HTC One XL given Telstra Blue Tick approval

Telstra today announced that the HTC One XL has earned its Blue Tick classification — the first 4G smartphone to do so.

The Blue Tick scheme is to promote handsets with superior network reception, which the telco recommends to its customers in regional Australia. This category of the Telstra range used to be the domain of its self-branded feature phones, though lately we've seen smartphones enter the Blue Tick ranks, including the Motorola Defy and the BlackBerry Torch.

The HTC One XL is the first 4G phone to be advertised with a Blue Tick, though it is unlikely that customers taking advantage of the extra coverage will also be in the vicinity of the 4G network. The network operates in a 5km radius of Australia's capital cities and a number of other major regional hubs.

Telstra's pricing for the One XL starts at AU$65 per month on a Freedom Connect plan. The handset is the flagship release for HTC this year, with a 4.7-inch super LCD display, a dual-core Qualcomm processor and an 8-megapixel camera on-board.