HTC One review/rant

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txsizzler

[H]ard|Gawd
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Feb 17, 2012
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The following is my thoughts on our (my wife and I) newly acquired HTC One phones. Thoughts regarding the one, glaring problem would be appreciated.


In the past week and a half, I found two killer deals on the HTC One (64gb) models, which I bought for my wife and I (second hand). At only $280 a piece, how could I pass it up??

Both my wife and I really love the look of these phones. Ours are matching silver models, running stock (Sense 5.0, Android 4.3) on Straight Talk using the AT&T SIMs. The beautiful aluminum finish, gorgeous 1080p 4.7" screen, BoomSound, and the best Sense UI ever! Fast too; the Snapdragon 600 and 2gb RAM really make this thing fly! I don't even mind the BlinkFeed, and other bloatware too much. High quality construction just oozes from this device.

After hearing about the amazing "ultrapixel" camera, I was excited about trying out the camera. To my dismay, this camera has been the source of my frustration. On both phones, the main camera refuses to focus. No amount of cleaning, Tap-to-focus, different modes, nor different camera apps have helped with this problem. On my wife's phone, you can gently tap the back of the phone, and it will focus suddenly for a few seconds to a few minutes, before totally unfocusing again. With my phone, no amount of tapping will make it focus at all. The only focus I can get on my phone, is on objects within about 2 feet of the lens (and, no, I an not using the Macro setting in the options, not the video camera focus lock). Further, if there is a low light situation, there is a lot of "blue noise"that gets into the picture. The front facing camera is fine, though.

I have Googled this problem, and it seems to be a pretty common problem (camera blurriness/bad low light conditions). HTC has acknowledged this problem to some degree, saying a software patch will be released soon. This problem has been ongoing since the phone was released, though, and I just don't think HTC gives a damn.

Any thoughts on this? Except for the camera, this is a fantastic device! So utterly disappointed with the camera, that I an considering just selling it, and getting a different phone. Help would be appreciated!
 
The HTC one would have been better given a couple of things: an iPhone 5S like camera, not the crappy one it has. A bigger screen in the same body size (it wastes a lot of space like the iPhone while devices like Galaxies and LG G2 doesn't).

I'm sure it will get updated with a faster SoC but at this point, there are better phones out there.
 
That sounds like a hardware issue. Do you have warranty on the phones you bought? I would contact AT&T or HTC and try to get them replaced.

MJZ said:
A bigger screen in the same body size (it wastes a lot of space like the iPhone while devices like Galaxies and LG G2 doesn't).
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That's the tradeoff for front-facing speakers and hardware buttons. They take up space in the front, which the S4 and G2 don't have to deal with.
 
Pylon said:
That sounds like a hardware issue. Do you have warranty on the phones you bought? I would contact AT&T or HTC and try to get them replaced.
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Pylon, I am not sure how these companies handle warranty issues on second hand phones. I do not have a store receipt (obviously), and without that, I suspect it will be tougher for these phones to get service.

Also, isn't it a bit odd that both phones, bought on different days from different sources be subject to the same failure, and that a lot of other folks have exhibited the same issues? I am thinking this should be more of s general recall issue, than a warranty claim.
 
I heard about the focusing issue, but I also never had that problem. My phone is part of the initial batch of phones with the Nokia dual membrane microphone.
 
Maybe this is why the phones were such a good deal second hand, because they were broken.
 
In my humble opinion, I believe this is a hardware defect. Defect, as in many, many from the factory line were pushed with this issue. My thinking is, is that there is some kind of focusing mechanism piece in the lens setup, that is either getting hung up on something, or was made with such poor quality, that its either breaking, or just simply not doing its function. This thought is based on my wife's phone, as I can knock the back of the phone near the lens, and all of a sudden it will work for a bit.

Of course, this isn't the case on all the HTC phones, which makes me think something is just getting hung up in the hardware lens piece. I would bet that is why HTC doesn't want to recall all those phones, as they made it nearly impossible to open up the phone (I am sure its a royal b*tch for them to get into as well!). Plus, with their less than stellar track record, this would only serve up to hurt their reputation more, and show how vulnerable the "ultrapixel" camera really is.
 
txsizzler said:
Pylon, I am not sure how these companies handle warranty issues on second hand phones. I do not have a store receipt (obviously), and without that, I suspect it will be tougher for these phones to get service.
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You'll be able to go through HTC for your warranty. AT&T has nothing to do with it, since you don't have service with them. Expect to be without your phones for a few weeks while they repair it though.
 
entropism said:
You'll be able to go through HTC for your warranty. AT&T has nothing to do with it, since you don't have service with them. Expect to be without your phones for a few weeks while they repair it though.
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So, HTC doesn't require a receipt showing the purchase date? If that's the case, I will talk with their Customer Service tomorrow.
 
txsizzler said:
So, HTC doesn't require a receipt showing the purchase date? If that's the case, I will talk with their Customer Service tomorrow.
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No, I had to go through them once when I had a T-mobile phone I got off craigslist. Let's put it this way... Has the one been out a year? Nope. So it's under the 1 year warranty. :D
 
entropism said:
No, I had to go through them once when I had a T-mobile phone I got off craigslist. Let's put it this way... Has the one been out a year? Nope. So it's under the 1 year warranty. :D
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Exactly, just call them up
 
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