[Sprint HTC One (M7)] Sandy Daze:
my new HTC One & me

22 March 2013

dear XDA,

Thank you for providing the opportunity for me to comment. In the developer world, I do not even enter the discussion. But, I would like to make a couple comments about the new HTC One. I picked mine up at a Sprint store on Friday, 19th March. I am typically not/NOT a first-wave acquirer of new tech, in fact, I think the HTC One is the first opening day unit I have ever acquired.

Saying that, I do have some experience with HTC units, in my family plan having had over the years three HTC Evo 4Gs, an HTC Evo 3D (still in use), a HTC Evo LTE (still in use) and a overseas-only-use HTC Wildfire. It was the initial experience with the EVO 4Gs which led to the follow-on purchases. Always great products, great form factors, nice to hold in the hand.

A few years ago when it seemed HTC was frenetically bringing out a new phone every week, I wondered how they might possibly continue that breakneck roll-out. Well, they couldn't; and in a way I am very glad, as this HTC One seems to be a consolidation phone of sorts, and as others have mentioned, it is reflective of a corporate strategy to standardize units across the globe. (Imagine, standardization across the globe--wow (!), but I digress.)

Regarding my new HTC One, with a new phone, one naturally expects better, faster, cleaner, more sophisticated, able to leap tall buildings, etc. Perhaps the single greatest performance feature I have identified is the ability to acquire a 4G signal in my small corner of Virginia. None of our other phones (my old EVO 4G, which I now use as a bedside radio), nor our 3D or LTE, nor an Apple 4s are able to acquire the 4G signal in our home. Seemingly, we are just on the edge of the signal. NOT SO for the new ONE--it acquired the 4G signal immediately and has never looked back. (Let me hasten to add that the other units all have/will acquire 4G signals, but apparently they need to be much/Much/MUCH closer to the tower.) If for no other reason than the better connectivity (after paying the Sprint smart-phone premium for years in anticipation of 4G), I am VERY pleased with the ONE.

I also find the speakers to provide the best quality sound and greatest maximum volume I have ever heard from a unit. I hardly ever use my car radio these days, using the unit (Evo or now the One) to let me hear what I want to hear, when I want to hear it. With these speakers, the One provides great sound clarity and greater volume over the ambient road noise while driving.

I've read a number of complaints about Blink Feed. I too look forward to being able to add any RSS feed to blink, perhaps that capability already exists and I have not yet learned how to do so. I did learn how easy it is to just change the home page so it became an easy matter for me to ignore blink and set the One up to more closely reflect my preferences. (I.E.--don't like Blink Feed as your home page--?--make a new home page and make that panel your default home page--easy day!)

So, ISTM that such complaints are sort of like what people say about dogs, there aren't bad dogs, just bad owners (i.e. owners who do not understand how to train their dogs...). Hope that comment does not offend anyone, not trying to do so, but my own experience tells me that often it is my failure to know how to do something, rather than the units ability not/NOT to do something, which is at fault.

I could go on, but have imposed on the XDA hosts long enough. Again, thanks for the forums and the opportunity to comment. (Normally an infrequent lurker, I registered to share these thoughts on the ONE.)

Take good care,

Sandy