HTC One X review: eXtra special

How about this for a rebound after a rather quiet second half of last year? A massive change of game plan sees HTC focus on a few special products instead of trying to create a smartphone for every taste. An outstanding result of this effort, the HTC One X brings so many firsts for both company and industry, that a climb to the top of the food chain may be a walk in the park.

HTC One X official photos

Just look at some of the things the One X has put on its resume. The 4-PLUS-1 Tegra 3 makes its smartphone debut here, the awesome polycarbonate body adds that extra solid feel and grip, while the 4.7" second-generation S-LCD of HD resolution on the front is a crystal-clear view to the world of Sense 4.0 and Android 4.0 ICS.

And that's just the HTC One X getting started, check out the complete list below.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.7" 16M-color Super LCD 2 capacitive touchscreen of HD resolution (720 x 1280 pixels); Gorilla glass
• Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich with latest HTC Sense 4.0
• 1.5 GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 CPUs, low-power companion core, ULP GeForce 2 GPU, Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset
• 1 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash; face detection and geotagging
• 1080p and 720p video recording @ 24fps with stereo sound
• 720p front-facing camera for video-chat
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• MHL TV-out (requires MHL-to-HDMI adapter)
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• DivX/XviD video support
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• HTC Portable Hotspot
• Office document editor
• Beats audio enhancements

Main disadvantages

• No microSD card slot, no alternative options in terms of storage
• MicroSIM support only
• Incapable of 3G video calls without a 3rd party app
• No dedicated camera key
• Non-user-accessible battery
• Uninspiring image and video quality, video framing is tricky

Previous HTC flagships were often criticized for lacking identity and bringing little improvement in terms of both features and design. This time critics should have little to fret about - the One X is as bold a step forward as it gets. Not only is the processing power more than doubled, but the screen and body of the smartphone itself are immensely better than what the Sensation and Sensation XE had to offer. And let's not forget the camera, which HTC say is the best they have ever made.

HTC One X live shots

What we're particularly impressed with about the One X is that it's actually more compact than you'd expect from a phone with a 4.7" screen. Not only is it impressively slim, the One X is only marginally larger than the omnipresent Samsung Galaxy S II and that one had a 4.3" screen.