The HTC One, the Taiwanese company’s flagship smartphone device, goes on sale today across the U.S. at retail stores including AT&T, Sprint, Best Buy, Walmart Target and more, as well as online via those retailers, HTC itself, Amazon and beyond. The phone has already been highly praised by early reviews and anyone who seems to have gotten their lucky mitts on one, but will that be enough to sway consumers?
HTC has arguably not made a truly bad phone in at least the past two years, and last year the HTC One X truly excelled. But that hasn’t stopped HTC’s earnings from sliding for five consecutive quarters now. The One, which is as significant a break from tradition in terms of how Android smartphones are designed as any we’ve yet seen, is the company’s big bet to turn things around, and they appear to have spared no effort.
The One has a unibody full metal body design, a first for a smartphone, as well as speakers that don’t suck, itself an achievement for any kind of phone. Reviews of the UltraPixel camera have been good, too, with Mobile Syrup calling it “the best low-light camera you can buy.” And the HTC software features, including BlinkFeed and HTC Zoe, are also drawing praise from press and reviewers.
HTC has a big mountain to climb in terms of coming anywhere close to competing with Android juggernaut Samsung, or Apple and its iPhone in terms of market share. But the HTC One is the best chances anyone has had of doing so in a long time. If only they’d left Van Der Beek out of this.
For those looking to pick one up today, here’s a full list of its current U.S. availability direct from HTC:
The new HTC One in silver is available nationwide at:
- AT&T: Online and in retail with 32GB of memory for $199.99, or online with 64GB of memory for $299.99 with a two-year commitment.
- Sprint: Online and in retail with 32GB of memory for $199.99 with a two-year commitment.
- Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walmart, Target, Amazon.com, Costco, Car Toys, Sam’s Club, HSN.com andHTC.com.
- Coming soon to T-Mobile in silver with 32GB of memory, and available in the coming weeks in black at AT&T and Sprint with 32GB of memory.