HTC One Smartphone Boasts First Full Aluminium Unibody

Struggling Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has attempted to steal the march on its rivals by releasing its new flagship smartphone, the HTC One, ahead of Mobile World Congress next week.

The HTC One is powered by a meaty Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core 1.7GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and runs the latest iteration of Android, version 4.2 Jelly Bean. It is cased in what HTC claims is the world’s first full zero-gap aluminium unibody and boasts a sizable 4.7-inch full HD screen and support for LTE networks.

The smartphone’s audio credentials are boosted by front-facing stereo speakers with a dedicated amplifier powered by Beats Audio, while it also promises to “raise the bar for premium imaging” with its camera capabilities.

Under the unibody

A new feature called HTC Zoe automatically records images both before and after the shutter button is pressed, providing a range of still images and HD video to choose from, while the new ultrapixel sensor it’s the biggest sensor ever put into a smartphone and captures 300 percent more light than any other smartphone camera.

The HTC Sense interface has received some improvements, headlined by the introduction of Blink Feed, which promises to aggregate and display relevant information to users without having to open separate applications. It will consolidate things like social media updates and calendar events with content from more than 1,400 media sources from around the world such as ESPN and Reuters.

EE, O2, Vodafone and Three will all carry the device on their networks in the UK and it will be available with capacities of 32GB and 64GB and in silver or black varieties when it is released in March.

HTC One last chance

“People today immerse themselves in a constant stream of updates, news and information. Although smartphones are one of the main ways we stay in touch with the people and information we care about, conventional designs have failed to keep pace with how people are actually using them,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. “A new, exciting approach to the smartphone is needed and with the new HTC One, we have re-imagined the mobile experience from the ground up to reflect this new reality.”

HTC will be hoping the HTC One can help it regain market share and compete with Apple and Samsung at the top of the smartphone arena while also fending off renewed attempts from the likes of RIM, Nokia and Sony. It will also be counting on the release of its new flagship to improve its finances, having seen profits at the company fall by as much as 90 percent in recent times.

“This is a solid offering that may well hold its own alongside the big players in the smartphone arena – exactly what HTC needs right now. But as for whether it’s a game changer, we’ll have to wait and see,” commented Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch. “Buzzwords like ‘UltraPixel’ alone aren’t enough to sway mobile fans into parting with their cash. Question is, does it have any form or functions that set it apart from the competition?”

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