MWC 2012: HTC One X and One S Launched Together with Enhanced Sense 4.0 UI Skin

HTC has finally taken the covers off two of its latest smartphones this year. The HTC One X and One S revealed at a press conference at Mobile World Congress today signifies HTC’s shift towards focusing more on developing a limited number of devices that emphasis more on quality rather than having a large number of different variants.

The One X features a 4.7-inch 1280×720 HD Super LCD 2 display. Powering the device is a Tegra 3 “4+1” quad core processor accompanied by 1GB of RAM and 32GB of on board memory. Imaging is handled by an f/2.0 lens 8MP camera with 1080p video recording capabilities and enhanced with a backlight illuminated sensor and HTC’s amazing ImageSense technology. At the front, the One X gets a 1.3MP front camera. In addition to this, the One X also features Beats Audio enhancements technology to boost audio output and quality as well as NFC.

With the One X HTC has departed from its design convention by utilising polycarbonate instead of aluminium. In addition, the One X’s unibody construction employs a new microdrilling technique for a more precise construction. The polycarbonate lends the One X a softer, more tactile feel compared to previous HTC devices constructed out of aluminium. Colour options for the HTC One X includes white or grey. The new material also allows HTC to create a lighter device.

The biggest improvement in the camera performance of the HTC range of One smartphones is the camera’s responsiveness. Camera app startup time is just 0.7 seconds, from then focus is automatically achieved in just 0.2 seconds — that’s faster than a blink of and eye.

Holding down the onscreen shutter button automatically switches on burst mode, with an intelligent selection menu that allows you to quickly select the best shot from the burst mode at the same time automatically discarding the rest. In addition, there’s no longer any need to switch between video and photo modes because the software buttons for capturing stills and video sit right next to each other in the new camera application.

The most interesting innovation from HTC is the ability to snap photos while recording video. The new feature also allows you to grab a still image from a video recording you’ve already made using the device.

Next, we have the HTC One S. At just 7.8mm thin the One S is HTC’s thinnest smartphone. Featuring a 4.3-inch qHD 960×540 Super AMOLED display, the device is powered by a dual-core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of on board storage. Like the One X, the HTC One S share the same camera hardware and performance with HTC’s ImageSense.

In terms of construction, the One S features HTC’s trademark aluminium unibody frame that is now toughened using a microarc oxidation process where the metal is bathe in a plasma field and then electrocuted to instantly carbonizes the material. The process makes the aluminium body five times more resilient than anodization alone. This process is completely new to HTC and typically applied for use in the harshest of environments. There are two colour options for the HTC One S: Grey with a light blue accent around the camera module, or black with a red highlight around the same camera area. Unlike the HTC One X, the One S does away with NFC.

The two devices will ship with Android 4.0 skinned with HTC’s newly announced Sense 4.0 UI that’s now much improved, lighter and agile. Look for these two flagships to begin rolling out globally in late March and early April. The One X will come with 50GB of free Dropbox cloud storage while the One S will include 25GB Dropbox storage.

Both devices feature a non user-replaceable batter and utilises Micro SIM cards. HTC has also omitted micro SD card slots in the two devices.

Pictured here is the HTC One X at the top and One S at the bottom.

[via here and here]