To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more

HTC One V review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £225
inc VAT

Great build quality and a fantastic camera, but better-specified phones are available for only a little more money on contract

Specifications

Android 4.0, 3.7in 480×800 display

http://www.play.com

HTC was a little known company in the UK until it made a big splash with some of the early Android smartphones. The HTC Hero and HTC Legend were both trail-blazing devices, and many of us here at Expert Reviews bought one or the other. Both phones had the same distinctive shape, with a ‘chin’ that protrudes out at the bottom of the handset. Despite its success, HTC hasn’t released a successor in the last two years, a lifetime in smartphone terms; so we were pleasantly surprised to see the HTC One V, which is obviously modelled after the classic Legend.

HTC One V
The chin is back, making this phone a little easier to keep hold of

The HTC One V is at the bottom of HTC’s new three-handset One range, with the slender HTC One S and flagship HTC One X sitting above it. Though not as highly specified as its larger siblings, the HTC One V is just as polished. The grey metal unibody casing looks and feels fantastic, with simple lines and a matt finish. There are colour-matched rubberised areas around the camera and the rear of the chin, and the visible buttons and ports are simple and functional. This is simply one of the most desirable looking phones available at any price.

HTC One V
It’s a great looking phone, we love the simple grey finish and neatly integrated notification light slit

The HTC One V is a little smaller than most of the phones we’ve got excited about recently, which means it fits easily in all but the smallest hands, with the power and volume buttons falling perfectly under your fore finger and thumb. Despite being compact, it’s still noticeably bigger than the Legend, which just goes to show how much smartphones have grown over the last couple of years. The screen measures 3.7in across (up from 3.2in on the Legend) and has a 480×800 resolution (up from 320×480). Comparing it to more modern handsets, it’s simply an average-sized LCD screen with an average resolution.

HTC One V

Sitting in between budget phones, many of which are stuck with Android 2.3.5, and more expensive models with top-end specifications, the HTC One V is one of the most modest handsets we’ve seen with the new Android 4.0 operating system. The single-core 1GHz processor copes well in Android 4.0 though, navigating the home screen is smooth and we had no problems with Angry Birds Space. Browsing isn’t rapid, with a sluggish SunSpider JavaScript score of 3,382ms, but on a screen this size and resolution you’ll probably choose to use mobile versions of sites most of the time anyway. There’s only 512MB of RAM, rather than the 1GB on most, more-expensive models, so those will have manage their download habit.

Pages: 1 2

Details

Price £225
Rating ****

Hardware

Main display size 3.7in
Native resolution 480×800
CCD effective megapixels 5-megapixel
Video recording format MP4
Connectivity Bluetooth
GPS yes
Internal memory 4096MB
Memory card support microSDHC
Memory card included 0MB
Operating frequencies GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 3G 850/900/2100
Wireless data GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA
Size 120x60x9.2mm
Weight 115g

Features

Operating system Android 4.0
Microsoft Office compatibility N/A
Email client POP3/IMAP/Exchange
Audio format support N/A
Video playback formats N/A
FM Radio no
Web Browser Android
Accessories USB cable, charger

Buying Information

SIM-free price £225
Price on contract 0
Prepay price £225
SIM-free supplier www.play.com
Contract/prepay supplier www.tmobile.com
Details www.htc.com

Read more

Reviews