With the HTC Corp's market share and revenue having more than halved in the last 18 months or so, and with investors waiting with bated breath to see a turnaround in HTC's fortunes, the company has recently released its most important handset of the year - the HTC `One.'

The redesigned and overhauled Android-based HTC One smartphone - which is essentially a consumer/lifestyle device - was released by HTC's CEO Peter Chou at a London event; and, as per HTC's US President Mike Woodward, is "the best phone ever made."

Some of the most noteworthy features of the HTC One handset, encased in an aluminum body, include 4.7-inch, full 1080p Gorilla Glass screen; a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor clocked at 1.7 GHz; 2 GB of RAM; and 32GB and 64GB onboard storage options.

The handset also boasts a 2300 mAh battery; NFC; Bluetooth 4.0; DLNA wireless streaming support; a micro-USB 2.0 port; 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n Wi-Fi. The smartphone also has a reworked camera, according to HTC, uses a custom `Ultrapixel' sensor with larger pixels that gather more light through its f2.0/28mm lens; thereby yielding better performance for both HDR still photos and full HD video.

Terming the One smartphone as the "most important product for the year" for HTC, Lu Chia-lin - who rates the stock hold at Taipei's Daiwa Securities Group - said: "They (HTC) are already in a vicious cycle of failed launches leading to lower brand awareness which hurts future releases."