Design
From the moment I placed the HTC One S in my hand, I was struck with how premium the phone feels. Luxuriously sculpted from a single block of anodized aluminum with smoothly tapered edges, the One S is sturdy yet manages to look finely crafted. That's a mean feat since the handset is breathtakingly thin, just 0.31 inch thick. In fact T-Mobile touts the HTC One S as its trimmest smartphone yet, edging out the Apple iPhone 4S (0.37 inch) and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (0.4 inch), but not the original Motorola Droid Razr (0.28 inch).
From the moment I placed the HTC One S in my hand, I was struck with how premium the phone feels. Luxuriously sculpted from a single block of anodized aluminum with smoothly tapered edges, the One S is sturdy yet manages to look finely crafted. That's a mean feat since the handset is breathtakingly thin, just 0.31 inch thick. In fact T-Mobile touts the HTC One S as its trimmest smartphone yet, edging out the Apple iPhone 4S (0.37 inch) and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (0.4 inch), but not the original Motorola Droid Razr (0.28 inch).
Most of the HTC One S' front is taken up by its lovely 4.3-inch qHD (960 by 540) Super AMOLED screen. It paints images and video with vibrant colors, high contrast, and deep blacks. For example, watching HQ YouTube trailers on the One S is a joy. I ogled neon signs and skyscraper lights in nighttime New York cityscapes. Details such as the folds of leathery monster skin were crisp, just how I like it.
Sporting a fancy color treatment HTC calls "gradient blue," which looks more like gun metal to me, the back of the phone shifts from light bluish-gray on top to a darker silver hue at its base. I especially like how the HTC One S' matte metallic surface repels fingerprints and provides a sure grip. Also on back is the phone's 8-megapixel camera, prominent lens circled by blue trim, and LED flash. The HTC One S keeps controls to a minimum. Below the screen are three Android Ice Cream Sandwich capacitive buttons for Back, Home, and Recent Applications. The left and right sides hold a Micro-USB port and slim volume bar. A power button and 3.5 mm headphone jack sit on the top edge.
Features
Make no mistake about it; the HTC One S is a modern Android ICS smartphone with all the trimmings. Under the hood is a nimble 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. While the phone lacks an SD Card slot to add extra memory, the device does come with a spacious 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of which it uses as RAM.
Make no mistake about it; the HTC One S is a modern Android ICS smartphone with all the trimmings. Under the hood is a nimble 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. While the phone lacks an SD Card slot to add extra memory, the device does come with a spacious 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of which it uses as RAM.
Along with the usual selection of Android staples such as Gmail, Google Plus, Maps, and Navigation, HTC offers some of its own custom tweaks. The company's Watch video store serves up movies and TV shows for rent and purchase, while the Music app aggregates Google's Play music storefront, Slacker Internet radio app, and locally stored tracks.
The phone also comes with 25GB of free online storage courtesy of the Dropbox cloud service. Polaris Office supports popular office files, and links to the HTC File app pull all recently opened documents and those stored online into one handy view.
HTC boasts the One S' integrated Beats Audio technology, which is essentially aggressive audio processing that boosts bass to complement low-end heavy music styles such as rap, dance, and electronic. Beats will also automatically detect when you connect Beats-branded headphones and equalize the EQ settings to match the particular model. It's a nice theory, but when CNET's headphones editor Justin Yu gave the HTC One S paired with a compatible headset a listen, he found the results unimpressive. Sure, bass and treble were high, but the midrange was too overpowered for his audiophile tastes.
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