The new HTC One. One of the big three battling it out for Android supremacy in the first half of 2013 – along with Sony’s Xperia Z and the recently launched Samsung GALAXY S 4.

If you’re interested in a quick glance at the specs and an overview of the features, this is not the post for you. Today we’re going to dive deep into over a month’s worth of daily use.

If you’d prefer a shorter version, no problem – your escape route is right through here, or we have our video introduction below.

My first experience with the HTC One was an interesting one. This new phone, whose camera I had heard so much about, had no camera. Nada, zilch, nothing. What gives?

I was told that this was due to a shortage of parts, namely, the camera module itself. It turns out was still more work to be done before HTC’s engineers were satisfied that it was good enough. The lens and cover were there, teasing me with what was to come.

In time, HTC would prove that the One’s camera was completely worth the wait.

Getting Started

From the very start, the One was clearly going to be a very, very different experience. The set-up wizard smoothly guides you through the set-up process to get your phone up and running by offering to link the various cloud services you may or may not want to use.

Within minutes my Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Exchange and Dropbox accounts were ready to go. Overall the set up procedure is simple, straightforward and brief enough not to be frustrating.

Software

HTC has a new approach to the homescreen they’ve dubbed “BlinkFeed”. A Flipboard-meets-Windows Phone interface that brings in news, social updates, calendar appointments, TV schedules and of course the ubiquitous (and refreshed) HTC weather clock widget.

It targets a demographic they’ve dubbed “Generation Feed”. While I’ve certainly been called worse in my time, I do find the moniker peculiar. Are they trying to tell me I eat too much?

Before you can start driving your new phone, you’re prompted to choose your favourite categories of news and blogs. This is to help populate BlinkFeed with the news that’s interesting and relevant to you.

The available content streams are varied, relevant and most importantly local. Too often these content plays will only show me American news, or at best an option for “Asia Pacific”. Kudos to HTC for taking the time to provide some local options. I have AAP, news.com.au, and Gizmodo Australia filtering in right alongside my Facebook.

Although I initially enabled it, I’ve switched off the Twitter feed as I follow over 600 accounts and that leads to an overwhelming experience.

Strangely, I have found that I need to manually refresh the feed throughout the day. I have checked the option to allow automatic refreshes over the mobile network as well as WiFi but it doesn’t seem to do much. I’ve only found it updates in the morning and evening and when I force it to refresh. This is perhaps a bug to be addressed in a future update.

BlinkFeed’s single-minded proposition is to quickly grab the updates you’re interested in during those fleeting moments you have to stay connected; in the line for a coffee, waiting for a train and as you mash the “door close” button to avoid sharing an elevator.

Where Twitter was once my go-to anti-boredom solution, I found myself leaning on BlinkFeed significantly more, and with its gorgeous image-rich interface it has was even more enjoyable. I traded in my HTC One for another handset recently and realised I missed it.

Some people love HTC’s flavour of Android, some people hate it. Those who insist on a “Pure Google” and “give me stock or give me death” approach to their handsets are unlikely to be swayed by HTC’s latest iteration, “Sense 5″.

If you’re on the lookout for something which makes your handset experience a little bit easier to manage and brings in a depth of new features, Sense 5 may be for you.

Built-in Apps

Fancy features aside, I still rely on my phone for a few mission-critical purposes. I live and die by timely responses to emails and with an office spread across six floors it’s impossible to remember a day’s agenda (and their locations) without prompts.

The two things I absolutely need a handset to manage perfectly are my email and diary. If there is one platform that has this down pat, it’s Windows Phone. It remains my benchmark against which all other platforms are judged, possibly from years of Outlook experience.

The email application that ships with Sense 5 is excellent, with a great three-column layout of Inbox, Important and Unread. This allows me to keep on top of my often manic, always catastrophic inbox. As a small gripe, I would prefer the option to reorder these columns so I can place the often used “Unread” option one swipe closer to my inbox.

Update: HTC got in touch to let us know that these can in fact be reordered by pressing and holding on the top bar of the inbox. Problem solved!

Aside from minor quibbles, the email client is powerful, quick, threads conversations well and also offers HTC’s clever “Smart Sync” behaviour. Smart Sync learns how you use your inbox and adjusts the sync schedule accordingly to save on battery life. Nice.

The Calendar app is equally full-featured and lays out appointments in an easy to read agenda layout. It even includes the weather forecast at the top of the page which is a handy way to plan your week, especially if you use public transport.

Oh the things I would do to get this agenda view on my home screen as a widget…

In its place I have been using Google’s built-in widget. The HTC widgets only offer me either my next two appointments or the entire month.

This is definitely a Goldilocks problem: either too hot or too cold, and never just right.

Sense TV

One of the less discussed features of the One is Sense TV. With “second screening” during TV-viewing skyrocketing over the last 18 months, it’s no surprise that HTC wanted to tap into this phenomenon.

Using an online directory of TV guide information, Sense TV pulls down a catalogue of what’s playing in your area. I found that Freeview in Sydney was well covered but Foxtel was not yet available. The experience in your area may vary (and may indeed be updated in due course).

Hidden cleverly behind the sleep/wake button of the One is an infrared blaster. This means Sense TV doesn’t just tell you what’s coming up next, it can change the channel for you once it’s time too. No more remote hunting! Finally.

It quickly recognised the remote profile for my Samsung TV at home, but I’ve had mixed success with various other lesser-known brands in meeting rooms around the office.

For those who are a little forgetful or like to plan their TV viewing days in advance, Sense TV will let you know what’s on that night and an alert will remind you at just the right moment.

Camera

HTC have declared war on the “megapixel myth”. They claim that the race to the largest sensor has led to a market that chases the numbers rather than chasing quality.

Bucking this trend, HTC’s UltraPixel camera features only four megapixels of sensor, but each individual pixel is up to three times larger than other cameras in the market.

Cameras, like telescopes, are often referred to as “light buckets” and you capture more light with a larger bucket. By using larger individual pixels (or “UltraPixels”), the HTC One can capture a better quality image with less noise and less interference.

There’s been a few times where the HTC One’s UltraPixel camera has really shone, these photos I took are the best examples I’ve found to demonstrate its excellent low-light performance.

Taken from the rooftop of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, the HTC One shows an incredible range of colour and light right as dusk is about to fall.

In this image you can clearly see a full range of lighting situations from multiple sources captured in a single shot. From direct light to shadows to reflections, they’re all there and crystal clear.

On a suburban street on a rainy night, the One’s camera not only captures the streetlight down the way, but also the beams of light reflecting off a car’s window.

This is the most impressive detail I’ve seen in any mobile phone camera and I’m damn impressed. Where other phones have required a flash to get any kind of usable image, the HTC One delivers crisp, clear and colourful photos automatically.

I’ve been using the HTC One for over a month, and I’m still yet to activate the flash. For me, that’s a sign of an excellent camera.

HTC Zoe + ZoeShare

The concept of photographs has remained fairly consistent over the last 150 years. You point your camera at something, the subject stays still, and you capture the light. Of course we’ve evolved from Daguerrotypes to film, through Polaroids and now onto digital but the core idea has never really changed.

HTC Zoe seeks to change that, by capturing short moment of life rather than an instant in time. When you open the camera app, it begins recording immediately and when you tap the shutter button it saves the previous second and two seconds after. This means that even if you’re a bit slow to grab the shot, you can still scroll back and save the frame that’s best.

I wasn’t sold on the concept initially. After 150 years of entrenched status quo it seems a bit odd that you could tell a story of any value with only three seconds. But with the explosive growth of Vine in recent months, it’s seems that people are getting used to the idea of sharing short snippets of video.

It was only through ongoing use that I really began to appreciate the benefits of Zoe. A sunset over water, while beautiful, is so much more powerful when you can see the ripples on the surface. A photo of a peaceful day in the park is genuinely enhanced by the sight of wind in the trees and birdsong on the breeze. Within a few days I was converted.

The benefit of all these snippets of video piling up in your phone is that you’ve already got the building blocks of a slide night on steroids. With the inclusion of location info and a timestamp now par for the course with smartphone photos, the HTC One can intelligently build event albums based on photos that were taken around the same time and in the same place.

ZoeShare takes these events and with the touch of a button, arranges the videos and photos of your day into a simple 30-second highlights reel. There are six themes (each with a different style and backing track) and if you don’t like the order of photos you can remix them with a single tap. A few more taps and the highlight reel can be uploaded to HTC’s website where it will live for six months (180 days). If you’d prefer more longevity, you can export it to a video just as easily and store it or upload to YouTube.

It’s become my go-to way of sharing a day out or a selection of holiday snaps.

Design + Speakers

HTC have always been stalwarts in brilliant industrial design. The HTC One X was widely regarded as the best designed phone of 2012, with the Windows Phone 8X coming in at a close second.

HTC have done away with their signature polycarbonate and have instead employed a stunningly gorgeous aluminium chassis. We’ve been told that it takes 150 minutes to machine each and every shell, with a diamond-headed cutter carving out the attractive chamfer that runs along the case’s edge.

In what HTC’s claimed to be a first, the HTC One features “zero gap” construction and an antenna that is embedded directly into the metal. No more tell-tale plastic gaps or covers are to be found. Compared with other phones, I’ve not noticed any degradation in signal performance and our product assurance testing backs that up.

When you look at the front of the HTC One it’s clear what it hopes to deliver. The front is dominated by the 4.7″ (119.4mm) Full HD (1080p) Super LCD 3 display. Basically this tech jargon means you have the resolution of your home HDTV crammed into something you can hold in your hand. The clarity and quality makes this, without a doubt, the best smartphone screen I’ve ever seen.

Two wide speaker grills flank the gorgeous screen; Meet HTC BoomSound. For so long smartphone loudspeakers have been placed on the rear of the phone, blasting sound into the nearest table, car cradle or into your meaty palm. Seems a bit pointless, right?

BoomSound is a pair of high-fidelity speakers that each have a dedicated hardware amplifier. As with any HTC handset of late, Beats Audio integration is included. Loud, clear, and most importantly, front-facing. It just makes sense.

Performance & Battery life

I’m a firm believer that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and you can’t judge a phone by a specs sheet. So let’s make this simple: The HTC One is an incredibly powerful phone that will not leave you wanting for more grunt. It has enough RAM, enough processing power and enough battery to tackle anything you throw at it. That’s it.

On the topic of battery, my yardstick for a phone is whether or not it can get me through the day. I often leave the house at around 8:00AM and get home between 6:00PM and 9:00PM. I stream Spotify on the commute to and from work and occasionally stop off for a quick game of Ingress.

The HTC One lasts me the entire day without a hitch. If I know I’m heading out for the evening all I need to do is give it a quick top-up in the afternoon. Fortunately for me, a Micro USB charger is never too far away in this office so it’s not a difficult task. Your own use will vary (of course).

Summary

Right now, the HTC One is the phone to beat. In my opinion, there is nothing on the market that matches it in terms of features, performance, innovation and design. While hardcore Android fans may criticise HTC, I applaud them for trying something different with their reboot and reimagining of Sense.

With the recent launch of the Galaxy S 4, it’s certainly up against some stiff competition. I’m eager to get my hands on Samsung’s new flagship in order to compare and contrast my experiences.

There’s one thing that’s for certain, Australian smartphone customers are spoiled for choice and it’s been a long time since there have been such incredible phones available.

We know how much you love to have the latest software on your phone and we love to get it to you. But, we can’t always get it to you as quickly as you’d like.

What we can do is keep you in the loop throughout the process. This weekly wrap is our way of doing that.

Stuff you need to know about software updates

Just as we don’t make the phones we sell, we don’t code the software that runs on them.

We do some testing to make sure they work as we expect them to, but that’s all there is to our part in the process.

Software updates are complicated, and there’s a lot of moving parts to take into account (enough to fill three whole blog posts). But that’s for us to worry about, not you.

We’ll do the hard work behind the scenes like chasing our suppliers and doing the testing.

The easy stuff is letting you know how we’re progressing, and that’s where this post and the table below comes in.

News from overseas

All the info we have on the updates we know about is below. Keep in mind though that this just for us here at Vodafone AU.

What happens overseas doesn’t apply locally, so that UK release you read about on the web won’t be coming to your phone straight away.

As soon as we hear news though, this is the place to read all about it. I’ll be back for you again next week so stay tuned if what you’re looking for isn’t here yet.

What’s in the labs?

Devices which are listed in bold type indicate a change from last week:

Hi Everyone,

Please find below our network developments for this week.

For more information on updates regarding the network:

• Check out our previous Weekly Network Updates
• Vodafone network services update
• Network Improvement: Role of Transmission Sites
• Network Improvement – Role of Network Sites
• Customer Update: Network Improvement
• Vodafone Network status page

This is the good news you’ve been waiting for. We will be continuing to upgrade our network in New South Wales, giving you better reception and faster download speeds.

But before you can make the most of it, we have to get to work. And that means you might experience some disruption to your mobile service – including calls, txting and downloading – at the times listed in the table below.

We know this sort of disruption can be a real pain so we’ll be as quick as possible. Just remember that once we’re done your service should be better than ever.

Sticking to the schedule 

We’ll try our best to stick to the above schedule. But since things like bad weather can slow our progress or change the plan, we’ll keep you up to date here.

Thanks for your patience, and we hope you’re looking forward to a better Vodafone network in your area.

This is the good news you’ve been waiting for. We will be continuing to upgrade our network in Victoria, giving you better reception and faster download speeds.

But before you can make the most of it, we have to get to work. And that means you might experience some disruption to your mobile service – including calls, txting and downloading – at the times listed in the table below.

We know this sort of disruption can be a real pain so we’ll be as quick as possible. Just remember that once we’re done your service should be better than ever.

We’ll try our best to stick to the above schedule. But since things like bad weather can slow our progress or change the plan, we’ll keep you up to date here.
Sticking to the schedule 

Thanks for your patience, and we hope you’re looking forward to a better Vodafone network in your area.

We had a lot of inspiring entries and the decision was tough, but we’ve hand picked three people who we’re confident have what it takes to bring you exciting, exclusive, behind the scenes action live from The Voice!

Here’s a little more about #TeamVodafone and what they’re looking forward to in their VIP role.

Twitter: @katepatto

Instagram: katepatto

Kate is a community manager by day and self confessed social media addict by night, she loves staying up to date with everything related to pop-culture and entertainment.

Kate has enjoyed following the dynamic and playful tension between the coaches on The Voice and is looking forward to exploring this topic live from the shows and sharing this with her followers on social media.

Twitter @paulymaybury

Instagram paulymaybury

Pauly is an enthusiastic dancer, singer, actor and model – he’s worked with the likes of Vanessa Amorossi and Ke$ha but you might know him better as B2 from the Bananas in Pyjamas live shows.

Pauly is looking forward to going behind the scenes on The Voice and sharing the action with his followers via social media

Twitter: @AnAngelChampion

Instagram: anangelchampion

Melanie is an experienced and passionate marketer, events planner, blogger and MC, with a sharp eye for style and spunk.

Melaine loves the springboard opportunities that The Voice offers local talent. She is a huge supporter of local artists and is looking forward to watching them on their journey to reach the next level in their careers.

So, if you’re as addicted to The Voice as us, tune in live and join the conversation on Twitter using #TeamVodafone for the inside scoop, remember to follow @VodafoneAU and our VIP Social reporters. So you don’t miss a beat.

We’ll also be posting a wrap up of each live show (including what you don’t see on TV) on the blog, so watch this space.

For a while now, you’ve been able to setup and use your iPhone (and iPad) without ever needing to touch a computer.  This makes it super easy to manage your phone, but might leave you a little lost trying to work out how to move everything over to a different phone.  The good news for music in particular is that it’s really not that hard (at least, not when you know what to do).

Our support article takes you through what to do, it’s basically a two step process:

• Get your tracks off your iPhone
• Load up your new phone with music

Getting more music on your new phone

Even if you’re moving to a different phone permanently, you can continue using iTunes to manage your library and transfer tunes to your phone.  If you want to continue purchasing music on the move directly from your phone, there are other options which can help make it as streamlined as it was with your iPhone:

• For Android – Music on Google Play (a newie, only launched in Australia last month!)
• For Windows Phone – Xbox music store

Now could be the time to checked out some of the streaming services that are available as well, such as Sony’s music unlimited, Spotify or Pandora.  They’re a great way to rediscover old favourites and unearth new music to build up your library.

Get ready to fly on 4G!

4G is coming to Vodafone, and when it does… whooshka!

If you’re using an iPhone 5, iPad mini or iPad with Retina Display, you’ve already got yourself a 4G-ready device. On Saturday, we began turning on their 4G capability. Sweet, huh?

This tiny update will roll out gradually over the next few weeks, so don’t worry if you haven’t seen it yet. Just sit back, relax, and once June rolls around…you’ll be ready to fly!

Where to now?

Learn more

Visit our Support Knowledgebase for detailed info on what’s included in this update how and you can install it to your device.

Need help?

The Vodafone Community is a great place to get help from other customers and our Help & Support Team, or just share your favourite thing about the update.

Book in for a service

If you don’t feel comfortable installing the update yourself, or experience an issue after the upgrade our Service Centre can help. Find out how to book your device in for a service.

Give us a call

If you’d prefer to speak to us over the phone, our Technical Support Team is here to assist. View our contact details and current wait times.

What’s so great about the Samsung GALAXY S4, and why is it better than its predecessor? While there’s always a sizeable buzz around the release of the next big handset, one question is always supreme above all the others: what can this phone do for me?
In this  blog post, we take a look at the Samsung GALAXY S4′ impressive new features and what it can do for busy professionals who want to keep on top of both their job and their personal life – all in the palm of their hand.

Productivity wherever you are

According to Samsung, the GALAXY S4 has been specifically designed with the well-connected multitasker in mind. This includes:

S Voice Drive

If you’re always on the go, it can be tempting to try and use your phone in the car – a recipe for disaster. However, with S Voice Drive, you have access to a simpler, more streamlined interface, text to speech technology and a whole host of other features to make your journey easier. Perhaps most importantly of all, however, it allows you to perform all those tasks that usually require your hands – making or answering calls, organising messages or asking for directions – with both hands safely on the steering wheel.

S Translator

Travelling from county to country is par for the course in a lot of jobs. Fortunately, this nifty S4 feature can help. Whether you’re trying to make sure you’re understood by potential clients or getting recommendations on a local restaurant’s cuisine from the maître d, S Translator is able to provide you with a written or audio version of exactly what you want to say (or what others are trying to say to you).

High performance specs

The Samsung GALAXY S4 is more than capable of keeping up with even the most demanding user’s requirements. Some of the niftiest of its features include:

Front and rear cameras

The GALAXY S4’s rear camera clocks in at a whopping 13 megapixels, allowing you to take stunning HD photos and videos should the opportunity arise. Its 2 megapixel front-facing camera isn’t too shabby either, allowing you to make video or conference calls wherever you go with an internet connection.

In addition to being an incredible piece of hardware, the S4 has even more photographic tricks up its sleeve:

• Dual Camera – The GALAXY S4 can take photos of subjects with its rear and front-facing cameras at the same time before sticking them together. It can also do the same with video, allowing you to have video calls that can show more than just a single view
• Drama Shot – This mode allows you to seamlessly merge a series of snaps into one dynamic photo, creating truly breath-taking images
• Sound & Shot – This feature allows you to accompany your photos with a soundbite, adding a unique extra layer of memorability to your HD snaps

Stay connected

The GALAXY S4 has a number of features specifically designed to keep your files close at hand no matter where you are, making hefty portable hard drives and lost memory sticks a distant memory.

• Samsung Hub – Want videos, games, music, learning resources or any other media delivered straight to your phone (or indeed any other device)? The Samsung Hub allows you to get all of these from one integrated store in an easy to use magazine layout
• WatchON – WatchON allows you to connect your phone to your home entertainment system, turning it into the ultimate TV remote. Capable of providing you with schedules, suggestions and even able to surf channels for you, you’ll never need the remote as long as you have your phone

Samsung GALAXY S4 reviews

The S4 certainly looks to be an incredible piece of tech, with the above being just some of the awesome features it has to offer. As such, it’s no surprise that most of the tech world is talking about it. Unfortunately it’s not available to buy in Australia yet, but in the meantime here’s a hands-on look at the GALAXY S4 by Engadget to tide you over.

Think that the Samsung GALAXY S4 is the phone for you? Visit our product page for more details

Hi Everyone,

Please find below our network developments for this week.

For more information on updates regarding the network:

• Check out our previous Weekly Network Updates
• Vodafone network services update
• Network Improvement: Role of Transmission Sites
• Network Improvement – Role of Network Sites
• Customer Update: Network Improvement
• Vodafone Network status page