Pleasantly surprising features

[karmamule]

I think almost everyone getting an HTC One knew they were getting a phone with top-notch design, hand-feel, screen, and excellent external speakers. But, there have been a few features that I didn't think would matter to me that I've been surprised to find myself liking a lot:

• BlinkFeed: I can see how some people might think it's a pale imitation of Flipboard, but I actually prefer it, and even more surprisingly, keeping it as my home screen! I really like using it on my subway trips to/from work, when doing some final browsing right before bedtime, and other times during the day. Sure there are some tweaks I'd like to see made, but I kinda like it's look and feel more than Flipboard and how it casually blends lots of stuff together.
• TV app: Worked like a charm, and I'm finding myself going to that before my TiVo to get a quick glimpse at what's on right now if I wanna zone out to a bit of TV for a while.
• Call quality: I figured it would be good but WOW it's really impressive. Head and shoulders above any phone I've had before. So nice to have a smart phone that still does the whole phone thing really well!
• Camera: After reading some disappointed reviews I was prepared to be disappointed too, but am quite pleased with the photos I'm getting out of it. Of course, as someone mostly taking photos indoors or in low-light conditions, and then casually sharing on G+ and elsewhere I'm the perfect target user for how they've designed the camera.
• Beats audio: I had some other HTC phones with it, and while I kinda/sorta liked it for listening to electronica, it mostly seemed like a fairly heavy-handed crank-up of the bass. But on the One it seems more refined to me, not just giving a solid thump to the music but making sound crisper and clearer without getting overly bright. And, coming from the relatively mild sound of the nexus 4 it's nice to have a phone with some aural oomph again.

By now you may have guessed I'm really really happy with my HTC One, and you'd be right!

 

[joshwithachance]

That is why HTC's motto was "quietly brilliant".

They don't offer as many features as Samsung (and are not as vocal too). But the features they do work on generally are executed very well with a lot of attention to detail.

I agree completely. HTC didn't throw in a million features, but the features it did throw in (Zoe, Beats Audio, Blinkfeed, TV app for example) all work splendidly, and are all actually useful on a daily basis and enhance the user experience.

 

[SeanBlader]

I tend to wonder who has a monitor big enough for 13 megapixels. How many people are really going to go and get the photo's from their phone blown up to poster size? That's really the target audience for that camera. For the rest of us, it's wasted storage and bandwidth when you really are only going to view it scaled down to 1920x1080 on screen, or *FAR* less if you're just looking at it on Facebook or it's properties.

 

[karmamule]

And I also appreciate how, in addition to keeping the feature set focused and restrained, the Sense UI has gotten more minimal and refined. I think they've clearly decided to mirror the phone's physical design with Sense: keep it modern, keep it simple, keep it sweet.

 

[thebizz]

Honestly the design of the hardware and software make me love this phone. HTC seems to be taking more of an apple approach by polishing what they have and making the user experience great rather than follow Samsung and LG by implementing as many features as you can even if half of them barely work and shouldn't see the light of day for another 6 months. Hats off to you HTC make a little more noise and you may be able to return to your previous high

 

[EverNap]

I tend to wonder who has a monitor big enough for 13 megapixels. How many people are really going to go and get the photo's from their phone blown up to poster size? That's really the target audience for that camera. For the rest of us, it's wasted storage and bandwidth when you really are only going to view it scaled down to 1920x1080 on screen, or *FAR* less if you're just looking at it on Facebook or it's properties.

I agree that 13MP is a bit too much, leading to lots of storage and bandwidth wastage, but from the sample pics (in a few reviews) I've seen, the 13MP camera on the S4 takes great pics in daylight, and they do look quite a bit better than the One's. Of course, the One is better in the night, but for someone who mainly takes pictures during the day, I'm sure they'll be more happy with the S4 than the One.

 

[BadgerCane]

Although I do love the ultrapixel change, I would not have minded an extra megapixel or 2. I sometimes see if a photo I took is wallpaper worthy for my laptop, and HTC's camera does make that a little tough.

That said, it probably made this phone more affordable to us and to HTC, which I'm hoping beats out the GS4 in sales. Gotta be a fan of competition!

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

 

[OhAlfie]

Although I do love the ultrapixel change, I would not have minded an extra megapixel or 2. I sometimes see if a photo I took is wallpaper worthy for my laptop, and HTC's camera does make that a little tough.

That said, it probably made this phone more affordable to us and to HTC, which I'm hoping beats out the GS4 in sales. Gotta be a fan of competition!

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

Good luck with that. In a nutshell: Not gonna happen.