HTC One M8 Review.
HTC was once a dominant source of Android phones until Samsung took the lead with the Galaxy series of devices. It can be such simple ideas and changes that make or break how successful a phone can be. Mobile phones are so advanced today it’s hard for designer to distinguish their product from the competition. Can HTC accomplish this with the HTC One M8?
Over the last couple of years HTC went stale and lost their way. HTC had some of the first iPhone challengers available and then they just seemed to lose their touch. It was clear HTC needed a reboot and this is what they did with the original HTC One.
The original HTC One had a few distinct differences. They created a solid uni-body designed phone built from a single, machined piece of aluminum. They moved the speakers to the front of the device with Boomsound, which in my opinion was one of their best moves ever. They also changed the camera to use a lower pixel resolution and enhanced the software to do wonderful things with it. Their claim was most people don’t use their mobile devices as a camera replacement, but instead they use them as a device to post pictures onto social networks and for showing on the screen of the phone, so why have a mega pixel camera.
The main feature of the HTC One was the design and build of the phone. They came up with a process for making the majority of the body from a solid piece of aluminum machined to insert the innards required for the phone. The end result was a beautifully crafted piece of art that anyone would be proud to carry around. It felt solid and looked beautiful.
Continuing on the award winning success of the HTC One, HTC created the HTC One M8. There is the obvious DNA of the previous model with more aluminum and curves and rounded edges, better sounding speakers, and more enhancements to the low resolution camera. The results are nothing short of perfection, or are they?
Specs
HTC has increased the specs of the HTC One M8 to include the latest and greatest components. The processors is the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8974ABv3 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 801 MSM8974ABv3 clocked at 2.3 GHz. the screen has been increased to a 5″ 1080p LCD display. The battery has been increased to 2600 mAh and HTC has still found space to include a microSD card slot.
One interesting upgrade is the increase in resolution of the front facing camera to 5MP for super sharp selfies. That’s more resolution than the 4MP found in the rear facing camera. Selfie shots and video chat are crystal clear so kudos to HTC for this enhancement.
Size: 146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35 mm
CPU Speed: 2.3 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 801, quad-core CPUs
Memory: Total storage: 16GB/32GB, available capacity varies
RAM: 2GB
Expansion: Expansion card slot supports microSD™ memory card for up to 128GB additional storage (card not included)
Rear Duo camera
Primary camera: HTC UltraPixel™ camera , BSI sensor, pixel size 2.0 um, sensor size 1/3”, f/2.0, 28mm lens
HTC ImageChip 2. 1080p Full HD video recording with HDR video
Secondary camera: capture depth information
Front camera
5MP, BSI sensor, wide angle lens. with HDR capability, 1080p Full HD video recording
Gallery with UFocus™, Dimension Plus™, Seasons, Foregrounder, Image match
Weight: 160g
Display: 5.0 inch, Full HD 1080p
Battery: 2600 mAh Embedded rechargeable Li-polymer battery
Talk time: Up to 20 hours for 3G
Standby time: Up to 496 hours for 3G
More details can be found on the HTC One M8 Information Page.
Build
HTC had a hit with the HTC One and now had a choice to make for its next flagship device. Was the HTC One so successful that trying to make a sequel to it would not have the required effect of a new device or create a new phone that was somehow different and an obvious leap in their device evolution!
The HTC One M8 is a clear sequel to an already proven and successful design, but it’s enhanced in all the right places that makes it a clear step up from the previous HTC One.
The tooling process has been improved even further for the HTC One M8 with the body made from 90% metal, which is an increase from the previous HTC One’s 70% metal. The results are immediately obvious from your first glance at the device, screaming quality compelling you to look twice.
If you walked into a store and browsed through the latest round of devices, I guarantee that after looking at every device, you’d go back to the HTC One M8 as the obvious choice in the high end design of phones. This includes the very well design iPhone 5. It’s just done right and looks incredible.
Due to the size increase and more metal, it does weight more than most other devices, weighing in at about 160gms makes it feel stronger and feels like you’re getting more phone for your dollars.
Some people have argued that the inclusion of the front facing Boomsound speakers has increased the length of the device too much, but as soon as you hear what sound they can produce, how can you argue that it was a wrong decision. Even with the increase in size, I still find myself being able to use the HTC One M8 one handed for the majority of tasks.
The gentle curves take the rear of the phone around to the front bezel without a single break or plastic edging. The subtle lines across the top and bottom of the back neatly breaking up the brushed aluminum. Every little detail oozes with quality.
When you pick up the HTC One M8 it feels solid and comfortable. The curves just fit perfectly in your hand and the lack of sharp edges are welcome. The designers obviously paid a lot of attention to detail and in my opinion created something that has very little room for change.
You’ll find the usual button selection around the HTC One M8. On the top you’ll find the Power button on the same surface as the IR transmitter used if you want to control your home audio and video equipment.
The bottom edge is the location of the USB/Power port and the 3.5mm headphone socket.
On the left you’ll find a single slot for the nanoSIM card.
Moving around to the right you’ll find the volume rocker and the MicroSd card slot.
Size wise, the phone has increased over the original HTC One to support the larger screen. It’s about as long as my Samsung Note 2 but little narrower. the actual size is 146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35mm.
The end results make the HTC One M8 clear competition for any Samsung Galaxy phone, iPhone, or other Android device.
One downside to the uni-body design is the fixed battery. to make this design work and keep size to a minimum, HTC had to make the battery not removable. We all know that batteries do not the charge as well over time. With the average life span of a device being about 2 years, this could become a problem after a while. As many providers are now offering better and shorter contract options, people will probably upgrade more frequently so this may be a mute point, but a changeable battery would have been preferred.
Camera
The camera is where HTC has made enhancements over is predecessor. Looking on the back of the HTC One M8 you’ll find two camera lenses known as the Duo Cam. No it’s not falling victim of the 3D camera fad that appeared on the EVO 3D. The second lens is actually a depth capturing device.
The second camera lens captures a lower resolution secondary image and some depth information that allows you to perform some post picture taking magic. The main lens is still the ULTRAPIXEL that HTC used in the original HTC One.
The camera software has been enhance to make your lives easier. when you in the camera, a quick swipe across your screen in either switch between the front and rear cameras. a single tap on your screen sets your focus point for the shot, while holding down on the screen sets the focal point and locks the light and focus to that point, which can be used to create some focus based effects.
Touching the small mode icon brings up your camera mode selections including Selfi, Camera, Dual capture, Video, Pan 360 and Zoe Camera.
Taking a photo with the regular rear facing Duo Cam then allows you to perform all forms of adjustments and tweaks. the camera UI is simple and pleasant to use and makes it easy to navigate and select the options you need. The live preview is very fast and as long as the light is good. dropping down a darker scenes does slow down the live preview, but this is to be expected as the camera works harder to give you a better picture.
The lag when taking a picture is almost non existent and makes capturing photos a delight. Burst capture is also fast at about 12fps and using the best shot option automatically composes the best picture it can and then deletes the rest.
One nice addition over the original HTC One is the dual flash for better in door and party shooting.
Once you’ve got your shot captured, this is where you can start to perform the many functions only the HTC One M8 with it’s Duo Cam allows.
UFOCUS is probably the best camera tool ever included in a mobile phone. UFOCUS allows you to change the focus point of any image capture with the Duo Cam after you’ve taken the photo. this give you images that look like a professional photographer would take using the depth controls of a modern day DSLR. The effect is amazing and would have previously taken a lot of time processing using tools like Photoshop.
While this tool works great, it does occasionally have issues determining which subjects to focus on so other foreground objects can also be left on focus instead just the subject your trying to enhance. It’s very minor and the tools is still amazing.
Foregrounder is another effect that you can use that tries to add a kind of shadowing effect to everything except the object you touched on the screen. Is pretty cool, but not as dramatic as the UFOCUS tool.
The next tool is Seasons, which is really a bit of gimmick in that it allows you add seasonal effect to your photos, such as snow flakes or dandelions blowing around.
Dimension plus allows you to adjust the angle of your photo parallax style. It’s like a 3D effect that give the impression of viewing your photo from different angles as you adjust the angle of your phone.
Stickers is a fun tool that allows you to add stickers such as hats, mustaches, etc to photos for that fun factor of making you or your friends look silly.
The other camera modes are pretty self explanatory.
Video lets you take video clips in glorious high Definition, but it’s not as good as the original HTC One. for some reason HTC decide to leave out Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). Probablt due to cost concerns, but it’s a shame as OIS does help capture better less blurry pictures.
ZOE is unfortunately non existent at the moment. Launching the ZOE software of the HTC One M8 I have for review brings up a screen saying Coming Soon.
Selfi will switch to the front facing camera, lets you take photos of yourself and then make adjustments to improve the picture.
Capture a picture with the Duo Cam, head into the effects software and you presented with a list of cool effects available only to the HTC One M8.
all in all the camera does take great photos, but I can’t get over the lower resolution of the ULTRAPIXEL lens. Many times I’ll take a photo and want to crop and zoom in when I’m done. The difference is evident when you do this on the lower resolution images produced by the HTC One M8.
Software / Sense 6.0
There is always debate around OEMs adding their own skins to the Android OS. HTC added sense almost from day one of Android devices. In the early days this was a great addition and made Android much more usable and prettier. as Android has matured so has its interface and it off the shelf usability is leaps and bounds above what it used to be. so do we need an OEM skin such as Sense on top of Android anymore?
The answer for skins on Android is really down to personal preference. If there was a skin that I’d want to use, it would be sense 6.0. Sense has come a long way. it used to overwhelming to the point that you really didn’t know you where running Android. As it progressed over the years, HTC has slimmed it down to a point where it’s very usable and dos not hinder your Android experience. Again, this is my opinion and everyone is going to be different.
Scrolling to the left reveals HTC’s Blinkfeed. Blinkfeed is the product that goes out to all your social networks, news sources and more and bring it all under one umbrella is a tidy scrolling interface. The previous version of Blinkfeed was a little limited in the number of sources you could choose from, but that’s been addressed in the new version included with Sense 6.0.
Want to switch to a different look and feel? Head into the theme area and choose a few nicely done picture and color themes to personalize your HTC One M8 experience. HTC has always done a nice job of their keyboard as well. It still works well in regular typing and swyping mode
Most of the Sense 6.0 UI elements have a flatter more modern look than previous versions. Bouncing and scrolling effects from previous versions have gone as HTC adopt a more AOSP look and feel. All in all it’s a nice tone down from previous versions and makes the whole experience on the HTC One M8 very pleasant.
Motion
With usability in Mind, HTC decided to add a number of motion sensitive launch controls. Available in the HTC One M8 are a number of motion detected gestures that are used to wake up the device and perform certain actions as soon as the HTC One M8 wakes up. There are a number of motions available, but the two that caught my attention were the double tapping of the screen to wake up, similar to the LG G2 and the instant camera launch by holding the HTC One M8 in landscape orientation and holding down the volume button.
It’s nice to see OEMs finding ways to enhance their device, even when they do start copying each other. As they continue to pick out all the good parts from their competitors, we are the ones who benefit.
Screen
HTC has generally released phones with good screen. They have stuck with the LCD style for the HTC One M8. they tend to use a little more power that AMOLED screens used by the likes of Samsung but the color can be a little cleaner with better contrast levels. this is the same with the HTC One M8. the screen does appear to be a little brighter than the screen used on the original HTC One, but it’s always hard to tell when you don’t have them side by side.
Outdoor clarity is good even in bright sunlight. It’s never going to be perfect, but it’s usable.
Performance
What I can say about performance except its excellent. With all the latest flagship phones running quad core, octa-core and whatever else with speeds in excess of 2Ghz, what else would you expect. Every single operation I performed on the HTC One M8 was flawless. I never experienced any lag changing screens or launching applications. I could run a whole slew of benchmarks and post the results but they exist in every corner of the Internet. Day to day use of this flagship device is flawless. Games look wonderful and sound amazing. Movies and other videos are bright and clear. I’m not sure how much more performance our phones can take. We are already at the point where our phones are as powerful as our desktop computers so the manufacturers should stop adding bigger processors and start looking at better ways to utilize them.
Call Quality
Its funny how call quality sometimes gets neglected when people look at modern smartphones. It is still a phone you know. Carrier constantly enhance their networks, compress data to save bandwidth and many of the adjustments and network enhancements can affect your call quality.
The HTC One M8 has amazing front facing speakers the product the best sound you’ve ever heard in a smartphone, but hows the microphone? Well I’m pleased to say that all the test calls I made and people I asked agree that my voice was generally loud and clear. I’m on the AT&T network and quality is normally good in our area so it’s fairly easy to get a good test of the call quality of a phone.
I compared the call quality of the HTC One M8 to my friends Samsung Galaxy S5, also on AT&T, and from my own experience the HTC One M8 sounded clearer and less muffled. Admittedly this was only a couple of calls for comparison, but that was my opinion.
Using the HTC One M8 as a speaker phone also produced good results. This is obviously due to the excellent speakers on the front of the HTC One M8, I could hear everyone else loud and clear. Its been a while since I was happy using a smartphone as a speaker phone without any additional Bluetooth devices to enhance the sound. This makes the HTC One M8 a great device for business use.
Battery
No matter what I did to this phone during a regular day, the battery always lasted and that’s all I need. As long as I never have to worry about my phone battery dying during each day, i know I can get home and put my phone on charge before going to bed. HTC seem to have got that part right on the HTC One M8. the original HTC One would not last a day for me with heavy usage ad this one does.
It is a shame that the battery is not removable and I’m sure if this was my device, it would start to suffer eventually. Would It suffer before I was ready for a new device, who knows, but at least I would have the choice.
Conclusion
Amazing. I love the HTC One M8. It feels great and is build like a tank. It’s not water resistant or dust resistant like other newer phones coming on to the market, but I’ve never had an issue with either of those. I guess I have used my phone in light rain and had to be cautious about it getting wet, but that doesn’t happen often.
I would have no hesitation in recommending anyone looking for a new device take the HTC One M8 into consideration over just about anything else on the market.
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Sense 6.0 for HTC One (M7) begins its rollout in Europe
Some HTC One (M7) users have already received their Sense 6 update in different regions, but according to reports, it should be available in more markets now.
The Sense 6 update has been reported as available in countries of Europe. Owners of unlocked HTC One (M7) devices in Albania, Croatia, Finland, France, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and UK are getting most of the goodies found on the One (M8), in terms of user experience. Of course, hardware limitations restrict the availability of Duo Camera features on the 2013 model, but still, it’s good to see HTC updating its last year phone to this year’s software.
Source: PocketNow
The post Sense 6.0 for HTC One (M7) begins its rollout in Europe appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Check Out the 360 Degree View of the HTC One M8 Prime
Evleaks gives a 360 degree look at the new HTC One M8 Prime, and I must say, it looks pretty good. Now a lot of you might think this is dumb for HTC to release a better version of the M8, and it is for the most part, but both them and Samsung are releasing Prime versions of their latest flagships, so I guess we just got to accept it. The only other information we have for the new phone, is that it will rock Sense 6.5, and it will be slightly more powerful than the regular M8. Sounds about right to me, but let us know what you guys think about the HTC One M8 Prime.
Source: evleaks
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Android 4.4.3 Almost Here! T-Mobile HTC One M8 Gets New Update! – Device Updates
Monday is over, so let’s talk some updates. Not many updates this past week, but Android 4.4.3 was spotted in the wild by someone who was not supposed to leak out that screenshot. These days, do they really trust people? Sadly they still do. Enjoy the video.
Device Updates
Android 4.4.3 almost here
T-Mobile HTC One M8 update
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T-Mobile HTC One M8 OTA Begins Today, Improved Battery life Extreme Power Savings and More
T-Mobile has begun pushing out an OTA today for their HTC One M8. The update offers up a version number of 1.57.531.7and weighs in at 229.27MBs. The update information provided at the time of the OTA was pretty lackluster as it only offered up “System enhancement.”
A little digging I located the the software update on T-Mobile’s Support page. As expected, this brings int the Extreme Power Savings function. It also states that it improves battery life, audio quality and Wi-Fi performance. With the file size being 1/3 or so of what a full Android OS version update is, it would seem that they included and fixed a ton of stuff.
T-Mobile offers up the typical prerquisites like 50% battery, Wi-Fi connection and that the device software not be rooted. All the details, nothing else really, can be found at the T-Mobile HTC One M8 support page.
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Why we love (and hate) our smartphones [EDITORIAL]
In the world of mobile devices, specifically mobile phones, we all have our favorite device as well as our favorite manufacturer that we constantly rely on and steadily buy from. At the same time we also have things that we don’t like about certain manufacturers, such as the way they make devices, their UI/UX, the lack of battery life, too many “features” gimmicks as they tend to call them and many other things.
Today, I’m going to give you my own personal opinions about the devices that I have used over the past 3 years, which ones I liked, why I liked them, as well as the manufacturers that I prefer to use the devices from, and those that just turn my head away completely.
NOTE THAT THIS ARTICLE IS SPREAD OVER FIVE PAGES
Devices I’ve Owned
I started in the world of Android back in late June of 2011 and my first device was the HTC MyTouch 4G through T-Mobile. I kept the device stock from the day I got until the day I got rid of it about 8 months later when I made the switch to Verizon to get the ever impressive and loved Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I ended up rooting the Nexus after about a month, because I wanted something different.
After keeping the Galaxy Nexus for a bit of time, I moved up the the Samsung Galaxy S4. Again, I rooted this device after a short period of time and I’ll explain why a bit later. After the S4 came the LG G2 which I managed to keep for a whopping 6 months via AT&T and then as usual, it was time to change devices again.
Now enter the time that I started up AndroidDissected which is now TechDissected and always having access to the latest and greatest devices for review purposes. Since these sites came into existence, I’ve owned devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Note 3, Galaxy Mega, Galaxy S4 Activ. Then there’s devices such as the aforementioned LG G2, the LG G Flex, LG Nexus 4, and a couple of others. HTC had a couple of devices in there, such as the HTC One(M7) and HTC One(M8), the HTC Amaze and the HTC Sensation.
Also in that list is now my daily driver, the Motorola Moto X, and previously before that was my Motorola Moto G which I still own. There are of course other devices that I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention, but the point is, I’ve owned devices from all of the major manufacturers that most everyone reading this will have used at least one device from. This gives me solid ground to tell what I like about certain devices or manufacturers as well as the things I don’t particularly care for.
One thing to note is that no where in this article am I comparing battery life of years ago to the battery life we have today in some devices. I’m also not comparing Froyo or Ice Cream Sandwich to today’s Jelly Bean. I’m simply comparing devices to devices and things that I either liked or disliked about each device and/or manufacturer that produced them.
NOTE THAT THIS ARTICLE IS SPREAD OVER FIVE PAGES
The post Why we love (and hate) our smartphones [EDITORIAL] appeared first on AndroidGuys.
HTC One M7 (2013) Unlocked and Developer Editions Getting Sense 6 Update
A new round of updates is being pushed out by HTC today. The Unlocked and Developer Edition versions of last years HTC One M7, is seeing an update that tosses on the more recent Sense 6 software. Along with Sense 6 you can also expect to find personalized font styles, new camera and gallery interface, BlinkFeed improvements, and the Extreme Power Savings mode.
The update will weigh in at 668MB’s so you will want to make sure you have over 50% battery life, a solid Wi-Fi connection and a little time to kill while it downloads and installs. For everyone else in the U.S. with a carrier branded version, kick back and be jealous for now. They are still listed as being in the ‘Certification’ stage. At least you know it will be coming, eventually. President of HTC America, Jason Mackenzie, seems to be making god on his word when he tweeted out in April that the HTC One would get Sense 6 in May though. Keep it up HTC, you are making users happy.
Source: AndroidCentral
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HTC One (M8): 1 month and counting
So its been a little over month since i’ve had my hands on my HTC One (M8) and all I have to say is, “Best phone I have ever used“. Sure you might be saying, “But David, you haven’t had the pleasure of getting your heart rate checked on my S5″ or “Hey David, Android has nothing on my iPhone’s finger print reader.” Ok, I hear you and all I am going to say is watch the Gary Oldman video here and let the video speak for itself.
However, I am going to do a quick recap of the One review I did last April and let you know if I have changed my thoughts on certain features of the device!
Design:
The phone is still beautiful as ever, but I have slapped a Tech 21 case on it just for good measure, I despise covering up this metal masterpiece. However, it is slippery and I feel that is might fall out of my hand! I haven’t dropped it yet, thank goodness. The phone fits great in my hand and I know some people have issues hitting the power button, but the double tap on the screen really eliminates the need for it.
Display:
The display has been fantastic, especially on sunny days at the beach! I have slapped on a Skinomi screen protector, just for good measure. HTC is still offering a free replacement screen if you happen to drop it within the first 6 months, through their “HTC Advantage Program.”
Hardware:
The One is wicked fast! I’ve throughly enjoyed being able to jump from one app or game to another without any hesitation. I’ve also preloaded about 20GB of music onto my microSD card which has performed flawlessly.
Battery Life:
I still find myself around 40% before I slap it on the charger at night. Now my daily routine is: up at 5:15am, drive to the gym (while playing music), workout with my bluetooth headset, go to work and return home around 5:00pm (medium usage) and having my Fitbit Flex connected and syncing in the background throughout the day. Overall the battery life couldn’t be better, compared with my previous devices, Nexus 5, Galaxy S4, Moto X, I feel that the One has surpassed them all.
I still haven’t received the “Extreme power saving mode” feature on my phone, but when I do I will let you know, but I have heard good things!
Software:
I have really enjoyed getting use to Sense 6. It is very easy to navigate and quite customizable compared to other headsets. I have never had to restart my device because it was frozen or locked up. I am a veteran user of Android, but I feel that even a beginner could easily navigate the settings to find whatever they needed. HTC has done a superb job at making it super easy to find what you are looking throughout the phone. No complaints here!
BlinkFeed:
I never thought I would use BlinkFeed as much as I do, but it is just so easy to get all my social media updates in one place. Even when the phone is locked I just swipe right and voila, BlinkFeed is ready to go and showing me everything I want to see! I have been very impressed with this feature!
BoomSound:
It’s loud, clear, and it BOOMS! Enough said!
DuoCamera:
I have really enjoyed the camera app on the One. It is easy to navigate and offers a host of filters and effects to create some really cool pictures. With all that aside, the camera in general performs great, low light, bright light, it doesn’t matter. The camera performs as a camera should. The below slideshow is a picture with some applied effects.
Overall:
The HTC One has performed flawlessly, as it should. I haven’t had any disappointments with the device and I still highly recommend it to anyone looking for an awesome device, inside and out! Let me know what you think of your One or if you have any questions, just post them in the comments below!
The post HTC One (M8): 1 month and counting appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Blue HTC One (M8) shows its face in a leaked render
HTC One (M8) is definitely one of the best (Android) handsets of the year so far. The HTC flagship is available in 3 colors, Gunmetal Gray, Glacier Silver, and Amber Gold. While it has been leaked in red we’ve never seen it in blue, until now that is.
A blue version of HTC One (M8) has surfaced, courtesy of evleaks. Considering their track record we’re quite confident this metallic blue color will become official in the near future. The color reminds us of a metallic blue version o M8′s predecessor, HTC One (M7).
What do you think about this color, do you like it or not? Maybe you’re waiting for some other color option?
SOURCE: @evleaks
The post Blue HTC One (M8) shows its face in a leaked render appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Galaxy S5 Sees New Update! HTC One Max Gets Sense 6! – Device Updates
Monday is over friends. Time to see if your device has an update. Not many this week, but maybe your device is on the list. The international Galaxy S5 gets an update that sees some nice improvements. HTC One Max gets Sense 6, so you guys will be able to get a taste of what is one the HTC One M8.
Device Updates
Galaxy S5 update
Sprint HTC One Max Update
T-Mobile and Sprint HTC One S update
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AIVAnet 