Nexus 5 vs HTC One (Video)

One of these devices is a unibody aluminum flagship launched almost a year ago, a hardware showboat built to bring unique audio and optical features to the Android world. The other is a minimalistic slab of “hardcore plastic” with the specs of a superphone but the price of a budget model, its entire purpose to showcase the very best of Google’s handheld products and services. So why are these devices, so far apart in time and targeting, being brought together for this comparison? Because ...

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HTC One Mini Review: the One flagship in a smaller form-factor

HTC and Samsung are directly competing in the high-end/flagship segment with the One and the Galaxy S 4. However, the battle is ongoing in the mid-range sector too, with the HTC One Mini, which we’re currently reviewing, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. As we like to put it, the HTC One Mini is for the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini what ...

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From Android skins to Android stock: a sweet & sour experience with the Google-edition HTC One

The skin/no-skin debate is the Coke vs. Pepsi divide of the smartphone space – if the cola war were an 80-20 split in favor of Pepsi, that is. Studies outlining user attitudes toward UI overlays are hard to come by, but there’s no real question about the prevalent feeling in the tech press: when it comes to Android skins, you can smell the disdain a mile away. If you ask me, the almost-automatic hatred of skins is a tired, destructive artifact of a jaded tech media. It’s a holdover from the days when

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How to return your HTC One to Sense 5 (Video)

We showed you how to install the Google Play edition software on your HTC One, and we gave you five great reasons why you should at least try it. But we understand that stock Android isn’t for everyone. And in regards to the HTC One, it comes with a handful of sacrifices, such as infrared support, much-needed camera optimization, and all the different software that made the HTC One such a great device. ...

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Stock Android devices remind us why Sense and TouchWiz are so important

I have always valued the stock Android experience over the various customized strains from OEMs, even before Android itself looked anything like it does today – back in the Donut, Eclair, Froyo and Gingerbread days. It’s more rustic, rough around the edges … raw. I like to use devices as they were intended to be used, how they were supposed to look and feel from the factory. This is exactly why I don’t use cases. They mask the true beauty, engineering mastery, the design, and all the hard work that went into making a phone. It’s like saying you want to protect a ...

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HTC One Camera Feature Tour: Everything You Need To Know (Video)

About this time last year, we shot a video called How To Take Great Photos with the Samsung Galaxy S III. It’s very much an artifact of yesteryear, with a fifty-second intro, hazy interlacing, and one the worst haircuts in my personal history, but people seemed to enjoy it. So much so that when the Galaxy S III’s successor dropped just a few weeks back, we followed up our full ...

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HTC’s Next Hurdle: Long-Term Support

Depending on your perspective, the HTC One is either the biggest Android success story of 2013, or the most overhyped piece of mobile tech since the iPhone. Debate continues to rage between the two camps across our various comment sections, and fanboys being what they are, a resolution seems unlikely anytime soon. One thing is clear, though: a timely HTC One update is critical to the ...

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HTC One vs Nokia Lumia 920 (Video)

The newest and finest in the Android collection versus the not-so-newest … but still finest … in the Windows Phone category. How does the HTC One’s UltraPixel shooter match up against the Nokia Lumia 920′s PureView camera? Moreover, how does that unibody aluminum casing from Taiwan fare placed up against the solid polycarbonate from Finland? And how involved are the similarities between Sense 5 and Windows Phone, anyway? It’s all covered in our latest comparison, so dive on in and check it out as we put the HTC One (Sprint) head-to-head with the Nokia Lumia ...

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HTC One (Sprint) Review

In America, wireless carriers continue to exert a stranglehold on much of the smartphone experience. The features a device brings to the table often matter less than which ones your wireless provider allows you to use. Too often, a flagship smartphone arrives on retail shelves mangled beyond recognition, bearing a customized (read: ugly) casing and an enhanced (read: bloat-filled) software load, “proudly” flying the colors of its host carrier in the form of one or more overbearing logos silk-screened to its shell.

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The Pocketnow Weekly Podcast, Episode 037

We love us some new technology, and we certainly give it its fair shake on today’s episode of the Pocketnow Weekly. But every so often, you need to give a little lip-service to the tech of days gone by. The platforms and devices of yesteryear. That’s right: I’m talking about dead technology. It makes sense, then, that a man going by the twitter handle DeadTechnology is here to help us dust off those fond memories. In his inaugural visit to the Pocketnow Weekly, our own Adam Doud pulls back the veil of public apathy secrecy surrounding the phenomenon of the “webOS ...

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Empty Nest: What I Miss (and Don’t) About the HTC One

I’ve learned that there are two things about being a smartphone-and-tablet reviewer. The first thing: you get to handle awesome gadgetry days or weeks ahead of its official release date, and you’re not just allowed to use the heck out of it; you need to, in order to do your job. That’s the awesome thing. The other, less-awesome thing: you eventually have to give it all back. Empty Nest is a recurring column discussing what I miss -and what I don’t- about the devices I’ve had to return. ___ Normally, I have a ...

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Here’s Why You Should Get the HTC One

There’s a reason why Apple products — in general, but to be specific, the iPhone and the iPad — are so well regarded: the build quality is awesome and the choice of materials is exceptional. Whether you like the iPhone or not you have to agree to the fact that it speaks “premium” in terms of build quality, materials, and in-hand feel. As someone who is working in the business I have spent time — more or less, depending on the case — with many devices, low-end, mid-range, and high-end. It is the HTC One that had me conclude this for the first time: it is right ...

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The Galaxy S 4 Didn’t Make the HTC One Obsolete at All

Comparisons between the two most prized Android hardware manufacturers’ latest flagship devices were inevitable. Both HTC and Samsung have been battling it out to become the top Android manufacturer since the platform first hit consumer hands. And while Samsung currently has a wide lead over HTC, in both cash reserves and market share, HTC is far from hanging up the towel and going home. In the past month, both companies have unveiled their latest work to a mostly pleased audience, mixed ...

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UltraPixel vs Megapixel: HTC One & HTC Droid DNA Camera Shoot-Out

The HTC One, as we mentioned in yesterday’s unboxing and hardware tour, is a crucial device for the Taiwanese smartphone maker. The company’s brand has suffered a steady decline since its heyday of the last decade, and HTC is -for the second year in a row- banking on a device titled the “One” to save it from the increasing pressure of the competition. The One of 2013 is similar to last year’s

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The Pocketnow Weekly Podcast: HTC One vs Galaxy S IV Special Edition

Sometimes ya ain’t got time for dilly-dallyin’, spit-swappin’, or tall-tale-tellin’. Sometimes even dropping in a few time codes is too much to ask. Because sometimes the meat just needs to get out to the masses. This is one of those special times, and the meat we’re putting on the market is our jawing. Our opinions. Our stories. And the subject this week is the two biggest Android smartphone launches of the year, coming from the two biggest sworn enemies of the entire Android landscape. That’s right: this is the episode where we talk HTC One vs Galaxy S ...

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