Facebook and HTC have been partners in crime for quite some time; both have worked together to bring forth the HTC Salsa and the HTC Cha Cha, devices that have been dubbed the first set of Facebook Phones. Now HTC and Facebook are at it again with the HTC First, a device with the Facebook Home launcher as the main attraction.
Dieter Bohn with The Verge - "Because of its small size, the First is a pleasure to hold. It nestles comfortably in one hand in a way that few popular Android phones do these days. More so than the iPhone 5, too, thanks in large part to its rounded edges and corners. It's about 0.35 inches thick, which doesn't put it into the world of crazy-thin phones, but neither is it chunky."
Florence Ion with ArsTechnica - "Although most manufacturers play up the high megapixel count on their handsets' cameras, the HTC First makes do with only five megapixels. The phone took great pictures where there was proper lighting, but it had some issues in lower-light settings, especially with dull or incandescent synthetic lighting."
Jessica Doulcourt with CNET - "Real-world tests also yielded speedy results, with Web pages loading expediently, and apps downloading from Google Play in a few seconds. I was also able to stream music and video seamlessly over 4G. On the processing side, the phone's 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon chipset seemed to handle itself well, certainly well enough for the category of phone. Apps loaded quickly and gameplay, while not the most crystal clear or finely detailed I've even seen, was immersive and smooth."
While the HTC First main attraction is the Facebook Home launcher, the consensus here is that the phone is pretty decent on its own. If you want a good Android-based smartphone at a reasonable price, no problem picking up the HTC First. We're sure you'll find a way to get rid of Facebook Home if you don't want it.
HTC First specifications:
Dimensions: 125.99 x 65.04 x 8.89mm (4.96 x 2.56 x 0.35 inches)
Weight: 4.37 oz. (124g)
Screen: 4.3 inches, 1,280 x 720 (341 ppi), S-LCD2, non-PenTile
Battery: 2,000mAh Li-Polymer (non-removable)
Storage: 16GB internal, no external
Camera: 5MP, BSI, f/2, 28mm lens rear; 1.6MP, BSI ultrawide angle front
Video: 1080p / 30 fps (rear); 720p (front)
NFC, LTE, Bluetooth v4.0, WiFi
SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, CPU 1.4GHz dual-core, GPU Adreno 305
RAM 1GB LPDDR2
Android 4.1.2 (stock) + Facebook Home
Micro-USB, Micro-SIM
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