HTC One V review: Chin up

Introduction

The One series is the fresh new lineup of smartphones that helped HTC take the spotlight early in 2012. While the One S and One X are flexing muscle at each other as a way to stay sharp for the invasion of the other predators with multi-core processors and high resolution screens, the One V aims at a less violent market segment - and it's priced accordingly. While we wouldn't go as far as to call it a budget phone, it's a familiar package - and a lot friendlier - less powerful, but hopefully not underpowered. Not nearly as impressively equipped as its bigger siblings, the One V looks no less stylish - a good start is half the job done in the smartphone midrange.

If you know your HTC phones, the resemblance between the One V and the HTC Legend (and, in turn, the Hero) will not go unnoticed. The trademark "chin" makes a strong comeback. Then, as now, HTC are targeting an audience that seek a phone, which makes a statement more than anything else, and with a slim 9.2mm profile and streamlined design, the One V does just that.

But does the HTC pack enough within its slick package for those of us looking for more than just a pretty face? We'll answer that question in detail in the pages to come. For starters, here are the pros and cons of the One V at-a-glance.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
• 3.7" 16M color capacitive touchscreen with WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• Android OS v4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich HTC Sense 4.0
• 1 GHz processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset
• microSD card slot
• 5 MP autofocus camera with single LED flash; face detection, geotagging, HDR mode, image auto-upload
• 720p video recording @ 30fps, slo-mo videos (2x at WVGA), simultaneous HD video and still image capture
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• Smart dial, voice dialing
• Polaris Office document editor
• DivX/XviD video support
• HTC Locations app
• HTC Car integration
• HTC Portable Hotspot
• Fast boot time

Main disadvantages

• Only 1GB of the 4GB internal storage is available to the user
• No front-facing camera
• Some competing smartphones have dual-core CPUs
• Non-user-replaceable battery
• No dedicated camera key

The quick boot is no news in an HTC smartphone but that feature wasn't exactly blazing fast in the One X and the One S. The One V is more like it at about 8 seconds to the lock screen from a cold boot, and less than 12 for everything to fully load. There're also plenty of slick additions to the interface. ICS and the latest HTC Sense 4.0 is a powerful combo, which creates a pretty impressive user experience. Keeping in mind, of course, that you'll need to pop in a microSD card at the first available opportunity, as you have less than 1GB of internal storage to work with once the operating system and preloaded HTC apps have had their say.

HTC One V live pictures

We'll now take a look at the HTC One V retail package, before we proceed with our traditional hardware checkup.