Product Listing

HTC One V - Friendly on the Pocket

By Wong Casandra - 26 Apr 2012
Launch SRP: S$398

Performance and Conclusion

Performance

The HTC One V comes with a single-core processor clocked at 1GHz (yes, you read that right), alongside 512MB of RAM. The HTC One V is part of HTC's first trio of Android 4.0 devices, so for those who are looking to get a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich, this is one more option to consider (and it's not expensive too). As usual, we subject the review unit to the Quadrant benchmark, which can be found on Google Play. To gauge how it performs against the competition, we matched its scores against similar devices using single-core processors such as the HTC Wildfire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray.

A Quick Comparison
Device HTC One V HTC Wildfire S Sony Ericsson
Xperia Mini
Sony Ericsson
Xperia Ray
CPU Qualcomm MSM8255
Snapdragon 1GHz
Qulacomm MSM7227
600MHz
Qualcomm QSD8255
Snapdragon
1GHz
Qualcomm MSM8255
Snapdragon 1GHz
GPU Adreno 205 Adreno 200 Adreno 205 Adreno 205
RAM 512MB 512MB 512MB 512MB
OS Google Android 4.0 Google Android 2.3 Google Android 2.3 Google Android 2.3

As depicted in the chart above, the HTC One V fared excellently against its competitors, gaining a pretty wide margin over the Xperia Mini and Ray despite all three using the same Qualcomm chipset. We attribute this to better optimization due to its lite version of Sense 4.0 UI and Android 4.0 OS. Compared to its previous affordable range smartphone, the Wildfire S, the HTC One V outperformed it and more than tripled its score. Nonetheless, we do like to stress again that numbers aren't everything.

Apart from benchmarking, the HTC One V ran smoothly and had no problems rendering pages or running graphic-intensive apps, despite its single-core chipset and 512MB RAM. The phone's lag-free performance and generally positive day-to-day experience pretty much did it for us. However, we do realize that the HTC One V has problems with WhatsApp - from time to time, the app would not respond properly (on several occasions, photos couldn't be sent to peers). We're checking with HTC for updates on this aspect.

 

Imaging

The HTC One V arms itself with a 5-megapixel camera with a backside illuminated sensor. Images looked pretty good, revealing relatively good color reproduction and details. Noise levels are on the high side, especially in night shots, though that's a common occurrence among mobile phones we've tested due to their tiny sensors. Otherwise, the camera did okay; it has other plus points such as its F2.0 aperture and HDR capabilities.

Camera imaging performance was acceptable with good color reproduction (though it could use a little more saturation). Noise is unfortunately not avoidable for this class of devices. Check out the close-up shots below for further scrutiny.

 

Battery Mileage

Using the same 480 x 800-pixel resolution video that we use across all our mobile device battery tests, we set the same test parameters which includes having the video looped under the following conditions:

  • Brightness and volume at 100%
     
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
     
  • Constant data streaming through email and Twitter
Test Phones Compared
Specifications/Device HTC One V HTC Wildfire S Sony Ericsson 
Xperia Mini
Sony Ericsson 
Xperia Ray
Processor
  • 1GHz
  • 600MHz
  • 1GHz
  • 1GHz
Display Size
  • 3.7-inch
  • 3.2-inch
  • 3.0-inch
  • 3.3-inch
Display Type
  • LCD
  • LCD
  • LED-backlit LCD
  • LED-backlit LCD
Display Resolution
  •  480 x 800 pixels
  •  320 x 480 pixels
  • 320 x 480 pixels
  • 480 x 854 pixels
Dimensions
  •  120.3 x 59.7 x 9.24mm
  •  101.3 x 59.4 x 12.4mm
  • 88 x 52 x 16mm
  •  111 x 53 x 9.4mm
Weight
  •  115g
  •  105g
  •  99g
  •  100g


The HTC One V lasted the longest at 360 minutes with the Xperia Mini a short distance behind at 331 minutes. A more accurate comparison would be with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray, given its similar hardware specs and higher battery capacity of 1500mAh - and the One V still outlasted it by a full hour despite its larger screen. Again, we attribute this performance to the Android 4.0 OS and the more power-optimized HTC Sense 4 UI. With its above average battery mileage performance, the HTC One V fares pretty well in the portability index as well, coming in a close second after the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray. The latter is significantly smaller and lighter than the former - which explains its pole position in this case.

To give you a real-world gauge, we observed that the phone could last almost a whole day on a single charge, with emails and Twitter feeds pushed constantly to it. Other activities included occasional web surfing and phone calls.

 

Conclusion

Well, what do we have to say about the HTC One V? At S$398, it is a good value-for-money smartphone with looks to boot. As we have mentioned, HTC has had a record of making phones that are fashionable and sleek-looking, and we are pleased to see the line of execution emulated even in their lower-end models. The One V is primarily targeted at those who are looking for a fuss-free Android 4.0 device without forking out a large sum of money; performance-wise, this single-core processor phone is pretty impeccable, save for the weird WhatsApp bug we noted above. The 3.7-inch screen might be paltry compared to the likes of 4.7-inch giants we see these days, but if you look at it from another angle, it's still slightly bigger the iPhone's screen. In general, the 480 x 800-pixel LCD screen keeps things crisp looking and exhibits adequate levels of brightness. The One V's camera and battery performances are pretty decent as well, and we don't have much to complain about in these two areas, considering its price point.

Of course, the phone is not without its flaws. The single-core processor and small memory footprint could pose problems in the future (especially if you are running many apps with background processes and have stored many files on your phone) but we imagine that the phone isn't made for a crowd with such usage habits (for that crowd, they have the HTC One X to rely upon).

In a niche market with few competitors, the HTC One V is definitely the rising star to look out for - given its affordable price tag and nice all-round performance.

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8.5
  • Design 9
  • Features 8.5
  • User-Friendliness 8.5
  • Performance 8.5
  • Value 9.5
The Good
Excellent design and solid build quality
Crisp 3.7-inch LCD screen
Refined Sense 4.0a UI
Affordable price
Decent battery life
The Bad
Limited internal memory space
Single-core processor
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