HTC One X+, One VX Coming to AT&T

HTC's one x is a popular Android smartphone, but it's been eclipsed a bit by the spectacular success of Samsung's competing Galaxy slll. So to boost the company's elegant designs back into prominence, HTC and AT&T today announced the One X+ and One VX, high-end and midrange phones for the holidays.

The One X+, an AT&T exclusive, will ship with Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" at launch, making it one of very few Jelly Bean-powered phones on the market. It will also be the first LTE phone in the U.S. to use a non-Qualcomm processor; it has an Nvidia Tegra 3 running at 1.7GHz paired with a Qualcomm modem, meaning it'll be able to access the exclusive Tegra Zone game library.

A traditional slab-style smartphone clad in black polycarbonate plastic, the One X+ packs in an impressive 64GB of storage (but no memory card slot), along with some more unusual features like NFC, apt-X high-quality wireless audio, and an FM radio into its 4.55-ounce body. This isn't a huge change for the much-admired One X, which earned 4.5 stars and an Editors' Choice when we reviewed it back in May.

The phone also runs HTC Sense 4+, a new version of HTC's Android skin. Sense 4+ includes auto-pairing with some Beats-enabled wireless speakers and various new camera modes, including improved face detection.

The One VX, meanwhile, takes the One X design downscale to compete with lower-cost smartphones like the highly rated Pantech Flex and iPhone 4.

The One VX features a 4.5-inch, 960-by-540 screen and a 5-megapixel camera in a design that's similar to the One X's, but presumably at a lower price. It runs Android 4.0 on a 1.2-GHz, dual-core Qualcomm S4 processor, and has 8GB of internal storage plus a memory card slot. Slightly more exotic features include NFC and support for apt-X high-quality Bluetooth audio. The One VX won't have Jelly Bean at launch, but an upgrade is coming, said Mike Woodward, president of North America for HTC.

Once a leader in both Windows Mobile and Android devices, HTC has watched its star fade over the past few years as Samsung's has risen. This year, the company decided to refocus on fewer, more iconic products, and has reaped rewards as phones like the global One X have sold well.

The One X has "sold twice as much as any other HTC product launched in the past," Woodward said. "We're seeing good consumer brand recognition with the One family and the One X in particular."

But HTC's single-brand approach hasn't fully taken hold in the U.S., where Verizon and Sprint have insisted that HTC phones on their carriers take on carrier-related brand names such as Evo and Droid Incredible. Woodward isn't fazed by that, though, as long as the phones sell.

"If you look at Evo it's also been a franchise brand that's been successful for us," he said. "And the Droid Incredible 4G LTE has enjoyed good support from Verizon."

AT&T and HTC didn't announce prices or a sale date for the new phones, except to say that they're arriving "in the coming months."

source:www.pcmag.com