The 2014 HTC One M8 sports a slightly bigger display going from 4.7inches to 5inches. It uses a Super LCD3 display but being larger there is a slight decrease in pixel density as it goes down to 440ppi as opposed to last year’s 468ppi. You still get rich Blacks, superb color reproduction, and great viewing angles – even in sunlight. With the bigger size you still maintain the great visuals you’ve come to know and love from HTC.
The new 2014 edition of the One is powered by the latest quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm CPU: the Snapdragon 801 processor. The newest CPU still maintain lightning fast processing to better take on a multitude of tasks + processes. Coupled w/ 2GB of RAM & 32GB of internal storage expandable up to 128GB via microSD card , you have one of the more flawless Android experiences that’s not a Nexus.
Underneath this beautiful metal chassis lies a 2600 mAh battery While on paper it doesn’t seem like it has increased by much, real life testing says otherwise. Thanks to the power-sipping 801 CPU, you can get great battery life on this. The outcome is an all-day battery life. With heavy usage (Google Music, YouTube, emails, Twitter, chatting via Google Hangout), I got up 13 hours in before going to bed w/ at least 30% of juice left. This thing is knocking on Note territory in regards to battery life. That’s without using the Power Saving mode. Good job HTC + Qualcomm!
Ultrapixel is still the primary camera w/ a f/2.0 28mm lens powered by a 2nd-generation ImageSense chip. The 2nd pin hole that resembles a camera is depth sensor. This allows for refocusing after you take the shot along w/ other features. The depth sensor arrives in place of optical image stabilization.
While the rear sensor is the same, HTC made sure to beef up the features to compensate a bit. They’ve opened up the manual controls a bit to adjust the ISO, exposure, white balance, and shutter speed. It definitely helps in opening the creativity and freedom to get the kind of shot you want.
As far as the software features goes, you have plenty at your disposal. HTC gives you one of the best photo-editing suites on an Android device. UFocus allows you to refocus your shot as it works pretty well. Its not perfect but it works well. Copy & Paste allows you to move faces or items from one photo to another. Think of the lasso tool in Photoshop. Nice job. You can also add a 3D layer effect onto your photos. Interesting but the whole 3D phase is dead + gone and is bit novelty. Seasons allow you to add falling leaves, rose petals, snowflakes, or hearts to your image like in Google+.
You still have Zoes present as you now have a bit more control for the 5-second video clip but remains the same nonetheless. Video Highlights gives you 12 themes to choose from along w/ the option to add your own music to play. It’s an interesting way to view desired media within your Gallery. For next year, I’ll need them to step up the efforts, especially if they continue utilizing Ultrapixel.
On the front -side you have a f/2.0, 88-degree wide angle 5MP front-facing camera. This gives you better ‘selfies’ and better quality for video-chatting. Making it the 1st front-facing shooter to offer a higher MP than 2.1 and I, for one, thank you at HTC for this. I’m guessing next year the competition will catch w/ better quality cameras on the front.
BoomSound is also back again for the 2nd time. The dual front-facing speakers has returned with the Beats stamp of bass-boost approval but you won’t miss it. HTC still has built-in, dedicated amps as it is now 25% louder than on last year’s model. Ideal for watching YouTube videos along w/ other media without headphones and taking phone calls via speakerphone a lot more pleasurable. Definitely the device to beat in audio. Please keep this on-board for next year’s flagship as well.
The M8 is running Android 4.4.2 KitKat underneath Sense 6 or as HTC calls it ‘Sixth Sense’. So you now have access to Quick Settings within the notification shade. As Sense 5 got more refined, Sense 6 got flatter and actually better-looking. The now-infamous Clock + Weather widget, Open Apps screen looks the same as it did on Sense 5 & 5.5. While most of the features are the same, many of them got new tricks up their sleeve along some familiar ones added to the mix.
BlinkFeed is back and is doing a better job of being a one-stop source for your desired news. It looks better visually and feels more complete compared to previous versions. The newest treat is that you can now get dining out suggestions courtesy of Foursquare (whether you have an account or not) as they along w/ Fitbit are now official partners for the service. If you didn’t like it before, you may or may not still like it. I recommend you to take another look at BlinkFeed.
HTC kind of ‘borrowed’ their Motion Launch idea from LG’s Knock On. When the device is off you can double tap the display to wake it up and it works almost every time too. And here’s where they applied their own spin to make it more of their own. When you swipe from left-to-right, you wake the phone up to BlinkFeed. Swiping from right-to-left opens it up to the homescreen. Swiping from the bottom-to-the-top will wake the device to where you were last on the phone. Swiping from the top-to-the-bottom will activate HTC’s (not Google’s) voice search (none of these Motion Gestures work when its in the Dot View case except for the voice search gesture + double-tap).
HTC’s Sense TV is still present as it now adds support for you sports fans out there where you can see what channel the game is on along w/ scores and stats. Also, it has a kind of GetGlue-like add-on where you view social media posts on whatever you’re watching. The free-hand drawing app Scribble is present from the One Max. You now have a Do Not Disturb setting to give your notifications + calls a timeout while you sleep or within a meeting.
All make for great touches to what was one of the more despised custom skin.
The M8 is easily the most beautifully-crafted Android device in all of the land as it is now 90% metal (20% more than last year’s). Being the best built device in all of the land alone doesn’t translate into sales. HTC has many cool features on the M8 like UFocus, motion gestures, a good front-facing camera, and more to come. But they appear to be missing a big feature they could use as a selling point. Despite all of that, HTC did a great job in the evolution of their One flagship device. But for next year, I’d love to see a 6MP or 8MP Ultrapixel lens. This would definitely appease the many seeking more from their camera.
The M8 is still my pick for best entertainment device as the media streamers (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Spotify, Google Music users) will love everything the comes out of the BoomSound speakers. Fans of last year’s model will be pleased and if you weren’t a fan, you might just be won over – or not.
If you are a Verizon customer or soon-to-be one, it will be hard to not buy an M8. Especially w/ the BOGO deal going on. For everyone on the other carriers, if you’re heavy into media digesting or a fan of last year’s model – this is for you. If you’re waiting to see if this is better for you over the Galaxy S5, your wait won’t be that long.
