Thanks to HTC for the invite, I was able to be among the first in Singapore to have a look at the HTC One, and most importantly, to understand more about it. The event was held at  First Automobile@ Ubi, BRABUS Singapore Authorized Distributor. It was my first time to be amongst the Porsche and Mercedes Benz for a smartphone event.

The moment you hold the HTC One, you know that HTC wants to tell you that the HTC One is a premium product. With its thickness at minimum 4mm (edge) to the maximum of 9mm (in the centre), it feels good to hold and I can say it fits into the palm very well.

Front View

I love the way it looks when the screen it not turned on. It looks like the screen has almost no bezel, thanks to the super black screen.

BTW, here is the lock screen. Very neat.

On the top and bottom, you can see the grilles. HTC has decided to put the speakers on the front. Most manufacturers prefer to put it on the back. Actually, this is really a good move from HTC.

Here is the close up of the wide angle (88 degrees) 2.1 MPX front camera.

Back View

On the back, you can see that it is very clean. There is no edges or uneven “surface” on it. It just flushes nicely. And HTC has cleverly hide the antenna on the white stripes.

Here is a close up of the 4 MPX Ultrapixel camera with F2.0 aperture.

And of course, this premium phone comes with Beats Audio.

Top View

Again, HTC did a clever move. It has integrate the power on/off button with an IR sensor. Very discrete and nice. On the right is the standard 3.5mm jack.

Close up of the power on/off button.

Bottom View

On the bottom, it has just the Micro USB port.

Side Views

The side view of the HTC One is very clean. You see the volume rocker button in the below picture.

Here is the close up of the volume button

And on the other side, it has just the Micro SIM compartment.

BTW, the home button is on the right and the back button is on the left. Double-click on the home button will bring up the task manager where you can swipe to kill your tasks.

I did a short video to show you the hardware, BlinkFeed and also the camera with the filters.

Summary

According to HTC, this HTC One will be available in Singapore from March 2013. There is no actual date or pricing on it yet. Overall, I feel that HTC has done a good job on the hardware. HTC has managed to squeeze in 468 ppi in the 4.7-inch. For the screen size, I guess it is very subjective. Some people may prefer a big screen.

I cannot comment much on the Android Jelly Bean software with Sense 5.0. Some might feel it is bloated with HTC customizations. Some might like it to make their life easier.  Hope to get a review set to test it out. It might just be my next phone 🙂 . For more information or specs on HTC One, you can check my previous post.

Click Here for more information on HTC One

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