Rating: Camera, Blink Feed, aluminium casing all mentioned
There has been a bit of a mixed reaction to the introduction yesterday [February 19th 2013] of HTC‘s Samsung S3 and Apple iPHone5 killer smartphone – the One. Vodafone seems to view it as just another smartphone in its 4G ready range. Ernest Doku, an expert with uSwitch.com, likes its camera the best. Research analyst with Informa Telecoms & Media, Julian Jest, has gone heavy on the One’s UI which he reckons makes it WP8-like. Meanwhile, UK High Street retailer, Phones 4u, was most impressed by the “beautifully crafted, full aluminium metal body with zero gap construction that took 12 years to perfect.” It did like Blink Feed function too as well as the camera. It looks like things could go either way for the Taiwanese handset manufacturer, though.
Of course, Phones 4u gave the One a huge vote of confidence with its decision to dedicate his flagship Oxford Street store for a day to a ‘world first’ viewing of the One for consumers.
That’s not the kind of support it has given to the likes of Sony, Motorola or LG, for example.
“The key [to the One] is in the camera. It captures the action before you press the shutter button and promises better quality for low-light photos.”
“This will certainly appeal to the snap happy,” observed Doku.
He reckons that, “Buzzwords like ‘UltraPixel’ alone aren’t enough to sway mobile fans into parting with their cash. Question is, does it have any form or functions that sets it apart from the competition?” His answer – the camera, of course.
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Although the One is, of course an Android based device, HTC added its ‘Sense’ customisation to its handsets a while back. However, Sense has received a radical overhaul with the One.
Julian Jest explians, “The addition of the ‘Blink Feed’ home screen – which bears some resemblance to the live tiles layout present on the Windows Phone OS [WP8], is particularly unique.”
He added, “It can dynamically aggregate and display animated content fed from external sources, social networking portals and internal applications as a function of the user context.”
“This UI framework should prove popular with consumers as it enables UI customization that dynamically provides a comprehensive view of the most relevant and contextual information.”
Vodafone has taken an approach of seeing the One as a possible enticement for subscribers to upgrade themselves to its 4G (which it successfully bid for today – [February 20th 2013]).
Once customers acquire the phone, Vodafone intends to let them know the moment Vodafone 4G is available in their area.
For future reference, those with 4G ready handsets on the Vodafone network can find more information on coverage here.
GoMobile News feels that industry pundits are in two minds about the One’s potential.
“As for whether it’s a game changer, we’ll have to wait and see,” Doku concluded.
You didn’t mention what Phones4U did with its dedicated, exclusive BlackBerry zone on the first floor. Last time I was there it was taped off…