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HTC Desire X Review: In Depth

The Good

  • Quick to use with good battery

The Bad

  • Limited RAM
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The HTC Desire X is arguably the first true successor to the original HTC Desire. Bearing the same name, it improves upon the Desire and Desire S in every way, bringing the line up to speed two years on. The Desire X is also HTC’s way of bridging the gap between its One series of handsets which Include the One X, One S & One V, & the lower end Desire C.  Let’s take a closer look.

HTC Desire X: Design 

The HTC Desire X feels strong – it’s not the slimmest or the most robust handset, but ergonomic and still attractive, with an attractive brushed metal finish around the camera module.

The HTC Desire X sits comfortably design-wise with the likes of the Sony Xperia J or Xperia U, though isn’t quite as characteristic in black thanks to its more traditional curved styling and lack of angles. The fascia is button free – with touch sensitive Android Back, Home and Menu buttons.

On the back there’s a speaker and Beats Audio logo, it’s also removable so you can access the standard SIM and microSD card slot for expanding the 4GB internal memory.  There’s also 25GB Dropbox storage space for two years. Connectivity includes DLNA, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX support, aptX is a high quality Bluetooth codec.

HTC Desire X: Screen 

With a similar display technology to the HTC One X, the 800×480 LCD display sports a reduced gap between the glass and LCD. This makes for an extremely premium visual experience, fantastic viewing angles and improved outdoor viewability.

4-inches is a probably the optimum size for viewing movies without the chassis feeling too big to hold comfortably. Thankks to the screen tech, the Desire X is a great video playback device with the processor capable of handling well encoded HD video.

HTC Desire X: UI 

Launching with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, with an update for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean coming at some point. HTC Sense 4.0 on the Desire X is similar to that found on the HTC Desire C, with a good selection of useful widgets and and slick UI.  While still charming, thanks to the WVGA screen, the Desire X looks much more premium than the Desire C. The phone uses the stock Android multi-tasker and doesn’t offer a leap mode, however neither of these are deal breakers and the Desire X’s value more than makes up for this.

HTC Desire X: Camera and multimedia 

5-megapixel with an f/2.2 lens – the camera is another area that the Desire X trounces the competition. Photos are taken virtually instantly, depth of field is mind-blowing when shooting macro and thanks to HTC’s camera UI, it’s a pleasure to interact with.

Additional modes include panorama and HDR mode and both deliver great results, only adding to its class leading status in its price range.

Video is recorded at the screen’s native WVGA resolution. While it would have been good to have 720p, quality is still respectable with continuous focus. Looks great on phone, exports ok to other services like YouTube.
 

HTC Desire X: Performance

The Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play dual-core 1GHz processor with 768MB RAM in the HTC Desire X is largely why it’s reviewing so well so far. Delivering dual-core performance at an affordable price point, it’s able to manage the UI, handle most 3D games and perform well in day to day tasks such as web browsing. It feels more like an upper mid-ranger than a £200 device, but we’re not sure if that will be enough RAM in a years time.

Battery life is also impressive, the 1650mAh battery lasts over a day – which is longer than we normal and has the added advantage of being removable, so you can pick up a replacement if you’re going to be out and about away from a charger.


HTC Desire X: Verdict

The HTC Desire X is hands down the best way you can spend £200 on a smartphone right now and a good all-rounder. Strong design, screen, user-friendly UI, good 5-megapixel camera, performance from the processor and battery – possibly the most compelling smartphone out now across price and power.

Specification

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