Google Now is, in the simplest of terms, Android's version of Siri for iOS, albeit much more integrated into the operating system. Besides being able to talk to it, Google Now will learn from your usage patterns, and display relevant information. For example, if you search for a particular sports team frequently, Google Now will display upcoming games you might want to watch.
Google Now
The service interacts with you by generating cards, which give you short overview of information it believes is relevant to you right now. Going to work in the morning? Google Now knows this and lets you know there's a big traffic jam on your usual way to the office, so it offers you a re-route. This extends to a multitude of other areas, including weather, traffic, public transit stations, and nearby points of interest.
Synthetic benchmarks
The HTC First is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset, whose CPUs tick at 1.4GHz. The GPU is Adreno 305. While the smartphone is far from today's crop of high-end Android smartphones, it easily does better than last year's batch of flagships. See how it fared below.
Benchmark Pi
Lower is better
Samsung Galaxy S4 132
LG Optimus G Pro 147
HTC One 151
Sony Xperia Z 264
HTC Butterfly 266
HTC First 291
HTC One X+ 280
LG Optimus G 285
Samsung Galaxy Note II 305
HTC One X (Tegra 3) 330
LG Optimus 4X HD 350
Samsung Galaxy S III 359
Meizu MX 4-core 362
Nexus 4 431
Linpack
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy S4 788
LG Optimus G Pro 743
HTC One 646
Sony Xperia Z 630
HTC Butterfly 624
LG Optimus G 608
HTC First 271
Samsung Galaxy Note II 214.3
Nexus 4 213.5
Meizu MX 4-core 189.1
HTC One X+ 177.7
Samsung Galaxy S III 175.5
HTC One X 160.9
LG Optimus 4X HD 141.5
Geekbench 2
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy S4 3227
LG Optimus G Pro 3040
HTC One 2708
Sony Xperia Z 2173
HTC Butterfly 2143
Samsung Galaxy S III 1845
LG Optimus G 1723
HTC First 1352
iPhone 5 1601
AnTuTu
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy S4 24716
HTC One 22678
Sony Xperia Z 20794
LG Optimus G Pro 20056
HTC Butterfly 19513
Samsung Galaxy S III 15547
HTC First 11712
Quadrant
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy S4 12376
LG Optimus G Pro 12105
HTC One 11746
Sony Xperia Z 8075
HTC One X+ 7632
LG Optimus G 7439
HTC First 6016
HTC One X 5952
Samsung Galaxy Note II 5916
Samsung Galaxy S III 5450
Meizu MX 4-core 5170
Nexus 4 4567
GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p off-screen)
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy S4 40
HTC One 34
Asus Padfone 2 31
Oppo Find 5 30
Sony Xperia Z 29
LG Optimus G 29
HTC Butterfly 27.9
Apple iPhone 5 27
Nexus 4 26
Samsung Galaxy Note II 17
Samsung Galaxy S III 15
HTC First 14
HTC One X 9
SunSpider
Lower is better
Samsung Galaxy S4 810
Samsung Ativ S 891
Apple iPhone 5 915
Nokia Lumia 920 910
Samsung Galaxy Note II 972
HTC One X+ 1001
LG Optimus G Pro 1011
Motorola RAZR i XT890 1059
HTC One 1124
Samsung Galaxy S III 1192
Meizu MX 4-core 1312
Sony Xperia Z 1336
LG Optimus G 1353
HTC Butterfly 1433
HTC First 1530
Oppo Find 5 2045
Vellamo
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy Note II 2418
HTC One 2382
HTC First 2206
HTC One X (Tegra 3) 2078
Samsung Galaxy S4 2060
HTC Butterfly 1866
Oppo Find 5 1658
Samsung Galaxy S III 1641
LG Optimus 4X HD 1568
LG Optimus G 1522
Meizu MX 4-core 1468
Nexus 4 1310
There wasn't a task which the HTC First couldn't handle with ease. As far as mid-range smartphones go, it packs more oomph than any competitor.
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