After having had a downturn in 2011, HTC are looking for 2012 to be the year that they are finally able to rival Samsung at the top of the pile in Android-based smartphones. The introduction of the new “One” range at the Mobile World Congress in the early part of this year was certainly a sign that the Taiwanese company means business. The range features three new handsets – the HTC One S, HTC One V, and the phone that we are looking at today, the HTC One X. The One X is the flagship phone of the range and is regarded as one of the best smartphones ever released, but does it have what it takes to become the next “must-have” phone?

Design

HTC has suffered criticism in the past for lack of innovation when it comes to design. Looks have never been HTC’s strong point, and pretty much every phone looks exactly the same, albeit in different sizes. Thankfully, that issue has now been addressed and the One X is a design triumph.

This phone is wonderful to handle and has no visible seams in its build other than the obvious power and volume buttons, and the USB charging slot. It is made from unibody polycarbonate which makes it solid, lightweight (130g) and great in the hand. At 134.4 x 69.9mm, there is no denying that the One X is one of the larger smartphones on the market but 8.9mm, it is also one of the thinnest, which makes it really seem like something special.

Corning Gorilla Glass is used for display protection which is pretty much standard issue these days. It is also available in black or white, the latter looking particularly impressive.

Screen

One of the HTC One X’s best features is also the most instantly recognisable – the gigantic 4.7 inch screen. It may be one of the biggest screens ever seen on a smartphone, but it also happens to be one of the best. The 720 x 1280 pixel resolution provides a pixel density of 312ppi, almost equal to that of the iPhone, combine this with the large size and you have a display of mouth-watering quality. Viewing is excellent from all angles and colours are sharp and vibrant, making watching videos, gaming and looking at photos a joy.

Camera

Because of the display, using the camera is something you will probably doing a lot of. HTC has opted for an 8-MP 1080p rear-facing camera with backside illuminated sensor and LED flash, and 1.3-MP 720p front-facing unit. Of course, it is the main camera that is the central focus here, and it does a great job of taking high-quality pictures and video with almost no shutter lag whatsoever.

HTC has also done a really good with the camera’s features. Users have the ability to take stills while in the process of recording a video and choose pictures during video playback. You can also touch the ever-present shutter icon to capture pictures from moving images. There is also an Instagram-like lens which lets you add different effects as you snap away.

Processor

HTC has pulled no punches when it comes to the speed of the One X, making this phone one of the first to use a quad-core processor. The NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset gives this phone a clocking speed 1.5GHz, which as you can imagine is more than enough to make mincemeat of anything thrown at it. The processor is backed up by an impressive 1 GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage space, although somewhat surprisingly there is not micro SD card slot included.

Operating System

As well as being one of the first phones to use a quad-core processor, the One X is also one of the first to hit the market running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box. The latest Android OS is excellent and really easy to use, the user-experience is further enhanced by the inclusion of HTC Sense v4.0 UI which is a really well designed user interface and much better than similar offerings from Samsung, Sony and LG.

Battery

In the past HTC hasn’t fair to well when it comes to the battery life of their phones; however, as with the design, HTC has put things right in the One X. The non-removable 1800mAh battery gives a solid 12 hours of usage, which is very impressive indeed.

Beats Audio

Beats by Dr. Dre is the ultimate in sound innovation right now and the sound One X – hardware and software – is all processed by the good Dr. Beats Audio gives excellent audio on everything from gaming to watching YouTube, and works even better through headphones.

Apps

Google Play might not have reached the level of the Apple App Store just yet, but it is rapidly improving. In terms of functionality and user-experience of apps, there is little to separate Apple from Android.

Verdict

The HTC One X is a beast of a phone. It looks great, is easily to handle and has all the speed and power you could ever need in a phone. The operating system is slick and the features are excellent. The only possible downside could be the phone being a little too large for some peoples’ liking – but I am not one of those people. This phone is the best thing HTC has ever created and is one of the best Android phones ever released. Everyone should own one, now!