HTC upgrades One X smartphone with faster processor, more storage

The HTC One X+ will start shipping in Europe and Asia in October, and a U.S. model will soon be announced



IDG News Service - HTC has upgraded its flagship smartphone, the One X, with a faster processor, twice the integrated storage capacity and a bigger battery, the company said on Tuesday.

The new model is called the HTC One X+, and the company is hoping that it can compete more successfully than its predecessor with Samsung's Galaxy S III and Apple's iPhone. Like other vendors, HTC has had a hard time keeping up with the smartphone market's two dominating forces.

The One X+ is powered by a 1.7GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 AP37 processor and has 64GB of integrated storage.

The processor upgrade will improve the overall performance of the phone, including smoother gaming and faster downloads, according to HTC. The original 3G model had a 1.5GHz quad-core processor.

HTC has also increased the size of the battery from 1,800mAh to 2,100mAh.

The screen still measures 4.7 inches and has the same 1280-by-720-pixel resolution, but it is now protected by Gorilla Glass 2. The phone's size is also the same, but it is 5 grams heavier.

The phone now announced is 3G only, according to HTC's spec sheet.

In the U.S. LTE has become a standard feature on smartphones from Verizon Wireless and AT&T. But LTE has also started to take off in Europe; the Samsung Galaxy S III and the iPhone 5 both support LTE spectrum bands used in countries such as the U.K. and Germany.

HTC didn't immediately reply to questions about a One X+ with LTE for Europe. Details about the U.S. launch will be announced shortly, according to HTC.

On the software side, the One X+ will use Android 4.1 (also known as Jelly Bean), which will also be available for the One X and the One S from October.

The new phone will start shipping in October in Europe and Asia, but pricing was not announced.

By Mikael Ricknäs

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