Not too long ago there was a big buzz about the HTC One X and the One S, the flasgship and the middle-end members of HTC’s new One Family – their attempt to unify their line of phones and prevent another 2011 for the company. Both the One X and the One S have been deemed excellent devices by the press all over the web.
A device that much of the internet seems to have forgotten about, understandably so as it’s no head turner nor powerhouse, is the One V. What the One V is however, is a relatively stylish phone aimed at the budget market. Budget seems like a dirty word when we talk about smartphones doesn’t it? In this sense (see what I did there?) I think it means more “affordable” than “cheap”.
Not everybody wants a device with a 4.7-inch 720p display and more features than they would ever use, so why try and sell them one? This is the game that HTC is playing here, creating a family of phones to cater to a vast section of the smartphone market, without making a ridiculous number of models (Samsung, I’m looking at you).
So, the One V doesn’t feature specs anywhere near that of it’s older brothers; it features a 1Ghz single-core processor (a Snapdragon MSM8255 with Adreno 205 GPU for you SoC buffs), a 3.7-inch 480×800 WVGA screen, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (expandable up to 32GB via a micro-SD card slot), a 5MP with flash round back and no front facing camera.
Pretty run-of-the-mill even for 2011, right? So they might well be, but it does come with Ice Cream Sandwich and a decent camera suite. In this rising age of the tablet do we really need increasingly large phones? I, for one, find that my Nexus S (a phone with specs only a tad ahead of the One V) is the perfect size at 4-inches and runs Ice Cream Sandwich perfectly smooth, for anything else I need done I can always turn to my dual-core tab. My Nexus plays games like Angry Birds (anyone heard of it) and even some 3D games pretty well for a phone.
The point I’m making is that if so many of us are adopting tablets why do we need a large screen phone as well? Low-to-middle end powered Android handsets are particularly popular amongst average users, the type of people to not want to play GTA III [link to play store] and more Angry Birds with a slice of YouTube. I know a fair few people in my neighbourhood that own the Samsung Galaxy Ace (which the One V comfortably bests) and they are by no means techie people and they love it. It’s perfect for texting, taking a few photos and the occasional web browsing, it even plays some games.
The HTC One V may well not be the magical creatures that the One X and the One S have become but, it’s certainly more than enough for everyday use and the price can’t hurt either. If you’re looking for a new phone that fulfills day-to-day in an easy to manage size without breaking the bank then this may well be the phone for you.