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HTC One X, HTC One S and HTC One V cameras in detail

The HTC One X, HTC One S and HTC One V have just been announced, but one thing we’re particularly interested in is their optics. In the past HTC hasn’t had a reputation for great cameras like Sony and Nokia, but it looks like the company has taken criticisms on board, bumping up the camera specifications.

On every phone there’s an f/2.0 lens – which HTC claims is a mobile industry first – and a BSI (back side illuminated) sensor that will allow for clearer picture taking in low-light areas.

The camera mechanics have also been tweaked to the point where the autofocus takes just 0.2 seconds to do its thing. When you consider that an average human blink is 0.3 seconds long, that gives you a good idea of how fast it is.

What’s really getting us excited however is the inclusion of the HTC Image Chip. HTC says that this HTC One Familymanipulates pictures in a raw form before they’re transferred to JPEGs.

A small detail perhaps, but one that’s likely to get digital camera geeks all excited is that images will now be processed (noise reduction, brightness adjustment, saturation tweaking etc) in their RAW form. 

While the process of saving an image looked like this before – 1. Take picture (RAW) 2.Convert to JPEG 3.Process picture 4. Save JPEG – On the HTC One Series, it will be a step shorter: 1.Take picture RAW 2.Process picture 3.Convert to JPEG

As a raw image is lossless and unprocessed whereas a JPEG is lossy (and degrades with each save), while we’re not getting RAW mobile shooting just yet, we should see more integrity in the final image.

What’s more amazing is that the HTC Image Chip is present across the entire range of the HTC One Series. It’s not just a preserve of one high-end phone – the HTC One X, the HTC One S and the HTC One V all have this Image Chip built in.

So, an industry-first f/2.0 lens, 0.2 seconds of autofocus time, BSI sensors and the HTC Image Chip – the HTC One X, HTC One S and HTC One V all boast these specifications. The only differences between these phones shooting capabilities is the sensor sizes – the HTC One X and HTC One S have 8-megapixel sensors whereas the HTC One V has a 5-megapixel sensor.

We’ll be getting some hands-on time with the cameras soon and of course we’ll bring you a full camera comparison when they launch in the UK, but in the meantime, check out the sample pictures below.

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