MWC 2013 Hands-On: HTC One

Over at the HTC booth, we take another closer look at the new HTC One. To recap on the specs, it runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Quad-Core processor running at 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of storage. At the front you have a 4.7″ display that does Full HD resolution of 1920×1080 at 468ppi. The HTC One has a nice aluminium build which is much better than the HTC Butterfly. Even when compared to the iPhone 5, the HTC One feels more refined especially when you run your fingers around the chamfered edges. It somehow reminds us of the old HTC Legend that’s fully aluminium but without the unique curved bottom.

Other things to note is a front facing stereo speakers, a 4MP Ultrapixel camera which focuses on pixel size rather than megapixels and a new HTC Sense 5 UI. The new Sense UI comes with Blinkfeed which is a customised “Live Tiles” home screen. Unfortunately you can’t remove it from the home screen panel. If you do want to get back the typical HTC home screen interface, the only workaround is to set a different panel as the default home screen. You can see how this is done in the hands-on video after the break.

Over at the top, the new HTC One also comes with an infrared port which is embedded in the power/wake button. If there’s one area of complaint, it will be the notification light that’s hidden underneath the micro holes at the top. Just like the HTC One X and Butterfly, the notification light is too discreet and it is hard to notice outdoors. On-board it comes with a 2,300mAh battery and it weighs 143 grams and has a thickness of 9.3mm. As comparison, the HTC Butterfly is 9.1mm thick, has a 2,020mAh battery and weighs 140 grams.

In terms of availability, HTC says that it will be coming to Malaysia by end of April and it carries the price tag of RM2,299.

Head after the break for the hands-on video, photos and sample pictures taken at MWC 2013.

Sample Photos (click to enlarge)

You can also check out more sample photos of the HTC One taken from the regional launch in Sydney. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch our earlier HTC One hands-on as well.