HTC Makes the Global One X+ Official - 1.7 GHz AP37 Tegra 3, 64 GB of Storage

For a while now there has been chatter about HTC updating its One X line, and today those plans have become official with the HTC One X+. The update is a significant spec bump from the existing Tegra 3 based One X, and includes a faster version of Nvidia's Tegra 3 SoC (AP37 in the place of AP33), up to 64GB of NAND, an improved 1.6MP front facing camera, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Sense 4+, and a larger 2100 mAh battery. But one of the most important and interesting parts is that the One X+ includes support for LTE without using a Snapdragon S4 SoC, instead HTC will ship a One X+ with LTE support courtesy Qualcomm's MDM9215 baseband, and a version with the same GSM/WCDMA support as the existing One X through another Intel XMM6260 baseband. 

The move from Tegra 3 AP33 in the international One X to AP37 affords a jump in maximum single-core CPU clock from 1.5 GHz to 1.7 GHz, and a jump in the GeForce ULP GPU clock from 416 MHz to 520 MHz. Otherwise this is the same 40nm LPG Tegra 3 with four ARM Cortex A9s and a fifth 'shadow core' A9 for hotplugging in idle states. HTC reports an increase in performance of 27 percent over the previous One X (T3) and 37 percent more talk time battery life.   

I've put together a comparison table with the details of the One X+ in comparison to the previous One X (T3) and One X (MSM8960) version also known as the One XL. The One XL doesn't go away now that the One X+ is out, either, but the One X+ with LTE does take its place at the high end. 

The One X+ also ships running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and HTC Sense 4+ which includes improvements to Sense UI and layout. I had a chance to play with the One X+ running Android 4.1 and noted some welcome improvements to the stock HTC keyboard, and that Sense 4+ struck a good balance with the changes made in Android 4.1's UI, including the better notifications and different styling. Both the existing international One X and One S will be updated to Android 4.1 sometime in October.

The One X+ is slightly heavier in the hands (135 vs 130 grams) but doesn't feel all that different and maintains the same external dimensions. I wasn't able to determine if the larger battery includes the higher voltage chemistry that a number of other OEMs have moved to, though it's obvious the energy density has gone up. 

The non-LTE One X+ includes the same GSM/EDGE and WCDMA bands as the previous international version (850/900/1900/2100 MHz for WCDMA, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz for GSM/EDGE) and of course the same HSPA+ capabilities since it includes the same Intel XMM6260 baseband. I don't have any word at the moment on what LTE bands will be supported on the One X+ with LTE, but with MDM9215 and possibly WTR1605 we could see more than the One XL. Qualcomm's MSM8960 SoC contains the same IP block that's inside MDM9215 and is still 28nm. It's interesting to see the One X+ using this combination as it may finally put to rest the talk of Tegra 3 being "incompatible" with LTE. 

Source: HTC One X+