HTC One S review

The One S has a large saving grace in its Android 4.0 operating system. The changes 4.0 brings are really useful and in fact in one way Sense has prepared us well for Android 4.0’s changed menu placement – instead of a dedicated Menu button, as on previous generations of phones, Android 4.0 places the menu in the top-right, in the same place Sense puts its menus. This isn’t consistent, however, and in some apps (such as Facebook) the bar is at the bottom of the app.

The One S’s camera is identical to the One X’s, so we’ll refer you to that review for the details: suffice to say that it’s the best camera we’ve seen yet on a smartphone, and capable of going up against mid-range compact digital cameras in terms of image quality. It’s especially impressive with low-light shots without the flash, but even everyday snaps show very little noise.

Despite HTC’s belief that people prefer thinner phones over long battery life, the One S’s battery lasted for almost nine hours in our video playback test – a far better result than the One X, which lasted for under seven hours. With a decent battery-saving app such as Juice Defender installed, you should be able to go a couple of days without charging if you manage your usage well.

The One S isn’t as immediately impressive as the One X, but it’s actually a better handset in many ways – thinner, lighter and with better battery life. It’s still fast and comes with Android 4.0, and its camera is identical, but it also shares some flaws, notably the lack of memory card support and a swappable battery. The One S is available from £21 a month on a decent two-year contract, that’s roughly £5 less than the One X. With that price difference, there’s little to choose between these excellent handsets, though we narrowly favour the One X for its high-resolution display.