HTC One X review

The flagship Android handset comes with a 4.7in screen, revamped Sense overlay and 8-megapixel camera. Khidr Suleman finds out whether HTC has done enough to overtake its rivals.

Android 4.0 with HTC Sense

HTC One X - homescreen with folders

The Taiwanese manufacturer has also added the latest version of its acclaimed overlay to help differentiate the handset from the vast array of other devices on the market. Sense 4 has been streamlined and some irritating features such as the 3D carousel have been removed. Thankfully, the best features, such as the multiple homescreens, keyboard, large widgets and the classic HTC clock have been retained.

The device can be unlocked using a pull ring or you can drag specific apps into the ring to launch them quickly.

Interestingly, the One X comes with an interface that has a few similarities to Android Gingerbread. HTC has chosen to keep the capacitive buttons at the bottom, although these have been tweaked and allow users to navigate back to the home screen or bring up recent apps.

The notifications menu has also been re-jigged. The drop down menu not only displays emails, missed calls, text messages and other alerts, but is also the primary way of accessing settings. On stock ICS it is possible to activate/deactivate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and mute directly from the notification bar, but on the One X you need to go into the setting menu. This is an area where we prefer stock ICS.

HTC One X - notifications

It is possible to group apps in three ways on the main menu - all, frequently used and downloaded. There are also shortcuts in the top right corner that allow you to search for and organise apps or access the Android Market, which has recently been renamed by Google as the Play' store.

Khidr Suleman is the Technical Editor at IT Pro, a role he has fulfilled since March 2012. He is responsible for the reviews section on the site  - so get in touch if you have a product you think might be of interest to the business world. He also covers the hardware and operating systems beats. Prior to joining IT Pro, Khidr worked as a reporter at Incisive Media. He studied law at the University of Reading and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism and Online Writing at PMA Training.