HTC One SV Review - Introduction and Design

Saturday 12 January 2013

HTC One SV Review - Introduction and Design

In the mid-range smartphone category reminds us of a college party – there's always room for one more to join the fun! Naturally, we have nothing against that as the broader the selection of handsets is, the harder smartphone makers are trying to bring a truly competitive device. The HTC One SV is one of them offering a display of respectable size, well-performing dual-core processor, and LTE connectivity for rapid access to the web. U.S. carrier Cricket Wireless will be offering the smartphone starting January 16, but it can already be purchased in other parts of the world, including Australia, the U.K., and select Asian markets. However, is the HTC One SV as worthy of a pick as it seems? Well, let's put it through its paces and find out!

The package contains:

Wall charger
microUSB Cable
Wired stereo earphones with tangle-free cord
Safety guide, warranty statement, and other documentation

Design:

Shortly after taking the HTC One SV out of its eco-friendly packaging we found ourselves oohing and aahing, impressed by the device's visual appeal. It is one beautiful handset, we must admit, and even though it is made mostly out of plastic, it seems well-built and definitely doesn't have a cheapo feel. The phone is relatively slim and light as well, sporting a thickness of only 9.2 millimeters while tipping the scales at 122 grams, and its slightly curved back side allows it to rest nicely in the hand. Speaking of which, the dimensions of the unit are quite suitable for single-handed operation.


The HTC One SV is quite suitable for single-handed operation

There's a couple of things, however, that we're pretty disappointed by. One of them is the hideousearpiece grill that totally spoils the looks of the device's front side. And then there's the screen lock button located on the top side of the HTC One SV. The key is soft, lacks tactile response, and since it is far from the user's index finger, reaching for it is anything but comfortable. The volume rocker and the capacitive buttons, on the other hand, work just as expected.

Display:

First the good news: with the HTC One SV you get a screen that is neither too big, nor too small – a 4.3-inch Super LCD2 panel, to be more specific. Colors on it look vivid and accurate even when viewed at an angle and its outdoor visibility can be described as acceptable, even though this surely isn't the brightest mobile display out there. Furthermore, sliding your fingers across the protective layer of Gorilla Glass 2 is a pleasure, especially when you know that the few fingerprints it might collect are really easy to get rid of.

However, the bad news is that you only get 480 by 800 pixels of resolution, which, although passable, is a bit underwhelming to see on a smartphone of this caliber. Due to the somewhat low pixel count, text and graphics don't look as sharp as we'd like them to be, and that makes things like surfing the web, for example, a bit less enjoyable. We should also mention that the screen exhibits a slight blurriness when moving objects are displayed, presumably caused by relatively low pixel response times. That's not too big of a deal, but perfectionists might find it annoying.