HTC One M8 review

Welcome to the 2014 HTC One M8 otherwise known as version two! The HTC One for 2014 has had another quality bump and this phone looks even more fantastic. The One is one of the best looking and made phones currently available. The HTC One M8 recommended retail is about $850 which makes it very competitive considering it specification but to other top end phones. The only thing that preventing it from heading to the top is mainly marketing and of course the price. Let’s face it all the top end smart phones are expensive and this the HTC is no different.

In terms of construction the all metal HTC One on first touch is clearly a top of the range model and surpasses the iPhone 5S and even equals our current top rating looker the Lumia Icon/930. The One is lovely to look at and to hold and if we had to fault the construction it would be directed at the brushed ‘stainless steel’ finish as opposed to a solid color. That said there are other colors to choose from.

In terms of hardware the HTC One packs all you’d expect in a top range all metal phone and including a micro-SD card slot! The only thing we could complain about was the screen quality was not as ‘wow me’ as the Nokia Icon or the Samsung Galaxy S5 which is tested at the same time and easily puts all others including the iPhone 5s screen quality to what we always described as average. The One’s speakers are also loud and clear as always and easily louder than any other phone out there. The novel dual camera lens is an interesting solution needs more work. That said the pictures did look OK but clearly to as good as Samsung S5 or iPhone even the old iPhone 4s. It is missing the hardware on the of the Samsung S5 eg. barometer and finger print scanner but naturally these are still nice to have rather than essential or game changing.

In terms of use the HTC One works really well. The Zoe home screen is a good solution to being able to see all your social network updates on one screen. We didn’t note anything that was particularly special apart from that. It is Android OS based so all the latest Apps can be found in the store.  Finally the speed and smoothness was as good as any other top end smart phone we’ve tested to date.

To conclude our short review, since Android OS based phones are pretty similar these days: we haven’t really looked at the HTC phones for a little while since they had problems that really needed to be addressed before they could be taken seriously. It’s only the camera quality that is the remaining issue we have with the HTC One which does not appear to be up to the standard of it’s competitors. So its definitely a great phone to consider when you’re due to renew your contract, after all its a little expensive to buy outright.

Specifications

• HTC One (M8)
• Network
  Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
  Quad-band 3G 850/900/2100
  Penta-band 4G 800/900/1800/2600
• Design
  Touch screen
• L146.4 x W70.6 x D9.4 mm
• Weight 160 grams
• Display
  5 inch 1,280 x 1080
• Camera
  Dual 4MP auto-focus
  Dual LED Flash
  5MP 2nd forward facing camera
• Video Camera
  1080p high definition 60FPS main video camera
  2MP Video phone camera
• Connectivity
  Wi-Fi
  Bluetooth V4
  NFC
  USB
• CPU
  Quad core 2.3 Ghz
  Separate Andreno 330 Graphics CPU
• Memory
  2Gig RAM
  Up to 32 Gig for user
  Up to 128Gig micro-SD expansion
• Features
  A-GPS, GLONASS, Compass, Accelerometer, Gyroscope
  Proximity, Ambient Light, Humidity, Temperature
  Ring tones: MIDI, MP3, Video, vibration and others
  FM Radio with RDS
  Google Play store
  Free Google Navigator (requires data plan)
  MS-Word, Excel and Powerpoint, PDF, ZIP compatible
  Organiser/Calendar
  SMS, MMS, IM, Email
  Speaker Phone/Hands free
  Li-Po 2600 mAh battery
  Up to 496 hours Standby
  Up to 20 hours Talk Time
• Price history
  Approx $850 AUD late 2014 (Outright)