Over recent months we’ve seen the high end members of HTC’s One family of smartphones, and now it is the turn of the budget One V. Designed as a cheap entry into the family, the One V is noticeably smaller than the other One models, and uses both a 3.7in 480 x 800 screen and single core Qualcomm processor to keep costs down.
These specs may be on the low side, but the design of the One V belies this. Made from a unibody Aluminium design highly reminiscent of the HTC Wildfire it feels reassuringly sturdy in the hand, and conveys a premium feel. Add to this the fact that it is running Android 4.03 (along with HTC Sense) and you have a great entry level smartphone that isn’t stuck on some dead end variant of Android.
It is important to remember that the HTC One V just doesn’t cut it against the high end of the smartphone market. But, importantly, it also never feels cheap in the hand. The 1GHz CPU does struggle with some tasks, but for light usage we had no issues, and it even managed to run basic games quite adequately (we’d hold off on the first person shooters though). In Sunspider it managed a score of 3475, well ahead of Nokia’s Lumia 610 and in Quadrant its score of 2104 is faster than Sony’s mid-range Xperia P.
The other side effect of the lower hardware specs of the HTC One V is that it lasted wonderfully in our battery tests, barely making it halfway through a charge after our 24 hour testing cycle. For those making the transition from dumphones to smartphones this is a boon, as the daily charging cycle needed for high end phones takes some getting used to.
While HTC isn’t going to break any speed records with the One V, it has delivered a very well rounded budget phone. Performance is a little slow, but the build and design of the handset are impeccable and as long as the now small 3.7in screen is enough to satisfy, this isn’t just a competitive budget handset, it is a great first step into the smartphone world.
