HTC One preview: Take two

Introduction

The name is quite a statement, but one that befits a smartphone that has the makings of a masterpiece. The HTC One builds on a time-honored tradition of unibody design and packs all the very latest tech available - some of which exclusive - to make what is perhaps one of the best all-rounded packages to see the light of day in the first half of 2013.

HTC One official photos

The HTC One is like a supercar - it's the best that current technology has to offer and while not everything is completely practical, it looks and handles great and is ready to wow its owner. And much like a car dealership, HTC is ready to offer you money if you trade in your old HTC phone - it's $100 or the value of the old phone, whichever is greater.

The biggest bullet point in the features list is the camera - a 4MP "ultra-pixel" camera. Yes, the resolution sounds too low, but this camera marks a first in the mobile phone imaging world, which puts it next to the Nokia 808 PureView and Lumia 920.

Speaking of a feature list, here it is. The One (camera aside) is basically a Butterfly with bumped up specs and a cool aluminum unibody.

HTC One at a glance:

• General: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, quad-band UMTS/HSPA, optional LTE Cat 3 (100Mbps downlink, 50Mbps uplink)
• Form factor: Aluminum unibody touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 mm, 143 g
• Display: 4.7" 16M-color 1080p (1080 x 1920 pixels) Super LCD 3 capacitive touchscreen, 469ppi pixel density; Corning Gorilla Glass 2
• Chipset: Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600
• CPU: Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300
• GPU: Adreno 320
• RAM: 2GB
• OS: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sense 5
• Memory: 32GB/64GB storage
• Camera: 4 megapixel auto-focus camera with ultra-pixels and Optical Image Stabilization; LED flash
• Video camera: Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps with HDR; 720p @ 60fps
• Front camera: 2.1MP front-facing camera, 88°; 1080p@30fps video with HDR
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port with MHL and USB host, GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, IR port
• Battery: 2,300mAh Li-Po
• Misc: Beats Audio, BoomSound stereo speakers on the front, HDR microphone, HTC Zoe photo gallery

The camera is backed by ImageChip 2, which enables some advanced functionality. It takes the Scalado tech we first saw on the HTC One X and puts them into overdrive.

HTC is trying to move away from Android slightly. Yes, it's still a full-blown Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, but the new Sense UI version 5 transforms the interface into something that isn't instantly recognizable as Android, including a brand new homescreen and a gesture-based replacement for the menu button.

Handling the HTC One

The company is also playing to its audio strengths - the usual Beats Audio is on board, but there's also BoomSound for the front-facing stereo speakers, which are said to blast out up to 93dB. Then there are the HDR microphones to ensure good call sound quality.