Maxis has recently released it's bundle plans for the HTC One. In view of how popular the smartphone is, Maxis have been a bit more flexible this time around so you can get it on either a 12 or 24 month contract or with a SurfMore or TalkMore plan. For the full details, check out the table below:

Been waiting for Celcom and the HTC One to join forces? Well,  if you have then now is a good time as Celcom are now offering the HTC One for as low as RM1428. As befitting Celcom's flexibility, the telco is offering the 32GB version of the HTC One under 12 months, 18 months and 24 months contracts. For the full pricing details check out the table below:

Considering the HTC One's elegant aluminum unibody design it seems hard to put it through such punishment, but one user did just that, bringing a hammer, knife and key to it. As expected of the scratch resistant screen, it didn't really get damaged by any of the three, and the tough aluminum unibody chassis also didn't dent all that readily. However, this time the torture test was more thorough and exposed the weaknesses of the back and chamfered sides of the aluminum unibody design.

With the HTC One officially launching last week, it was only a matter of time before the telco bundles came out as well, which is what U Mobile had in mind with these HTC One bundles. Considering that the HTC One is probably higher priced than most other smartphones of its class at around RM2299 it is great that U Mobile is offering the smartphone from as low as RM1488. For more details, check out the table below:

Malaysia got its official HTC One launch recently and it saw the Aluminum unibody Android smartphone get both the 32GB and 64GB versions. Price-wise the HTC One 32GB version retails at RM2299 while the HTC One 64GB version retails at RM2499. According to HTC, both versions should be available for the 4 major telcos of Celcom, Maxis, DiGi and U Mobile by early May. SenQ may also get it around this time while other dealers may get it a bit later in mid-May.

While the HTC One has already received an update to make it's Ultrapixel camera better (in that case, less blurry daytime shots) it recently received a new update that makes the HTC One camera performance even better. Below are the listed improvements for the firmware update version 1.29.401.13:

• Improvement to sound capture with Zoe
• Noise reduction in slow motion movie capture
• Improved color reproduction and dynamic range (reduced over-exposure in non-HDR images) in certain conditions
• Fix to display correct ISO in EXIF information when ISO settings are manually changed by the user
• Improved system performance and stability

While the HTC One has yet to arrive, preorders have opened up, specifically under DiGi starting from RM1269. To be more specific, this price is for their DG Smart Plan 148 plan under a 24 months contract but you also have the option to preorder under the DG Smart Plan 58 and DG Smart Plan 88. Check out the plan details as below:

Great Design, Drops Better than the iPhone 5

While the HTC One managed to beat out Apple's iPhone 5 in drop tests recently it should be noted that it is a lot harder to repair. The HTC One recently got a teardown at iFixit (a site which takes apart smartphones and tries to put them back together). In that particular iFixit teardown, the HTC One is the only smartphone to get a repairability score of 1/10, which means it is next to impossible to repair (the Apple iPhone 5 has an iFixit repairability score of 7/10). Tearing down the HTC One the folks at iFixit found:

• Most of the components are covered with copper tape for shielding which when removed looks like used aluminum foil (almost impossible to fix back)
• The battery is attached to the midframe and covered by the motherboard, making it very difficult to replace.
• To replace the display you have to remove the rear case which may require taking apart the entire HTC One.

For quite some time now, Apple's iPhone has touted it's toughness and endurance based on it's aluminum unibody carved from a single block of aluminum. However, it is no longer alone in the smartphone arena as from the horde of plastic Android smartphones comes the HTC One, one of the first Android smartphones to have an aluminum unibody as well. Both have aluminum unibody casings and both have not nearly as tough glass screens. Which one would survive drops better?

HTC One's Ultra-pixel camera has been noted for its much better low-light performance. However, when reviewed at the time, the daylight performance for the camera didn't turn out as well as expected as you could see just a little bit too much noise from shots resulting in a rather blurred effect. Thankfully, this was due to the software it was tested with as the latest software update has proven.