Black HTC One Press Shot Gets Attention

We are getting very close to the HTC One, aka HTC M7, launch next week, and so far, the images that have leaked look quite interesting, including this black HTC One photo. They show a (seemingly) slim and nice design in either black or silver color. The design is minimalist and the build-quality seems even higher than what HTC did for the HTC One X, which we reviewed last year. On the photo you can see HTC Sense 5, which is quite a departure (design-wise) from previous versions. For the time being, HTC seems to continue investing heavily in its custom user interface that served it well in the past.Keep in mind that marketing photos are often hard to interpret when it comes to build-quality. Something that looks great in a photo sometime feels cheap when you finally get it in your hand. I’m hoping that this is not the case here, because it does look sweet in those photos – but you know how this works, and that’s why you read our reviews, right?

Observers have also commented that it looks like the recent BlackBerry Z10 phones, also reviewed on this site. I agree that the general shape is similar, but I bet that it will feel different. We’re really glad that BlackBerry has taken its products to the next level, though.

So far, we know that HTC is going to push for better audio quality, and this is not really surprising since it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in “audio”, including the Beats acquisition and other efforts. It’s not clear if this time the company will focus on call quality, or music again, but both matter. The launch should happen towards March 22 for US carriers with nearly all of them rumored to be proposing this new HTC One handset.

Ahead of the launch event: what do you think? Silver or black? What do you like about this handset and what should HTC do to get your vote (and dollars)?