David Pierce Reviews The HTC One
That’s all nice to have, but it doesn’t change the fact that the pictures I took on the One just don’t look very good. Sure, shots are bright and colors are good, but it’s clear noise reduction processing is running roughshod all over the photos you take, leaving them soft and mushy even in good lighting. Nothing looks sharp or crisp, no matter the situation. Things look fine at Facebook or Instagram sizes, which HTC is clearly betting is all you need, but when you zoom or crop, photos lose a lot of their luster. I like the shots I’m able to get with the One’s camera — I’ve started taking more pictures in dark restaurants, or on the street at night — but I’m not always impressed with the shots I get.
It’s a better portrayal of the “UltraPixel” technology than what the team at GSMArena concluded, but it isn’t good enough to be called a historic moment in camera technology. Pierce still concludes the review by calling the camera “mediocre”.