Review: HTC One SV for Cricket Wireless
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The One SV runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4. The system software and user interface are practically identical to every other Android smartphone released by HTC in the last 12 months, albeit with the usual customizations from Cricket Wireless.
The lock screen has (up to four) customizable shortcuts that will launch when you drag them down to the little ring at the bottom of the screen. The defaults are phone, mail, messages, and camera, but you can swap these out.
The central home screen panels all have a permanent dock at the bottom of the screen that holds five app shortcuts — the same four as the lock screen, plus the main app menu. These can also be customized if you wish. There are seven home screen panels, but you can delete most of them if you want. The SV has all the home screen widgets that we're long accustomed to, such as various clocks, weather, HTC Watch, and so on.
Applications in the main menu are laid out via grids. Swipe the pages to the left or right to access more. You can alter the appearance of the main app menu in several different ways; they can be sorted by date, alpha order, as well as by the most frequently used.
Sense 4.0 offers incredible amounts of flexibility when it comes to customization. There are themes, skins, and profiles, all of which can use their own home screen set-ups, ringtones, and wallpapers. It's starting to get a bit long in the tooth, though, as far as appearances go.
The 1.2GHz dual-core processor is more than enough to power the SV and its applications. I didn't run into any performance problems with the phone at all. The multitasking tool, for example, was extremely fast to open and scrolled smoothly through open apps.
Calls/Contacts
The phone app defaults to the dialer when opened, with a list of recent calls and favorite contacts above the dialer. Touch any of the contacts above the dialer, and the dialer goes away and you can see an expanded view of your contact list. The SV has all the nifty gesture-based actions of other HTC devices, such as turning the phone over to silence the ringer.
The contact app syncs across your different accounts and can hold a nearly limitless amount of information. Widgets for the contact application are plentiful. You can set direct dial shortcuts to the home screen, and there are three different styles of widgets for your favorite set of contacts.
Messaging
The SV is loaded with all the stock Android 4.0 communication apps, which include Gmail, email, Google+, Google+ Messenger, Google Talk, and the stock SMS application. These work just as they do on every other Android Ice Cream Sandwich device.
HTC's FriendStream app/widget is also on board for those who prefer to consolidate their social networking. It streams in Facebook and Twitter status updates and lets you post your own updates as well as respond to the posts/messages of others.
The individual Facebook and Twitter apps are also both preinstalled.
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