HTC One X (gray, AT&T)

Pros: The One X is Fast, responsive, has a huge screen (4.7"), good form factor (.37" thin), a well-heeled 8MP camera that doesn't deliver, build quality is OK also. Plus+: has the fastest upload and download speeds on LTE/HSPA of all smartphones.

Cons: Does NOT multitask well--if at all, OS UI is quirky, finicky, and doesn't hold settings (constantly resetting WiFi, network functions BT),+ other prefs=very frustrating! Sync functions are a failure, just can't keep settings intact=command failure!

Summary: I went into my 2-year AT&T contract with an HTC One X with strong expectations, when little did I know that HTC would not deliver with some very significant functions, namely: Sync fails, settings fail, ie constantly having to reset Sync, WiFi, BT, any and all network settings, and the OS UI between Android's ICS and HTC Sense is nothing but annoying. The camera was a biggie also: with an 8MP dedicated camera system, backlit sensor and all, and an amazing array of user choices for the photos themselves, you'd think that this, of all smartphone cameras, would be fantastic and satisfy 100%. Reality is indoor shooting is problematical at best, where colors are NOT reproduced accurately, focusing is "off center" even after double touches on the subject, and dim light shots just don't come out well at all.

I liked the overall speed of the phone a LOT, especially upload and download speeds on the LTE/HSPA AT&T network virtually anywhere in Southern California, where I live and work and play. Installing programs went fast, faster, fastest and DONE! You could blink once or twice and miss a whole large multi-MB program installation, the thing is just blindingly fast!

The LCD display @ 4.7" diagonal measurement, 1260 x 800 resolution, fast redraws and color switching/transitions, is also amazing, so good eye candy for showing movies, games, playing any media from the 'Net such as Pandora, Netflix live streaming of movies and TV shows, so it shined there...and it should shine there with its high-end parts and pieces, good software for movies and music viewing, another big plus for this smartphone.

Now we really get into some heavy negatives with respect to Multi-Tasking, which is an abysmal failure on the HTC One X, unfortunately, in fact that was the No.1 reason I sent my phone back to Amazon Wireless in exchange for a Samsung Galaxy Note, admittedly a huge phone form factor and presence, but one that I'd used extensively before buying it--and that phone was a winner all the way, even with Gingerbreak OS 2.3.6.xxxx instead of ICS.

I'd never had a smartphone NOT Multi-Task! Even my Apple 3GS iPhone, and the iPhone 4 also did that feature repeatedly, and never failed. The HTC One X by contrast could NOT EVER hold two programs open for me at the same time, or more than two for that matter, because once you switch to the 2nd program and then back to the 1st program or app, that 1st program in sequence was always tragically DOA, gone, done, finished, closed and no record of any work you may have done on office docs, reading PDF's with comments, etc was all gone too! That is just crazy!

I worked with AT&T on that failure to Multi-Task, both on the telephone and taking my phone into the local AT&T Factory Store, a store which had very, very talented reps who helped me out in the past with professionalism, courtesy, and expertise on a myriad selection of Adroid, iOS, and Windows phones, not to mention the Blackberries. And AT&T had no answer for me, nothing at all and they acknowledged the failure of my HTC One X in this area, 100% true, no user errors involved: the phone just cannot Multi-Task worth a plug nickle's amount of apps, programs, or phone juggling with the apps and programs. VERY DISAPPOINTING!

I also queried HTC Tech Support about the failure of this, and only this phone in their lineup, failing at Multi-Tasking, and HTC also had no answers, none at all! They didn't even hint at having a fix in the works, or even acknowledging that the failure existed! My two reps there at HTC Tech Support actually read me the HTC internal "Company Line" on this issue, and it was just a bunch of gibberish and double-speak/talk...there were the words "HTC is always striving to enhance the User Experience for its customers", things that were very liturgical like that, but no mention of this major failure of the HTC One X at all, nothing, nada, zilch. CRAZY!

I won't bore the readers here with crucifying the HTC One X further, ie about the lack of storage or any Micro SDHC card port, plus the battery is inadequate and NOT removable... as I could write a book, a novel or two about how much time and energy I invested in trying to make things right with the One X, and I mean a 2.5 week Herculean effort on my part to put it frankly, only to fail in the end because of manufacturing and software glitches of the most serious and major proportions.

Thus, back the HTC One X goes to the seller tomorrow, the 25th of May, via UPS Ground (the "slow boat" to Amazon Return Center of Lexington, Kenturcky, USA) so I can get a refund on the $149 going rate for this phone at Amazon Wireless (which is now down to $119 if you can find it there today). I wish I had something of a good review to give on the smartphone from HTC with the fast CPU, GPU, 1GB RAM, and the great screen real estate, but I don't this time.

I calls it like I sees it, and for Wavey Davey to speak out against such a 'fine product' from HTC is a big deal, when there are so many stellar reviews and commentary on the phone in the 'Net press, magazines, and online data and articles everywhere you can look for them. But that's the way this cookie crumbled, and I have to issue a "Buyer Beware" rating to the HTC One X, a phone that fails where it should shine like a mirror finished show car's paint shines...