Score: 8/10 (Great)
Pros Outstanding and elegant design, beautiful display, fast and zippy, camera takes impressive photos, great call quality, strong battery life, WP8 is still buttery smooth, currently free with a new two-year contract on Verizon. | Cons No expandable storage, lack of Nokia apps is noticeable, WP8 still doesn't have the content offerings of other operating systems. |
When you think of Windows Phone 8, you most likely think of Nokia. This is understandable, seeing that the Finland-based company is the largest manufacturer of WP8 handsets. While Nokia has rolled out some incredible WP8 handsets in the past year, there is another company who's crafted a pretty awesome Windows Phone 8-powered gadget of their own. That company, is HTC. Although there have recently been some reports suggesting that HTC is looking to get out of the Windows Phone market, the HTC 8X is one heck of a smartphone. Let's find out why in our full review!
Design/Build Quality
There are many high points of the HTC 8X. One of my favorite aspects though, is easily the design. Measuring in at 5.21 x 2.61 x 0.40 in, and with a weight of 4.59 oz, the 8X is compact and slim. With the edges of the phone having a nice upwards curve, and with a gentle slope on the back, the phone feels fantastic in the hand. On the top of the phone, you will find your 3.5mm headphone jack, along with the power/lock button. The right-hand side is home to the volume rocker and camera capture button, with the microUSB syncing/charging port resting on the bottom of the handset. The 8X also comes in a good variety of colors, with your choice of a blue, red, yellow, and black option. The model that I got to review is the blue version, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. The blue is visible on the front edges of the phone, with a blue accent even making its way to the speaker at the top of the phone. The entire back is also covered in the stunning color, and is present on all of the physical buttons as well. I have reviewed many phones here at MobileCupOfJoe, and the HTC 8X is easily one of the best designed I have yet to use. It may not be up to the ultra-high design quality of the HTC One, but it's still impressive.
Hardware
With a 4.3-inch screen, the 8X has a smaller form factor than we usually see nowadays. While 4.3-inches sounded like it would be way too small after having worked with smartphones that have 5.0 and 5.5-inch screens, the smaller form factor was actually a nice breath of fresh air. I had no trouble at all being able to get to all parts of the screen while using the device with one hand, and it fit perfectly in my jeans' pocket. The display has a pixel resolution of 1280 x 720, and although 1080p Full HD screens as becoming the norm for flagship smartphones, the 8X is cramming in 342 ppi. Colors look vibrant and nicely saturated, text is crisp, and HD videos look surprisingly nice on the smaller screen size. Along with the great looks, the 8X's screen also has quite a bit of strength with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protecting it from any potential scratches or cracks.
Like most Windows Phone 8 flagships, the HTC 8X is packing in a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU and 1GB of RAM. Any Android user would take one look at these specifications and scoff in disgust. I did to the first time I used a WP8 device, but as any Windows Phone 8 user would expect, the 8X is incredibly fast. Thanks to the way Microsoft has designed WP8, the OS doesn't require the latest and greatest processing power to run smoothly. Between browsing the Web, streaming YouTube videos, and playing a quick game of Temple Run, everything runs great. The 8X also comes equipped with 16GB of internal storage, but lacks an option to expand it via microSD card.
The HTC 8X is packing in an 8MP rear-facing camera, along with a 2.1MP front-facing shooter. Despite being a lower 8MP sensor, the 8X's rear-facing camera took some mighty good looking photos. Colors were true-to-life, close-up shots provided tons of detail, and everything just looked great. The front-facing camera is also a strong performer. The 8X's front camera uses an exclusive 88° ultra-wide-angle lens to capture a wider angle when using it. This means that you can fit more people into your group photos, and makes taking selfies a breeze. The last picture in the album was taken with the front-facing camera.
The HTC 8X is available from both AT&T and Verizon Wireless, and I reviewed the model on Verizon. Call quality was great, with people on my end sounding loud and clear, and everyone I talked to saying that I sounded good on their end as well. Data speeds were also ultra-fast, as they normally are with handsets with access to Verizon's brilliant 4G LTE data coverage. In terms of download speeds, I averaged out at 18Mbps and had a spike of 35Mbs. Upload speeds were strong as well, with an average of 4Mbps and a spike of 6Mbps. To last you through all of your long days of use with the phone, the 8X houses a non-removable 1,800 mAh battery. Despite it being a smaller battery than we usually see in flagship smartphones, I had no issues with getting through a full day of use with the 8X. If I turned the phone on at 8:00 AM, and used it with moderate application usage, checking emails, Web browsing, light picture taking, and heavy texting, I still had around 15% remaining at 11:00 PM at night.
Software
The HTC 8X is running Windows Phone 8. Although it may not be the most popular mobile OS, I have become quite fond of WP8 after having reviewed multiple devices that are running it. I am not going to run through all of the features of it in this review (since I just did a review of the Nokia Lumia 928) but all of the customization features you have come to expect from WP8 are still present here on the HTC 8X. HTC has included a few of their own apps on the 8X, including Flashlight, HTC, Photo Enhancer, and more. Out of all of these, the HTC app is easily the most robust/useful. From the HTC app, you can view the weather, stocks, and news.
While the software is essentially the same as most WP8 handsets, there is one aspect of the 8X that I wasn't a huge fan of. The lack of Nokia applications. Since Nokia is the largest manufacturer of Windows Phone devices, they have created numerous apps for WP8 that are exclusive to their handsets. These include Nokia Music, Nokia City Lens, and more. Being a big user of Nokia's WP8 apps, I did miss them quite a bit on the 8X.
While on the topic of applications, I would like to note Microsoft's Windows Store. While it is catching up in terms of its content offerings, it still has a long way to go before it up to the standards of Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store. You can get apps such as Netflix, Pandora, IMDb, Evernote, and more, but there are still quite a lot that you won't be able to get.
Final Verdict
So, is the HTC a worthy flagship? Absolutely. With its stunning design, great-looking screen, fast processing speeds, strong camera, and more, there is a ton of stuff to love about the HTC 8X. Combine that with the price of FREE on Verizon with a new 2-year contract, and you're looking at one heck of a deal. However, the lack of internal storage and Nokia applications, along with the smaller content offerings from the Windows Store, hold the 8X back from greatness. With that said, if you are in the market for a new Windows Phone 8 smartphone, the HTC 8X is definitely worth taking a look at.
Author: Joseph Maring
Author: Joseph Maring
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