HTC One S
Phone Scoop Review
Apr 19, 2012 by Eric M. Zeman
HTC's One S for T-Mobile is an easy phone to recommend for anyone who loves Android, speed, and solid performance from their smartphone. Does it have any faults? We managed to find a couple. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
hide detailed ratings
Great phone hindered by few shortcomings
as the only high end phone on t-mobile for the longest time before the samsung galaxy s3 came along, i am surprised that there hasn't been a lot more user reviews.
this is my second htc phone as i came from a G2 that was used (painfully) for 1.5yr. boy was it a night and day difference going from single-core cpu to a dual-core and android 2.3 to 4.0. on my old G2, browsing sites and doing just about anything was painfully slow and unresponsive. with the htc one s, i find myself using it much more as jumping from one task to the next is a breeze with little to no wait time. taking pictures, surfing the internet, using fb + any app.
to start, the stock t-mobile os with sense 4 appears to be quite responsive but i didn't want to use something with bloatware that i can't disable/remove. once i got the phone back in May, i unlocked the bootloader and rooted the phone to flash the rom of my choice. i went with trickdroid (check xda if interested) as it's basically the stock os without any bloat plus a few tweaks.
i mentioned earlier that i'm now using my phone a lot more and this is also where problems start to show up. for heavy users, this phone may no last through the whole day, especially if you're on data the whole time. i average about 12 - 13 hours between charge (mobile data only) and thats about 1.5 hour of screen on time. i think the short battery life is the cause of somewhat small battery and the use of AMOLED screen. had htc gone with a LCD, run time would be longer. also, another main complaint is that 16GB memory is simply not enough. i don't care for cloud as i feel better having the files with me.
PROS:
- top notch camera with many shooting modes
- fast & efficient dual-core processor
- android 4.0 ics rocks
- AMOLED screen is plenty bright
- sense 4.0 rocks
CONS:
- built-in 1650mah battery is too small
- only 16GB memory (10GB usable) with no option to expand
- speakerphone not loud enough
- phone is slippery in hand
hide detailed ratings
Simply the 'One'
This device is really nice and sleek, really is. If you want a nice android experience, this is it.
Screen - 10
Design - 10
Battery - 7
Camera (rear) - 10
Software - 10
Multitasking - 5
Storage - 10 (16 on device, 25gb on-line)
Performance - 10
Sound quality - 10
Call quality - 10
Overall, if you are a tmobile customer you should have this phone. It is truly something special. Just playing with in the store will not do it, you've got to take it home to really get the feel for it. Use it, and it will really impress you.
5 stars!
hide detailed ratings
High Powered Phone
The HTC One S is an amazing phone. After having played with it for nearly a month, I think I have a pretty good feel for it.
The first feature I should highlight is the camera. I put this first because I did NOT buy this phone for its camera. Prior to owning the One S, I almost never used my phone as a camera. However, this phone has converted me. I use my phone as a camera all the time. It takes great pictures and the 99 continuous shots is awesome!
Next, I really like Sense 4.0. I am coming from the Mytouch 4g. So I am a bit partial to the HTC feel and I think the modifications to Sense are really nice. Its smooth and intuitive despite the phone not having a menu button. The menu button has been integrated seamlessly into sense 4.0.
Lastly, the thing that I was most scrupulous about when evaluating this phone was its speed. I am not talking about data speed (because that varies by location). I am talking about processing speed. The processor in this phone (I forget the name) is fast. I have tried to run many apps at once and load it up with tons to do. Even with all that I have thrown at it, it is still super fast. Only once have I seen a slight lag. It was in the advertisements on words with friends, so it could be the app.
Overall, this is the best phone I have ever owned.
PROS:
Camera
Processor Speed
Look and Feel (thin but solid)
Sense 4.0
CONS:
Maybe the fact that it doesn't have expandable memory. This hasn't bothered me yet.
1 Year Update
I have now had this phone for over a year. It is still easily the best phone I have owned. There is one quirk that has happened to me occasionally. Once I clicked the call button to make a call and the phone didn't do anything. So I clicked it again, still nothing. After a moment, the call began. A few seconds into the call, the phone hung up and dialed again. This has only happened a couple of times.
Best from HTC yet
Coming from a long line of HTC androids from the G1 to the Amaze, I can say I'm impressed over the first week of having this device. First thing you notice is how light and thin it is, and the crisp look of ice cream sandwich with the sense UI over it. I was a vanilla android fan from the G2 but the new sense has grown on me with the lock screen shortcuts coming in handy, and nice looking widgets. Upon testing the camera, you will be blown away by shutter speed and ability to hold it down for up to 99 continuous shots. Also to be able to record video and take still shots from it is a really cool feature. Camera quality is awesome and even better than the amaze and 4S. Everything through the menus is snappy, and there's no lag with multi tasking flipping through open apps. I haven't done any intense 3D gaming yet but the screen is really nice considering having lower specs than its one X counterpart. The colors are really vivid and the blacks are very black. As a phone salesman I am pretty picky and get to use a lot of different models, but HTC has definitely came through nicely with this one series.
hide detailed ratings
I LIKE this ONE a lot/the best!
I like this phone the best out of all the ones that I have gone through.
I've owned these others at one point or another too:
Nokia Lumia 710 -- Windows phone, it was alright but cumbersome to use
HTC Amaze -- Weighed a ton, like a brick - had an excellent camera for pics
HTC Mytouch 4G -- see my old review
Nokia E73 -- too old to remember exactly
HTC HD2 -- don't honestly remember only that it was $$ at the time
Motorola Cliq XT -- small screen, first gen Android
Nokia Astound -- didn't like OS
Motorola Defy -- see my old review
I need to have an over the air FM radio, which is becoming more difficult to find on a phone and getting good enough reception/no interference with earbuds. The newer model HTCs seem to cut out to silence or lower volume when there is any type of signal interference and it took me a while to get used to that.
Battery life is really decent for a 'droid!
This phone is as smooth as butter for me. The processor is fast and never really had any problems with freezing, lagging or anything like that with this phone. Yeah, sometimes a random app (?) will open and I find that the auto-rotation sometimes is a little bit too sensitive but given my criteria not many phones out there. I tend to buy them 1 year out and the cost drops substantially. I would consider trying the HTC ONE later if I end up not liking this One S as much. For now it does all I need it to, so far by far my favorite phone!
Oh, P.S. I am female with have smaller hands so it is harder to one hand text.
I would strongly suggest getting a cover case as the phone is EXTREMELY slippery to handle if you do not have a case on it and will drop it
I like it
so had the phone for about 2 months.
PROS
fast
stable
feels good in hand
good battery
Cons
can be slippery
no micro sd card
non removable battery
lack of color choice
I really like this phone it is a ton better then my old samsung viberant.
Great Phone through and through
Working in the cell phone industry I have experienced and tested multiple different phones. This phone by far takes the cake.
The HTC One S is an all-around excellent phone. First off the OS and software. Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) integrated with HTC Sense 4.0 is extremely smooth. Going from application to application takes no lag at all. The next feature that is amazing is the 42mbps data speed capability (T-mobile Ohio). Downloading applications and movies takes no time at all. Within the last 2 days Ive downloaded about 5 50mb applications in less then a min each and have downloaded a 1.2 GB movie within minutes. Amazingly Fast. The Camera is the 3rd and last benefit of this phone. With an 8 MP rear-facing camera the picture quality is spectacular. While watching my nieces run around and taking pictures of a speed boat race, I was able to take crystal clear pictures while making videos. The continuous shot is very unique as well.
Pros: Camera, Screen, Signal, Audio
Cons: only con is the continuous shot only seems to take up to 60 continuous shots rather than the 99 HTC states.
