The HTC One 4G Android smartphone is no doubt going to be one of the most popular handsets of the year, delivering one of the biggest global launches. Online tech watchdog TechRadar recently communicated directly with smartphone manufacturer HTC, and was told that pre-orders will begin to be filled by the end of March in certain global markets, increasing to “more markets as we approach April.” A few days later they followed up that announcement with the news that UK, Germany and Taiwan would receive an HTC One launch in late March/early April.
HTC went on to state that North America and the majority of Asia-Pacific would receive a rollout “before the end of April.” The HTC representative communicating with TechRadar went on to say that the company appreciates their customers’ patience, and ensures possible HTC One shoppers that “once they have the phone in their hands they will agree that it has been worth the wait.” That obviously remains to be seen, but if technical specifications on the handset can be believed, Samsung and Apple may receive some serious competition for their best-selling Galaxy S and iPhone lineups.
HTC One waanted to improve over previous handsets in the One lineup in four major areas: camera quality, user interface and experience, sound system and handset durability. The new HTC One accomplishes that by giving the handset a back illuminated sensor (BSI), optical image stabilization and UltraPixel technology. A premium metal unibody design is rugged and durable, and the new HTC Sense Android UI has been simplified and streamlined. Sound improvements come via the ramped-up Beats Audio full range sound package.
The handset also delivers a large 4.70 inch 1,080P Full HD display, and a quad core chip that is supposedly up to 40% more capable than the Snapdragon S4 Pro. Physically, the handset is slim at 0.37 inches (9.3 mm). The large 4.70 inch S-LCD 3 screen delivers a pixel density of 468 pixels per inch, which may be the highest of any smartphone to date. Resolution runs 1,080 x 1,920 pixels, and that display is protected against everyday wear and tear and a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 2.
The system chip which powers the handset is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T model, built around a quad core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 CPU. 2.0 GB of RAM memory is on board, and the handset will be available in both 32 and 64 GB models. The HTC One 4G Android smartphone will offer a rear facing 2.0 UltraPixel camcorder capable of simultaneous HD video and image capture, and a front facing 2.1 megapixel chat cam.
