HTC One M7 (2013) review

As if replacing the Android homescreen wasn’t radical enough, HTC has also gone against popular convention with the One’s camera. Instead of racing to fit as many megapixels as possible on a tiny sensor, which is normally a recipe for huge amounts of noise, HTC has made a sensor using what it calls Ultrapixels. These are larger-than-average pixels, which means that instead of having 12 or more megapixels on a small sensor, the HTC One only has four megapixels.

This should mean that there’s less interference as light hitting one of the sensor’s pixels scatters onto those around it, which is a key contributor to noise in digital images. HTC also claims the camera lets in 300% more light than a standard smartphone model; we’re not sure how the company came to that figure, but the 1/3in sensor, F2.0 lens and optical image stabilisation all bode well.

Shake-free indoor shots with little noise indoors from the HTC One – click to enlarge

The Xperia Z can’t manage the same level of detail, but colours are marginally more accurate

We were impressed with the HTC One’s indoor shots. We saw camera-shake free images under poor indoor lighting, with little visible noise or noise reduction. However, we did find colours rather muted. The Sony Xperia Z’s camera captured shots with more vibrant colours, but they didn’t have the same level of detail as those from the HTC One.

The phone also picked up a large amount of detail in very dark conditions – far more than the Xperia Z could manage. There was one problem; a light source in our test scene caused artefacts elsewhere in the image, which is a problem we’ve also seen on the iPhone 5. We suspect this is due to internal reflections in the camera’s lens.

Under very low light, the HTC One (top) picks up an impressive amount of detail compared to the Sony Xperia Z (bottom). However, artefacts are visible to the right of the monkey’s ear

When we went outside, the One’s camera was again impressive in some ways and less so in others. The camera captured plenty of detail in the medium distance, and shots were much sharper than on the Sony Xperia Z. However, once again we found the One’s colours to be rather muted, and shots from the Xperia Z were both more vibrant and with more true-to-life colours.

The HTC One (left) produces sharper photos, but the Sony Xperia Z (right) has more accurate colours

However, when taking shots outdoors we noticed the limitations of the HTC One’s low megapixel count. Photos were fine at short and medium distances, but detail tails off significantly in the distance, leading to smudgy details and pixilation.

Pixilation is evident in the HTC One’s shots (left) when you zoom in, showing the limitations of its 4-megapixel sensor

Like all smartphone cameras, then, the HTC One’s model is a compromise. If you mainly use your phone for taking indoor shots of friends and family, you’ll definitely appreciate the impressive low-light performance. It’s also fine for outdoor snaps, but if you like your smartphone to be a replacement for a compact camera for holiday snaps, you’re better off with choosing one with a higher-resolution sensor such as the Sony Xperia Z, or even maybe the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4.