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HTC One unboxing and freak out [VIDEO]

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Our AT&T HTC One review unit has finally arrived via FedEx and while we work on throwing together a thorough review for HTC’s flagship, you can watch me as I tear into the box and unsheathe the beauty for the very first time. It’s kinda hard to hold in my excitement. Keep in mind this isn’t my first time handling the device (or even the 2nd or 3rd), so I’m already well acquainted with the One. Expect a full review in the coming days.

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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150 Comments

  1. Review by Bobcat Goldthwaite.

  2. I think this is how I would react to holding a HTC One for the first time, ahaha :D

  3. Alu cover and full hd screen can’t beat Nexus 4, dude!

    1. Maybe the fast chip, fast connectivity and great sound will then…
      Seriously, the Nexus 4 is so 2012, and this one is real new tech.

      1. Just to be the devil’s advocate. Nexus 4 doesn’t need a faster chip – it’s already incredibly fast and smooth. It doesn’t need faster connectivity – mine is lightning quick on this front. Better sound with beats, well probably! :-P

        1. Beats doesn’t really mean that much. When will people get that? It’s just a customized equalizer.

          1. Yes, but the dual amps and the decent quality stereo speakers and above average packaged headphones make for a good sounding phone out of the box.

          2. But who the hell is gonna use a damn phone as home entertainment system….. please!!! As far as headphones go, any other top end phone is gonna sound just as good with the right eq setting.

          3. Arguments I’ve heard as phones evolved:
            -who’s gonna use their phone as a camera?
            -who would use their phone to get email?
            -why would you want to put music files on your phone when an mp3 player/ipod is so much better?
            -who would replace their GPS with their phone?
            -web browsing with your phone is useless. no one will use it.
            -using your phone for physical payments is never gonna catch on

            …yeah. i want my phone to do as much as possible, thank you very much.

          4. So very very true.

          5. Thank you. You have no idea how much crap I got from people back when MP3’s were still out and I was using my phone as an MP3.

          6. I already use my phone as a home entertainment system. I connect my phone to my TV via HDMI to play deadspace or some Nintendo connected with a Bluetooth gamepad controller. I also have movies and tv shows on my phone I watch on my tv.

          7. dat dlna support… I rock angry birds on the 55 incher… not gonna lie. Wireless hd… love it.

          8. i have used tons of devices and there is nothing out there that has the user friendly abilities of beats. it’s a toggle in the pull down menu and works for all types of music I listen to. I personally enjoy the sh!t out of my beats audio.
            But to each their own. we still have people that had boom boxes back in the day who actually know what an eq is lol if you are one of them, congrats your childhood was awesome.

      2. lol, that nexus 4, so 4 months ago. Yea, well the HTC still has Sense, and Sense is still crap.

        1. *was
          I’m assuming they’ve gotten better. Although I saw a review done by Phonedog, and some of the little things look like they’ll be pestering. Like to add an app the the home menu looked like it needs more work than necessary.

  4. Awesome unboxing. I particularly liked the “do not discard…” *chuck*

    You do need to look into the focus issues on your video camera though. Very little of that was in focus.

  5. LOL I love love love the pure excitement of the review. Two hours ago I saw mine for the first time and can totally understand how you felt because I was giddy as a little kid at Christmas morning. This is the most beautiful phone I’ve even seen/felt/touched. It’s much thinner than I imagined. Set your lockscreen to the water like ripple feature….

  6. Dammit.. I’m so jelly right now…

  7. What do the headphones look like?

  8. Stickers? WTF! HTC wants people to advertise for them? Sheez!

    1. I get the sentiment,but,people do exactly just that everyday w/their wardrobe,to the point of buying an article of clothing,no matter how hideous,because it has a certain brand-name emblazoned front & center.Basically,paying the company for the pleasure of wearing a billboard.

      I think it’s money well spent,good bang for the buck,even if everyone doesn’t use the stickers.

    2. Apple includes two stickers in every product. There’s quite a few on cars, office windows, etc. Its an approach for developing a fan base while also an inexpensive marketing tactic.

    3. Just received my One this morning, did’nt get these stickers…
      I’m a little bit sad, I ordered the One just for that !

      Useless… Best advertisement for a brand is the quality of its products

  9. Love the reaction hahahahaha

  10. The One is so “thin”? It’s 1.4mm thicker than the S4,…what’s so thin about 9.3mm’s?

    1. Get ONE in your hands and you will know why it’s thin. S4 is like a brick compared to this beauty. In fact, Sammy cannot even stand on the same design field as the HTC One. Not even a fair fight.

    2. the sides taper down to 4mm and it is 9.3mm in the center with a curved back. Because of the shape it feels thinner than the S4.

  11. nerdoragm (with sarcasm:) )

  12. You probably shouldn’t have just posted your IMEI like that for the whole interwebz to see. Just sayin.

  13. I wouldn’t normally thumbs up an unboxing…but this one def has more entertainment value and most. nice work.

    I fully expect to behave similarly on Friday morning. That day can’t come soon enough!!

  14. No SD card option is iPhone lame.

    1. SD card? You need a nipple and some warm milk too?

    2. SD cards are a thing of the past. A lot of these new generation devices will be shipping with 32GB+ of internal storage. That should be MORE than enough space to hold whatever it is that you want on there.

      1. Yea I agree. Hell i’ve seen people on here who whine about 32GB and demand AT LEAST 64GB of storage… I just assume they either have too much music or they still save their porno collections instead of just streaming.

      2. Yea, but 32gb still isn’t enough. SD cards will still be requested feature until they stop shorting people and offer up the 64 and 128 variety.

  15. lol love the excitement, Im with at&t this maybe my next phone or the new Nexus thats coming….I cant wait to watch the full review, all the at&t bloatware is what is scaring me…..but lol love the excitement it is a beautiful phone

  16. Cris can you trying popping in a T-Mobile sim to see if it works on T-Mobile 4G? I’m curious to see if Tmobile and AT&T have the same phone.

    1. They both have AWS for LTE.

      These are the different LTE frequencies the phone has.
      US (AT&T): 700/850/AWS/1900 MHz
      US (TMO): 1700/AWS MHz

  17. Chris, make sure you don’t throw it into your cup holder before you review it.

  18. “P.O.S. Nexus 4” Oh, snap.

  19. I have read the camera isn’t competitive with some older cameras. Any truth to this?

    1. Nevermind, just found a bunch of comparison shots and the One has a terrible camera. The S4 on the other hand looks real nice.

      1. Look at the comparison shots from Anandtech. It depends on what software version you are using, and whether you are using automatic shots or actually choosing a mode for the environment you are in. Like using night shot mode when it’s dark out. Or backlight mode for if the sun is behind you.

      2. most creative trolling

      3. its 4 megapixels what do you expect lol

    2. The most comprehensive review on earth: http://anandtech.com/show/6747/htc-one-review

    3. What I don’t get is why people are downrating his question.. it IS a question people..and a legitimate one.

  20. You’re very excited about the phone, yet you practically drop it hard onto the table when you go for the booklets. Aluminum DENTS lol

    1. Not everyone is as clumsy as you are, but why would you drop it hard onto the table? I mean that’s definitely for Samsung’s cheap plastic body/phone only.

  21. LOL. Speaking of POS of enjoy that sense 5.

    1. Perfect Operating System? Oh he sure will ;)

      1. Do you actually believe that or did you just take advantage of his setup?

        1. well mainly the setup, but I’m quite fond of sense recently. it’s sense, aosp, then touchwiz for me.

          1. Welp, to each their own! I guess you get some clever points too.

  22. “I’ll need this to take out the sim from my &*^*&^ Nexus 4 … ”

    But… but… I wanted to buy the Nexus 4 D:

  23. I pre-ordered mine today, I can’t WAIT to get that beauty/beast in my hands!!!!

  24. this time put a case on it …no likes a whiney kid!!

  25. Damnit I am so torn between this and the S4. I have had the S2 and now the S3 but I am seriously considering the HTC One. It is just so sexy .

    1. HTC is bad about doing updates. Even Samsung learned their lesson and the S2 is now getting JB. In normal use, my guess is that the S4 has a 2600 mAh battery and will outlast the 2100 mAh battery of the One.

      1. Yikes man where did you look up those battery stats? While I agree the S4 should last longer than the One, the S4 has a 2600mah battery and the One has a 2300mah battery

        1. its not all about the size of the battery. The S4 has a bigger screen and the processor is clocked higher so id expect the battery life stats to be closer than you might expect. Still think the S4 will have better battery though, not not by that much

          1. Exactly…..someone just do paper shopping

      2. Your wrong they both last about the same amount of time though the one has the smaller 2300 mAh battery compared to the s4 2600 mAh battery

      3. I was in the same boat as you, but let’s remember Samsung just started updating their phones with the S3 and have been working backwards and I give them tons of credit, but, HTC seems serious about the One and changing things, they have only 1 maybe 2 more chances left and this will be their one chance with me, no pun intended. If they don’t update this phone in a timely manner, then I doubt I would give them another chance. Since the barely updated my Hero and OG Evo I went to Samsung even though the root support on the Evo was great.

        1. Yea, i’m past giving them a chance. With their severely lacking budget this will the same story as every other HTC phone. Maybe 1 update 6 – 8 months later than everyone else and then the device will be at the end of life.

      4. oh wow, you can read…..impressive

    2. Go for the HTC one!
      …unless you prefer holding a piece of glassware

  26. Nexus 4 “Junk”? Wow.

    1. well beside the stock android experience, the camera, the durability, the material quality, the speaker, the internal memory, no LTE, all of them are what sux about the nexus 4. so junk is not a surprised to me.

    2. not quite, but close

  27. Now I call this an unprofessional piece of crap even when it comes to unboxing.

    Phone >> Beautiful
    Carrier >> Not bad
    HTC >> Worthless

    1. I would say HTC > ATT

  28. LMFAO!!! this would be my same reaction!! except I wouldnt drop it so hard on a table…. AAHH!!!! I want mine!!

  29. very entertaining :P

  30. So it looks beautiful but with a curved back, I’m wondering if you’re stuck with full-back cases which essentially cover its design; I’m not sure how a bumper would work for the HTC One.

  31. Chris, you should stop holding back your excitement! lol

  32. Yeah blame the nexus 4 for your butterfingers. Instead of handling a $350 piece of technology like a child’s toy, maybe you should wash the residual hair gel off your fingers so they’re not so slick…

  33. stay classy Chris…

  34. I thought the freak out was going to be an AT&T logo slapped on the back. Lucky.

  35. Everybody is making comments about the thickness and weight of the One & S4, so let’s stick to actual numbers.

    HTC One: 143 grams
    S4: 130 grams

    HTC One: 9.3mm’s
    S4: 7.9mm’s

    Facts people, you can’t debate numbers.

    And about wanting 64GB’s,…essentially snartphones are evolving to replace laptops. What would you think about a laptop that had a 64GB harddrive?

    Remember now, microsd-xc technology caps out at a whopping 2TB’s. As smartphones continue to evolve, and advance, they’ll have capabilities that today’s smartphones don’t have, and therefore will need more memory.

    1. The HTC one has a curved back though, remember that, and the phone is between 4mm and 9.3mm thick depending on what part you are at. Also, 13 grams isn’t a whole lot. Both of these phones are far lighter than my Nexus One, and it’s quite comfortable to hold in my hand for long periods of time, so I’m not quite sure how anyone can complain about anything lighter than that.

    2. Smartphones are nowhere near replacing laptops. That lofty goal is reserved for tablets.

  36. It comes with stickers, didn’t know that, I’m revisiting my htc one box lol

  37. Stop it with the “Nexus 4 is a piece of crap” stuff. Statements like this aren’t very professional. I understand you are excited about your new phone. It is a gorgeous phone. Before you start knocking the Nexus 4, remember you are going to be whining 6 months from now about what a crappy phone the HTC One is because it doesn’t have Key Lime Pie.

    The fault with your broken phone is your own fault. You should have put your phone in the car dock before you started to drive. You were driving while you dropped your phone. I also think you are exaggerating about it being a two inch fall. If you were driving, you should have been looking at the road not fumbling around putting your phone in a dock. My big question was why was your phone even in your hand while you were driving. Were you texting or driving distracted? From the looks of it, the problem may have been that the impact was right at the camera lens. I imagine this is a weak spot in the glass.

    1. someone call the whaaaambulance!!!!!

    2. Dean – Please attempt to see the irony in the video. Him disregarding the Nexus 4 so easily is funny because – Of course the Nexus 4 is not junk..and of course its a great product. Hes being ironic.

      1. I don’t believe he is. He was whining earlier in the week about dropping his Nexus 4 while he was driving and the glass on the back broke.

        Normally, I find him one of the better contributors on this site. I also understand his disappointment in breaking the glass on the back of his Nexus 4. I just think he is just over reacting on this in issue.

        1. You must have a thing with the nexus 4 to react so aggravated over a simple statement, lmao.

    3. Chris is just being himself. Let him be. There’s hundreds of “professional” reviews out in the wild already and I’ve seen them all. But I came here to watch his own, not theirs.

    4. truth hurts

    5. Dean Politis, you are the best.

  38. Wanna sell me that “shitty” Nexus 4?

  39. Oh brother all you guys crying about the whole nexus 4 incident. SHUT THE FU** UP!!! Quit worrying about what happened to HIS phone and about HIS opinion that he has towards it. There is not a wrong or right answer to an opinion. He can think it is a piece of sh*t all he wants and it shouldn’t be a problem. Its funny cuz most of you keep saying how whiny he is, when actually most of you are the whiny cry babies. And guess what!? I don’t even have a N4 and I can tell you my opinion about how I think pure stock android is lame and sucks. Senses’ UI and Touchwiz over pure stock is WAY BETTER!!! Uh oh! Is there gonna be a bunch of babies crying now that I’ve shared my opinion?? Back off of Chris! He just stated his opinion about the phone and its up to HIM and HIS choice whether he wants to buy another N4 or not. Sheesh so much trolling around this site its unbelievable…….idiots

    1. God damn. Some common sense on the Internet? What’s next, hover boards?

      Thank you!

    2. There *IS* a difference between stating ones opinion in a mature, professional manner and bitching about it.

  40. I used the phone today at my local at&t store. This phone is definitely amazing. The only concern I do have is that the phone got really hot after using it for about 10 minutes. I have a one x + which also does the same thing. The One X+ gets to the point where it stops charging I also had a One x that did that, so not sure if I will get this phone. I will wait and see if anyone is having this issue once the phone comes out. It does feel good in the had and the screen is great.

  41. your voice couldnt be any more annoying.

  42. @Chris Let me just say I hate you! I am not even going to be slugs to get one :'( stuck with my gs3 boo!

  43. is cm10.1 available for this phone?

  44. Haha I said slugs instead of able gotta love swype?

  45. i love that ending AAAAHHHHHH -ends-

  46. Nobody wants your opinion on any phone after viewing the poll results on how many N4’s have cracked screens.

  47. (WWW.buydropstop.com — ya friggen baby)

  48. I am so going to be like that on Friday at Best Buy, lol. Also, did I hear music playing in the background from a 3DS or Wii U. LOL

  49. Apple take note this is how you build a phone without dings, scratches, dents, paint missing and scuffs out of box from China! Shame on you Apple!

  50. Can you post some pictures of the ear buds please? The ones that came with the one x were very nice and I hope the new ones are just as good or better.

  51. @ Marco Simone: Shame on YOU for supporting the cult phone!!!

  52. made out with her? i was almost 100% positive you where gay

  53. You should give me your Nexus 4 :)

  54. Chris you’re truly entertaining! I especially love the last second dig at the Nexus 4 before the video ends!

  55. U crazyyyy

  56. I don’t give a damn how snazzy the hardware is or how comfortable it is to hold; the vendor bloatware (esp Blinkfeed) renders it irrelevant for many of us.

    1. something you can turn off makes the phone irrelevant?

      1. You can’t turn it off. You can only move it to the side screen.

        1. True that it can’t be completely turned off, it can be managed and has little battery impact. See review: http://anandtech.com/show/6747/htc-one-review

      2. You can’t turn sense off, its always there, lagging up the phone. After spending over a year on a Sense device, i dont care what they do i’m not going back.

      3. Unless they patched it, you can’t turn it off.

  57. Really wish this would come to Verizon. Might trade my note 2 for it. Not that I don’t absolutely love my note, but i might like the One a little more.

    1. The best part is that his phone fell a few feet onto cement.

      Mine was 2-inches into a cupholder.

      1. Exactly. And the “super fragile pos eggshell” back didn’t even break, just the front. Face it, you were not being careful, dropped your phone and had an unlucky impact.
        Oh, and everyone knows you are totally exaggerating about the “2 inches”.

  58. I love the way it’s just flopped on the table, so it no wonder the Nexus 4 has a crack. I imagine when the HTC One is broken and something newer is coming out, how this will be his latest piece of crap.

    1. one isn’t made of entire plastic like nexus 4…but yeah….that’s possible.

  59. Bobcat – misunderstood genius…

  60. Um where is mine? I preorders right away, already have a few screen protectors now just waiting on my case! Well and phone!

  61. haha wow way more entertainment value than expected. so great!

  62. Awesome phone can’t wait to get mine.

  63. OMFG…Chris you STOOPID…..HAHAHAHA

    Made out with the FedEx Lady….FAINTS!!!!

  64. Interesting. When the Apple makes it, you criticize everything about it from scratching aluminum and glass.

    Yet when HTC introduces their iPhone clone, you guys are wetting yourselves. Apparently, hypocrisy is beyond your comprehension.

    1. This phone kills the iPhone in every aspect, actually this is what the iPhone 5 should have been.

    2. How is this a clone? Oh yeah all rectangles are a clone of iPhone, I forgot.

    3. I like how Apple switched from glass to metal for the back of the phone. I think everyone on here would agree that the iPhone is a good looking device, but phones with glass backs (iP4/s, Nexus 4) are a dumb idea and almost always break, and aluminum phones are great…..sheep

  65. anyone wanna buy me one?

  66. I think I’m in love with Chris.

  67. Your annoying. Nexus 4 is a great device you just suck at taking care of your phone. You’ll be crying when your one doesn’t get key lime pie.

    1. That, or I’ll just pick up the Nexus 5 when it comes out. O_o

  68. Integrated battery = instant deal killer.
    Plus it has a small screen (Note II user here) and a metal body (which I hate the feel of).
    All in all, a useless POS.

    1. blah blah blah….

      1. and here is the kind of intelligent answers we can expect from morons who like crap like the One… LOL

        1. Like your og statement was so profound. Everything you said is your subjective opinion of preference. If you have to have a removable battery, your prerogative, can’t remember the last time I had to remove mine but, whatever. Screen size, again subjective, personally I don’t want some stranger reading my business over my shoulder or across the room. And now the new rumor is the Note3 may be aluminum. Not sure why you have to say this phone is a POS, fortunately there’s phones for everybody’s liking, even a douche like you.

          1. The ONLY subjective bit in my OG post was that I hate the feel of metal on mobile devices.

            Integrated batteries are a LIMITATION, not a feature. If your needs and wants are LIMITED then POS like this one might very well be fine for you. My POV is that of a POWERUSER.

            More or less the same goes for screen sizes.

            As for the rumors about an aluminum Note III, well, that’s why I can’t stand the guts of the average DUMB user and of companies like Apple. They are taking the market and the industry down all the wrong paths.

          2. Why don’t you take out that Note II and look up subjective. You recognized three factual aspects of the phone and offered your subjective opinion of them and then tied it up nicely with an overall subjective opinion of the phone. All opinion is subjective you DUMB a**, mine and yours.

            All batteries are a limitation, them being removable is a feature that obviously you employ b/c you use up all the resources that the battery holds. Lots of people use a car charger and/or a usb cable at work, so be it.

          3. You are mixing up subjective *opinions* on “neutral” objective facts and subjective *needs* which may impact or not on objective *negative* limitations of that POS that the One is.

  69. Too much coffee or is it just way too exciting or a little of both hehe

  70. I’m going to guess that your voice isn’t usually that high lol

  71. One week later Chris drops his HTC One face first into the same spot in his car and the glass breaks… “PIECE OF $I#UJP(U@#IHJT(*@H#$T(*H@#”. See you next week Chris.

  72. You won’t be screaming for joy when you realize that beautiful built aluminum phone has serious radio issues due to the aluminum housing interfering with the radio frequency or when you drop it and it dents and scratches. That is why I prefer the polycarbonate built phones ala Samsung. Example:: The iphone 5, it’s a mess out of the box with scratches, nicks and little dents, after just one week without a case it looks like it’s over a year old. Nope, I’ll take my plastic built phone with great signals and after two years my phone still looks like the day I bought it. Thank You Samsung.

  73. OH MY GOSH!! Bumper Stickers!! I’m bought.

  74. “sticker…says do not discard” -throws away-

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