HTC, you sly dogs. After half a decade of — and let’s be polite here — “reasonably okay” mobile phones, you’ve done a bang-up job with the Windows Phone 8X.
Historically, HTC has vacillated between releasing phones that were robust but ugly, or pretty but fragile. Soviet Tanks or Champagne Towers. With the Windows Phone 8X, they’ve found a balance that works; this is a phone that looks great, feels great, and can take a pounding.
Let’s break it down
At the front is one of the loveliest screens I’ve seen on any phone. The kind of lovely that’s 4.3-inches with a 1280×720 pixel resolution. It means being able to watch a high-definition movie without unsightly pixels and jagged edges. Matt Damon’s chiselled jaw is rendered just as flawlessly on the phone’s screen, as it was when you saw it in the theatre.
The Hardware
The back of the Windows Phone 8X is curved and rubberised, and it pleases me. It feels good, it makes fishing the phone out of my pocket easier, and it prevents the back heating up and cooking my hand like my iPhone 5 does after a two minute call.
I’m a fan of rubberisation. If it can be rubberised, it should be. Soda cans. iPhones. Whiteboard markers. My children. They could all benefit from rubberisation, and until they are, they’re constantly at risk of slipping out of my sweaty sausage fingers and falling to the floor.
The CPU — the brains of the operation — is a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4. Forgoing bullet-points and comparison charts, it means apps load quickly, games run beautifully, and the UI is responsive. There’s also 16GB of storage; enough for a couple thousand songs and two or three high-definition Matt Damon movies.
The Software
Software-wise, Windows Phone 8 has turned out to be more than an incremental improvement to Windows Phone 7.5; it feels like Microsoft have found their feet, and have a better idea of what a mobile operating system is, and what it should do.
Out of the box, the Windows Phone 8X is relatively software-complete. Windows Phone 8 and HTC have provided an admirable suite of applications and utilities pre-installed.
Unfortunately the third-party application ecosystem for Windows Phone is still quite weak compared to Google and Apple, and Microsoft’s app store remains plagued by low-quality knock-offs of iPhone apps.
The bad, but not the ugly conclusion
From a design perspective, there is one noticeable flaw; the camera button. Positioned on the lower-right side, the button is sensitive. I found myself accidentally launching the camera a number of times, while using my thumb to reach across and select items on the home screen.
I beat the Windows Phone 8X by HTC like a rented mule for two months, and there’s nary a scratch or dent or inexplicable stain to be seen.
Camera-button quibbles aside, this is in my mind, the finest phone HTC have ever made.
About the author
Leslie Nassar is the Director of Technology at Amnesia Razorfish Sydney, a leading digital agency dedicated to inventing the digital future.
In his spare time he creates applications that bridge the gap between TV and Twitter, and chairs the Sydney chapter of the International Matt Damon Fan Club.