HTC ONE S REVIEW

HTC One S - Design, Features and
Connectivity
Read the review of the HTC One M8
Following swiftly in the footsteps of the HTC
One X , the HTC One S sits in the middle of
the company's new trio of One branded
Android smartphones. But while it may not
be feature packed enough to perch at the
top of HTC's pile, there's still potentially
enough here to make this one of the choice
phones of the moment.
Design
Chief among the One S' features is its
design. At just 7.8mm thick, it's the thinnest
phone HTC has ever produced and it holds a
candle to the best of them in this regard.
However, far from being a flimsy phone
that's compromised by its slenderness, the
metal chassis used here gives it a reassuring
solidity.
As well as giving strength, the metal body
looks great. The aluminium that makes up
most of the back and that wraps round the
edges has been bathed in a plasma field.
This etches the surface, giving it a matt
black (it's more of a dark grey really)
appearance, and a feel that's similar to
sandblasted metal finishes, though it's a
little rougher. Rather than being just a
cosmetic process, though, this method of
etching creates a surface that is four times
tougher than traditional anodised
aluminium, something that is immediately
noticeable.
Some people have reported this finish as
being overly slippery, and while it is quite
smooth we haven't found it any more
difficult to handle than most other phones
with a matt finish. Also, when flat on a
surface the soft touch plastic bottom section
provides a pretty good purchase so it won't
slip off – it's a shame the camera lens sticks
out in this regard.
However, while tough, this finish can't
perform miracles so for instance when we
received our review sample there were
already a few scuffs around the microUSB
socket where the steel plug of the microUSB
cable has scratched it. And during our time
with the phone it picked up a large scratch
on the back just from rummaging around in
a bag. Clearly bad fortune played a
considerable part here but it's still a little
alarming how easily this scratch was
obtained and moreover how noticeable it is
thanks to the contrasting silver of the
aluminium shining through the matt black.
You can also get this phone in a graduated
anodised finish. This looks just like a
standard sandblasted, anodised finish but
the colour fades from light to dark. It's a
beautiful effect, though you do miss out on
the extra toughness of this plasma-blasted
(micro-arc oxidised is the technical term)
finish. Then again, what scratches it does
pick up may be less noticeable.
It's almost a shame then that the metal
must be broken up by two sections of soft-
touch plastic: up top around the camera
lens, and at the bottom around the speaker.
However, this is required to let the various
wireless signals out, and overall it still looks
very nice indeed.
On the front, HTC has performed a neat
trick that gives the impression the screen
curves round the sides of the phone, when
in fact it's a perfectly flat panel. They've
done this be extending the strip of shiny
black plastic that surrounds and protects
the edges of the screen down the sides. It's
a bit of a cheat but it both looks and feels
good.
Features and Connectivity
Features wise, up top you've got the
headphone jack and power button while the
left edge is home to the microUSB socket
and on the right is the volume rocker that is
finished in a matching matt black. Joining
the main camera on the back is a single LED
flash, and there's a front facing camera too.
And finishing things off are the three touch
sensitive, backlit navigation buttons that sit
under the screen. The whole lot throws up
few surprises and ticks all the right boxes.
However, our bugbear of not being able to
unlock the screen without stretching to
reach the top edge power button rears its
head once again. That said, as the One S is a
smaller phone, the problem isn't as bad as
on the HTC One X and you soon get the
hang of it
Under the hood there has been one
potentially major slip up, though. Prize off
the small plastic section at the top
(something that is easier said than done)
and while you can add in your microSIM,
you can't add anymore storage or replace
the battery. And with only 16GB of built in
storage, this could instantly kill the appeal
of this handset for many people, especially
as only about 10GB of it is available to the
user.