Review: HTC One (M8)
HTC’s latest flagship phone is the HTC One (M8) and when Telus got this smartphone into my hands last week, I could see why. The all-metal One M8 is beautiful. It’s extremely thin and feels solid. It doesn’t show fingerprints and is easy to hold in your hands. The screen is a 5-inch 1080p display and is excellent in every way but looking at it in bright sunlight. One thing to note is that the screen unlike the case does show fingerprints, thus you should have a cloth handy. I really liked the dual speakers as it gives the One (M8) the best sound in a smartphone that I’ve tested recently save for the BlackBerry Z30.
Here’s what the HTC One (M8) comes with:
- Android 4.4.2 KitKat
- 5-inch 1920×1080 display
- 2.26Ghz quad core processor
- 2GB RAM
- 32GB internal storage
- microSD slot
- Duo Camera (4 MP main “Ultrapixel” sensor + secondary sensor for depth)
- 5 MP front-facing camer
- 1080p video capture (front + rear)
- WiFi (a/b/g/n/ac)
- Bluetooth 4.0
- NFC
- IR blaster
All of this conspires to make this smartphone quick. It loaded apps quickly, and maneuvered between windows with ease. What also made navigating easy is the new HTC Sense user interface. I really liked it as it offers a lot for the user and makes this phone easy to use. For example, to wake it up you simply tap the screen twice. That’s a little thing that’s really handy. To check to see which apps are running so that you can switch to them or terminate them, simply click on the virtual button at the bottom right of the screen that looks like two squares. All sorts of little touches like that exist within the Sense user interface. In terms of LTE speed on the Telus network, I got 24 Mbps downstream and 13 Mbps upstream which is not to shabby.
But the big story with the HTC One (M8) is the camera. Actually two of them. There are two 4 MP cameras in the rear of the camera to create depth in the photos that are taken. Now readers will think that this is some sort of marketing gimmick, but it isn’t. To test this, I did something different. Rather than take pictures of planes landing at Pearson Airport like I usually do, I participated in a photo walk sponsored by Toronto based 500px. We walked around the downtown core taking pictures of anything that caught our eye. Here are some examples of what I captured. Click to see the images at full resolution:
Now, one thing I really liked about the camera is the burst mode. Press and hold the on screen shutter and it will take pictures for a long as you hold it. Then it will present you with all the pictures that it has taken so that you can choose the best one and it will delete the rest. I tested this in a dog park and a skateboard park. Here’s what I captured:
Whatever wizardry this camera does, it takes high quality pictures. Not only that, you have complete control of every aspect of the camera. ISO, white balance, whatever you want to control. It comes with some impressive editing functions as well that can make your pictures look stunning. Finally, the autofocus is quick. It is easily as fast as the Samsung Galaxy S5 that I recently tested. When it comes to video, it’s just as good. Here’s a video taken on a bridge at Bathurst Street in downtown Toronto of a GO Train entering Union Station. Set it to 1080P and full screen to see it as it was shot:
Now I had the stability control turned off, thus the video had a bit of shake to it. You should also note that you can hear conversations as well. Here’s another video taken at a dog park:
So the HTC One (M8) is a winner on the camera front.
When it comes to battery life, it’s a winner on that front as well as it lasted well over a day in my tests. There’s also a power saving mode allows users to tame the CPU, brightness levels and vibration intensity, either manually or at pre-determined battery levels. So you should be able to do even better than I did should the need arise. One thing to note, the battery is non-removable.
Here’s the bottom line. This is a top notch phone. It’s well put together and is not only fast and easy to use, but it has a great camera. It’s everything you want from a smartphone. It’s $700 outright or $229 on a two year contract at Telus. Check it out if you want a well built phone that you’ll love to use.
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