HTC One V Review, no contract Android smartphone for Virgin Mobile [GIVEAWAY]
by Antonio Wells
Sep 7, 2012 6:00 AM –
![HTC One V Review, no contract Android smartphone for Virgin Mobile [GIVEAWAY]](http://cdn.androidtapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/HTC-One-V-is-such-a-Tiny-Phone-550x366.jpg)
The HTC One V is the youngest sibling in the ‘One’ line of HTC Android powered smartphones released earlier this year and this variant is for Virgin Mobile. Bringing back HTC’s iconic ‘chin’ design of years past; it’s small, it’s thin, it’s light with a bright screen… question- is this no contract phone for you?
We’re giving this phone away courtesy of Virgin Mobile, see details below! 
Price: $199.99 now $159.99
Carrier: Virgin Mobile (Exclusive)
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Thin & light with a bright (but small in comparison) screen!
- Own the phone for $160 bucks, no contract, with service as little as $35 bucks per month!
- Features Beat Audio, for music profile enhancement!
Cons
- In my tests, in Chicago, 3G Internet speeds were painfully slow.
- Decent and not good call quality.
- Only single core processor.
- No front facing camera for a smartphone released in 2012.
Design
The first thing you’ll notice about the HTC One V is how small, thin and light it is. Plus you cannot let the ‘chin’ of past designs like the first Android phone, the G1, go unnoticed. However, to me t least, it seems like someone at HTC’s production department had this phone all ready to unveil in 2010 and it got held up in red tape, then they finally decided to release it as an entry level offering. Design-wise it does not flow like older siblings; the One S and One X. The screen is nice and bright, yet in these days of gigantic screens on Android phones, the 3.7 inch display may seem a bit too small for some and perfect for others. Remember, it’s just a tad bit bigger than the iPhone’s 3.5 incher.
Features
HTC Sense Optimizations for Contact Grouping
The One V runs a modern version of Android (Ice Cream Sandwich) with HTC Sense on top which optimized all those different ways you communicate with someone in the People app. You can filter Threads text messages, email and call history on one screen, Updates in social media (granted you’re connected), and Gallery of photos you’ve been tagged in on the phone.
HTC Sense also brings various ways to customize your experience with the Personalize app. Such as choosing scenes, skins, lock screen shortcuts, and of course change your background wallpaper and homescreen icons & widgets.
One pre-installed app that stood out to me was the Transfer app, which helps you move contacts, text messages and calendar events from your old phone to this one via Bluetooth.
Transfer My Stuff Assistance App
Camera
Sample Picture with HTC One V (in good light)
When HTC announced the One line of phones, they announced Image Sense technology, which is a separate processor strictly for imagery. These phones also have a cool feature to take pictures while recording video. The One V has a 5 megapixel camera on the rear which is capable of shooting 720p HD video, but sadly no camera on the front. This is not a great deal, but you would expect more of a smartphone released in 2012. I found the photo quality to be good and not great, pretty grainy, dull and inaccurate colors. See above and below pics…
Sample Photo with HTC One V Camera (in lower light)
3G Internet
Internet Speed Tests for HTC One V
In my tests, in several locations in the Chicagoland area, the 3G Internet speeds of Virgin Mobile’s service (a la the Sprint network) have been dismally slow. I received on average 300 Kbps download and 50 Kbps upload. If you’re not planning on downloading/streaming music and videos often, then this will not be too big of a deal. I was a bit personally disappointed as I am used to higher 3G Internet speeds on Sprint’s network.
Call Quality
Call quality was decent and not good. There was a distant sound of the other caller and volume seemed a bit lower than expected.
Performance and Battery life
Smartphone Performance Benchmark Tests with Quadrant and Antutu for HTC One V
For a phone that has a single-core processor, it actually is quite speedy. As seen in the performance benchmark tests above, it comes in quite lower on the totem pole of cool devices, but on par with the Nexus S.
Battery life was excellent! I received on average more than 15 hours of battery life in usage.
Pictures
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HTC One V
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HTC One V is such a Tiny Phone
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HTC One V Flat Angle View
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HTC One V Rear Speaker with Beats Audio
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HTC One V Rear Camera with LED Flash
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HTC One V for Virgin Mobile
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HTC One V Side USB Port
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HTC One V Side Volume Rocker and The Chin
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HTC One V Top View Audio Jack and Power Button
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HTC One V the Signature HTC Chin
Win an HTC One V plus One Month Free Service! [Giveaway]
Win the HTC One V in this review plus one month of free service simply by Liking us the most on Facebook! Additionally, the person we see with the most “Likes” on our articles will be the winner (yes you can like more than one page). It’s just that simple, the person who likes us the most between Friday 9/7/2012 and ends Friday 9/14/2012 10pm CST will win this phone. To get one month of free service just record and upload to YouTube, and send us a short video of yourself giving AndroidTapp.com and Virgin Mobile kudos for your prize once you receive it.
Now the legaleses…
Rules
- Must be at least 18 or older to enter.
- Must be a resident in the United States.
- Please use Facebook “Like” feature on our Facebook page, and/or by using the Facebook “Like” button on our article pages.
- Promotion starts Friday 9/7/2012 and ends Friday 9/14/2012 10pm CST, winner will be contacted via Facebook Messenger to obtain further shipping and service details.
Terms of Promotion
By entering our promotion, you are agreeing to “Like” AndroidTapp.com and/or our articles on your Facebook profile. Separately, to receive one month of free voice & data service you must be willing to record a short video, upload to YouTube, provide us with the link, allowing us to use it for marketing purposes on AndroidTapp.com and in social media. You will be responsible for maintaining service after our initial one month free offering. Winner will receive the phone used in this review which is gently used and has all original box contents. Additionally, you agree and accept the “Rules” above for the promotion.
Tags:
Android 4.0,
Android Smartphone,
HTC,
HTC One V,
HTC One V Android Apps,
HTC One V Apps,
HTC Sense,
Ice Cream Sandwich,
ICS,
Virgin Mobile
Categorised in: Android Phones, Featured, Freebies, News
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