Hands-on: HTC One TV app

The HTC One's Sense TV app.
(Credit: Jacqueline Seng/CNET Asia)

We were impressed by the HTC One and gave it our Editors' Choice award for its beautiful design and additional software features. However, one of its most underrated features would be the infrared (IR) blaster and preinstalled Sense TV app.
We reckon the app is perfect for users who have subscribed to a gazillion cable channels and constantly lose track of when their favorite shows are being televised.

Set-up

Does this turn the TV on? Why, yes, it did!
(Credit: Jacqueline Seng/CNET Asia)

After selecting your region, you'll be guided to set up your remote controls for your TV (cable and home theater system optional). If you're lucky, the automatic setup should be a relatively painless process. However, I wasn't that lucky and had to use the manual set-up procedure, which was tedious.
To let the app learn the various controls, you'll have to long press each button on the remote while aiming it directly at the HTC One's power button. Grab a cuppa while you do it because the app will memorise 30 buttons on your remote.

This could take some time.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jacqueline Seng/CNET Asia)

On the bright side, the app's guided step-by-step instructions are clear and simple to follow. Once you complete this step, you won't have to do it again (unless you want to control other TV sets at home). If you wish to control more than one TV set, you can add and label other remotes, too.
Now you're all set and ready to watch the goggle box.

Features

Upon firing up the app, the first thing you'll see is a grid of recommended TV programs. The app makes suggestions based on your favorites, as well as programs and channels that are similar to what you like. Scrolling down, you'll see what's showing next on TV, and videos your friends have posted to social networks.

You can favorite TV programs and channels.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jacqueline Seng/CNET Asia)

Tapping on what's showing now automatically changes channels, while tapping on an upcoming program brings up episode information.
If nothing suits your fancy, you can select from a dropdown menu to see all movies, TV programs or sports programs. And similar to our cable set-top boxes, there's a channel guide to see everything that's showing.
Once you've settled on a program, you can multitask on the HTC One, such as send emails, browse through BlinkFeed or surf the Web. When you need to mute your TV, access the controls or return to the app, you can simply do that from the Android dropdown notification bar.

Tap on TV to return to the app, or access the remote and power controls.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jacqueline Seng/CNET Asia)

Sense TV is very well laid out, easy to navigate and, most importantly, intuitive. For example, I like how there's an option to automatically turn the screen on in the settings page when using HTC TV. That means that once you pick up your phone, presumably to change channels, the One automatically wakes itself up so you won't even have to press the unlock button.
And in case you're wondering, we managed to use the IR blaster with no problems at a viewing distance of about 3m.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Sense TV is a brilliant app and probably my most commonly accessed feature besides BlinkFeed. The app is intuitive, easy-to-use and elegantly designed. There's not much I would change about it. However, I did notice that some English-language TV programs strangely had Mandarin synopses--I suspect this probably has more to do with the content partner rather than HTC.
Plus, as I've mentioned before, I like how the IR blaster has been thoughtfully integrated into the power button, rather than simply plonked on top of the handset.
Sony's Xperia ZL also has an IR blaster and a dedicated app, unimaginatively called Remote Control. However, its implementation wasn't as comprehensive and user-friendly as HTC's. The Samsung Galaxy S4 also has IR capabilities, so I'll wait on a review unit to pass judgement on which TV remote is the one that rules them all

Ref: cnet

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