The HTC One, released earlier this year, is a dazzling smartphone in many respects. For some, however, it is perhaps a bit too big. That’s why HTC created the HTC One mini, a smaller version of its flagship phone with the smaller-handed public in mind. If you like premium phones, but need something more human-size than today's phablets, the One mini is well worth a look.
Body
The HTC One mini is small, but only when compared to the One, the Galaxy S4, the LG G2, and other modern flagship smartphones that blur the line between tablet and phone. It’s not as compact as an iPhone 5, for example, but it is smaller than its bigger brother. It carries over the same high-quality design and feel from the One and makes only a few compromises to gain the desired reduction in size.
The most obvious change to the design between the One and mini is where the metal and plastic materials meet. The One sandwiches plastic between two metallic platters; the mini's front and back surfaces are instead placed into a polycarbonate frame that wraps all the way around the outer edge of the smaller phone. The effect is that the mini has more obvious plastic pieces as part of the design (see comparison images below). I wish the plastic on the mini was matte instead of glossy. The glossy finish cheapens the look just a wee bit, in my opinion.
