HTC One V

Editor's Review of the One V

HTC's One series of handsets have put the Korean manufacturer right back on track in the smartphone leaderboards; a welcome boost seeing as they've spent the last year or so fragmenting their brand with fairly uninspiring - and strangely-named - handsets. If the One S is the younger sibling of the One X, then it'd be fitting to call the One V - which aims to bring the latest features at an affordable price - the baby of the family.

Design & Build

The first discernible external feature of the HTC One V is that it looks pretty swish for a supposedly budget handset. Its design fits somewhere between the smoother, curvier One phones and the clunkier Hero bricks of old. It has a uni-body aluminium shell, with the back of the phone being rubberised at its top and bottom. At 9.2mm thick, it's a sturdy creature, and isn't vulnerable to cracks, snaps and scratches.

The 3.7" screen packs a modest 800 x 480 resolution that's one of the best you can get in the price range. Yes, it may not exactly be HD quality, but you're on a budget here, so stop moaning. The Super LCD 2 display (same as on One X and One S) has great viewing angles and is as vivid as they come. The resolution means that small writing turns into a pixel mess, but zoomed in everything looks very pretty indeed.

The 5MP camera uses a f/2.0 lens and LED flash, embedded neatly into the rubber backing. The quality itself leaves a bit to be desired though, as the digital zoom is dodgy and objects at a distance smear and blur. If you're looking for a quality camera-phone, then there are definitely better alternatives out there in this price range.

OS & Interface

One of the selling points of the One V is, of course, its implementation of ICS and HTC Sense 4.0. The software is inevitably cut down and adapted to the phone's modest 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and 512MB RAM.

There are 5 home-screens here instead of 7, swiping between them doesn't have that flashy 3D effect, and there is occasional delay in opening widgets. This was to be expected though, and people looking to indulge in the latest software on a budget shouldn't have too many complaints.

The smaller screens sadly means less keyboard space, which may be an issue for those not endowed with graceful fingers. Thankfully, you can use ICS's default keyboard rather than the HTC one, and that goes some way to making the most of the relatively cramped typing conditions.

Multimedia & Storage

As with its bigger siblings (which are, incidentally, smaller in size) the One V features the luxury of Beats Audio, making it quite a nifty music player. Sadly, it doesn't ship with the high-quality Beats headphones to make the most of this feature, but you can always get your own. The Music software matches the hardware, opening a neat little hub in the 'Music' widget, giving you access to all the audio-associated apps you own.

Something that music fans - and everyone else for that matter - will be less happy about is the minimal 4GB onboard storage. With much of this taken up by the OS, you're effectively left with just 1GB to play around with; virtually nothing in this day and age. Thank God for the microSD slot then, but you'll have to bring your own card to the table if you want to make use of it.

Battery Life, Connectivity, and the Rest

The One V's has enclosed in its aluminium shell a 1500mAh non-removable battery. While on paper this sounds decent, in practice it's actually a hell of a lot better than that. Light-to-medium- users can expect to get over 30 hours of juice out of this thing, taking into consideration factors such as moderate game-playing, calls and internet usage.

Of the connectivity features, it's nice to see the ultra-speedy Bluetooth 4.0 implemented here, as well as both tri-band HSPA (capable of up to 14.4Mbps down and 5.6Mbps up speeds) and quad-band GPRS radios.

Conclusion

The HTC One V is a great starting point for people looking to convert to Android phones. It definitely lacks the horsepower to satisfy the tamest of hardcore users, but its smooth integration of the latest Android and HTC software - as well as a pleasingly vivid screen - makes it an attractive proposition for those who want to be up-to-date at no major cost.