HTC One Mini Review!!!

On paper, the naming of the HTC One mini makes perfect sense. The mini is a mid-to-high-end aluminum-clad smartphone with a 4.3-inch display, designed for those who want a premium device without the massive size that’s often associated with its bigger and faster brother, as well as other Android 'superphones'.

HTC One mini - $480 (unlocked)

• 4.3", 1280 x 720 IPS LCD display (341 ppi)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC
• 1.4 GHz dual-core CPU, Adreno 305 GPU
• 1 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage
• 4 MP “UltraPixel” camera, 1/3” sensor, f/2.0 lens, 1080p video
• BoomSound, Zoe, BlinkFeed
• 1,800 mAh, 6.9 Wh battery
• LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
• Android 4.2 ‘Jelly Bean’
• 122 grams, 9.25mm thick

Of course, there are some tradeoffs that also help bring the price down. Although the One mini includes an Ultrapixel camera, it doesn’t have optical image stabilization; and despite the body mostly being formed from aluminum, some plastic has crept into the design. For the more technically minded, HTC has also dropped down the SoC from a Snapdragon 600 to a Snapdragon 400, which naturally will affect its performance.

But will HTC’s tradeoffs have too much of an effect on the overall product, keeping it from being a great 4.3-inch device? Or will the price be just right for what you’re getting out of the box?

Design

Fitting right into the One line-up, the HTC One mini is styled in a similar fashion to the HTC One. The back panel is a curved piece of zero-gap aluminum, while the front sees aluminum covering the speakers. The display is protected by the usual Gorilla Glass, with the only main difference between the One and One mini – apart from the size - being the material used around the edges.

Instead of the front and back of the handset coming together as one zero-gap unit, with plastic injected around the edges, the One mini has a less refined look. HTC has ditched the injected polycarbonate for a Samsung-like gloss edge that appears to be a barrier around the phone, rather than part of a unified design. While it doesn’t look as classy as the HTC One, the white plastic surrounds match the device’s other highlights, and it’s still quite functional.

A change in edge material also brings a change in buttons. Again, the design feels less refined with the separated metallic volume buttons and the metallic power button on top, but the positioning is still good, especially for a device of this size. On the bottom the microUSB port is found, still upside-down for some bizarre reason, and the top sees the 3.5mm headphone jack.

At 9.25mm thick, the mini isn’t the slimmest phone going around, but the natural curvature of the design hides a lot of this thickness. Generally speaking the phone feels great to hold, especially due to the aluminum and glass that makes up the majority of the build. It may be a smaller and more affordable phone, but HTC hasn’t skimped on incorporating a premium design, even if they did modify the plastic used in some sections.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the HTC One mini is that it’s actually not all that mini. It’s 5mm shorter and skinnier than the HTC One, and the 4.3-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, paired with BoomSound, keeps the device rather tall. The mini is considerably (9mm) taller than the iPhone 5s with its 4-inch screen, and even compared to a range of other 4.3-inch devices like the Galaxy S II, the One mini is simply a larger device.

I know a lot of people claim 4.3-inches (or smaller) is the perfect size for a smartphone, and the One mini is certainly a very nice size, but for a small footprint increase you can snag yourself a 4.7-inch (or larger) display. I might understand the necessity for people to opt for the One mini if it was closer in size to an iPhone, but it isn’t. In my mind, this puts the size – and in some respects the whole point – of the One mini into question, as the phone doesn’t quite live up to its name. But for some, the 5mm size reduction may be perfect.

Display

HTC has included relatively high quality displays in most of their smartphones of late, and the One mini is no exception. The handset includes a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, giving it a pixel density of 341 ppi. Super LCD displays are an IPS TFT variant used exclusively in HTC devices, although companies such as Sony and Sharp are often responsible for their production.

IPS technology allows these displays to produce a picture with better quality than you can get with a TN panel, while also delivering better contrast, viewing angles and ease of use outdoors. Super LCD displays, especially the Super LCD 2 and 3, are some of the better displays I’ve used: the HTC One features a Super LCD 3 display, and it’s a spectacular, crisp panel to use, perhaps even the best I’ve seen. With the One mini’s panel being smaller, less pixel dense, and using technology that’s a year old, it’s not quite up to the standard of the HTC One, but it’s still very good for its class.

The One mini’s display, packing a 720p resolution into an area of 51 sq. cm, still features a density above 300 ppi, so individual pixels will be hard to spot unless the display is a few centimeters from your face. Photos and videos look very crisp on the panel, and text is considerably sharper than HTC’s last generation of devices at this size. I’ve been spoiled by using a range of 1080p displays recently on flagship smartphones, which are naturally a step above this display in terms of quality, but even directly up against these devices, the One mini’s screen looks great.

One reason it looks so great is due to the color reproduction, which in typical Super LCD fashion, is true to life but also vibrant. HTC has tuned this panel to perfection, delivering ideal white balance and deep blacks for a strong contrast ratio. Like many other IPS LCD’s, the color gamut is wide, and the viewing angles are very good, making it extremely easy to see the display from all angles without significant color distortion.

The area I continue to be impressed by Super LCD displays is in their ability to be very readable outdoors, due to a combination of filter layers and minimal gaps between the display crystals and the Gorilla Glass. When trying to use the HTC One mini at full brightness in direct sunlight, aside from the small portion of the display that is reflecting the sun, the rest of the panel is quite readable.

The display on the HTC One mini is one of the phone’s best features. Even though it’s smaller than a lot of the current high-end Android handsets, HTC hasn’t skimped on quality, which won’t leave anyone disappointed.

Performance

Keeping with the theme of a mid-to-high end phone, the HTC One mini features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8930AA SoC. The SoC is Qualcomm’s mid-range offering, packing a 1.4 GHz dual-core Krait 300 CPU, Adreno 305 GPU, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and HSPA/LTE radios. 1 GB of LPDDR2 RAM is also included, alongside 16 GB of internal storage without a microSD card slot.

CPU performance around the operating system is very good – lag free like you would expect from modern day Android phones – although it’s not as speedy as systems powered by high-end chips such as Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 600 or Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa. The One mini is a capable multi-tasker, switching apps very quickly, but not instantly. HTC’s UI appears to have no adverse effect on system performance, despite it being a relatively heavy skin, which is fantastic.

Web browsing performance is acceptable, but the inclusion of only two cores in the SoC does have an impact on performance in some situations. Responsive mobile websites are fairly speedy, although when you dive in to some code-heavy desktop websites, or when you’re using multiple tabs, expect the phone to experience slight slowdowns.

I tried a range of the latest games on the HTC One mini, and the Adreno 305 is a capable graphics chip, suited to a large range of games. I’ve had the most experience with this GPU in mid-to-low range Windows Phones (which use the Snapdragon S4 MSM8227), where it’s more than capable of rendering to WVGA displays. With that said, the One mini features a 720p display, so the GPU has to render 140% more pixels, which understandably causes a performance hit.

The performance hit is only really noticeable in intensive 3D titles, such as Modern Combat 4 and Grand Theft Auto III. Where those two titles run at around 60 frames per second on Qualcomm’s higher-end Snapdragon chips (and a large portion of last-generation’s Snapdragon S4 chips), I did experience lag on the One mini. The aforementioned games are playable, but occasional stuttering can inhibit gameplay from time to time. If you just plan on using your smartphone for Angry Birds, Candy Crush and Temple Run, the Adreno 305 will give you no issues.

The HTC One mini is available in two models, one with and one without LTE. Even if you only have access to the HSPA model, I found no issues with the wireless performance of the device, even in low signal areas. Aside from cellular radios, the One mini also features dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and A-GPS, although there’s no NFC. A lack of NFC isn’t a huge issue when the range of uses for the feature is limited, and it’s likely HTC removed it for cost reasons.

Without a microSD card slot, the HTC One mini is capped at 16 GB of internal storage, with around 12 GB of that accessible to the user. While this is an acceptable mount of storage for those who want to install a few apps and perhaps chuck a few songs on their device, it’s not really enough to use the One mini as a portable media player. I’ve seen unibody designs that include a microSD card slot (the Nokia Lumia 720 is one example), so I know it’s possible to have expandable storage with designs like the HTC One mini, but I’m disappointed HTC opted for a fixed storage solution for this device.

However, one aspect of the HTC One and One mini that continues to impress is BoomSound and Beats Audio. BoomSound is HTC’s marketing term for the dual front-facing speakers powered by a dedicated amplifier, and the results are amazing. The set of speakers used on the One/One mini are easily the best I’ve heard on a smartphone, providing loud audio with reasonable quality, and the inclusion of two speakers in a stereo setup helps while gaming and watching videos.

I still maintain that Beats Audio enhancement is the only software-side audio enhancer that actually makes music sound better through headphones. Beats provides an extra level of clarity and slight bass boosting that simply makes audio sound better than when the feature is disabled. Thanks to the feature, there is no doubting that you’ll enjoy the HTC One mini as a music/audio player.

In terms of the phone’s battery, we’re seeing a reduction in capacity from 8.8 Wh in the HTC One to 6.9 Wh, however the smaller display and more power efficient SoC should keep the battery life roughly the same. In my usage I found the battery life to be adequate for a day’s usage, tending towards being a little bit short if you’re using the device a reasonable amount. CPU intensive tasks and a lot of browsing on LTE networks can drain the battery quite quickly, as you would expect, so you might have to moderate your usage to prevent the phone dying prematurely.

The capabilities of the Snapdragon 400 remind me of the last generation of dual-core phones; that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it keeps this phone from cementing itself as a perfect smaller-sized Android device. At the price that HTC is selling this handset ($500), I would have liked to see higher end parts such as the Snapdragon 600 on-board, with HTC marketing the device as a smaller, but equally powerful alternative to the HTC One. This may have cannibalized One sales, but it would have really established the handset as a 4.3-inch winner.

Camera: Unstabilized Ultrapixels

The HTC One mini features a camera that’s largely the same as the HTC One’s: it uses HTC’s ‘Ultrapixel’ sensor – a four megapixel 1/3” backside illuminated unit with 2.0 µm pixels – and a 28mm f/2.0 lens. I say “largely” the same because one key aspect of the HTC One’s camera, optical image stabilization (OIS), has been inexplicably removed. The large pixels and wide aperture will still facilitate low-light photography, but no OIS is sure to have an effect.

The One mini is capable of 1080p video recording, HDR video recording, 1.6 megapixel front-facing photos, and there’s also an LED flash. Zoe mode is also seen in the mini, which I had first experience with in the HTC One. Marketed as being a hugely important part of the One series’ feature set, Zoe allows you to take a four second full-resolution burst shot (with audio) of any scene, capturing one second before and three seconds after the capture button is pressed. The idea is that a Zoe shot is more than just a photo, enabling interesting editing features such as erasing unwanted objects in a scene, and creating action shots.

While Zoe mode is undoubtedly cool, each capture takes up a significant amount of space; you can capture 25 times more standard still images than you can Zoes. Each capture also takes four seconds, which is not ideal for that quick snap, so it’s likely you’ll keep the camera set to capture standard images.

Quality from the HTC One mini’s camera is, in most respects, identical to the HTC One. This means photos are spectacular in strong lighting, but merely average in cloudy or indoor situations. The One mini also suffers from the same preview issue that the One has, where images appear to look significantly better in the preview than they actually turn out when taken.

When you’re not taking photos in direct sunlight, the HTC One mini appears to wash out the colors and alter the white balance in post processing. Combined with some odd choices in ISO settings and shutter speed, photos in these conditions can look mediocre, which is unusual considering the capabilities of the sensor. All issues appear to be on the software side, so theoretically HTC could fix the strange processing with a software update, but knowing HTC’s history of software fixes, it seems unlikely to occur.

The good news is that the crispness and clarity of the HTC One mini’s camera is very good, with little loss of detail when looking at a 100% crop. The bad news is that the camera only produces four megapixel photos, which in a world of 13 megapixel (or greater) flagship cameras, is rather lackluster. Like HTC says, the photos are high enough quality for sharing on social media, but there isn’t a lot of room for cropping or digital zooming. If you’re looking for more versatility and quality in terms of resolution, perhaps the HTC One mini doesn’t have the phone camera you’re looking for.

The lack of OIS really has an effect on low-light photography. Even though the sensor takes in a lot of light, thanks to a combination of an f/2.0 lens and 2.0 micron pixels, the camera tends to use a lengthy shutter speed in dark conditions. This means photos in low light conditions are often blurred, as there is no OIS to compensate for slight shakes. Where photos produced from the HTC One would be noisy, but sharp, the One mini often produces blurry images.

That said, if you can get a photo that isn’t blurred, the low light capabilities are reasonably impressive thanks to the large pixel size. It’s not quite of the quality that you can get from Nokia’s Lumia 925, but it’s better than other phones at this size and price point.

The camera included in the One mini is just a few steps away from being great. If HTC hadn’t removed optical image stabilization, and if the software was tweaked slightly to improve indoor photography, this handset would have a very capable camera. However what I’m actually left with is a camera that takes great shots only some of the time, and despite the strong camera feature set, this leaves me feeling a little disappointed.

Software, Final Thoughts

The HTC One mini has a software suite that’s identical to the HTC One. This means you’ll see Android 4.2.2 loaded out of the box, along with HTC Sense 5.0 and any carrier-specific applications. Some applications that were included on the HTC One, such as the TV app, haven’t been included as the hardware isn’t there to support it, but largely the experience is identical.

Many aspects of Sense 5.0 have been refined from the previous versions seen last year, including a design that fits better with the current Android UI, and speed improvements throughout the OS. While the UI has been tweaked, the skin is still ‘heavy’ in the sense that nearly every included app (bar Google’s) has been skinned. This sort of skinning irritates me, because a lot of the time the skin adds no new features, or the design changes actually make the app harder to use.

Luckily HTC’s Sense skin isn’t as intrusive as Samsung’s TouchWiz, or LG’s UI on the G2, and the keyboard is one of the best custom keyboards I’ve seen on an Android phone. The notification pane and lockscreen are basic with a few additional features, and HTC has refrained from including any gimmicky features such as eye scrolling and touchscreen hovering.

BlinkFeed is perhaps the biggest addition to HTC’s software offering, and its inclusion has divided many people I’ve talked to. The news and social aggregator sits permanently affixed to the first homescreen, delivering a stream of updates alongside the time and current weather. BlinkFeed is extremely customizable, allowing you to select which news categories you’d like to hear from, including technology news, politics and entertainment. You can also include Facebook and Twitter updates, photos from Instagram and Flicker, plus apps included on the phone.

Personally I like BlinkFeed, as it gives me a quick overview of the day’s news from the categories that I like to read. When I’m on public transport it’s a great way to pass some time by reading updates, and the content that’s aggregated is usually of high quality. Although BlinkFeed can’t actually be disabled, anyone who doesn’t want to use it can select a different homescreen as the default one, which will deliver you apps and widgets first and foremost.

Another area of the One mini’s software that HTC has spent a lot of time on is the gallery. There is a standard Album mode where you can view individual photos, but more interestingly there is an Events mode. Here, photos are organized by day, and a video slideshow is rendered in real-time for each set of photos for a quick 30 second snapshot of what happened. It’s not the best mode for viewing individual photos, but if you’ve been on holiday for example, this mode will compile a quick slideshow you can share with friends or family.

The One mini’s software is acceptable as far as Android skins go, and there’s some interesting features that may enhance how you use the phone. However it’s also easy to overlook what HTC has included, meaning for better or worse you’ll be left with a simple, comprehensive skinning of Android ‘Jelly Bean’.

Final Thoughts

The HTC One mini is an interesting proposition. For $600, you can grab an unlocked HTC One, and for $500, you can get a HTC One mini, so by opting for a 4.3-inch display, you’re saving yourself $100. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as going for a smaller display: you’re also getting a SoC downgrade from a Snapdragon 600 to Snapdragon 400, with less RAM, less storage and less connectivity features; plus a camera that lacks stabilization, and a smaller battery.

Without considering other phones on the market, the HTC One mini is a very solid device for its class. The 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 display is very high quality, the build quality is top-notch despite not reducing the size of the phone significantly, and the Snapdragon 400 provides enough performance for everyday use. HTC’s Ultrapixel camera is still somewhat a disappointment, but software tweaks could improve it in the future.

The problem I have with the One mini is that through spending an extra $100 to buy the full-sized HTC One, you’re getting a range of improvements across the board which are more than worth the extra cost. The HTC One is also only 5mm wider and taller, making the mini not that much smaller, so unless you’re extremely attached to the idea of a 4.3-inch display, the mini isn’t the HTC device that should be on your radar.

Pros: Aluminum design is solid and premium, complemented by fantastic Super LCD 2 display. Decent (but not high-end) performance from the Snapdragon 400.

Cons: As neither a premium nor cheap 4.3-inch device, the HTC One presents better value for money. The "Ultrapixel" camera is still disappointing, more so without OIS.