0HTC
One M7
Announced
19 February 2013
Weight
143 grams
Codename
M7
Features
This ground-breaking smartphone was launched as the HTC One, but was later renamed to the HTC One M7 when the company decided to use the HTC One brand for a series of future products. It was initially available in silver and black, but other colours including blue, red and gold were added later.
It was designed under the stewardship of HTC’s Chief Designer, Scott Croyle. It kickstarted a new trend of using a metal unibody for a mobile phone. This was an impressive feat given the challenges of maintaining radio performance when the vast majority of the phone’s body was made of custom-grade aluminium.
HTC had to help develop new manufacturing processes to make the HTC One. The CNC (computer numerical control) process for each aluminium unibody took at least 200 minutes of precision CNC machine cutting. Two grids of laser-cut holes were also machined for the stereo speakers.
These speakers delivered one of the signature experiences on the HTC One: BoomSound. HTC had worked hard to improve the audio performance of its phones and the introduction of BoomSound aligned neatly with its partnership with Beats Electronics, in which HTC had taken a $300 million (25 percent stake) in August 2011.
“Beats Audio” branding is featured on the back of the HTC One, something that had first appeared on the HTC Sensation XE. The Beats Audio integration also meant the phone was tuned for optimal performance with Beats headphones.
The HTC One’s front-facing 2.6-watt stereo speakers, which had a dedicated amplifier, worked extremely well and offered one of the best audio experiences on a mobile phone at the time. HTC had realised that a lot of users were starting to watch and listen to video content on their phones, so having the speakers on the front face of the device optimised this experience.
The camera was another of the big stories on the HTC One. The company had developed a custom “UltraPixel" image sensor that was combined with an f/2.0 aperture lens. It was designed to dramatically improve low-light photography by allowing “300 percent more light than traditional smartphone camera sensors.”
This ambitious development proved somewhat of a headache for HTC once the phone was launched as the image quality received mediocre reviews. Furthermore, in September 2013, the company had to reluctantly acknowledge that some users had experienced a purple or red tint on images when the camera was used in low-light conditions. This was eventually resolved in late 2015 and in certain cases devices had to be sent to HTC to be repaired.
A further camera-related innovation was the HTC Zoe feature. The name Zoe was a shortened version of zoetrope, a cylinder with vertical cuts in the sides which when spun would animate the photos mounted inside.
The HTC One camera captured a three-second “Zoe” video clip every time a photo was taken and thumbnails of these pictures were then “brought to life” in the gallery. Users could also generate short highlight films where various “Zoes” could be grouped together with music, transitions and other effects that could be shared.
HTC also introduced a content aggregation service called “BlinkFeed” which provided personalised updates on topics such as news, sports and entertainment from a variety of content sources such as ESPN, MTV, Vice Media, Reuters and others.
The phone could also be used as a TV remote control by virtue of an IR blaster that was integrated into the power button on the phone. This was controlled by the HTC SenseTV remote app.
Despite the issues with the camera, the HTC One was a hugely successful device with over 5 million units being sold during its first two months of availability. It was also voted the best smartphone of 2013 by the GSMA.
This much-loved device was a trailblazer for metal unibody designs on mobile phones which is a trend that has continued ever since.
These speakers delivered one of the signature experiences on the HTC One: BoomSound. HTC had worked hard to improve the audio performance of its phones and the introduction of BoomSound aligned neatly with its partnership with Beats Electronics, in which HTC had taken a $300 million (25 percent stake) in August 2011.
“Beats Audio” branding is featured on the back of the HTC One, something that had first appeared on the HTC Sensation XE. The Beats Audio integration also meant the phone was tuned for optimal performance with Beats headphones.
The HTC One’s front-facing 2.6-watt stereo speakers, which had a dedicated amplifier, worked extremely well and offered one of the best audio experiences on a mobile phone at the time. HTC had realised that a lot of users were starting to watch and listen to video content on their phones, so having the speakers on the front face of the device optimised this experience.
The camera was another of the big stories on the HTC One. The company had developed a custom “UltraPixel" image sensor that was combined with an f/2.0 aperture lens. It was designed to dramatically improve low-light photography by allowing “300 percent more light than traditional smartphone camera sensors.”
This ambitious development proved somewhat of a headache for HTC once the phone was launched as the image quality received mediocre reviews. Furthermore, in September 2013, the company had to reluctantly acknowledge that some users had experienced a purple or red tint on images when the camera was used in low-light conditions. This was eventually resolved in late 2015 and in certain cases devices had to be sent to HTC to be repaired.
A further camera-related innovation was the HTC Zoe feature. The name Zoe was a shortened version of zoetrope, a cylinder with vertical cuts in the sides which when spun would animate the photos mounted inside.
The HTC One camera captured a three-second “Zoe” video clip every time a photo was taken and thumbnails of these pictures were then “brought to life” in the gallery. Users could also generate short highlight films where various “Zoes” could be grouped together with music, transitions and other effects that could be shared.
HTC also introduced a content aggregation service called “BlinkFeed” which provided personalised updates on topics such as news, sports and entertainment from a variety of content sources such as ESPN, MTV, Vice Media, Reuters and others.
The phone could also be used as a TV remote control by virtue of an IR blaster that was integrated into the power button on the phone. This was controlled by the HTC SenseTV remote app.
Despite the issues with the camera, the HTC One was a hugely successful device with over 5 million units being sold during its first two months of availability. It was also voted the best smartphone of 2013 by the GSMA.
This much-loved device was a trailblazer for metal unibody designs on mobile phones which is a trend that has continued ever since. 
