HTC One S review

In use, the One S feels snappy, even with multiple applications open. HTC’s Sense software – a collection of apps and changes to the Android interface – is less impressive, however. It’s less bloated than previous versions, but also feels less consistent. The Friend Stream app, for example, still only pulls in your contacts from Facebook, Twitter and Flickr – a limited collection of services. You would have thought those buying an Android phone might also want to follow their Google+ friends too.

HTC, like other handset makers, also tries to compete with Google in a number of areas, which leads to duplication of effort. The HTC Watch and HTC Hub apps, for example, aren’t anywhere as good as Android’s own Play Store, and the customised Music app is a poor imitation of the standard Android Music app. HTC’s Locations app asks you to pay for a Premium service, when Google’s own Maps and Places apps are far superior and free.

The pre-installed third-party apps are hit and miss: we liked the Polaris office document viewer and editor, which integrates with DropBox, and the TuneIn radio app is worth using, but you can’t uninstall them if you’d rather use something else. At least HTC has now given us the option to disable pre-installed apps from the Apps option menu: this removes the app from the tray and stops the Store from reminding you about updates, but it doesn’t reclaim the space they take up.