HTC One X+: How does it differ to the HTC One X?

HTC One X vs HTC One X+

HTC’s new flagship, the One X+, is due to arrive in stock at Clove next week.

At a glance, the upgraded HTC One X is slimmer, 67% faster, has double the internal storage and up to 50% more battery life than its predecessor.

However, it’s more than just a bump in battery life and processing power that the addition of the ‘+’ symbol represents. 

Let’s have a look in more detail at what improvements the HTC One X+ has to offer.

Huge internal storage

When the HTC One X+ launches on September 30th, it will be the first Android handset in the UK to come with 64GB internal storage. It doesn’t come with a microSD slot, but 64GB internal storage should be plenty for the average user.

Performance Improvements

The One X+ has had its processor bumped to a 1.7GHz quad-core and features the Tegra 3 chip, which will please gaming fans. This results in performance that is up to 67% faster than the HTC One X, plus there’s Project Butter included with Jelly Bean to make navigation even smoother.  The battery is also said to last up to 50% longer than that of its predecessor.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Sense 4+

The HTC One X+ will be the first HTC handset to run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It’ll also come with HTC Sense 4+ which mainly brings camera improvements (more on these below), but also some that are hardware specific, such as the one for the speaker amplifier, for instance. 

Just as beautifully designed, but slimmer

The One X+ maintains the form factor and dimensions of the One X, with the exception of its thickness, which has been trimmed from 9.3mm to 8.9mm. It is slightly heavier, growing from 130 to 135g, but this is surely worth it for the bigger battery, which increases from 1800mAh to 2100mAh.

Texture-wise, the One X+ has a matt finish instead of smooth polycarbonate and has a black and red colour scheme a la Sensation XE. At a hands on event for its new Windows Phone devices, we were able to get a feel for the matt finish that HTC has also used for the 8X and 8S and it does work very well both practically (the handset is more grippy) and aesthetically

New camera features

As mentioned above, HTC Sense 4+ brings about some improvements to the camera features.

The front facing camera is bumped up to 1.6MP (from 1.3) and gains access to HTC’s image chip. In his hands on for SlashGear, Chris Davies brilliantly describes how the front facing camera ‘automatically shoot vanity stills in Portrait mode with skin tone smoothing and other virtual botoxery. You can turn it off if you’d rather be seen in your hideous, unairbrushed state.’

Another nice feature that has been added to the camera UI is a countdown for the number of photos and video recording minutes that you have left. Also, if you lock the handset whilst in camera mode, unlocking it again will bypass the lock screen and take you straight back to camera mode, which could make all the difference in that all important split second action shot.

The rear camera specs remains the same, but the sensor is outlined in red to match it to the red Beats Audio logo.

Louder, higher quality sound

With the One X+ HTC has included a feedback amplifier to improve the performance of its speaker. SlashGear reports that this ‘constantly monitors the signal to the speaker and tweaks it so as to make it as loud as can be without clipping or crackling’. There isn’t an accompanying amp for the headphone port, although the power has been increased for 0.5 to 1.5V.

PlayStation certified

HTC was the first addition to Sony’s partner programme for PlayStation certification and this feature has been included with the HTC One X+. This means that you’ll be able to download Android compatible PlayStation games once they have been made available to Sony PlayStation partners. HTC Watch 2 does come loaded on the handset, meaning more video content is available.

Easier than ever to setup

Along with Sense 4+ comes a relaunch of the HTC Sense website. This enables you to set your device up on a desktop and then sync the settings to your handset when it is turned on for the first time. Enter account details, install apps and arrange homescreen layouts.

The fact that you can do this before you’ve even received your handset means that you can set it up in anticipation of its arrival. The HTC One X+ will be the first HTC to take advantage of the new Get Started feature. 

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