Review: HTC One X+

With the HTC One about to launch, we take a look at the previous flagship model that still packs a punch

By Adrian Collins

The HTC One is about to launch, but that's no reason to forget about the One X+, a phone that gives serious speed as well as top quality sound.

There's now easy way around it, so we'll get it out of the way first and foremost: The One X+ was always going to be in competition with the Samsung SIII, and in all honesty, the two are extremely similar, high quality phones.

However, the HTC One X+ offers a few features that might give it the edge, in particular if you plan on using this phone as your main media device.

In terms of sound quality, it is superior to its competitor, as you get a really solid, clear bass sound thanks to HTC's tie in with Beats audio. While some might see it as a gimmick (and it is seriously clever marketing) it does make a noticeable difference when it comes to listening to music, even through our fairly standard quality headphones that we've got here.

Ergonomically, the phone feels better in the hand also, with a 4.7 inch screen that makes it easier to swipe from top to bottom in one motion of the thumb. The HTC “infinity display” is also beautiful, and the screen's edges are are seamless, which makes for a very comfortable model all round.

With a quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip make for one hell of a powerful phone under the bonnet. As an example, it seamlessly handled the GTAIII game we once played on our PlayStation back in the day, where as the SIII struggled and couldn't display the touchscreen controls.

The Media Link feature is also a great option, particularly given that the One X+ packs 64GB of storage, meaning you can get a ton of videos, photos and tracks in there to display on the TV, as well as streaming whatever you like.

In terms of the bare essentials, messaging, internet and phone calls, as you'd expect they're all flawless in a phone of this quality.

The slightly “controversial” element, if you can call it that, of not shipping with a charger, is negated by the fact that it's USB based, like all the others on the market at the minute, so if you've owned any other smartphone in the last while, you won't need a new charger anyway. If not, you can simply plug it in to a computer while you're at work to charge up, or into any device that has a USB port. While it might seem an inconvenience on the surface, it really isn't in practical terms.

Speaking of charging, the battery life is very impressive, and was never an issue while we had the phone on trial.

The camera is an 8MP model, making for some stunning photos and fantastic video. Take a look at some examples here.

Overall, this phone was a joy to use, and if the HTC One is too advanced for your needs or too pricey for your pocket given it's the top of the line model, the One X+ will offer you quite a bit of bang for your buck.

The HTC is available now on O2