Camera filters (on, you've guessed it, the HTC One X camera!)

So I keep banging on about this phone. But honestly, there's a reason. Apart from the growing kudos from owning this beautiful piece of design ("what is that? Looks like a mini-tablet!") it's got some great functions too.

First up, the camera effects. Bringing up this little screen below lets you choose from a variety of effects

The Solarize setting is one of my favourites and can be stunning at night: 

And distortion can create some pretty quirky effects with the right composition (or just a friend's face, your choice!).

For anyone doubting that mobile photography is a legitimate method of producing art, the HTC One provides a pretty good (8mp) argument. If you're still not sure, here's a picture of a book I saw at the Tate Modern at the weekend, and a link to the book on amazon. It's a bit out of date though, as One X doesn't seem to feature...

HTC One X camera review

Today was a great excuse for an Easter stroll, and to try out the One X's 8mp camera.

It behaved well (and once I have the right shortcuts setup, will be very easy to use) although quite disappointingly, after opening the application a few times it did freeze on a black screen and had to be restarted. Considering the immense processor power behind it, and the advertised camera capabilities (including 'best shot' - take lots in quick succession and choose the best) I was upset it crashed so soon, but time will tell whether it's a regular thing.

Otherwise, the photo quality was good, and I'll let you judge for yourselves below :)

HTC One X review - pretty damn good so far!

I'm writing this review from a brand spanking new HTC One X on O2. So new, in fact, that the shop in Portsmouth hadn't seen one 'unboxed' (cue great excitement from shop staff). They also hadn't got any of the new HTC accessories set up on their till system, probably a blessing in disguise for my bank account anyway ;)
So, first impressions:
- fast. Very, very, fast. Given that my last phone was an HTC hero circa 2009, I was expecting to see good things from the quad core processor. What I wasn't expecting, was the phone to synch all 260 something of my contacts in well under a minute. Having tried everything in great excitement once it charged, it still hasn't crashed or hung, and all the apps are very responsive. This thing's got power!
- user friendly. The lovely cursive HTC font floats over all the functions the first time you use them, explaining what to do. I also wasn't expecting to be gently guided through transferring contacts, but after selecting my old phone's make and model, detailed instructions followed and contacts and texts were sent across via Bluetooth.
So it seems pretty damn good so far. My only current gripe is that O2 claimed it would take 2 hours to connect my account, and so far it's been 7 and still no signal. Thankfully I have WiFi at home so can still play, and will report back again soon...