HTC One X+ vs Samsung Galaxy S III battle royale

If you’re heading to your local AT&T quite soon and are planning on specifically hitting up the Android-only universe, you may very well be deciding between the HTC One X+ and the Samsung Galaxy S III as your two possible heroes. What we’re going to do here is a quick rundown of what it’ll mean for you to own one or the other – and that has to do with more than just specifications. Of course we’ll need to start with specifications one way or another, so let’s begin with the screen size: 4.7-inches vs 4.8-inches.

The HTC One X+ has the smaller of the two displays at 4.7-inches, but at that size with its 1280 x 720p Super LCD 2 panel, you get the higher of the two screen resolutions with 312 ppi. Samsung presents a 1280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED display over 4.8-inches, this bringing it up to 306 ppi in the end. Both devices are relatively light, with the One X+ coming in at 4.55 oz while the Galaxy S III weighs in at 4.7 oz. [Check our HTC One X+ hands-on right this minute!]

With the 5.31 x 2.75 x 0.35 inch body of the HTC One X+, you’ve essentially got just about as similar a size as you’re going to get on a different manufacturer with the Galaxy S III measuring in at 5.38 x 2.78 x 0.34 inches. The One X+ has appeared in black thus far while the Galaxy S III is available in blue, white, and garnet red – and again, all of these options either do now exist or will soon exist on AT&T in the USA. The HTC One X+ comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean right out of the box and the Galaxy S III currently works with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The processors in these devices are rather different – though they may very well act rather similar in the end. The One X+ works with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor as its international iteration does while the Galaxy S III uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor. Have a peek at the battle between HTC One X and HTC One X (with different processors) to get an idea of what we’ll be dealing with here.

Both devices work with NFC, both have an 8 megapixel camera on the back, and the HTC One X+ works with an extra processor made specifically for image processing, just as the rest of the HTC One series has as well. With the HTC One X+ you’ll have Google’s own Voice Assistant and the new Google Now as revealed on the Galaxy Nexus with Jelly Bean – the Galaxy S III works with S-Voice for voice assistance.

Both devices work with a 2100mAh battery though the HTC’s version of it is not able to be removed from the device, while Samsung’s will be able to be switched out at will. The HTC device has 64GB of internal storage while the Galaxy S III on AT&T works with either 16 or 32GB of internal storage and has a microSD card slot for expansion up to an additional 64GB. The One X+ will work with Beats Audio and a built-in FM radio while the Galaxy S III has neither.

The HTC One X+ also works with Sense 4+, a new user interface from HTC, while Samsung works with TouchWiz. Both operating systems are rather interesting and fun to use, and both offer options for media consumption – music and video stores, that is. The pricing for the HTC One X+ has not yet been revealed, but the Galaxy S III will cost you either $199.99 or $249.99 on-contract depending on the internal storage size you want. Check em both out in your local AT&T retail location soon!


HTC One X+ vs Samsung Galaxy S III battle royale is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


HTC One X, One S getting Jelly Bean this month

This morning, HTC officially outed its One X+ and One VX smartphones. We even got our hands on the One X+ (spoiler alert: it’s pretty cool). However, in the midst of the announcements was the news that two of HTC’s older One smartphones will be upgraded to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean sometime this month.

HTC promised back in July that it would bring Jelly Bean to the One X and One S, and it looks like the company is finally delivering on that promise. No specific date has been said yet, but the timeline for these kinds of updates usually depends on the carriers anyway — the One X is available on AT&T‘s network, and the One S is offered by T-Mobile.

The HTC One X features a 4.7-inch 1280×720 display and comes packing with Tegra 3 and a 1.5GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with 1GB of RAM on board. Meanwhile, the HTC One S has a 4.3-inch 960×540 display and comes with a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

We reported earlier this morning that 1.8% of Android users are now on Jelly Bean, which is up from 1.2% a month ago. That’s certainly not a large percentage, but you have to be patient with Android updates. Android 2.3 Gingerbread is still the most popular version, which claims over half of the market share at 56%.


HTC One X, One S getting Jelly Bean this month is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


What happened to the HTC Hero Device strategy?

Back in January of 2012 a message was released by HTC’s UK chief Phil Robertson that made it clear how the manufacturer would be limiting the amount of devices they’d release in 2012 – what happened to that promise? The words relayed back then made it seem as though HTC would be going Apple’s way with a strategy that focused on a single phone – or perhaps a small collection of phones – that would be supported in ways that simply are not allowed by a strategy that includes phone after phone released in tight succession. This was an amazing opportunity for HTC – what happened?

Today HTC announced three more new phones, two of them part of the HTC One series – the HTC One X+, VX, and Windows Phone 8X – revealed earlier internationally, here coming to AT&T for the first time. The HTC One X+ is essentially a boosted version of the HTC One X, the One VX is essentially the equivalent of the One V, and the Windows Phone is a whole new device. Each of these devices look and feel nice, but they’re heartbreakers, each one of them – not in their quality, but in that they represent additional frays from the single device strategy.

“We had a fantastic year, with 65% growth year on year in the UK. But in Q4 we delivered a lot more products than in the past. Now we want to create more of a ‘hero’ approach. We make great phones, but it is hard to do that when the portfolio is spread too much. … So 2012 is about giving our customers something special. We need to make sure we do not go so far down the line that we segment our products by launching lots of different SKUs.” – Robertson

The closest we’ve gotten to a hero strategy as it was described earlier this year was the HTC One series as it stood in its first set of three, the HTC One X, V, and S. Then came the HTC EVO 4G LTE and the DROID Incredible 4G LTE and the whole show went down the drain. It should be clear why this happened – Sprint has the “EVO” brand that HTC relies on for sales on that carrier, the same being true of Verizon with both the “DROID” and “Incredible” brand names.

HTC has a hero strategy in place that’s different for each carrier. If they’d release one device – or even three devices like they did at the start of the One series, they’d have the power that not just Apple has with their iPhone, Samsung and their Galaxy S III and their Galaxy Note series as well. Make one phone and the money will flow.


What happened to the HTC Hero Device strategy? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


AT&T Snaps Up The HTC One X+ And One VX, Lines Up Launches “In The Coming Months”

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As it turns out today is a good day to be an HTC fan — the Taiwanese company announced earlier this morning that the revamped HTC One X+ was in fact a real thing, and now AT&T has just confirmed that it will carry that new flagship device later this year.

Interestingly, the One X+ won’t be alone either, as AT&T has also announced that it will sell the lower-end HTC One VX alongside it when they both launch in the “coming months.”

I won’t spend too much time rehashing the One X+ — aside from its 1.7GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor and 64GB of internal storage, the Jelly Bean-powered phone is largely the same device that AT&T already launched earlier this year. What’s arguably more notable here is the addition of a previously-unknown One series handset to AT&T’s roster.

THe One VX features a 4.5-inch display running at 960×540 (coated in Gorilla Glass, naturally), as well as a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 5-megapixel camera, NFC, and 8GB of internal storage. The spec sheet may not be a world-changer, but it’s got a solid chance at selling well if AT&T prices it accordingly. That said, the One VX has two distinct disadvantages when compared to the recently-refreshed One X+ — it doesn’t run the same up-to-date version of Android that its bigger brother does (though Ice Cream Sandwich still has plenty of life left in it), and at 9.19mm it’s a thicker device to boot.

Of course, that didn’t stop HTC from touting it as one of the “slimmest unibody form factors” in the industry — you’ve just got to love that spin.

There’s no official word on pricing yet, but The Verge has learned that AT&T will continue to sell the original One X at a lower price point rather that discontinue it entirely. Naturally, the two new models will slot in above and below that price point (currently $99), but we’ll likely have to wait a bit before the official price tags are released.

Oh, and one bit of parting bad news for T-Mobile customers — AT&T refers to the One X+ as an exclusive in its release, so the dream of a fully fleshed-out HTC One family riding on T-Mo’s airwaves may remain just that.


AT&T HTC One X+ and One VX equip carrier with full range

The folks at AT&T have revealed that they’ll be getting several new HTC smartphones in quite soon, two of them coming in on the HTC One series tip with power enhanced over the first wave. The third is the USA version of the Windows Phone 8X by HTC which we’ll be speaking about in a separate post – for now it’s time for Android power. The HTC One X+ and One VX are both coming in on AT&T’s 4G LTE network as well for ultra data speed.

The HTC One X+ is a device you may readily mistake for the original HTC One X as it looks essentially the same on the outside save for an exclusive carbon black finish rather than the original white. This device has nearly the same physical specifications as far as how it feels in your hand, but you’ll find boosts throughout the device to keep you up to date with the hottest phones on the market.

You’ll be working with HTC Sense 4+, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and for the first time in the USA, you’ll have the 1.7GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor with 4+1 technology – that’s an additional “ninja” core for low-power activities. This device has a 4.7-inch 720p display and an 8 megapixel on the back with HTC ImageChip hardware inside – that’s a dedicated processor made specifically for the camera, mind you. This device also has 64GB of internal memory right out of the box standard.

The HTC One VX is a slightly new form factor for the HTC One series with a 4.5-inch display fronted by Corning Gorilla Glass and 5 megapixel camera on the back. This device presents one of the slimmest unibody form factors on the market at just 9.19mm thin and equipped with the same lovely Sense 4.0 and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich that the first generation of HTC One devices came with earlier this year.

The HTC One X+ will bring on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and HTC Sense 4+ right out of the box, a couple of enhancements that the HTC One X and the VX will be gaining later this year.


AT&T HTC One X+ and One VX equip carrier with full range is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


AT&T adds HTC One X+ and One VX to its future lineup, will arrive in the ‘coming months’

AT&T plans to carry HTC One X, introduces One VX

HTC decided to reveal the oft-rumored One X+ earlier this morning, and it didn’t take long for AT&T to announce its intent to carry the device in the “coming months.” Fans acquainted with the original AT&T One X won’t find much different on the outside — we’re still looking at a 4.7-inch Super LCD2 720p display, 8MP BSI f/2.0 rear camera with ImageSense and gorgeous polycarbonate build. Indeed, it’s what’s inside the LTE-capable phone that counts: a 1.7GHz quad-core Tegra 3 chipset, an impressive 64GB internal memory (nice, given the device still lacks microSD support), Jelly Bean with Sense 4+ and a nicely improved 2,100mAh battery.

That’s not all, folks: AT&T’s also introducing another HTC handset for its mid-range lineup known as the One VX (pictured above on the right). The device, which utilizes a 4.5-inch qHD Super LCD2 display, is packing Android 4.0 (upgradeable to Jelly Bean after launch), a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM 8930 with 1GB RAM, LTE, a 5MP BSI f/2.0 ImageSense camera capable of shooting 1080p video, a VGA front-facing cam, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio and 8GB internal storage. How about dimensions? It measures in at 9.19mm (0.36 inch) thick and weighs 4.4 ounces (124.7g), so it’s slightly thicker and lighter than the One X+. We’re quite curious to hear details on pricing and availability, but we haven’t heard anything aside from the coming months (we’d like to believe, however, that AT&T wouldn’t wait until after the holidays to push this out). Hopefully we’ll get to play with the new device soon, but feel free to check out our galleries of picture-perfect press images below.

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AT&T adds HTC One X+ and One VX to its future lineup, will arrive in the ‘coming months’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC One X+ official: We go hands-on!

It’s six months since HTC launched the One X, one of its best smartphones in years, and with the HTC One X+ the company hopes it can polish its flagship back to the top of the list. Outwardly identical to the One X, albeit with a new matte black case and red detailing, the One X+ makes its changes on the inside, upgrading the processor to a 1.7GHz quadcore NVIDIA Tegra 3 AP37 and massaging the smartphone’s guts to accommodate a larger, 2,100 mAh battery. We caught up with HTC for some pre-announcement playtime.

Chip and battery are the big numbers, and HTC is pretty proud of them. The company claims performance is up as much as 67-percent compared to the original One X, while battery life has gained up to 6hrs more talktime versus the old phone.

In the hand, it’s unsurprisingly instantly recognizable as a One X: it still feels broad and flat, surprisingly slim, and the textured casing is easy to grip. The rear camera pucker – still an 8-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 lens – gets a ring of red around it, matching the pared down Beats Audio logo, while the front camera now musters 1.6-megapixels and, for the first time, gains access to HTC’s Image Chip technology.

That does its processing on the RAW photo data, rather than after its been converted to JPEG, and HTC sets the One X+ to automatically shoot vanity stills in Portrait mode with skin tone smoothing and other virtual botoxery. You can turn it off if you’d rather be seen in your hideous, unairbrushed state. The front camera also now gives a countdown by default, three seconds to allow you to pose rather than be snapped while thumbing the button.

It’s not the only change to the camera software. The UI now shows how many photos and minutes of video you have left – HTC will offer both 32GB and 64GB versions of the One X+, though neither gets a microSD slot – and if you lock the phone with the camera app still in the foreground, HTC assumes you’re a shutterbug tourist and bypasses the lockscreen next time you turn the phone back on to save valuable milliseconds of photography time.

Beats Audio has its new logo and a new feedback amplifier, boosting the performance of the One X+’s speaker. This, HTC says, “constantly monitors” the signal to the speaker and tweaks it so as to make it as loud as can be without clipping or crackling. Unfortunately, unlike on the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, there’s no companion amp for the headphone jack – arguably of far more use than a louder speaker – though the power has been increased from 0.5V to 1.5V. It’s also possible to use NFC to pair the One X+ with compatible Beats speakers.

Elsewhere in software, there’s now Jelly Bean (complete with Google Now) behind the scenes with HTC Sense4+ – a new strategy of nomenclature HTC says is less focused on micro-changes and more on usable features – strapped on top. The Gallery app follows the path of the Music hub, and pulls in content from Facebook, Dropbox, Flickr, Picaso, and what’s stored on the handset itself, and you can now sort images by date, event, and location, complete with a map view showing where clusters of shots were taken.

The One X+ is PlayStation Certified, and with the app – not installed to the phone by default – you’ll eventually be able to download Sony games. HTC Watch 2 does get loaded out of the box, however, and has also evolved into a hub of sorts: now, as well as renting and buying movies and TV shows from HTC’s store, there are links to video apps like YouTube and ESPN. A three-finger upward swipe flicks the content to your HTC MediaLink HD, and if the third-party video app itself has support for the MediaLink SDK, you can continue using the phone for other tasks while video keeps playing. Otherwise it’s simple screen-mirroring. HTC couldn’t say which developers had baked in such support, though did tell us it was in discussions about it.

Finally, there’s a resurrection of the online Sense tools, now part of the “Get Started” feature which will welcome all new One X+ owners. They’ll be able to set up their new phone – arrange wallpapers and homescreen widgets, choose apps from Google Play – in their desktop browser and then, by logging into the One X+ with the same Sense account, have it automatically set up that way. You can set up your online account before you even have the phone, in fact, giving you something to do while you eagerly await the delivery guy.

Unfortunately there’s only one-way sync, at least to begin with, so any changes made on the phone won’t be backed up online. Instead, all you’ll be able to do is reset the One X+ to the original configuration you first started with. Still, HTC says it does have plans to continue building on its online Sense provision, and we can hope it will make a better job of things the second time around.

For Europe, there’ll be UMTS HSPA+ models, with the promise of LTE versions for other markets. HTC did say that it could well change that and add an LTE for the fledgling EE 4G network in the UK, however.

As for Jelly Bean for previous devices, once the One X+ launches – in the UK, that will happen in early- to mid-October, across multiple carriers and alongside the original One X which will remain on sale – HTC will be pushing Android 4.1 to the One X, One S, and One XL shortly after. It will also include Sense 4+, though some of the hardware-specific features (like the speaker amp) obviously won’t be supported on the older phones.

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HTC One X+ official: We go hands-on! is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


HTC shows off One X+ in the UK, we go hands-on (video)

HTC reveals global One X with 17GHz processor, 64GB and Jelly Bean  we go handson

The One X+. You have to reach for the Shift key just to type it out, but as names go it’s neither unexpected nor inaccurate. In fact, it paints just the right picture, because this is still the same global (i.e. non-US) One X we’ve come to know and respect, but its matte black shell also contains important additions that secure its rightful place at the top of HTC’s Android range. In fact, it’s even better news than that earlier XDA leak suggested.

On the hardware front, the One X+ has a faster Tegra 3 variant that clocks in at max of 1.7GHz (versus 1.5GHz on the original), an enlarged 2,100mAh to keep the engine turning over, a capacity boost to 64GB (versus 32GB on the global One X and just 16GB on AT&T’s handset), and — self-portrait artists rejoice — an upgraded front-facing camera that promises 1.6 megapixels and better image processing. Most other specs stay the same, including the 8-megapixel rear camera, 1GB of RAM and the lovely 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 Super LCD 2 display. The UK handset we played with was also stuck on 3G, leaving it unable to party on the emerging British LTE scene, but there’s an LTE global variant too that could potentially touch down on these shores in the future (although HTC wouldn’t confirm that outright).

In terms of software, HTC’s skin (now called Sense 4+) has been modified to work on top of Jelly Bean and brings a host of subtle improvements from both Google and the manufacturer. All in all, we reckon this new contender works hard enough to become desirable rather than merely incremental, and if you check out the video and hands-on impressions after the break then you might just agree.

Continue reading HTC shows off One X+ in the UK, we go hands-on (video)

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HTC shows off One X+ in the UK, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC One X+ leaks with blink-and-you-miss-it changes [Update: Single 64GB partition]

What does a “+” get you? If it’s the HTC One X+, freshly leaked once more today, then it doesn’t seem like a huge amount; new photos show minor aesthetic changes – when you’re most excited about a new Beats Audio logo, you know it’s time for the weekend – with Pocket-lint‘s sneaky pre-announcement images otherwise confirming only that the One X+ will look much like its One X predecessor.

That means the same 4.7-inch display, apparently, and the same neatly tailored polycarbonate plastic chassis. Inside, according to leaks earlier in the month, will be a slightly faster processor than before: a Tegra 3+ AP36 with a 1.6GHz clock speed (or, in single-core mode, up to 1.7GHz). That will be paired with 1GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM.

OS is tipped to be Android 4.1 Jelly Bean – about time, given Google’s latest OS has been on the scene for some months now – with HTC’s Sense 4.5 interface strapped on top. A 1,800 mAh battery, just as in the original One X, is expected to be doing power duty, and the pogopins on the back for charging cradles are clear to see.

In short, the One X+ is shaping up to be a minor tweak rather than an all-out refresh, likely running a little faster than the One X but otherwise offering much the same user-experience. If HTC is sensible, it will have spent its time tweaking power management, as rival devices – such as the Galaxy S III, with a 2,100 mAh pack – offer considerably larger batteries.

Update: GSM Arena spotted an early listing of the One X+ in a printed O2 catalog, which suggests the new HTC will have 64GB of internal storage and indeed run Jelly Bean on a 1.7GHz processor. MoDaCo claims the 64GB will be partitioned as a single, huge chunk, too, unlike the split arrangement of the One X. O2 lists the One X+ at £479.99 on pre-pay, with contract deals also expected.


HTC One X+ leaks with blink-and-you-miss-it changes [Update: Single 64GB partition] is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


From the lab: Lumia 920 low-light shootout with Nokia 808, iPhone 5, HTC One X and Galaxy S III

From the lab Lumia 920 lowlight shootout with Nokia 808, iPhone 5, HTC One X and Galaxy S III video

It looks like Nokia’s controversial marketing move, which involved using pro DSLRs to “simulate” low-light shooting, was even less necessary than the smartphone maker may have thought. During our visit to the company’s Tampere, Finland research and development complex, we were given access to a comprehensive testing suite, enabling us to shoot with a Lumia 920 prototype and a handful of competing products in a controlled lighting environment. Technicians dimmed the lights and let us snap a static scene with each handset at just 5 lux — a level on par with what you may expect on a dimly lit city street in the middle of the night. The 920 took the cake, without question, but the iPhone didn’t fare too poorly itself, snatching up nearly as much light as the Nokia device. The 808 PureView also performed quite well, but the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III yielded unusable results.

It’s one thing to snag proper exposure, though — capturing sharp details with little noise and superior color balance is an entirely different beast, and the Lumia managed to do just that, as you’ll see in our 100-percent-view shots further on. Later in the evening we hit the streets of Helsinki for a real-world shootout. The 920 did present some issues with exaggerated shake and other rapid movements, but it offered up excellent results overall, even in scenes that were too dark for us to make out any details with our own eyes. Our nighttime shoot can be found in the gallery below, followed by plenty of comparison photos after the break.

Continue reading From the lab: Lumia 920 low-light shootout with Nokia 808, iPhone 5, HTC One X and Galaxy S III

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From the lab: Lumia 920 low-light shootout with Nokia 808, iPhone 5, HTC One X and Galaxy S III originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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