HTC has come up with a product virtually no one will buy. The One SV is a downgraded One S with 4G. So it's a mid-range phone that's only usable on the most expensive network in the UK.
It has a 4.3-inch screen, which HTC helpfully points out is not much bigger than a credit card. That's great -- plenty of people want a manageably sized blower, not a vast great slate like the Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE or One XL. But those punters don't want to be short-changed on other components, and here the One SV makes the same mistake as the disappointing S3 Mini.
A dual-core 1.2GHz processor is the main offender -- it looks distinctly sluggish up against the quad-core monster in the Nexus 4, for example, and is even slower than the 1.5GHz chip in the One S. The screen's 480x800-pixel resolution is woeful compared to the Nexus 4's 768x1,280 pixels. A mediocre 5-megapixel camera is no match for the 8 megapixels on offer in the great-value One S.
Storage, at 8GB, is nothing to write home about either, but at least it's expandable via a microSD card, which you can't say for the Nexus 4 or iPhone 5. At 9.2mm thick this is no porker, but it'll be noticeably chunkier than the 7.6mm of Apple's latest. At 122g it is very light though, just 10g more than the iPhone.
HTC doesn't say which version of Android it's running, but it's widely reported to be 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, as in the One S. With its relatively weak processor, that's unlikely to ever be updated.
The One SV will be available on EE in the UK, although prices and deals are yet to be announced. EE's current cheapest phones are the Huawei P1 LTE and Nokia Lumia 820, both free on £36 per month two-year deals that give you just 500MB of data.
The One SV is hardly going to be any cheaper, so you'll be looking at the thick end of £900 over 24 months. EE's SIM-free plans are nearly as steep, so you won't save much buying the handset upfront.
HTC's 4G phones are absolutely baffling. The other one is the One XL, which is very similar to the quad-core One X, except it has a weaker dual-core processor. If you want an HTC phone, you either have 4G or great performance, but you can't have both.
You never know, this might somehow turn out to be the greatest Ice Cream Sandwich phone ever made. EE might rip up its pricing strategy and make it cheaper than the Nexus 4. We'll pass full judgement in our review, but the signs are not good. Let me know what you think in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 17
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nicebiscuit 11 December, 2012 13:16
It's a shame... I have an S3 but absolutely love HTC sense. This phone would be awesome if it had the HTC sense but the S3 specs.
Not a fan of the designs of the HTC phones but this design looks so slick. Love it. They got the Design Right here, The Sense is so nice to use but the specs let it down otherwise I would pay top dollor for this phone :(
nicebiscuit 11 December, 2012 13:17
OH HTC please put the USB charging port at the bottom of the phone as the battery extended case looks weird and awkward with the bump on the side.
anonymous 11 December, 2012 13:20
Really don't get HTC's product roadmap
damien2501 11 December, 2012 14:33
the desire and legend were amazing, slick and stylish. Why have HTC just thrown in the towel and started making phones with last years spec for thesame price as far superior phones. What a waste, R.I.P HTC
anonymous 11 December, 2012 15:47
Cnet as usual displays its lack of knowledge of anything tech. Does the writer understand that it's not miserably true that 2 core < 4 cores? what dual core do we have here? does he know that a dual core snapdragon S4 can outrun the quadcore tegra 3 for example? Or that very few applications scale with cores? or that a dual core chip is a much better fit for that kind of resolutions? Seriously these days i only come to cnet to have a laugh..
Matt Winston. 11 December, 2012 20:46
I'm not gonna comment about the phone, but EE is a scam. I'm on Orange and ive been charged soo many times, my experience with them has been mad. Please, whether your getting an iPhone, S3 or Lumia 920 stay away from EE.
anonymous 12 December, 2012 01:36
As a Galaxy S II owner, I can tell you that a 1.2Ghz Dual Core is NOT a weak processor, in terms of smoothness I can't tell the difference between my friends SGS3 and my SGS2...Considering the price of this down under (Fairly cheap on the Optus network) it looks fairly decent.
AkumaJack 12 December, 2012 11:44
@Matt I plan to stay away from them because of price and the phones will be locked into that network. Anyone else think its stupid to get a 4g phone right now because it'll be locked into one network? EE are trying to push up the price of data because that's where the need is right now and will be in the future.
anonymous 12 December, 2012 13:22
Operationally the HTC One X and XL are pretty similar in response, there's very little noticeable difference between a dual and quad core versions of these phones, so the SV shouldnt be written off on the account of it only begin dual core.
The styling looks like a hybrid between the old Desire Style and the new One look, its hard to tell from the images on this website The smaller screen size makes it a more handy piece of real estate to handle, so could take off when the other 4G networks kick in mid 2013 in uk as a entry level 4G phone.
Jack Porter 19 December, 2012 17:53
1.2Ghz Dual Core is sluggish??
Get real... I had a Desire HD and that wasn't sluggish with its single core 1Ghz...
anonymous 31 December, 2012 16:00
1.2GHz is not sluggish, by a long shot. I have an HP Touchpad (1.0GHz Qualcomm Scorpion dual-core) and it runs CM9 and CM10 (4.0 and 4.1) quite elegantly.
anonymous 3 January, 2013 14:27
Actually, I can say that this is a great phone. Very well-built, perfect screen size, incredibly long battery life(it consumed only 20 percent battery after a whole day using 4G),and the performance is not bad, even a bit smoother than the dual core 1.5 Ghz P936! Though there are some draw backs, such as low res screen, a bit overpriced, and camera with only 5MP, the One SV is definitely NOT doomed.
anonymous 6 January, 2013 08:52
just got this phone on the optus network. not a fan of the apple cult and loved a previous htc i had. so far, so good. i would not say sluggish at all. only complaint is the camera. any recommendations on a similar sized non apple phone with good camera?
anonymous 13 January, 2013 20:22
The One SV will be available on e.e. AND T-Mobile from launch, with orange expected to follow suit within weeks, hopefully days.
anonymous 18 February, 2013 08:08
So far I'm happy with my Cricket One SV as a good backup to my Verizon Galaxy S3. I don't really notice a difference in speed. That could be because my S3 screen randomly goes black and completely unresponsive for several minutes at a time. The SV One has certainly been m had latelylately. Including my s3, razr maxx, pro, and photon.
anonymous 24 February, 2013 17:55
Sv is dumb only bcoz. of its big screen with low resolution and 5 mp camera with such a high price......
You should go with HTC one s.....
Which is a great deal......
You can get 5 mp even with desire c.....
So think about it before purchasing.......
anonymous 17 March, 2013 12:32
I only read the first few lines, usually I hate people who comment without reading the full article but your argument is flawed from the start. The HTC one sv is a 4G ready phone, not 4g exclusively. I pay only £20 a month for mine on orange for unlimited texts and 200 anytime mins. It's a good looking, lightweight, fast performing phone with excellent picture quality and beats audio technology. After having my HTC wildfire for nearly 2yrs I vowed to never get another HTC phone but I have been pleasantly surprised.