By 
It’s no secret by now that HTC’s decision to exclude a microSD card slot from its latest flagship phones is mostly unpopular with the masses. The company has received a lot of flack regarding the omission of the feature in the HTC One by users and reviewers. To make matters even worse, HTC’s Chinese variant of the HTC One does, in fact, include a microSD card slot.
Initially, we assumed this was because that variant had a few tenths of a millimeter of extra girth on the other models thanks to the dual-SIM capabilities, though HTC wasn’t keen on commenting about the difference… until now. According to HTC:
Because the Chinese version of the One is designed specifically for the smaller Chinese radio bands, we do have additional space inside the device we were able to use for the microSD slot. That space isn’t available to us in the global version.
It’s an interesting excuse to make when the dual-SIM slots make a lot more sense. This only makes us even more suspicious of HTC’s true reasoning. If the Chinese variant has “smaller” radios then why does it need even more depth than the European and American models?
And considering there are phones on the market much thinner than the HTC One which still include microSD card slots, we’re just not buying this excuse (or at least not taking it at 100% face value). Let’s not even mention the fact that some of HTC’s 2012 phones, which were a decent amount thicker than the HTC One, didn’t have microSD card slots, as well.
Are you calling HTC’s bluff on this excuse, or do you genuinely think the construction of the HTC One kept them from finding a way to shove a tiny microSD card slot somewhere inside? Either way, it hasn’t stopped HTC from being able to sell close to 5 million HTC One units to date, so I guess it isn’t all that bad for them either way.
[via TechRadar]
Does the HTC ONE American variant have a micro sim or regular sim? Tbh, Idk if theyre bluffing or being honest. Only way to find out is to watch a teardown video and see. Either way its too late. Hopefully their next flagship has an sdcard slot and removable battery.
I don’t see why they’re not using nanosims at this point. You can’t really blame Apple for going that route, it makes sense.
I think it’s so when they make an update to it they can add an sd slot, HTC One.2 or something like that
ive finallt gotten use to no sd slot
id stil prefer it but ive had
one s ,nexus4 ,now the one …none had sd
It’s definitely a lot easier with 32GB of storage. At least HTC One users don’t have to put up with having 16GB, almost half of which is inaccessible by the user (coughsamsungcough)
Interesting to hear your knock on Samsung Quentyn yet see your support of the Nexus 4. I believe our beloved Google sold an 8gb nexus 4, yet somehow that was acceptable?
At $299, unlocked, with no bloat, superior build quality, and timely upgrades?
Yes. That was acceptable.
available storage has nothing to do with anything you mentioned.. you’re blinded by your love of pure android. little difference between apple and android fanboys. both blind in their own way.
and superior build quality? guess thats why it cracks in a 2 inch drop.
Meh, go troll elsewhere. Some of us are just fine with 8GB of storage. With a case, the Nexus 4 is an absolutely excellent phone for us non clumsy people.
I was addressing Quentyn, not you. Quentyn was complaining about storage. If you’re happy with an 8gb phone built by Tiffany, good for you.
lol
and I’ll never understand why people buy a supposedly beautiful phone( Nexus 4) and put a plastic case on it and then complain that Samsung uses plastic in their phones. Once you case your phone, you lose its aesthetic value.
As soon as my ONE came out of the box, it had a screen protector and a SPECK case around it. Am I clumsy ? No not at all. I simply care about my purchase. Aesthetic value ?? to who ? Who am i impressing ? I bought the phone for me, not for showing off to my so-called friends. Thank you !
Because I plan to re-sell it for money?
I love my 8gb N4. Still have a gb free and all my photos are HDR.
Testify !!! People that need tons and tons and tons of storage are really needy people.
Acceptable because we have a choice not to buy it and still get an android phone that offers what we want.
LOL, yep 32 is more than enough for me. Samsung users like my wife only get 16GB internal.
Until HTC goes back to having an SD slot and a removable battery, they won’t be seeing any business from me.
Sure, cause you know, you use your phone as a portable hard drive and constantly switch out your batteries on a regular basis because you are constantly on the move and don’t have access to a wall charger… right?
(I know I will be getting down-voted for this… I’m just pointing out the irony that most consumers won’t actually utilize the removable battery or sd-card feature to its full extent.)
downvote because the “most consumers” argument has *never* been correct, and the “what would you use it for, nobody needs it” statement is a strawman asking people to prove a negative.
these *are* the things that are wrong with people. Distracting from real problems with negativity without answers or even looking to solutions.
I draw my conclusions based on my experience in mobile electronics retail. People are subject to their opinions, I draw mine from my experience. That is all.
From my experience in the business use side of mobile you are probably correct as long as they get enough internal storage in the first place.
From the research i have seen 40% of smart phone owners NEVER DOWN LOAD A SINGLE APP FROM THE APP STORE. 60% never even change the background. The 40% who never download an app use less than 250 MB of data a month and primarily TEXT and make calls with the phone.
All of the above is comical to me because what is the point of paying for a smart phone if you never use it?
However all of these numbers are down from 5 years ago. 5 years ago 80% of smart phone owners never downloaded an app.
So in all reality if you want to make a phone that won’t get outdated in the two year contract the end users will keep it for then it must be on the leading edge of the technology and have expandable memory because, (one more stat for you) 65% of smart phone users never delete a single thing off of their phone (picture, sms, mms, etc.).
It can also be argued that the average smart phone user, not a tech head like us, will be very confused when their phone starts telling them space is low, and they will give it to one of us to clear out the cache or transfer it to the internal storage. I dont keep apps i dont use, so space is not an option. Most of the people here that think they need space for music ? i doubt any of you listen to more than 20-30 songs in any given year, yet along like them enough to permanently carry them with you. Kernals and Roms ? again how many could you possibly need at any given time that you wouldnt store on your laptop or desktop ? I really see SD cards getting phased out in favor of bigger internal storage.
you see what is 1 store. it’s very easy to say that your view is extremely narrow and anecdotal. As you obviously know, customers range across the spectrum from phone hacker to early adopter to clueless grandmothers to people who hate smartphones. Not every group magically doesn’t need storage.
@google-43cd520ac2cef63da5718b4ad1fd7b86:disqus’s point is one of many, certainly one reason is that people never delete anything. And truth be told, if they have the storage to handle it – why should they have to do so? Even if that stuff they store is 1080p video? Why should it have to be transported somewhere else, backed up elsewhere, transferred off the device, etc?
Actually, most people will unknowingly use their SD card for taking pictures and video recordings. The average user will download a bunch of apps/games that take a lot of space that require you to only use internal storage, leaving your SD card for your photos. As for the battery, I know some people that buy bigger/extra batteries and they aren’t tech savvy. I think the biggest problem is that these designs go against the spirit of the Android, which is choice and freedom both in a hardware and software perspective.
i actually have tons of music and videos on my SD card and if i wanted i could buy an extended battery that will give me much more battery life allowing me to watch more of the videos and listen to more of the music on my SD card between charges. when i switch phones, i dont have to transfer files to the new phone, just put the SD card in the new phone and off i go.
I can deal with the lack of removable battery but I can’t live without the SD slot
You do know that swapping microSD card still takes time for your phone to load like few GBs of music and videos right? What different does it make that you transfer file into your built-in storage with a USB cord?
the difference is i dont have to as well as not having to drag and drop all my files on my phone and sort them the way i had them all over again. while loading from the SD card isnt instantaneous its faster than doing it from my computer.
You know why I want a removable battery? So I don’t have to buy a new phone after a year and a half when the battery won’t hold a charge. I’m still using an original Droid Incredible, and thanks to the fact that I can buy cheap Chinese replacement batteries, I can still get a full day’s use out of it. It wouldn’t be so bad if you could even replace the battery on the HTC One like you can on an iPhone, but they had to be assholes about it and hold it in place with epoxy.
THIS! I’m still using my nearly 2 year old Sensation 4G. By rooting it, flashing a cutom rom, and overclocking it there’s no need to replace it yet. But if I hadn’t been able to replace the battery I’d have to replace it because it’s life was roughly half of what it was new. One Anker battery later and I was back in business. I can live without an SD slot if it comes packed with lots of memory, but a replaceable battery is an absolute must for me. I’d like to be able to keep using my phone the entire time I’m paying for it. >.<
Why is an external battery never an idea for you all? I have a 5000mA battery charger. No need for new batteries and worrying about an outlet that’s close to me so I can make sure I can see my phone, or remembering to charge both batteries.
I mean, this is the answer to removable battery. If you really use your phone that much, then why not just pick something up like a battery charger? I mean, heck you can leave it in your car or something.
I have an external battery, but I would still like to have a device that doesn’t require one for day-to-day use. I’m not against non-removable batteries because I use my phone like crazy or occasionally I’ll run out of power. It’s because batteries degrade. They don’t simply reach 50% capacity and then stop getting worse.
One co-worker finally replaced his battery after it got as bad as having roughly a 15 minute life off the charger. If he had a non-replacable battery he’d have to either have to deal with a nice slim phone permanently tethered to an external battery, or buying a new $500+ dollar phone. Instead he spent $20 on Amazon and doesn’t need to plug in his phone at all during the day. All for the price of the phone being the tiniest bit thicker.
So there are some people that over use the mess out their phones. I thought I was a power user with 2 hours of screen time after playing Super Hexagon. LoL!!
I understand that point of view. I don’t want to invest any money in external USB storage. I would only use that while I’m resting and not when out and about.
I was content with my External Battery, though. If I was resting for about 15 minutes, I could throw it on the charger and have a nice charge before the next rest period. That’s what I’m referring to when I talk about using the external battery. I guess I should mention that I take my backpack with me everywhere. LoL!! That might add to the reason why I don’t mind the external battery.
2 Hours when playing a game isn’t too bad. His died after 15 minutes with virtually no use. If he wasn’t plugged in, phone calls were limited to just a couple of minutes max. That’s the kind of thing you can look forward to when you can’t replace a battery… Especially with your kind of heavy use. It’s the charge-discharge cycles that kill batteries. Typically you can count on getting about 500 cycles out of one before it gets bad. So if you discharge yours in 2 hours playing Super Hexagon, recharge it, then discharge again on the average day, you won’t get the couple of years of solid life that the typical user will. With that use I’d think you’d be even more interested in being able to replace a dead or dying (as in capacity, not daily charge) battery.
But as long as the external battery works for you I suppose not being able to replace it is no problem. Carrying your backpack everywhere certainly makes that more convenient for you than for most lol.
If you don’t replace ur old ancient phones, why do you even care about the new ones not having a microSD or replacable battery. You are NOT going to buy one anyways LOL!
why do people do this?
why do people trashtalk someone for stating an interest in something that is obviously beneficial to people interested in the htc one?
Tony, it is not just the matter of replacing old phones. I bought a used waterproof Japanese Casio G’zOne to use as a rugged GPS tracker and bluetooth audio source (it contains a 32GB micro-SD stuffed with music). Since it has removable batteries, it is as good today as it was 2 or 3 years ago, and will continue to be for another few years. My current phone, a Galaxy Note one year into contract, will not be able to replace the Casio next year as it is not waterproof.
It is just wasteful to have to throw away a device instead of finding new uses for it just because one component dies first. You can even give an old phone to a kid or iOS freak for games, IR blaster, android sampler, camera, network diagnosis, etc. Being able to re-use stuff is just healthier and more human. It also forces manufacturers to cater to us instead of us accepting whatever they throw our way.
Fortunately, I have never experienced this at all. Even back in the Evo 4G days and the Original Galaxy S; I personally never changed my batteries. I guess I’ll find out in an year or so if my battery on my HTC One lasts just as long as day one, but I’m confident it will
it’s a matter of use and matter of battery cycles. It’s entirely possible to go through 3, 6 + cycles in a day, and whether the battery can handle that or not. It’s also an issue of OS builds and wakelocks and software at this point as well.
Thank god for the removable battery on the OG EVO, otherwise mine wouldn’t be working right now.
I have a work-provided GS3 in the other pocket and have been holding out for my upgrade. HTC has blown it again. :(
Droid X user with backup batteries checking in. I have a wall charger that charges the standalone batteries. I can go for a couple days with a crap-ton of usage by sticking a few tiny, cheap, pre-charged batteries in my pocket. This sounds laughable to many, but I can’t tell you how many times this has come in handy – camping, overnight stays at friends’ places, trips, general on-the-go type days where you can’t seem to get near a charger…
Having a really long lasting battery would be wonderful, but since battery technology is still severely lagging in terms of innovation making it to the market, removable batteries is the next best thing for power users like myself. For the record, it doesn’t take that much use, or that many apps running in the background to be considered a power user IMO.
Dead on! That’s the exact reason. After 8 months batteries don’t hold as much charge. If it fails altogether, I just get a new battery instead of having to send in my phone that is in pristine condition for a refurb. I don’t like Apple telling me I don’t need an sd card or removable battery, hence I never owned an iPhone. HTC makes great phones, but I’m not buying what they tell me I can have, I tell them what I want or I won’t buy. Their excuse is bullshit. As for an sd card, there is no excuse. Make the phone thicker. Too bad, I really want a One Google edition.
You are probably constantly paranoid that every charge on your battery you think it would lead to its ultimate death. Not sure if it’s the battery or the user, LOL. My 2012 smartphone’s battery still works like new.
No. It took my E4GT over a year before the battery started acting bad. I have no idea how your batteries are lasting 8 months.
Why dont people b*tch and moan nearly as much when Samoled screen loose color accuracy and begin to develop burn in 8 mo after purchase? Right Samsung good, HTC Bad.
Fanboys will be fanboys, sigh.
Because Samsung has always been better at marketing. Among other things they have marketed successfully, they have done a marvelous sales job on AMOLED despite the horrid pentile arrangement.
HTC uses a different battery so that is not an issue. Not too mention you can buy an extended warranty like I did for 2 years for $80 that will replace device if that happens, plus, the manufacturer gives you a 1 yr warranty. I don’t keep my phone longer than a year anyway.
“HTC uses a different battery” All manufacturers use Li-ion batteries. Even HTC.
“you can buy an extended warranty like I did for 2 years for $80 that will replace device if that happens” Or you could pay <$30 for a new battery, not have to wait a week or more because you have to ship it in, and be extra careful with your $500+ smartphone so you won't need that extended warranty.
"I don't keep my phone longer than a year anyway." Which means you're paying $80 for an extended warranty you don't even have a need for. Well aren't we the thrifty little spender? /s
External battery chargers? I don’t mind using that. One time the battery on my E4GT went bad and wouldn’t hold a charge. So in the week that I was waiting for my battery to come in, I left it charging on the external battery. It was a 5000mA if you’re curious. I left it in my other pocket.
Didn’t really care or notice it too much.
So if the battery in my HTC One starts to die after 1.5 years, I will do this same thing.
Also, people usually change phones every 2 years. So being upset that the last 6 months will be a bit horrible? I mean, that’s not that good of an argument. I’m sorry.
The LI-PO battery in the ONE is supposed to have a longer life vs LI-ION.Also,the reason the quick-charge capability was omitted from the ONE was to keep heating to a minimum,extending the service life of the battery.
I’m in total agreement w/your last statement.As for the general public,who knows.However,I’m guessing the majority of those who gather here will be using another phone 12-18 months from now,long before battery issues arise.
Should battery life be a problem within the 12 month window,so what.Send it back for warranty service & use a back-up phone in the meantime,which again,I’m sure the majority of users here have at least one.
FWIW,HTC phones are warrantied for 15 months,dating from the date of manufacture,not the date of sale.So,most here will have a couple of months extra coverage vs. most other phones.
Got insurance,namely BEST BUY-GEEK SQUAD coverage?Even better.You’re covered for 2yrs.
I do think HTC’s explanation for a lack of an SD Card slot is quite ridiculous,reminiscent of the “Dog ate my homework” line………
Either 64GB on-board,or an SD slot,if they feel the need for an either/or design.
Well, the 64GB is being sold in the US but it’s AT&T only. I don’t know about buying it from the Website, though.
But um…? Was this directed towards me?
Just in agreement w/your post,that’s all.
ya ppl that change their phone every two years are the ones that have contracts with carriers so speak for yourself… unlike you, i and most ppl around the world buy our phones at FULL PRICE, contract free so if you’re spending around $700 for a freaken phone hell ya i want my battery to last long as possible n when it dies i want to be able to buy a cheap replaceable battery.
Okay, you’re saying you want your battery to last as long as possible. So at that point, a removable battery wouldn’t matter. You just want it to last as long as possible.
And if it starts to die, you can use an external battery charger, or buy a new battery. It’s just an alternative for those that have a device with a non-removable battery.
The thing is, people make it seem like there is no way to use your phone once the battery dies. So if my phone was to die at the end of the day, I’m supposedly screwed until I get home since I can’t take out the battery and change it.
Also, I’m not on a contract. I’m paying full price for my phone too. If I want to leave Tmo, I have to pay the rest. So that means as long as I’m making payments on this phone, I want this phone to be working. I’m more than sure the battery will last. My E4GT battery starting dying with about 6 months left in my contract.
I think the “one battery is unable to be changed/replaced” was more incidental than intentional, as HTC’s focus was solely “make this phone as thin as possible”.
however, given that the SGS4 pulled it off it doesn’t look very good for HTC.
I keep about 35GB of “stuff” (eg. music, movies, pictures, hd video recordings, ROMs, Kernels, etc.) on my external SD card. I need the space on the internal card for Apps, normally about 8-10GB worth. I don’t understand why it is that tough to understand. Not to mention removing the battery is not always just to have a spare. Sometime batteries go bad and being able to replace it on my own without sending it out to the manufacturer makes a huge difference.
Sometimes batteries go bad.. LOL… how often does it happen to you!? My 2010 smartphone’s battery still works like new. Are you paranoid constantly thinking one charge on your battery will lead to its ultimate death? lol
Um, I had 3 batteries (all OEM) go bad on me… They began bulging in the middle (put pressure on the screen), generating way too much heat (bad bad bad) and de-charging ridiculously quickly.
I bought 3 more from Amazon (again, all OEM) and I expect if I use them for much longer, I’ll see similar issues with them unfortunately.
I can see why you may need a sd card slot, and it was definitely useful back in my flashing days, but yet again, they don’t take that much space. For movies, pictures (they don’t take much space either), and music, there are many cloud options to help reduce the amount of space you require. Sd cards are truly old technology, and it does really slow your phone down and lag apps (if apps are put on it), so I welcome its departure. You can still go for a 64 gb version of a phone, and still have ample space left, but I can see you reducing the amount of storage down to 15 gbs (on my HTC One, I only use 11 gbs, movies, music and apps).
Lithium Ion batteries will always have their issues, but for me, I never had trouble with them not able to hold a charge. Hopefully in the near future, with new battery tech, this would no longer be an issue.
Cloud unfortunately isn’t a viable option. Lack of connectivity everywhere, plus slow internet etc are problems here in India that prevent using the cloud as an alternative. And from what I hear, data charges aren’t very cheap in the US either, neither unlimited nor available everywhere.
But yes, I agree SD cards are slow, but to have the option of just putting all my media in there and installing only apps/games on the internal storage is great. Cloud simply isn’t a viable alternative for most stuff, I don’t want to be streaming stuff when I can have them ready, though it’s great as a backup/alternative when needed.
you have to pay for cloud storage and you can’t access those files offline, which means you have to stream them over a data connection, something people dont want to be using up when they run the risk of being throttled, paying overages, or just being in a place where they have a bad signal. i aslo dont have to pay extra money to buy a version of a phone with more storage. i can just use the card i have which has everything on it already.
why are you trying to convince people who desire external storage and actually do use it that they should want to get rid of it?.
I got 50 free GBs of storage on Box with my purchase of the Nexus 4,and when I purchased the HTC One, I received 25 free GBs of Space on Dropbox. Not to mention the 5 free GBs of storage I get for just using Google Drive. That’s 80 GBs of FREE storage on top of the 32 GBs of on board storage on the HTC One. If half of you were as tech savvy as you claim to be, you would see how whining about a feature that isn’t on a phone that you obviously won’t buy really shouldn’t be an issue.
except this doesn’t address the non offline access issue. I also get free storage when I get a new phone. I buy a new phone, put my sd card in and BAM! 64gbs of storage that I can access anytime without a connection.
honestly buddy, I don’t care that you can do without an sd card. I just don’t see why you need to convince me of the same.
This !!!! the majority of people bitching over SD card and replaceable batteries wouldnt buy an HTC phone either way, its just Sammy fanboys trying to feel better about their purchase.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. People just hear other people complaining about something so they do the same thing. I had numerous batteries for my S3 and S3 and maybe changed the battery once or twice over the life of both phones.
My HTC one is fine with 32GB of storage with non removable battery. I wake up at 6am and charge it at 10pm at night. More than fine with that battery life and if by some chance I need more juice, i’m never away from a outlet for more than a few hours and I have a portable power bank. It’s not an issue, and since HTC has sold over 5 million devices, I would say it’s ok.
After 2 years and you are tired of your HTC ONE.. no one will buy that for premium because the battery is already dead by then. But if it happened that the HTC ONE has a removable battery.. then people are still willing to buy it at a higher price because they know that they can always replace the old battery.
The moral of the story? Resale Value.
agreed. most people don’t care about removable battery NIR SD cards, I don’t need an SD slot. I have a N4 16gb and only use 32% of my available storage and I have all the apps and documents I need on hand. the iPhone is very successful and doesn’t have a removable battery nor SD. there are users who care, but it’s not the masses. The other thing is, SD cards are slow compared to internal storage, might as well use cloud storage.
Then you’ll soon see yourself boycotting every handset manufacturer. SD cards are old technology slowly being put out to pasture, and not a moment too soon. They clog up valuable space and make devices sluggish and laggy. You and your high morals can enjoy life without mobile technology.
As much as i disagree about the sluggish and lagging, i do think SD cards are going to be phased out in the very near future. Just like 2yr contracts from any phone carrier, soon all gone, following the t-mobile model.
I think SD cards would be much less relevant if we were looking at 128GB, 256GB on chip.
I’m in the same camp… I had to buy a S4 (which I totally HATE) but I have no choice.. I do have some data in the cloud but I need some data physically in my phone.. Now about 20 GB and probably near 40 in the future.
HTC one has 32GB built in. If you were honest with yourself you would realize u really dont need that much storage. You chose to buy the S4, no one made you. The ONE comes in both 32GB and 64GB versions as well.
there’s no honesty in stating that people don’t need storage.
Coincidence that HTC is going down the pooper. I think so
guess what manufacturers… we do not care that your phone is 1mm thinner than the competition… have you SEEN 1mm??? it makes NO difference in a hand. make it feature packed and give us the STORAGE we want and we will be happy, start chopping those things out to simply be able to market it as “thinner than the competition” is STUPID, as long as the device is RELATIVELY thin, that is all that matters.
i hope you learned your lesson HTC
Then you get reviewers going “OMG IT IS ONE MM THICKER THAN THE *Insert phone here* IT FEELS HORRIBLY THICK.
I’m fine with it being thicker, though I am also fine with it not having an sd card slot. OTG is a fine solution for my purposes.
It’s not even thinner. It’s competition, the GS4 is thinner, AND includes a removable battery and expandable storage.
The space limits, needing the metal housing to be thicker than plastic, and choosing a certain thickness for the overall phone was their own doing. If they couldn’t fit it in, make the phone thicker or find different materials to make your phone from.
Where did you get your information from? LCD assemblies are thicker than AMOLED ones. It has nothing to do with the build material. HTC has a lot less space to work with than Samsung because the AMOLED displays don’t require a backlight like LCDs.
So much rage, why don’t you make your own smartphone, lol!
Awesome pictures of spec packed phones that I’ve designed :D Atomos Planet, Atomos Nebula, Atomos Star, Atomos Galaxy, and Atomos Curve.
Planet
4.3” (10.922cm) 1080p HD display
1080×1920 OcTile AMOLED 9:16 (512 ppi, 202 ppcm)
16, 32, or 64GB
Expandable up to 64GB
Nano SIM
4GB RAM
Octa Core Processor
13MP (4800×2700) Rear Facing Camera
2.1MP (1920×1080) Front Facing Camera
112.79 x 60.15 x 7.35mm
Star
5” (12.7cm) 1080p HD
1080×1920 OcTile AMOLED 9:16 (441 ppi, 173 ppcm)
16, 32, or 64GB
Expandable up to 64GB
Nano SIM
4GB RAM
Octa Core Processor
13MP (4800×2700) Rear Facing Camera
2.1MP (1920×1080) Front Facing Camera
128.29 x 68.36 x 7.65 mm
Nebula
5.65” (14.351) 1350p HD (2.5K)
1350×2400 OcTile AMOLED 9:16 (487 ppi, 192 ppcm)
32, 64, or 128GB
Expandable up to 64GB x 2
Nano SIM
4GB RAM
Octa Core Processor
13MP Rear Facing Camera
3.3MP Front Facing Camea
142.68 x 76.9 x 7.95 mm
Galaxy
6.4” (16.256cm) 1350p HD (2.5K)
1350×2400 OcTile AMOLED 9:16 (430 ppi, 169 ppcm)
32, 64, or 128GB
Expandable up to 64GB x 2
Nano SIM
4GB RAM
Octa Core Processor
13MP Rear Facing Camera
3.3MP Front Facing Camera
159.28 x 86.3 x 8.25 mm
Atomos Curve
6.9” (17.526cm) 1440p HD (2.5K)
1440×2560 OcTile AMOLED 9:16 (426 ppi, 168 ppcm)
32, 64, or 128 GB
Expandable Memory up to 64GB x 2
Nano SIM
4GB RAM
Octa Core Processor
14.7MP (5120 x 2880) Rear Facing Camera
3.7MP (2560 x 1440) Front Facing Camera
163.79 x 87.93 x 6.3mm
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 167.6 x 88 x 8 mm
doesn’t really matter, HTC’s statement is provably false. They didn’t have more room for an SDcard for china, they literally built a thicker phone and stated that it was because of the size of wireless frequencies, which is a chip that really has nothing to do with thickness of a phone.
Still a great phone, still don’t need an SD…and even if they did release a US variant with an SD… Wouldn’t even glance twice at it *next article*
Same here, I own a ONE, and I think its fine.
Well there you have it. HTC engineers fail.
Fix that problem and hopefully sell 10 million next time.
Whatever happend to “we dont need sd wahhhhhh” smh
precisely, when the manufacturers were stuffing them on every phone it was something no one wanted. Now that theyre on fewer and fewer phones and because its human nature to want to be like every one else lately, now they want it. When the majority dont care about SD cards then suddenly the tide will turn and no one will care. Its human nature.
Its not the lack of SD that bugs me, nor the removable battery. What I really want out of the One is a 5″ screen.
Back in the 3.2″ to 3.5″ screen days, I’d buy that excuse. Now that phones are much bigger than they used to be, I call BS. It’s not like HTC is even using huge batteries, they traditionally go with smaller ones to cut down on space, but make up for it in optimizing the software. What I do believe is they cut corners on cost by not having the necessary hardware to fit a microSD card. Regardless, if large amounts of customers want SD cards, they need to design for them.
Of course three wasn’t any more room in the HTC One (US version)… For the Chinese version, the phone is a tad thicker. I still don’t know the reasoning on why HTC hasn’t done the same to the US version, but I don’t mind at all. 32/64 gbs should be enough to satisfy storage needs on a phone.
So either they’re lying or they’re lazy. Either way, the One has sold “about” 5M units while the Galaxy 4 sold 10M in one month, and the One *still* isn’t even rumored for Verizon. Who do they think they’re kidding? No wonder staff is bailing.
I believe they’re lying. Either way it doesn’t bother me any. I don’t buy their phones. *shrug*
I think that all the Android vendors miss the boat when they leave off the uSD slot. It is an advantage over the iPhone that Apple will not be able to overcome. Reality is, we don’t need Android phones with 32GB or 64GB, just a 16GB (or even 8GB phone) with a uSD slot. We can decide how much storage we want by our choice of uSD slot. Do most people need 32 or 64GB of flash storage? Maybe not in the past, but with more people toting around movies, taking 1080P video clips, and 12+ MP still pictures, and tens, and in some cases, hundereds of apps, along with thousands of songs, 16GB gets tight pretty quick. If you didn’t know you were going to be doing that with your phone, or just didn’t think ahead, you’re stuck. With a uSD slot, you can add more storage, ore expand your storage at any time.
With regards to the removable battery issue. I do not often run out of battery, but on occasion (I work in the oil and gas industry in Alberta) find myself out in the middle of nowhere with only a GPS application to help me find my way. At times like that, I like to have a spare battery with me. The other reason it is that batteries are only good for a year or so. When they start to lose capacity, it is nice to be able to replace them. In the case of the iPhone, bring it to the Apple store; replace the battery or get a new phone, on the spot, for $79. With Android phones that do not have a replaceable battery, take it back to the carrier (4-6 weeks with no phone, or get raked over the coals with a short term rental) or have a third party repair place change the battery out ($125 or so up here,3-5 days). With a replaceable battery, $20 to an eBay seller, arrives at your door 2 weeks or so later, AND YOU CAN STILL USE YOUR PHONE IN THE MEAN TIME. If the phones with non-removable batteries had batteries that would last 3 years with reasonable capacity. or offered a significant improvement in battery capacity over phones that do have removable batteries, then fine, I can see some justification. But they really don’t. S4, removable battery, 2640 mAH battery: HTC One, non removable battery, 2300 mAH. What is the justification for having a non-removable battery? In a year to year and a half, HTC will need to go in for battery replacement; after the same time passes with an S4, pop open the back and replace the battery.
Kostas
P.S. I know some people can replace their own batteries on phones with non-removable batteries ( I just did that with my Motorola XT910), but the vast majority can’t, or won’t.
No. You need more internal storage. Apps can no longer be installed on the SD card like they used to be. SD card is great for media, but it means nothing as far as apps go.
Uh, what? Someone needs to tell my EVO that, because 95% of my apps are on the SD card…including lib files. (thanks link2sd!)
People with unrooted phones, with stock OEM UI, like people not dabbling with apps and mods.
Your Evo isn’t on ICS.
My EVO has been on ICS. Heard o’ custom roms? I prefer the mikg3.11 gb rom as it is faster, but it made NO difference as to how I load applications with link2sd on ICS or JB roms.
99% of the population with an Android phone don’t use custom roms and aren’t rooted. So yes, even though you have this privilege, most people do not, and many are not even aware that such a thing (rooting) exists.
99% of the population doesn’t buy flagship phones.
With a uSD card, you can move all your media to the uSD card, freeing up the internal storage for apps. Or you can get applications, for non-rooted phones, like App2SD Pro (or the newer version App Manager Pro), which does allow apps to be put onto the uSD card. And yes, it does work in ICS, and JB, at least up to version 4,1.2 on an unrooted Motrola XT910, and has worked on GB on previous phones.
I believe HTC is sincere. I am specialist in electronic miniaturization. A microSD card slot will add industrial constraints which will force HTC to make a plastic body and increase the weight of the phone to 10 pounds. To accommodate the size of the microSD card internally, the HTC One would increase in size to about the size of an adult shoe.
A removable battery is impossible. Because technically no battery can hold inside a phone without being glued. Doing without glue would require technologies not yet known to humans.
Trust me, HTC’s argument is totally truthful. HTC knows people best. People wants aluminum! Then may be a phone next. Once you got aluminum in your hands, who needs SDcard or remove a battery ?!?!
sounds legit
O.o
Well if you can’t believe an anonymous poster on the internet, who can you believe? :P
Hilarious ‘cuz I thought u were actually serious when I read ur first 2 lines then BAM here comes the joke. Good one! +1000
The Galaxy S4 is thinner, with larger screen, bigger battery and still has space for a SDcard.
Or Samsung designers are more efficient or it is a simple BS.
…..and a thin, plastic body.
That aluminium is a tad thicker than the plastic, wot?
Actually it’s not.
So what’s the thickness of the plastic shell vs the thickness of the unibody aluminum shell?
Since the One is probably made with a CNC type milling process the area around the bezel and sides which act like a frame will be a bit thicker than the larger flatter panels like the back and the section behind the screen. The larger flat sections are probably well under a millimeter thick. The edges and sides would would be harder to get a thickness on because they’re shaped more like an I-Beam than flat material. Remember that from an engineering standpoint the shells of the S4 and One are going to be designed to withstand similar amounts of flexing and torsional twisting because if either happen beyond a certain point the glass screen will break.The screens are close enough in size to be a non-factor. The circuit boards and internal ‘stuff’ is probably also about the same. So given the strength requirements are similar between the two phone casings, look at the material strength difference between polycarbonate and aluminum. Big difference right? But aluminum is a lot heavier.than polycarbonate.
So to make relatively equal strength shells you need thicker internal structures on the S4(never mind the back battery cover-that’s just cosmetic), and to avoid excess weight you need the thinnest cross-sections possible on the One. If you’ve watched the drop-test videos for the One, many point out that the One’s casing dents pretty easily. It’s because of the bare minimum amounts of metal used in the design wherever possible..
Tried it out.. But I’ll stuck with my note 2
Ill keep saying it till it makes sense to people. 32GB to 64GB internal storage is WAY MORE than enough. If you need more you are carrying too much stuff around for a normal person. I can only imagine those that need it dont do much during their day besides fiddle with their phones. in other words, they dont have jobs, relationships, or responsibilities. Thats just how i see it, so dont cry children.
Why do you get to decide how many gb is enough or too much for a “normal” person?
Okay don’t get me wrong I like SD Cards and I really like the option. But honestly they don’t make or break a phone… You can’t even put apps on them. The only thing you can do is put music videos or illegal movies on them, and if that all your doing get with the program and use cloud storage. You can save the contents you want to your phone when you need it, and when you don’t need it you can take it off. No one is going to listen to 3 days of music or 10 hours of video all at one time. 32 and 64 gb is a good amount and soon we’ll be seeing 128gb. I’m totally fine with that. Now when you only give 8gb and 16 gb you need to have a SD card, because all your phones memory goes to apps, you just don’t have a choice.
On any day, I have a minimum of 128gs on me. I keep a 64 in my phone, and 2 32s in my case. I use most of this space frequently for backups, work, documents, and media. I would love to see more internal as well as external.
The sgs4 has no problem squeezing one in….
I don’t think the SD card is a perfect storage solution. I’ve had several devices that accepted SD cards and ran into these issues.
1) Widgets didn’t work for apps on the card.
2) Many apps couldn’t be moved to the card.
3) HTC used weird disk partitioning that made the card almost useless.
4) Files on the card would occasionally disappear and would only reappear after running SDrescan.
Does anyone else have these problems or is it just me?
I have a phone without a card reader now and I’m much happier.
I have an sd card and rarely use it. I would rather have more internal for apps and such (plus the internal memory is faster). Manufacturers make an absurd amount of profit selling larger memory versions for usually $50+ jumps. They should stop using memory as a profit padder.
in the case of apple it’s $100 for every storage bump
i think the media (including this site) is making the issue of expandable memory and user swappable battery bigger than it really is. like others have said, if this problem truly affected the “masses”, apple wouldn’t be selling so many iphones all these years. i would say for most people, 32gb should be plenty to use. don’t get me wrong i used to be big on expandable memory and user replaceable battery but i wouldn’t consider it a deal killer today, especially if the battery will last all day for the typical user. also, if anyone has listened to Brian Klug of Anandtech’s podcast on the HTC One, you too will also know that the nand used in those sd/micro-sd cards are of the lowest grade and not reliable at all, especially when compared to the quality of the memory built-into the phone.
I’m no E.E. but that sounds like a b.s. excuse/move inspired by some cloud storage partnership. I’m so tired of ‘The Cloud’. You can’t install apps to the cloud, you can only access stuff(at a tolerable speed) in the cloud when you have a decent connection. Last I checked not all providers have 4G coverage everywhere.
I use a rooted Note 2 and thanks to a handy little script, I’ve swapped my 64GB Class 10 sd card for the phone’s internal storage giving me the ability to install apps on that 64GB card while retaining the internal ~12-13GB for other storage. My relatively small music collection takes 23GB. I couldn’t store that on my internal memory and even if my phone was a 32gb model I’d still not have a lot left over for apps. The external card gives the best of all worlds:
Full choice on additional storage size, 32, 64, 128(?) gb
Ability to install apps to said external storage(With some innocuous tweaking) and still have a sizeable amount left over for app installation, and no my apps do not lag, my class 10 card is marginally slower than the internal storage.
Ability to add more if and when the original card gets full
I will not buy a phone without a microsd slot.
GG HTC.
So…. Were still bit*hing about this. Jesus Christ people get over it, its not in there move on. If you dont like it move on and buy what ever horrendous monstrosity is the flavor of the week. Samsung releases about a phone a day Im sure there is something out there for the rest of the basement dwelling mouth breathers who live their lives stuck on a cell phone screen, and cant live without all seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer loaded on their phone, meanwhile they shout, twitch, and wave at their phone to attempt to use the bloatware placed on their phones.
Who the heck turned this twit’s crank?
Do they think their excuse is enough to make me bring back my S4 for an HTC One? Nope!
doesn’t really matter to me. HTC made 32gb One as their basic model. 20-24gb of storage should be enough for most people.
Yeah, sorta what AT&T said about 16GB of storage. Then they killed unlimited data plans…
Calling their bluff.
Still rocking with my EVO 4g using a 16gig SD card + link2sd for a ton of apps…and I still have about 10gig just sitting there doing nothing…this is a tempest in a teapot…unless of course some geeks are torrenting with their phones….snicker.
I guess its the same reason they put an undersized battery as well. That case must be really thick.
No SD, No business from me. Please HTC, dont make me buy a Samsung!
Nobody created a FUSS when iPhone did not ship with SD Card slots and removable batteries? May I know why? height of fanboy-ism and hypocrisy
Nobody? I always did.
And that always was one of the many reasons to me to not buy an iPhone.
One day the computing model would shift to harddisk-less and 100% cloud model and then dont buy a computer then!
Sure and one day all devices will have quantum storage instead. Next…
The 75% market share of android pretty much answers that question.
BS, The MicroSD omission, the battery fail and iTunes are why I’d never buy an iPhone
What do u mean nobody? WE did! Us Android ppl.. And it was one reason alot of us chose Android over Apple.
Hmm, space isn’t an issue on the S4.
Good one…
Space isn’t an issue with the S4. Failed explanation HTC!
First of all why trash people who want a lot of memory? Wasn’t android about giving options when it first started? That’s my problem with HTC now, they’ve become a lot like apple with sticking people to what THEY want them to have. I’m a music producer so I have a ton of music on my phone so I need an sd slot, because along with the many songs I have I still want room for pictures and videos. Isn’t the point of these multimedia powerhouse phones to use them as such? Why trash people who are actually going to use them that way, so many people say they don’t use it for big media uses so then why do you even have a smartphone with a 1080p screen and great multimedia functions? Sd slot is also needed for those that travel a lot because coverage isn’t 100% all over the country or in places like buildings who don’t get great reception. And I happen to carry an extra battery with me because they’re really thin to carry around but I can understand how people can carry an external charger. But memory is a deal breaker for me. And to the person that said only Sammy fan boys say that, I’ve never owned a Samsung product before, but I’m probably going to get the s4 because of the options it gives me, have a rezound right now and I’m sick of HTC, Nova launcher made this phone tolerable, been waiting for a great HTC or at least verizon phone but nothing that hit all the marks has been released until now. But I won’t jump to the s4 until they release one with larger internal memory at Verizon
My friend, I think we might be twins! (we make music, need space for vids & pics, Rezound owners that can’t wait to replace them)
Dude, you still have a choice. Buy another phone. Problem solved.
I could care less for an SD. The One has plenty of internal storage and I utilize cloud storage for many things. No tears will be shed here.
BullSh!t.. How come you (HTC) were able to make an HTC ONE version that can accommodate 2 SIM cards? .. And you tell me space is an issue when you talk about the thinner Micro SD card?
smell like BS to me, htc one is not that thin to begin with, there are thinner phones out there with sd card.
here in japan au/kddi will release it as htc j one with microsd card up to 64GB. it is really 1mm thicker and 14g heavier.
why they just dont release it with new name, so noone will blame htc?
I love HTC, but this is a terrible excuse… What about the One X? I personally opened mine a couple of times and there was more than enough space… And why did the even slimmer Evo 4G LTE have an SD card slot?? Just plain bad excuse, HTC :'(
Eh, just get a MicroUSB MicroSD card reader and you’ll be fine. Or buy a bluetooth or WiFi micro drive and you’ll be okay as well.
Aside from the fact USB/OTG is required for that but may not work, folks complain about even putting a case on the One. You think they’re going to want their phone to have a ‘dongle’ … LOL
I’m calling bullshit on HTC’s claim. My girlfriend got the HTC one because she liked the design and the feel of the phone. I could have bought the HTC One outright as well, but instead, I chose to buy the Xperia ZL. Why? Because of all the limiting factors associated with the non-removable battery and lack of microsd support in the North American variant of the One.
I would say my girlfriend is an average phone user. She upgraded from using a BB Pearl of >3 years, plays some casual games on it and browses the web. She doesn’t expect Android updates because she is indifferent to them. For the average user, I will admit that they won’t see the need of a microsd with ~26 GB of usable space and since the file size of pictures taken are so small compared to 13mpx cameras; removable battery I wouldn’t agree with because batteries do crap out after about 2 years and even the average user knows that’s time to upgrade phones or buy a new battery.
For consumers who are more technologically-interested/inclined, I sincerely do not understand your die-hard mentality to protect the HTC One. Yes, it’s a nicely designed phone but it has problems. As followers of tech forums, I want to know the pros and CONS of any device. By having a CHOICE of swapping batteries if need to, or popping in a microsd so you can have 5-10 movies on the go (ie roadtrip or plane) is not going to hurt you as a consumer. If you don’t need it, then don’t use it, but letting the manufacturer decide for you what you do or do not need is not right. HTC might save ~$1 or $2/phone by not including microsd and expandable storage, but you will be frustrated when you do need that functionality. You really have NOTHING to gain by promoting or defending a manufacturer as they don’t have your interests as priority – your money is what they want. If HTC or ANY OTHER COMPANY can sell you a brick for $700 and you’ll buy it, they will sell it to you without hesitation.
I sincerely hope those idiotic consumers, who idly stand by their phone manufacturer of choice despite knowing their products can be IMPROVED, and the designer/manager who decided to eliminate microsd and expandable batteries at HTC – and other companies who are following this trend – get their head out of their ass and wake up.
Amen. I’m an HTC fan and I can’t condone the choices they’ve been making.
“It’s no secret by now that HTC’s decision to exclude a microSD card slot from its latest flagship phones is mostly unpopular with the masses. The company has received a lot of flack regarding the omission of the feature in the HTC One by users and reviewers. ”
NOT! Samsung fanboyism is getting as bad as Apple :(
That’s a simplistic response. Besides Samsung, LG, Sony, Motorola as well as others all offer MicroSD storage expansion.
>This is BS. The japanese variant of the One also has MicroSD.
>The cloud is no alternative unless you like having to pay somebody for bandwidth to access your stuff on it.
>USB OTG? maybe, but most folks don’t want to even put a case on this phone, much less use it with a USB OTG cable and card reader or flash drive hanging off of it.
>As to battery – by the time your 2 year contract is expired your battery will likely only charge to about 60% capacity, maybe less depending on how often you charge it or top-off. AND it can’t be replaced.
>Seems like the Chinese got a way better version of the One than we did.
The US market got a single-digit-salute along with our version of the One (even that name seems ironic).
LIES!
The HTC J One has a Micro SD LTE CDMA and all major frequencies. The goal is to drive high end sales, and do whatever Apple does.
It’s complete BS from HTC and I’m sick of this Apple-esque nonchalant behavior from them.
I’m pretty fed up with phone values being based on what a company thinks user culture ‘should’ be like. SD card slots, and removable batteries add longevity to a device. Having expandable storage on my phone meant that as more storage was expected from phones and apps got greedier and greedier I was able to keep using my phone without replacing it. Not having to replace my phone not only saves my pocket but it’s also good for the environment. It sucks that the tech world has become much like the car industry. I don’t want a gas guzzler with zillions of horsepower… I want something slick, stream-line with longevity and for that to represent the forefront. Tech is developing for profit not experience and not community. Regardless of what’s said.