The HTC One series is the Taiwanese smartphone maker's
new flagship line of smartphones, powered by Google's open-source Android
operating system. It's split up into three models, including the high-end, quad-core
HTC One X, and the midrange HTC One S. The HTC One X is available on AT&T
right now, while the HTC One S is coming soon on T-Mobile.
The HTC One S is already available in some parts of
Europe, however, and reports are coming in that its "ceramic metal"
unibody chassis isn't all it's cracked up to be. Meanwhile, the HTC One X
apparently has issues with certain games, as well as with its camera -- one of
the HTC One series' most heavily-promoted features, which has already received
rave reviews.
HTC One S: Chipping ceramic casing
HTC customers in Germany, who have already received their
HTC One S smartphones, have been complaining that its case chips easily.
AndroidPit's Eric McBride reports that HTC has acknowledged "a few,
isolated reports of this issue" and "are implementing some small
changes to ensure customers do not experience this issue in the future."
But beyond that, the company is also replacing all affected smartphones at no
cost to the customer.
HTC One X: Poor gaming performance
In a conference call with NVIDIA, HTC confirmed that (as
McBride reports) "there are gameplay and audio problems" with some
Android games as they're played on the phone. Most games which have been
optimized for NVIDIA's Tegra 3 chipset appear to work, but even several
"non Tegra titles did have issues with sound stuttering during sound
effects (loudly)".
Benchmark tests also appear to show the dual-core HTC One
S outperforming the quad-core HTC One X in certain areas, suggesting a bug of
some kind in the more powerful smartphone which is impairing its hardware
performance.
HTC One X: Camera viewfinder issues
In HTC's promotional videos, the HTC One series' cameras
were their most heavily-hyped feature. They use proprietary software called
ImageSense, and the One S and One X can take photos continuously while you hold
down the button, or take 8-megapixel still pictures while recording HD video.
As AndroidPit's Steven Blum shows on YouTube, however,
the HTC One X's camera viewfinder sometimes has a "noisy bar of
static" on the left-hand side, which "seems to come and go and is
fixed by restarting the phone." The static does not appear in photos taken
with the HTC One X's camera.
HTC and NVIDIA have confirmed that the camera static will
be fixed in an update.
