Mobile World Congress hasn’t officially begun yet, but clearly someone forgot to tell HTC. The company is currently in the midst of a huge press conference during which it unveiled its new flagship “HTC One” brand. Among the devices announced is the mid-range HTC One S, the thinnest smartphone HTC has ever built. BGR exclusively revealed details surrounding the One V last November, but we’re more excited about this phone than ever now that wHTC has painted the complete picture. Read on for more.
The HTC One S features an ultra-thin 7.9-millimeter case that houses a 4.3-inch qHD AMOLED display, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, an amazing 8-megapixel camera, 16GB of internal storage plus 25GB of free cloud-based Dropbox storage for two years, the same amazing 8-megapixel camera as the one found on the One X, Sense 4.0 and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
It’s not easy to convey just how thin this smartphone is — It’s unbelievable. But during our time with the device last week, we were even more impressed with the overall build. The size of this slim smartphone is beyond manageable for a device with a 4.3-inch display, and the unibody aluminum construction is outstanding.
This isn’t typical aluminum we’re talking about, mind you — HTC used a process called Micro-Arc Oxidation to treat the aluminum with plasma applied at extremely high temperatures. The result is an amazing soft-touch ceramic feel that still maintains the durability and light weight that aluminum is known for. HTC noted that the same process is used to finish satellites.
HTC’s “One” lineup is shaping up to be the talk of Mobile World Congress this year, and it hasn’t even officially started yet. While the high-end HTC One X is certainly the star of the show, we were actually more impressed with the One S in terms of the complete package. The polycarbonate case on the One X is sleek and the design is slim and unique, but the One S feels much more impressive in the hand. The phone’s specs might pale in comparison to the quad-core One X flagship phone, but its soft-touch finish, unibody aluminum construction and lightweight design could make this smartphone a big hit at the right price.
The HTC One S will launch within the next two months on T-Mobile here in the United States, and it will be released in a number of additional regions in the coming months as well. More to come in our hands-on with the device.
