HTC One X Initial Impressions: Great Phone, One Radio Glitch

Setup and first feel

Signing in with a Google account brought most apps back to the phone, or they could be reinstalled from the Play Store’s My Apps list. The screen measures 4.7 inches. It is only a little larger than the Nexus the reviewer normally used, and the capacitive buttons make it look bigger than it feels in the hand. People who handled it praised the sharp picture and the size, including one iPhone owner.

What was good

• Sense 4.0 felt smooth, with hardly any lag.
• The camera was excellent.
• The reviewer had already tried the One S and recommended it, but found it a little small and lower in resolution.

Minor complaints

• The power button lacked spring, possibly because of the angled bezel.
• The 16 GB model leaves only about 2 GB for apps.
• The camera lens piece sticks out.
• Accounts and sync showed several red sync circles and a “Sync is currently experiencing problems” message, including for Facebook calendar, SkyDrive and Hotmail contacts.

The signal glitch

During weak signal after bad weather, the phone sometimes showed an X by the signal bars. Toggling Airplane mode, the usual trick, left the setting stuck on “turning off”. Changing bands in the hidden service menu did nothing either. Only a reboot revived the radio.

The reviewer asked the lender about it, wondered if a demo SIM was involved, and noted that another owner saw the same issue even after rooting and installing a new kernel. A known Wi-Fi bug affected only the quad-core model, which was not sold in Canada. Other owners reported no problem, so it may have been a bad batch.