HTC One X+ Review

The keyboard is actually usable this time around

Misc. features
Besides the usual assortment of Google apps, you get plenty of HTC centric apps like the Mirror (uses the front facing camera), a Task Manager to kill apps and services, Flashlight and Notes that syncs with your Evernote account to a Data transfer app that works between compatible devices. Foxit PDF viewer is also present on board for viewing PDFs. HTC’s Car setup gives you a landscape display with oversized icons that make it easy to access features on your device while you’re driving.

Camera
The main camera is still the same 8MP shooter, but the front camera has now been bumped up to 1.6MP. This makes for better video calls as well as self portraits. The interface and features are very similar to Sense 4. You get autostitch panorama mode, smile/face detection, slow motion video capture, group portrait mode and a burst mode. Focussing and capturing an image is lightning quick. The moment you hit the shutter, the image is captured instantaneously. So you can literally capture those priceless moments that you’d otherwise miss. There’s good amount of depth of field as well when it comes to macro shots. The phone still gets quite warm when shooting stills, especially in burst mode. The quality of outdoor images is really good, with good amount of detail and accurate colours. Indoor shots are still just about average without the flash.

Captures good colours

Indoors, without flash

Video recording tops out at 1080p at 30fps, so you get stable and stutter-free video. Video stabilisation also helps cancel out the jerks caused by your movement.

Battery life
The larger 2100mAh battery coupled with the Power Saver mode manages to give you a proper daylong usage, unlike before. Under regular use with an hour of calling, music, EDGE and all social app like Gtalk, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Gmail running in the background, we were easily able to get a full day’s worth of use or even more, before reaching for the charger. In our video drain test, we managed to get a battery life of 9 hours and 20 minutes, which is a decent improvement from the One X (which lasted 8hrs).

Verdict and Price in India
Although HTC has officially launched the One X+ at Rs.40,190, we’re yet to see it in online stores. Seeing how this is the MRP of the device, we expect the street price to be a little less at around Rs.38,000. Compared to the old phone, which still retails for Rs.35,000, the One X+ is definitely a worthy successor. Unlike Sony’s Xperia SL, the One X+ has plenty of improvements both on the hardware as well as software front, which makes it worth shelling out the extra bucks for. The phone now feels complete and just better in every way. If the Note II is too big for your pocket, then we highly recommend the HTC One X+ for its excellent build and extensive feature set.