HTC’s quad core beast, the One X, gets all the attention, but it’s the One S that we think deserves more praise. It’s thinner, it uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4, it’s smaller, it has a body that’s made out of something that’s been through a plasma bath, but … and this is a huge but, the screen is terrible. Correction, it’s decent, but it isn’t something we wouldn’t want to subject ourselves to after seeing what else is out on the market. That being said, there will be plenty of you guys who could not care less about the screen, and to those folks we have some good news. According to a leaked slide that was acquired by TmoNews, the One S is going to land on store shelves on April 25th. That’s just two weeks away! No word on how much it’ll cost or how much crapware T-Mobile is going to preinstall on it, but if we had to take a guess we’d say it’ll probably be $199 at most.
Should you buy it? Again, the screen is a big deal. Forgetting about the rest of the device, the screen is the one thing you interact with for multiple hours a day. If it’s bad, then the rest of the device is bad. If you don’t mind PenTile, then go ahead, but don’t say we didn’t warn you. T-Mobile is currently selling the Samsung Galaxy S II Titanium for $0 on their website. It has a 4.5 inch Super AMOLED Plus display (read: no PenTile), it has a 42 Mbps HSPA+ radio, and while it doesn’t run Ice Cream Sandwich, at least it’s cheaper.
Look, this is the worst time right now to buy an Android phone. CTIA, the American version of Mobile World Congress, happens next month. Do you have any idea how many phones will be announced then? Plus there’s Samsung’s announcement of the Galaxy S III, which will drive down the price of everything else on the market.
Just wait.