HTC One S review

Design and Display

The 7.8mm thick chassis means the device is not much thicker than a pancake. The 119.5g weight, may not make it as light as the Samsung Galaxy S II (116g), but it is noticeably lighter than fellow Android ICS handset, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (135g). When holding the One S for the first time, you won't believe the battery is sealed inside, it is so light.

HTC has created speaker holes using micro-drilling instead of cutting out a chuck of the chassis and using a plastic grill. This might be a small detail, but provides an exceptional boost to call clarity. Noise cancelling has also been enhanced and we were surprised at the clarity of phone calls when walking down noisy streets such as Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road.

Access to the microSIM slot is provided by flicking off a piece from the back cover. This does feel flimsy, and is the only part of the design which we are not too keen on.

The 4.3in display uses Super AMOLED technology, which provides a 540 x 960 resolution and has a pixel density of 256ppi. This isn't as crisp or bright as the Super IPS screen found on the HTC One X, which has a 720 x 1280 resolution and a pixel density of 312 ppi. However, we had no issues with clarity or colour reproduction provided by the One S.

AMOLED technology is known for providing bright images, and this is particularly noticeable when watching videos. HTC has found the balance between delivering good picture quality and battery life.