HTC just unveiled the two latest additions to its lineup of smartphones. Called HTC Windows Phone 8X and HTC Windows Phone 8S, the devices are unsurprisingly powered by the latest version of the Microsoft WP platform.
Why Buy: Great design; Beats Audio; good front-facing camera.
Why Not: Average battery life; pricey.
HTC’s flagship Windows Phone 8 device, the 8X, exudes style and elegance. It features one of the best designs we’ve seen in a while: the blend of rubberized polycarbonate and glass gives it premium look and feel, while the volume rocker and power button sit flush with the side panel, making for a very clean look. The 8X also features a dedicated camera shutter button. Around the back, we have an 8 megapixel camera and LED flash. The 8X also features Beats Audio enhancement for music and video. At 10.1mm thick and 130 gram in weight, the phone feels very comfortable. The moderately large 341 ppi 4.2-inch Super LCD 2 screen protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 2 keeps everything within your thumbs’ reach. Sunlight legibility is also good. HTC has bundled some of their own apps like Flashlight, HTC Hub, etc. that we’ve seen on their Android offerings. Other than this, it’s pretty much all stock Windows Phone 8. There’s only 16GB of onboard storage and on option to expand. Apart from an occasional stutter, the UI is quick and fluid.
The keyboard is comfortable to type on and word prediction works well. The screen is bright and sharp, and produces vivid colours. The 8X is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC GPU. This, coupled with 1GB of RAM, makes for quite a powerful hardware configuration. Audio quality is surprisingly good. The stock music player does good job of sorting out your music library and you have the option to browse through music and videos in the store. Beats Audio is only activated with headphones plugged in. There’s 1080p video playback support for MP4 files too. The 8X is a quad-band GSM and 3G handset. Connectivity options include dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v3.1, NFC and microUSB. For navigation, we have GPS along with GLONASS. Active noise cancellation does a good job of cutting out ambient noise when on a call. The 8 megapixel BSI sensor boasts of a f/2.0 aperture. HTC hasn’t added too many settings to the camera app. In outdoor daytime shots, the 8X manages to capture good colours, but the level of detail is only average. Macro shots are a lot better. Indoor shots without flash aren’t too bad either. Video recording maxes out at 1080p.
The HTC 8X packs an 1800mAh battery, which delivered a very good 7 hours and 40 minutes of video playback time in our battery test. However, we noticed that with regular real world usage, which included calls, music playback, EDGE and Wi-Fi, the battery tends to give up sooner. The HTC Windows Phone 8X is quite overpriced for what’s on offer. It’s built well, looks great, and has an excellent front-facing camera. Apart from this, there just isn’t much to shell out this kind of money for.
See Htc windows phone 8x Full Key features:
| GENERAL | 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
|---|---|---|
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 | |
| HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 – for AT&T | ||
| 4G Network | LTE 700 MHz Class 17 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 | |
| SIM | Micro-SIM | |
| Announced | 2012, September | |
| Status | Available. Released 2012, November |
| BODY | Dimensions | 132.4 x 66.2 x 10.1 mm (5.21 x 2.61 x 0.40 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 130 g (4.59 oz) |
| DISPLAY | Type | S-LCD2 capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.3 inches (~342 ppi pixel density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 2 |
| SOUND | Alert types | Vibration; MP3 ringtones |
|---|---|---|
| Loudspeake r | Yes | |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes | |
| – Beats Audio sound enhancement |
| MEMORY | Card slot | No |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM |
| DATA | GPRS | Yes |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE | Yes | |
| Speed | HSPA+; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL (LTE only for AT&T version) | |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band | |
| Bluetooth | Yes, v3.1 with A2DP, EDR | |
| NFC | Yes | |
| USB | Yes, microUSB v2.0 |
| CAMERA | Primary | 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Geo-tagging, touch focus | |
| Video | Yes, 1080p@30fps, check quality | |
| Secondary | Yes, 2.1MP, 1080p video |
| FEATURES | OS | Microsoft Windows Phone 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon | |
| CPU | Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait | |
| GPU | Adreno 225 | |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, proximity, compass | |
| Messaging | SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email | |
| Browser | HTML5 | |
| Radio | No | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS | |
| Java | No | |
| Colors | California Blue, Graphite Black, Flame Red, Limelight Yellow | |
| – SNS integration – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic – MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA player – MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player – Document viewer/editor – Video/photo editor – Voice memo/command/dial – Predictive text input |
| BATTERY | Non-removable Li-Ion 1800 mAh battery | |
|---|---|---|
| Stand-by | No official data | |
| Talk time | No official data |
| MISC | SAR US | 0.78 W/kg (head) 0.75 W/kg (body) |
|---|---|---|
Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.
