HTC One X+ review

The One X just got better

HTC One X+ review
The definitive HTC One X+ preview

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Battery life

HTC One X+ review

One of the biggest criticisms we had with the original HTC One X was its poor battery life, which is why the HTC One X+ has received a boost in that department, with the power pack up from 1,800mAh to 2,100mAh.

As the One X+ sports the same unibody design as its older brother, there's no access to that elusive battery, meaning those who like putting bigger power packs into their smartphones may be better suited to the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Unfortunately it's not particularly good news in terms of battery performance on the One X+, with the handset seeming to suffer the fast-draining fate of the One X.

We're not sure what HTC is doing wrong, but we also experienced a rather disappointing battery performance in our HTC 8X review as well.

HTC One X+ review

Interestingly HTC has decide to omit how much power the screen and Android OS are zapping from its battery details in the settings menu, instead just leaving you with power consumption per app.

We fear the huge 4.7-inch, HD display is still a major culprit and we're pretty sure the beefed up 1.7GHz processor also isn't doing us any favours when it comes to battery life on the HTC One X+.

Even half an hour of gaming on an app which isn't particularly intensive graphics wise it seemed to eat the battery, and the One X+ did become rather toasty - the quad-core processor was probably gasping for air.

What this results in is that after a day of general usage, consisting of around 30-45 minutes of gaming, a handful of text messages, a couple of calls, taking some snaps, web browsing and social networking we were lucky if we weren't dashing for the charger come 8pm.

HTC One X+ review

Now we know it's not easy having such a powerful phone, with such a beautifully bright and clear display to keep it running for hours on end, but the least we'd expect is that it would be able to see us from 7am until bedtime without giving up the ghost.

With more conservative use – just messaging and calls, you'll easily get a day out of the HTC One X+, but who buys a top of the range handset to then not use it? Not us for sure.

It's really quite disappointing as we were hoping HTC will have pulled its socks up over battery life with the One X+ to deliver something which really blew us away, but instead it's once again left us at the mercy of electricity.

Connectivity

As you'd expect for a high-end smartphone the HTC One X+ comes with all the connectivity bells and whistles which accompany a handset which commands such a large chunk of your hard earned money.

HTC One X+ review

Old stalwarts such as Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 are accompanied by A-GPS and DLNA streaming support, plus you can set up a Wi-Fi hotspot on your One X+, allowing you to tether the smartphone to other devices so they can use the data connection from the phone.

When it comes to physical connections, the HTC One X+ sports a microUSB port, and while we grumbled about its position in the introduction, it does let you connect up to a TV using a MHL lead, which is sadly not supplied in the box.

NFC is also on board, after making its HTC debut on the One X, although as with the first phone, the technology on the One X+ is offered via Android Beam, which lets you share content between another equally enabled Android device, but don't expect anything too wondrous.

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.