HTC One Mini competes with Apple iPhone 5 for single hand crown (Gallery)

Yesterday HTC announced the HTC One Mini and that afternoon I had a chance to sit down with them and try out the Mini. I really like my T-Mobile HTC One and love the feel of the device in my hand, but the HTC One Mini almost disappears in my hand and is a direct competitor to the iPhone 5 for top dog in the premium one-handed smartphone category.

While Android and Windows Phone devices have taken off in display size, Apple has kept things small with 3.5 inch and 4 inch displays. I have an iPhone 5 and when I am going out for the night and want a device that slips into and disappears in my pocket I choose the iPhone over all the others. The HTC One Mini feels even better than the iPhone 5 in your hand and I agree with Rich Brome's statement, "The One mini is hands-down the best-feeling phone I have ever held in one hand."

HTC was able to include the fantastic BoomSound dual-front facing stereo speakers, unique ultra-pixel camera with all the latest 4.2.2 improvements, and an aluminum shell that can't be beat. You will find the bezel is plastic instead of metal, which HTC said saves on device construction costs and really doesn't take much away from the premium feel.

The 4.3 inch display looks fantastic and even though the resolution is smaller than we see on the HTC One, the smaller size means the pixel density remains high at 341 ppi. I tested out BlinkFeed, played with the camera application, and jumped around the device a bit. It felt responsive and the experience matched what I see on my HTC One. I'll get a chance to test out the battery life, performance, camera quality, and much more when a future review unit arrives.

We don't yet know when and where it is coming in the US. My wife loves her HTC One, but I think she would take the HTC One Mini instead since it fits her hand better and she never uses the IR functionality, LTE, or NFC so she wouldn't even notice the things left out to make the device smaller.

Related ZDNet HTC One articles

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• An HTC One without Sense is not an HTC One
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The Beats Audio logo will be changed to white and silver in the production model.

The one missing feature in the camera is OIS.

Note that the IR port is no longer included.