HTC One Mini Review - Call Quality, Battery Life and Verdict Review
Call Quality, Battery Life and Verdict
Is this the 4.3-inch device to rule them all?
Sections
- Page 1 HTC One Mini Review
- Page 2 Software, Performance and Camera Review
- Page 3 Call Quality, Battery Life and Verdict Review
HTC One Mini – Call Quality
Cameras, BlinkFeed and everything else aside, making sure you come out loud and clear in a conversation is equally as important. Thankfully the One Mini packs advanced dual microphones to cut out noise and what HTC refers to as ‘Sense Voice’.
This essentially detects the noise levels in the calling environment and bumps up the volume to make sure both sides of the conversation come out loud and clear. The boost this gives to call quality is excellent on the One Mini and performs on par with its bigger brother.
HTC One Mini – Battery life
The HTC One Mini features a 1,800 mAH battery matching the BlackBerry Z10 in the power department. HTC claims you can expect around 13 hours talk time from the One Mini over 3G.
Using a fully charged device in general use from 8am to 7pm the HTC One Mini battery holds up with a bit to spare. It’s more than capable of checking Twitter and Facebook, watching YouTube videos, all while lasting through the day . In a more intense environment, downloading several large Spotify playlists and playing Dead Trigger the battery is quickly sapped by about 20 per cent within 20-25 minutes usage.
Matching it against the S4 Mini and there is very little difference in staying power with the One Mini offering around a day.
Should I buy the HTC One Mini?
The HTC One Mini is a great looker and adopts most of the HTC One’s best features. The screen is beautiful and is a great home for Android 4.2.2 and Sense 5.0.
There are some slight performance issues and the lack of big game support will be a concern for some – although this will improve in the coming months. A SIM-free Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini at £350 is only £30 cheaper than a SIM-Free One Mini (£380). Contracts for both are around the £25-27 a month mark. The S4 Mini offers a similar overall performance despite lacking the 720p screen and a more premium design.
In terms of value for money, the Nexus 4 once again comes into the equation. It’s cheaper, offers more processing power and is an all-round great Android phone. The 4.3-inch HTC One S might be older and lacks the One Mini’s 720p HD screen but matches the Mini in most departments and costs £100 less.
Verdict
The HTC One Mini has a brilliant screen and delivers a good performance despite the drop down in specs making it a 4.3-inch Android smartphone that deserves your attention.
HTC One Mini not for you? Check out our round-up of the best Android phones to buy.
How we test phones
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Trusted Score
Score in detail
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Performance 8
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Camera 7
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Design 8
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Usability 8
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Value 7
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Features 8
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Screen Quality 9
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
