HTC One M8 Review: What Flaws? This Has Got it All

Rating:

4.0/5

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PROS

• Impressive Designing
• Dedicated Duo Cameras
• Epic Power under the Hood

CONS

• Low light Photography still iffy

HTC recently reported a month-on-month drop of 4.59% in May, and a year-on-year decline of 27.37%, as far as its monthly revenues for May is concerned. Revenue for the month stands at NT$21,065 million, compared to NT$22,079 million in April, as revealed via recent Tech Crunch report.

Needless to say, that's a big dent in the company's aspirations in the year going forward. And to be perfectly honest, we are not really sure how this is has come to this since the new HTC One (M8) has been a brilliant release apart from being one of the top smartphones to be released this year.

There is a very basic reason why a number of reports back in the day stated how HTC blamed Apple for prying its developers and designers away. If you are indeed designing a device such as the One (M8) then it's only natural that you will become a hot property for all big name smartphone companies looking to make their own stylish offering.

However, HTC somehow manages to churn out such magic with most of its devices, and there's no reason why the One (M8) will be any different. The new device is crammed with big power and dedicated features that have brought in a boatload of praises from the media, keeping aside its aesthetic design.

Not focusing too much on the naming aspect of the device (surely HTC could have done much better than M8 in brackets), the new One (M8) is a prime example of how HTC bettered itself in every department of smartphone developing and designing. And alongside most of the latest tech and even microSD slot, it seems like we have prime contender for the year.

But before we head over to the main review for the device, let us tell you that the One (M8) will not be everyone's cup of tea since the device comes with a major price tag that's doesn't really agree with Indian customers. Nonetheless, it's a great device and deserves every recognition meant for it.

HTC One M8: Form Factor

Well, you might have already guessed from the introduction to this piece where we are heading. Trying not to repeat ourselves as much as possible, the HTC One (M8) is absolutely fabulous in terms of looks and the design. The device, taking inspiration from its predecessors, has maintained its impressive metal chassis with the device's overall aluminium casing covering almost the whole of the phone.

There's absolutely no doubt that the previously released and the original HTC One was a great looking phone with its full-metal construction with a premium, solid feel. And the new One (M8) is just a finer upgrade over the previous model.

HTC has made the new device devoid of any on-screen navigation buttons, hence there's a lot of space up front for users to make use of. The full HD IPS LCD display of the phone is complimented by two speaker grills, a sensor and the 5MP front camera lens.

Thr device also makes further improvements to its device by sporting rounded edges. The phone's all-aluminium chassis has symmetrically sloping edges at the front with the left edge of the phone featuring the SIM card tray while the right one sporting the volume rocker key and the microSD card tray.

The back of the One (M8) includes as many as two camera lenses, and is a part of the One (M8)'s Duo Camera set-up the company highlighted such a lot during its campaign. The UltraPixel camera lens in the back is complimented by a dual-color LED flash (we already saw this in iPhone 5s).

Apart from that, the power/screen-lock button is placed at the top edge of the phone, alongside the Infrared blaster that also claims maximum space up top. Also, the bottom edge of the phone features the micro-USB port and the 3.5mm headset jack.

HTC One M8: Operating System

HTC One (M8) comes running the Android 4.4.2 KitKat, with the latest version of the Android OS that's complimented with Sense 6, the new version of HTC's custom UI, slapped on top of it. And although long time Android users will feel that the offering looks different from stock Android, the Sense 6 interface is still a treat in itself.

But while those are the bigger changes, there are also some minute overall improvements that also compliment the bigger picture. These smaller changes include polished fonts that now offer a clear and better overall picture. Apart from that, HTC has also provided a somewhat polish to the notifications tray with the settings menu now arriving with host of colors.

As always, HTC keeps its forte up in the lock screen area with the One (M8). The lockscreen offers flawless control over the music on your phone straight from the lockscreen with the help of widgets. Similar is the scenario with the messaging aspect of the device as users can easily scroll through them here.

The phone also comes with a new version of BlinkFeed, HTC's homescreen utility manager that offers personalized updates from user-selected news sources and social networks. BlinkFeed also offers automatic recommendations via the user's Google+ and Facebook pages. Apart from that, it also offers information related to the user's fitness statistics via the built-in Fitbit app.

There are also new gestures for unlocking the phone's screen and heading over directly to other home screens (or even BlinkFeed). HTC now allows the phone to be unlocked with a double tap or by swiping up. Users can even initiate voice dialling by swiping down the screen when it's locked. All these gestures were previously revealed by HTC, but more importantly, the work.

Apart from that, the phone includes a few already pre-loaded apps, and the list includes 7digital music store, Polaris Office 5, Fitbit fitness tracking app, Scribble and more. There's also has a placeholder present for the upcoming Zoe app that will allow users to share montages they might have created.

Interestingly, there's this feature present which allows users to double tap the screen to wake it up or lock it down. Needless to say, it's an intuitive feature where small currents travel the display when it's off to detect a double tap on the screen. The same is the deal with locking the phone.