Available in the Windowsthematic colours of red, blue, purple, yellow and black, the HTC Windows Phone 8X, at first glance, seems more like a fashion accessory than a smartphone.
Look and feel
The beauty of the HTC Windows 8Xmobile device lies in the simplicity and practicality of its design. Given that the front of the device consists mostly of screen, the 4.3-inch Super LCD2 display is the most noticeable feature of the phone.
The Windows 8X is not only slimmer and smaller, but is also lighter than the bulky Nokia Lumia 920, which makes it easy to understand why some people prefer the HTC to its "biggest" competitor.
What I didn't like was the sharp edges - but the soft tapering material that covers portions of the front and the entire back helps to make the phone more comfortable to hold in one's hand.
While the front is neat, I found the back to be too plain, with the 8MP camera mounted at the top, the HTC logo in the middle, and the "Beats Audio" logo at the bottom - situated just above the speaker.
The power button is placed in its traditional top-right position, while the micro-SIM slot, volume and camera shutter buttons are neatly situated on the right. The micro-USB port is located at the bottom of the phone.
Camera
The rear-facing 8MP camera takes good photos - despite low lighting conditions. Images are not quite as clear as the Nokia Lumia 920, but better at capturing the true colour of the subject, as the Nokia has the pesky tendency of throwing off the white balance.
I was happy with the HTC's ability to capture fast-moving objects without too much motion blur. The front-facing 2MP, 88^0ultra-wide-angle front camera captures nearly triple the surface area of most other front-facing cameras, making it better than the Samsung SIII, the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Apple iPhone 5 in that regard.
Performance
Powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and with 1GB RAM, the HTC Windows 8X and the Nokia Lumia 920 share very similar performance specs.
The hardware and OS complement each other with very little, if any, glitches experienced when I tested the device; I was very happy with the phone's responsiveness. I must admit, I found the 16GB non-expandable memory disappointing, especially since Nokia offers 32GB on its Lumia 920.
Beats Audio
Fitted with a built-in 'Beats Audio' amplifier, the audio quality on this phone is pretty impressive - capable of emitting crystal-clear audio, even at high volume, without distortion. The sound is rich with perfectly balanced, good bass and vocal clarity. This gives the device the competitive edge with music lovers.
Beats by Dre
Of the few things in this world that look as good as they sound, the Beats by Dre Solo HD headphones top my list.
The review device came with the headphones, which are creatively designed, available in a range of colours, and will suit any music lover's personality.
They say 'don't believe what you hear', but with such perfectly-balanced bass, mids and treble quality sound, even at near ear-bleeding volume without much distortion, it is hard not to believe what you hear.
The headphones are compact and foldable, which made them easy to carry around. The soft padding around the earpiece and the headband ensured great comfort for long periods of use and they worked well in terms of noise cancellation.
I found the HTC 8X and the Beats by Dre headphones complemented each other quite well, although I would settle for earphones as opposed to headphones, particularly if you don't want to walk around with a bulky object on your head.
Special features
Windows 8 OS allows users to integrate all their social media into a 'people' folder, without having to download the actual applications. This saves one the time and effort of having to browse through several applications, as it consolidates all social notifications into one folder.
The phone also allows one to have virtual picture libraries by linking the phone's image library with the user's social networks, like Facebook. Provided there is good signal, available data and sufficient Internet speed, picture viewing is instant.
Battery and memory
Powered by an 1800mAh non-removable battery, the Windows 8X should provide about 11 hours' of talk time - but switching off unused features like 'location' and other background-running applications should make it last longer.
Unfortunately, the storage options disappoint - available in either 8GB or 16GB non-expandable memory, the Nokia Lumia 920 seems to be the more sensible option, as it comes standard with 32GB of storage space.
In a nutshell
The HTC Windows 8X is a cloud-orientated mobile device, giving users the ability to save just about everything in Windows Sky Drive, making their files easily accessible from all their Windows 8devices. The only problem with this is if you find data bundles to be too expensive, you will seldom use the phone to its full potential.
All in all, the HTC Windows 8X is a brilliant smartphone capable of holding its own against the industry heavyweights, especially when it comes to design, usability, responsiveness and build quality. Apart from disappointing battery life, the 8X's biggest drawback is the operating system. Like the Nokia Lumia 920, it suffers from Windows 8 problems; the shortage of applications and the inability to multitask puts these devices at a disadvantage against the Android-based Samsung SIII and the iPhone 5.
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