HTC One V Pros and Cons

If Sony Ericsson (Sony) have Xperia series and Samsung have Galaxy’s, then HTC have “One” Series on its lineup. HTC One variant is not as much as their competitor, but it seems that this Taiwanese producer will use this series to compete in the Android smartphone market. At the time this article written, at least there are three variant of HTC One device that already available in the market. They are HTC One X with quad core processor, HTC One S with dual core processor and the last HTC One V with only single core processor that I will review this time.

HTC One V price is approximately 320-340 USD unlocked on June 2012. Price may vary in different country. At that price range, this product will compete with Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, Samsung Galaxy W, Huawei Honor and some others Android cellphone. What are this phone pros and cons? Is it worth to buy? If you want to know, don’t go anywhere; read our HTC One V review below.

HTC One V Sales Package

• The device
• Headset
• Micro USB cable for transferring data
• Charger
• Manual Book
• Warranty Card

Sales package may vary in other region.

HTC One V Review– Design

This Android phone have measurement 120.3 x 59.7 x 9.2 mm with weight at 115 g. HTC One v design has HTC Legend characteristic, which is it has a curvature at the bottom that looks like a chin. In my personal opinion, it looks attractive. The body is using unibody structure that makes it looks solid and strong.

On the front side, there is earpiece above the screen, at the side of it, there are proximity and light sensor. At below the screen there three touch button which are (from left to right) the BACK button, HOME button and the Task Manager (Recent Apps) button. On the left of the phone, there is Micro USB port and on the right side, there are Volume rocker button. At the top, there are universal 3.5 mm audio jack, LED notification light and the power (lock) button. I love the LED notification light since many Android devices don’t have one. Besides that, I love the placement at the top because I’m still able to see it blinking even when I put the device facing down.

At the bottom of the phone, there is only a microphone hole. While at the back, there is the camera lens with the LED flash light on its side. Loud speaker is located at the bottom of the back side. Since this Android using unibody design, so the user will not be able to remove or change the battery. The only part you can remove is only to change the SIM and Micro SD card. To remove SD card, it can be done without have to shut down the phone. But the user must “safely remove” (unmount) sdcard from Settings Menu first before removing card.

There is one feature that I miss from HTC Legend that not exist one the V, which is the absence of track pad. Overall, HTC One V build quality is good and even it’s better than some of more expensive Android phone. When you hold it in your palm, it feels solid, not too heavy yet too light.

Review HTC One V – Screen Quality

This Android ICS smartphone is using 3.7 inch screen with 480 x 800 pixels resolution. The screen type is capacitive that sensitive with the touch of your finger. The screen is not an AMOLDE nor IPS type, but the quality is more than enough to please your eye. The color that shows on the screen is vivid with good contrast. The screen already support multi touch, so you can zoom in and out by pinching the screen when you open the Gallery, Browser or other supported applications.

Review HTC One V- Processor and Gaming Performance

At the moment, HTC One V is one of the few device that already installed with the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system (without have to upgrade first). But this is quite normal, because One V is available on the market just about two months ago. Like other HTC devices, the V also uses “Sense” for its interface skin. Therefore, it makes the interface is looking not as pure Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

HTC One V use Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon at 1GHz clock speed, 512 RAM, plus Adreno 205 GPU (Graphic Processing Unit). The specification used on this phone is typical and not much different than its competitor at the same price range. In fact, the GPU and the processor are same as Xperia Neo and Play. If compared to Samsung Galaxy W and Huawei Honor, the processor is still from same series (Qualcomm MSM8255), but “W” and “Honor” use the “turbo” version that running higher clock speed.

With that spec, One V is still able to run HD (High Definition) game. At our test unit, the device is already installed Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) 2012 and ShadowGun. When we try to play it, the PES can perform well without lag. ShadowGun can run quite well but with some lag in some parts, especially when the many enemy appear on the game and at the graphic intense scene. But overall, it is still playable. Just for note, to ensure this phone perform well when playing games, it is suggested to use SD card with good quality, at least Class 6 SDcard. (Read: What is SD card Class click here)

For everyday use, this smartphone performance is quite ok. The interface looks good and smooth, there will be no lag to switch between screen menu, even it is smoother than some of dual core processor Android gadget that I tried. I must admit that HTC is one of the very few manufacturers that can create interface that looks pretty, have many extra feature but still responsive. You will notice some lag when you open multiple heavy applications at the same time. For example, when you open some excel file with a lot of data and you also open the browser. But this condition is normal happened on single core device.

HTC One V Review – Camera and Video Quality

This Android is able to capture still image up to 5MP (2592×1552 pixels) resolution. It has LED flash light and autofocus. It also can record a video up to 720p (1280×720 pixels) resolution. Unfortunately, the HTC One V doesn’t equip with front camera, so it will be a little bit troublesome for you who need to use video call.

If we saw the HTC One series advertisements, it seems that the camera and video feature is one of the major advantages from this series. Some of the features offered are:

• Capable to take a picture in low light condition
• Take a full screen photo while recording a video
• Burst mode or take couple of photos at the same time and the user can choose which one the best
• Zero shutter or able to snap less in a second.

The camera interface is quite unique, if in most of other Android phone we have to switch between photo mode and video mode, then this condition is different in HTC One V, they combine the interface in one screen. You will find two virtual buttons that have a function to take a picture and video. You can look the interface below:

If you want to record a clip, you just have to click the Video icon. While you record a video, you can click the Camera button to take a full screen picture while the recording still continue. There are a lot of extra features you can find, such as touch focus that have a function to determine the point of focus by touching at the screen, face detection, smile shutter, and other photo effect such as distortion, vignette, color adjustment (sepia, etc.), HDR, Panorama and many more. For zero shutter feature, in my experience, it’s not a completely zero second to take picture from one to another, however it still faster than most of Android phone out there.

For the camera quality, we can say it is good for 5MP class. The resulted image shows a lot of detail, quite sharp and full of color. The ability to take a picture in a very short time and in low light condition is a plus side on this sector. For the video quality, it’s quite OK but not special. The video shows good color with acceptable detail. When you record a fast object, sometimes it shows a little bit lag, but this is commonly happen for a single core phone.

Review HTC One V- Audio and Video Player

HTC One V equipped with Beats Audio technology. You can only feel the benefit of this feature when using headset or connected to external speakers. For the audio quality, I can say it’s good, we can hear the clean and powerful bass. However if it compared to other high end HTC devices that also use Beats Audio, the sound quality of HTC One V is not as good as them. This cell phone is also having FM Radio, but you can’t use the Beats for it. For the loud speaker quality is so so, it is loud enough but the quality is not so good.

The video player application on this phone can play a movie up to 720p resolution, but it also depends on the video bitrate. We found that some of 720p video with high bitrate not running so smooth, it can run but with some lag. The player doesn’t support some of video format such as .mkv and .flv, however you can easily install third party application from Google Play Store for free to handle the situation. Combined with a good quality screen, this Android phone can fulfill the need for those who love to watch a movie on the go.

HTC One V Review – Battery performance

The V is using Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery. At normal usage, the phone can standby for one full day without have to recharge it. However, it also depend on the signal strength of the network provider. Compared to most of other Android phones, the One V battery performance is on the average, not so good but not bad either.

HTC One V Pros and Cons

HTC One V Advantages

• Unibody that looks premium and have good build quality
• It has LED Notification light
• Able to take a picture while recording a video
• Attractive and responsive interface

HTC One V Disadvantages

• No front camera
• No Compass sensor
• Battery is irreplaceable

HTC One V Specification

• Network: GSM Quad Band 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100
• Size: 120.3 x 59.7 x 9.2 mm, Weight: 115 g
• Display: 3,7 inch, 480 x 800 pixels capacitive, 16M Color
• Memory: Internal 4 GB (Available for the user only 1 GB) + SD up to 32 GB
• Camera: 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, auto focus, LED flash, Record video up to 720p
• Processor: Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon 1 GHz, GPU Adreno 205, RAM 512 MB
• Operating system: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0 interface
• Connectivity: Bluetooth A2DP, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, micro USB v2.0
• Battery: Li-Ion 1500 mAh
• Others: FM Audio, 3.5 mm Audio jack, proximity and accelerometer sensors, GPS with A-GPS, Beats Audio

Review HTC One V – Conclusion

If you are looking for a smartphone that attractive and look premium, then HTC One V can be one of your main choices. The phone performance is ok event thought it’s not prominent from others. The camera feature is complete, you won’t need to install third party application to enhance or add camera effect. Also, it has some feature that you can’t find on other Android device except the HTC One series. The Ice Cream Sandwich plus HTC Sense 4.0 is also an advantage you can get. One of the major flaws from this cellphone is the absence of front camera that it is important for some people.