HTC One X+ preview

HTC's One X+ could be the sort of flagship phone that helps the Taiwan-based smartphone maker reverse its recent financial misfortunes. We had a chance to play with the HTC One X+ for a few minutes at MobileCon this week and found the display's brilliance and colours truly stunning. The size, feel and styling were more comfortable and enticing than any other Android phone I've held (and I've held many of them.)

What's more, the HTC One X+'s quad-core 1700 MHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor's fastness also shows well when swiping through screens and opening apps, even in a quick first-time tryout.

With its pre-loaded Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the HTC One X+ will lure many Android users who want the latest thing, but it will also come with fast LTE wireless and Beats Audio. The value of Beats Audio is not to be overlooked, and contributed immensely to the music playing qualities of the HTC Droid Incredible.

HTC One X+ display

The HTC One X+'s display deserves more mention. At 4.7in and 720 x 1280, it is large and clear. A Super LCD 2 screen seems to make its colours more vivid as well. When held at an angle, the colours don't seem to lose their richness.

HTC also added an 8 megapixel back camera and a 1.6 megapixel front camera, an improvement over the original HTC One X, which sold well. A big 2100 mAh battery and 32GB of internal storage might seal the deal for many potential buyers interested in taking and storing photos or viewing photos and video. The HTC One X+'s camcorder is 1080p HD quality.

For a quick first-look, the HTC One X+'s size and styling made the biggest impression on me. The polycarbonate case is soft, and the device is fairly light at 135g, a little lighter than the industry average. Overall, it is 134.4mm x 69.9mm x 8.9mm.

Just one small design in the HTC One X+ could become a flaw. The rear camera protrudes slightly from the back and would seem to be easily damaged or scratched when it is constantly laid down and picked up. I mentioned this to Gordon, who said he carried the first-generation device for months, and never had a problem with damage to the glass cover over the camera's lens.