not available in India yet...
We’ve got smartphone fatigue. It’s always a new iPhone, new Windows Phone, new Android phone with Samsung’s latest TouchWiz UX, or a lifesaver the folks at BlackBerry are trying to cook up, dominating the news cycle on a daily basis.
This is why we were intrigued with the announcement of the HTC First at the beginning of April, the "Facebook Phone" that had been rumoured since November 2011 when it was supposedly codenamed "Buffy". The HTC First is the first handset to offer Facebook Home pre-loaded, the social network’s custom Android launcher to "focus on people and not apps".
The HTC First is modest compared to the Taiwan-based manufacturer's new HTC One, the towering flagship that we’ve given great marks. But it’s obvious the HTC First isn’t joining in the spec race here, rather it wants to be the phone that the Facebook-addict will buy because it’s $99 (£65) and has access to the latest pictures their friends and family are posting.
In the hand, the HTC First reminds us a lot of Apple’s iPhone. The handset is 126 x 65 x 8.9mm, where the iPhone 5 is 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm - fairly similar. As for weight, it’s not like the HTC First is heavy at 123.9g , but the iPhone 5 is a more lightweight 112g.
On the front of the HTC First you’ll find a 1.6-megapixel shooter for video chat and plenty of "selfies" to put on Facebook. Below the screen there are three capacative-touch buttons: back, home, and menu. We like what HTC has done with the buttons. Three seems better than four, and we can’t think of any other button we’d need to get in and out of the Facebook Home UI. At the very top of the First there’s a simply power button, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Display
The display on the HTC First is surprising. Not because of it’s
quality and metrics, but the fact that HTC was willing to jump out of
the "who’s bigger" race and go for something a little more modest at
4.3-inches, which seems like the perfect size in-hand.
We’ve come to realise that any Android device with a custom skin thrown on top usually lags behind with some extremely great hardware. That’s not the case here. Facebook’s built Home to be relatively light, and that’s exactly why the hardware on the HTC First is plenty to handle it with snappy speeds. We weren’t expecting that, but we are happy to have been proved wrong.
That’s the overall theme of the hardware on this phone. It does just fine. It’s not the monster that has the latest and greatest processor, rather, the HTC First is built modestly to get the job done.
Camera
The rear-camera on the HTC First is lacking, especially for a phone
with Instragram pre-loaded - the place where everyone is going to post
their cat pictures these days. The HTC First simply can’t compete camera
wise to the likes of the iPhone 5, Galaxy S3, or HTC One. We know, the
HTC First is a cheaper phone, but we feel like the camera should have
been one key focus area, given the market for this device, as something
used to share things with social networks.
This smartphone will especially appeal to the entry-level smartphone buyer who’s going to simply love it because of the fact that it has Facebook thrown on top. Facebook has an aggressive marketing campaign going, even on the front of Facebook.com, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the HTC First, or at least Facebook Home, takes off.
At $99 you’re getting a solid mid-range smartphone. We’re happy HTC jumped out of the smartphone spec race and opted for a modest 4.3-inch screen that will actually appeal to a lot of people. Given there’s stock Android on the HTC First as well, the handset will jump out to those looking for none of HTC or Samsung’s custom Android additions thrown on top, providing Android in its purest form, with a mix of LTE.
The HTC First is not the best phone HTC has made. Rather, it’s the best phone for a Facebook experience that shields the rest of what Android has to offer by default.
We’ve got smartphone fatigue. It’s always a new iPhone, new Windows Phone, new Android phone with Samsung’s latest TouchWiz UX, or a lifesaver the folks at BlackBerry are trying to cook up, dominating the news cycle on a daily basis.
This is why we were intrigued with the announcement of the HTC First at the beginning of April, the "Facebook Phone" that had been rumoured since November 2011 when it was supposedly codenamed "Buffy". The HTC First is the first handset to offer Facebook Home pre-loaded, the social network’s custom Android launcher to "focus on people and not apps".
The HTC First is modest compared to the Taiwan-based manufacturer's new HTC One, the towering flagship that we’ve given great marks. But it’s obvious the HTC First isn’t joining in the spec race here, rather it wants to be the phone that the Facebook-addict will buy because it’s $99 (£65) and has access to the latest pictures their friends and family are posting.
Design
HTC has taken a step back to the design language it invoked in 2012. There’s the soft polycarbonate body that you’d expect, not the unibody aluminium that was introduced on the recent HTC One. That’s not to say the polycarbonate body is a bad thing, there’s a solid build quality here, something that HTC has seemingly mastered over the years.In the hand, the HTC First reminds us a lot of Apple’s iPhone. The handset is 126 x 65 x 8.9mm, where the iPhone 5 is 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm - fairly similar. As for weight, it’s not like the HTC First is heavy at 123.9g , but the iPhone 5 is a more lightweight 112g.
On the front of the HTC First you’ll find a 1.6-megapixel shooter for video chat and plenty of "selfies" to put on Facebook. Below the screen there are three capacative-touch buttons: back, home, and menu. We like what HTC has done with the buttons. Three seems better than four, and we can’t think of any other button we’d need to get in and out of the Facebook Home UI. At the very top of the First there’s a simply power button, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Display
The display on the HTC First is surprising. Not because of it’s
quality and metrics, but the fact that HTC was willing to jump out of
the "who’s bigger" race and go for something a little more modest at
4.3-inches, which seems like the perfect size in-hand.Hardware and Performance
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor on the HTC First isn’t the latest and greatest, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t zip the device right around. The HTC First is extremely snappy, even with only 1GB of RAM, and it happily takes just about any task thrown at it.We’ve come to realise that any Android device with a custom skin thrown on top usually lags behind with some extremely great hardware. That’s not the case here. Facebook’s built Home to be relatively light, and that’s exactly why the hardware on the HTC First is plenty to handle it with snappy speeds. We weren’t expecting that, but we are happy to have been proved wrong.
That’s the overall theme of the hardware on this phone. It does just fine. It’s not the monster that has the latest and greatest processor, rather, the HTC First is built modestly to get the job done.
Camera
The rear-camera on the HTC First is lacking, especially for a phone
with Instragram pre-loaded - the place where everyone is going to post
their cat pictures these days. The HTC First simply can’t compete camera
wise to the likes of the iPhone 5, Galaxy S3, or HTC One. We know, the
HTC First is a cheaper phone, but we feel like the camera should have
been one key focus area, given the market for this device, as something
used to share things with social networks.Verdict
The HTC First is a mid-range phone at best, and we’ve made that clear throughout the review. But that’s not to say the specs here aren’t plenty enough to handle what Facebook Home or stock Android has to throw at it. The HTC First is incredibly snappy, handling most tasks with ease. The cameras need improvement given the social nature of this phone, but they do get by.This smartphone will especially appeal to the entry-level smartphone buyer who’s going to simply love it because of the fact that it has Facebook thrown on top. Facebook has an aggressive marketing campaign going, even on the front of Facebook.com, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the HTC First, or at least Facebook Home, takes off.
At $99 you’re getting a solid mid-range smartphone. We’re happy HTC jumped out of the smartphone spec race and opted for a modest 4.3-inch screen that will actually appeal to a lot of people. Given there’s stock Android on the HTC First as well, the handset will jump out to those looking for none of HTC or Samsung’s custom Android additions thrown on top, providing Android in its purest form, with a mix of LTE.
The HTC First is not the best phone HTC has made. Rather, it’s the best phone for a Facebook experience that shields the rest of what Android has to offer by default.
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