The flagship HTC One made its bow but two months ago accompanied by a flurry of marketing activity to support what many deemed to be the Taiwanese firm's 'make or break' device.
A sumptuously designed phone it was (and indeed still is) but the much lauded features it is packed with seem to have spilt opinion across the board amongst consumers and reviewers alike with some hailing them as groundbreaking and refreshing propositions whilst an equal number deriding them as old hat.
We've covered the realtime aggregation suite, HTC BlinkFeed, elsewhere and also taken a closer look at the Sense 5 UX that debuted on the device, so we turn out attentions to two other aspects of the functionality offered: HTC's UltraPixel camera and the in-built infrared (IR) blaster.
HTC One's camera options
The HTC One comes sporting an UltraPixel camera which is generally touted to being equal to 4-megapixels. Supporting this new-fangled lens and sensor technology - if you require a detailed explanation take a look at our handy feature - is a camera app laden with functionality, the most trumpeted of which is HTC Zoe.
Handing users the ability to capture GIF-like 'Zoes' that comprise of around three and a half seconds of HD video footage of 20 shots at 6fps combined to create an animated snapshot.
These 'Zoes' can then be fashioned into highlight videos of a particular period in time (an 'event') and manipulated to include musical accompaniment and professional-looking fades and transmission. However, whilst initially appearing fresh and new, the 'wow' factor of this feature soon wanes as you struggle to find everyday applications for it.
HTC has become a victim of its own inventiveness. Yes, it's true that nothing quite like this existed before the HTC One (well, there is BlackBerry Timeshift, but more on that later) but its pioneering nature has left it isolated as other than creating these Zoes to show off to friends and family via your device, peripheral displays connected to it, YouTube or the HTC Zoe sharing service, there doesn't seem to be any other reason for capturing them.
Sure, they look nice and add a bit of sparkle to the gallery interface as the stills spring into life, but we can't think of a real life situation that would require this image capture functionality.
Perhaps the saving grace of the HTC One's camera is its post-shot editing capabilities. Whilst the marketing around this device pushed the creation of Zoes as a big selling point, the real value-adding feature within the camera app is its ability to remove unwanted elements of already captured shots.
Thanks to HTC Zoe's mechanics of taking 20 still shots in one fell swoop, beginning 0.6 seconds before the shutter button is pressed, users are granted the opportunity to 'roll backwards and forwards' through the stored frames and select one in which the composition of the image is to their liking, discarding unsuitable frames and retaining the good ones.
This element of the HTC One camera functionality is more useful than the aesthetically pleasing and slightly gimmicky Zoes as it has real world applications.
Say you're taking a group shot of a reunion of old friends for posterity and you only realise that one of the subjects has blinked at an inopportune moment after the event and has ruined an otherwise perfectly good image. Normally this would have to just suffice – well, not anymore!
With this little feature you can 'rewind' or 'fast-forward' to a frame in which the person hasn't blinked and then save that one as the final image.
As mentioned earlier, BlackBerry 10 features a similar function in Timeshift that, like HTC Zoe, uses facial recognition and pre-emptive capture. The BlackBerry 10 function does have a slightly more user-friendly interface for carrying out this task in which subjects faces are enlarged on screen and a circular jog-dial aids the winding forwards and back, but HTC takes things a step further with the addition of an object removal feature.
HTC Zoe can recognise elements of a captured image that it thinks are out of place - if a pigeon or two errantly wanders in to shot for example - and allows the user to highlight that aspect and scroll to a portion of the image when the interlopers simply weren't there.
Post-shot adjustments are achieved via swiping gestures on screen and although this is less accurate than the BlackBerry take, the HTC version wins out purely due to the level of options offered.
A blast(er) from the past
Somewhat of an anomaly in the realm of the smartphone, HTC has decided to include an infra-red port in the HTC One. Whilst this might seem like a strange move and one that harks back to the days of tiny Nokia 8810s and very slow file transfers, the inclusion of an IR Blaster has become de rigueur for your modern high-end mobile as it allows manufacturers to pack their devices with even more functionality.
Samsung quickly followed suite with the Samsung Galaxy S4, but the HTC One blazed the trail in order to get the most out of its HTC TV feature. Cunningly disguised by incorporating the IR LED into the power button, HTC has managed to bring back one of the most geeky and under-utilised elements of mobile tech and give it a new sense of purpose.
So how exactly does it work? Well, HTC TV on the HTC One provides a kind of all-in-one management hub for external entertainment systems.
Initial set-up is simple - crack open the TV app, select which region you're in, enter your postcode, select your TV service provider (satellite networks/Freeview etc), mark off what channels are in your package and you're pretty much done.
After these steps are completed you now have a one-stop shop for all your TV needs encompassing a program guide presented in a neat BBC iPlayer-like interface highlighting upcoming shows and providing program synopsis, recommended tab that allows you to find programs based on your interests, and most importantly, a remote control.
It's this remote element that makes full use of the IR blaster by allowing you to control pretty much any make or model of television set right there from your handset.
As with the setting up of HTC TV, the procedure to get the remote up and running is a straightforward one. Just tap the remote icon from within the HTC TV interface and follow the onscreen instructions. You'll be asked to assign a name for your remote, chose which components you'd like the remote to control (TV, cable box or home theatre) and then select the brand of the peripheral you want to control.
Once the make of TV or cable box is selected you'll be asked to make sure it is turned off and then instructed to point your phone at the device and hit the 'Turn On TV' button displayed on the HTC One's screen.
It might take a couple of goes to get this working as the app tries different remote codes, but eventually it will succeed and you'll be able to control the majority of functions your regular remote is capable of on your phone.
The remote interface itself is very well designed and features the standard volume, channel up and channel down, and mute buttons. A more extensive array of options including input method, EPG, settings and access to a numerical pad as opposed to the arrow up and down is available via a simple tap on a key at the bottom of the interface.
Whilst multiple remotes can be created and stored, we'd say that the most effective use comes as a television viewing companion - the HTC TV app, created in conjunction with personalised TV listings service Peel rather usefully serves up recommendations, program info and allowing you to plan your viewing with now and next without having to obscure what's on your TV screen by calling up the EPG.
Add to this the increasing social element of watching television that sees millions tweeting along to popular programs and accessing additional content via a second screen and you can see why HTC saw fit to bring the humble IR blaster back into the fold.
by deanq via Featured Articles
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