HTC One V review

Bruce Forsyth, Buzz Lightyear, Jimmy Hill, the HTC Hero and the HTC Legend are all famous for one thing: having memorable chins. Following on from 2010’s highly rated HTC Legend is the HTC One V, which, unlike its predecessors, is a mid-tier Android 4.0-powered handset.

HTC unveiled the One V alongside its two new flagship handsets, the HTC One S and HTC One X, at MWC 2012. All three devices were generally very well received following Peter Chou’s keynote but the higher specced HTC One S and HTC One X did steal the show for obvious reasons.

So while the HTC One V is most definitely bringing it up the rear when compared to the likes of the HTC One X and the Huawei Ascend D-Quad, it is still a thoroughly decent proposition – especially for users that want to spend slightly less cash on their phone.

Build quality on the One V is excellent featuring HTC’s ‘award winning curved-chin design’ as well as the company’s now-standard metallic unibody. Our handset was finished in matte black and looked every bit the premium-grade device.

We also really like the curved-chin design of the One V, although it’s obvious from some of the reactions to it in the office that it’s a feature that will divide opinion – HTC is no doubt fully prepared for this though.

When we first saw HTC’s new trio of handsets at MWC 2012 one of the first things that immediately struck us about them was just how good the displays were. Thankfully the One V’s 3.7-inch 480x800 resolution Super LCD 2 display is no exception to this rule with its crystal clear visuals, wide viewing angles and awesome colour representation.

The difference between 2011’s Super LCD and 2012’s Super LCD 2 panels is dramatic to say the least. Of course it’s not quite up there with the One X and iPhone 4S’ of the world but it’s certainly better than 99.9 per cent of handsets in its class.

The One V cuts a svelte figure at 120.3x59.7x9.2mm and weighs in at just 115g. The display, as we mentioned earlier, is 3.7-inches making it quite a rarity amongst the current norm of super-sized handsets in the Android community a la the Galaxy Nexus, One X and Galaxy Note.

Powering the One V is 1GHz CPU and Adreno GPU based on Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset alongside 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. Now that might read like hardware from 2010 but trust us it sure as hell doesn’t feel like hardware from two years ago. Everything flies on the One V – whether it’s flicking through homescreens, opening applications or playing games like Angry Birds. HTC achieved this not by witchcraft but by making some rather crafty omissions from the handset’s Sense UI.