UPDATE (7/2): Turns out that the HTC One S being sold to the Philippines has the old Snapdragon (S3), running on 1.7GHz as recently confirmed by HTC’s country manager. This change moves this phone further down the buy list considering its hefty price tag.
Ahhh, the HTC One S. I’ve been waiting for this since it was unveiled during MWC early this year but it wasn’t able to join the HTC One X and the HTC One V a couple of months back. Now the HTC One S is finally out in the market strutting its slim frame and powerful S4 chip.
The HTC One S is a huge upgrade from previous 4.3-inch Android by HTC, the HTC Sensation. It’s now way slimmer at 7.9mm thin and 119.5g light making it a teeny bit heavier than the One V. It follows the unibody design of the One X but with an ultra-matte black ceramic surface that resulted from a process called microarc oxidation which makes it harder than anodised aluminum. You can definitely use this without a case and not worry about the occasional bumps and scrapes.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the HTC One S and the HTC Sensation which has the same 4.3-inch screen size. The HTC One S is slimmer and lighter but longer than the hefty HTC Sensation.
Another feature that I like about the One S is its dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (Krait) processor which is unlike other dual-cores out there. It is more power efficient and delivers amazing amounts of performance compared to the usual Cortex A9 chips (OMAP 4, Exynos 4, Nova/NovaThor). It can go toe to toe with NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 in the CPU front even.
Its 4.3-inch screen uses a Super AMOLED display for deeper blacks but is quite rare on HTC phones. The resolution still remains the same at 540 x 960 under a curved Gorilla Glass display. You’ll also get 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage with no support for expandable storage (not even USB OTG).
Also present is the same amazing camera from the HTC One series. An 8-megapixel camera with f2.0 lens along with the HTC’s ImageSense chip makes the HTC One S a fast and very capable mobile phone camera. You can also take Full HD 1080p videos with it along with still shots while doing so. Beats Audio enhancement is now standard for new HTC phones and the One S also has it.
The HTC One S only comes in one color (matte black with a blue gradient) and is now available with an SRP of Php26,990. We can’t wait to take one for a spin.
HTC One S Specs: |
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Dual-core 1.5 GHz (Krait) Qualcomm MSM8260A Snapdragon processor |
Adreno 225 GPU |
4.3″ Super AMOLED display, 540×960 pixels @ 256 ppi |
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich |
HTC Sense UI 4.0 |
1GB RAM |
16GB internal storage, no microSD slot |
HSDPA up to 14.4Mbps |
Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP |
8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, f2.0, 28mm lens |
1080p Full HD video recording @ 30fps |
VGA front camera |
1650mAh Li-Polymer battery |
130.9 x 65 x 7.9 mm |
119.5 g |
SRP: Php26,990 |