One of the cooler things we've seen this week at Mobile World Congress was HTC's video of how the HTC One S gets its microarc oxidation (MAO) coating, basically turning aircraft-grade aluminum into a ceramic coating. It feels great, and HTC's video of the baking process is akin to frying metal in a microwave -- it's quite impressive.
But what about the other HTC One S?
As it turns out, there's a second version of the No. 2 phone in HTC's 2012 lineup. The internals are the same, but it's traded in the deep black MAO finish for a more traditional metallic paint job. HTC calls it a "gradient paint color sheet," and it's got a decidedly more traditional feel. It's not bad, just different, with more of a smooth finish. The silver color is straight out of the old-school HTC playbook as well, and we'd be more than welcome to find a place in our pockets for either one of these phones.
We've got loads more pictures of the other HTC One S after the break.
Reader comments
Hands-on with the *other* HTC One S
Ive been curious...how do you access a non-ICS apps menu without a menu button?
You complain on their app page and wait til they fix it
Kind of sucks on apps like the google news and weather app. Complaining to Google is worthless. That app comes preinstalled on my Transformer Prime and I cannot do anything in it.
doesn't a menu button appear on the bottom near the home back etc on tablets? it did on honeycomb on apps that weren't honeycomb friendly, i cant imagine them removing that feature
The problem is that the phone doesn't have onscreen buttons.
That's correct, same with the GNex. However, this doesn't have software buttons, so they can't do that (unless they have a menu button that is well hidden when not needed/lit.)
I can see them manually adding a long press 'Recents' button or something. Like Samsung did for search/menu button.
I've tried Sense 4.0 ( HTC ONE X leak rom ) on my Sensation! There is a software menu button that appears in every app in the right top corner of the screen!
Speaking of the phone for a minute...
It evokes loving memories on the Nexus One just looking at it. Nice if it has mild Sense skinning without being too intrusive. But that's a fantasy.
Not digging that blue camera. Not sure where I would have gone with it, but blue isn't it.
Love this phone...I want it so badly
Battery is too small and there is no expandable memory. The phones are loosing IMO the most important details. Not being picky at all but I could design a better phone then these guys and that is the truth. They obviously don't know what the buyer wants. If someone says it comes with dropbox one more time I will puke.
I seriously believe that the non SD card is to Ward off modders such as myself they don't want us to root / mod there becoming apple in this reguard I'm starting to loose faith and wtf super LCD really?? smiled AMOLED DAMNIT
The ONE S has a super amoled display! The ONE X has a 720p ( non pentile ) S LCD2 (IPS) display that looks better than the super amoled of the galaxy nexus ( yes it is possible!!! ). Paul O brian ( at Modaco ) used the ONE X and said that the screen is georgous (much better than his GNEX)! You can see it by your self in the hands on videos!
WE WANT FUCKING DEVELOPER STYLE PHONES I WANT PURE STOCK. NONE OF THAT SECURITY PATCH NON ROOTING BS AMOLED AND A HUGE BATTERY WHATS NOT HARD TO UNDERSTAND?? SENSE SUCKS SOMETIMES I LIKE ADW LAUNCHER AND cm7 waiting on 9
What.... Did htc not get the picture. We want big freaking batteries so a charge can last us more than a day. Again they put a crappy 1600 battery on such a nice device. To bad it would not last long through a day.. Thumb down