Blinkfeed and wish I could delete it. For the battery I have only had the phone for two days which isn't enough time to properly test and calibrate the phone but so far the phone's battery is much better than my Galaxy Nexus which would probably have 75% battery by the time I got to work.
So the One has a 1.7 GHZ quad core 600 processor which by all means is fast, not S4 fast or 800 fast but fast enough to do mostly anything. The Boom Sound speakers on first glance seem gmmicky but really they are great. They are probably 20%-30% louder than other speakers and as much as I hate Beats by Dre the software actually makes a difference is bass and volume. The camera has gotten good review for it's 4 MP Ultrapixel and for me the camera just doesn't live up to the iPhone 5. Don't get me wrong it is a very good camera and smacks the iPhone in low light performance but immediately you can tell the difference between the two cameras because the iPhone has much more detail and less noise compared the HTC One. So it comes down to whether you take more low light photos with the One or take more day or well lit photos with the iPhone. The 4.7" 1080P screen is the perfect size but it does have a sizable bezel compared to other phones but the phone still feels great because the curved back. The quality is great and the colors are as rich as the S4 but they are more accurate.
Overall the phone has given me a powerful and fun Android OS while in a iPhone esq build. Blinkfeed is annoying but it is not as overwhelming as the S4's millions of feature which probably you will never will use. My main concern is what kind of battery life I really will get. I am hoping after a full battery cycles I will get 12-14 hours so I can last through my hole day and commute 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
The One is late to the game on Verizon but I still think it is the best phone in their current lineup and future lineup because the iPhone 5S adds nothing I want or crave, the upcoming phablets of the Note 3 and HTC One Max are way too big at 6", the LG G2 is just a faster S4 with the same plastic build, and the Nexus 5 would seem the best pick but we know nothing about the phone and as a person that had to suffer through Verizon neglecting the Galaxy Nexus I will pass.
So for Verizon HTC One customers I am asking what kind of battery life are you getting? And why did you buy the phone?
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