HTC One X+ My new Favorite smartphone

HTC’s top of the line smartphone just got better…with the addition of a faster processor, more memory and a bigger battery plus a cool new soft matte black finish.

The HTC One X+ is mostly identical to the original One X so I will refer you to my review of that phone for the basics and will only deal with the improvements here. First off it looks the same as the One X except for the matte black rubberized finish…HTC calls it Carbon…I think I like the rubberized finish more..it feels better in the hand. The new Gorilla Glass version 2 on the One X+ (right photo) seems to be a little bit less reflective contributing to the low key black look. Overall this phone continues the HTC tradition of being the best built and best looking smartphones on the market. Why they don’t sell like hotcakes is beyond me!

As a souped-up version of the One X, the One X+ boasts a few key improvements over its previous incarnation. First, instead of the 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor that powered its predecessor, the One X+ relies on a 1.7GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU. Plus, HTC packed a whopping 64GB of internal memory into the One X+. While I’m sure some will complain about the lack of an SD card slot, I seriously doubt you’ll miss one. Unless your music and movie collection is truly huge, this phone has your mobile media needs covered and then some, especially compared with the typical 16GB most handsets offer. A larger 2100mAh battery helps deal with all this power but still plan on charging the One X+ every day

It doesn’t end there. In addition to the phone’s powerful hardware, much of the HTC One X+’s real power l is due to the software. Not only does the One X+ run the latest version of Google’s Android OS, version 4.1 Jelly Bean, but HTC has put its newest Sense user interface on top. At first glance, Sense 4+ looks identical to the Sense 4 UI that the original One X offered. According to HTC, Sense 4+ is built to integrate with Jelly Bean’s new features such as Google Now, which brings improved search and voice commands, plus automatic alerts depending your location and search history.

The combination of powerful hardware and the latest software results is a really fast phone that does everything as smooth as silk and everything from picture taking to surfing to opening apps just works better.

Speaking of picture taking HTC improved the front-facing camera to 1.6-megapixels from 0.3-megapixels, adding features like automatic skin tone correction, which shows HTC understands people want to look good when they take self-portraits. There is even a countdown built into the self portrait mode to allow you to steady the camera and frame properly after pushing the button . The improved camera also makes for better video calls for the people you are calling. 

The rear camera is the same as on the original but due to the more powerful processor everything seems to happen a little quicker so you are even less likely to miss that important shot. You can comfortably leave your point and shoot at home.

Overall, the One X+ is one of the best phones on the market, and is a genuine rival to the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3. The only problem: it’s often squeezed by the marketing steamrollers at  Apple and Samsung. This is a great phone so if you want a really good looking well built phone with a great feature set, then the HTC One X is the phone for you

The HTC One X+ is available from Telus…the performance on its LTE network is nothing short of spectacular. The Price is  $79.99 with a three year plan $650 with no contract.

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About Bob Benedetti

Former RCAF fighter pilot, retired TV Reporter, Producer, Executive Producer at CTV Montreal and past Mayor of Beaconsfield.
Bob writes about Personal Technology and Car Tech daily at http://hometechmtl.com.