HTC One M8 Review

Once again, HTC proved to the market that they can be leading players in terms of innovation and also premium experience in their smartphone. I am lucky to be given a chance to review the brand new HTC One M8, a successor of the well received HTC One M7. If you're curious, i was an ex owner of the HTC One M7. Click here for my full review of HTC One M7. So now I am gonna talk about the new HTC One M8 here and what are the improvement over the old M7.

HTC One M8 Key Specification :

• 5.0 inches Super LCD 3 screen with 1080 x 1920 of resolution
• 2.5 GHz quad core Qualcomm MSM8974AB Snapdragon 801 processor with Krait 400
• Andreno 330 GPU
• 2GB RAM
• 16 GB internal memory with microSD slot
• Dual 4 MP Ultrapixel camera with dual-LED (dual tone) flash
• 5MP front facing camera
• 2600 mAh battery
• Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat with Sense 6
• 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm
• 160 g

Design & Built Quality

The new One M8 is now full metal body! It has rounder edge and also thinner than the M7. Thanks to the curve back body as well, it feel so comfortable holding it despite the large screen. It just right on the hand with the curve behind. What's more, it is full metal built now that given a premium feel. Kudos to HTC for maintaining, or even improved it to make the One experience better! Probably the only thing I hate was the smooth surface on the back metal body (on One M7, the black version has rough surface texture).

User Interface (UI)

HTC One M8 running the latest sense 5.5 On quick glance, it has not much different than the previous Sense 5 on HTC One M7. But as the matter of fact, they do did some improvement on the UI. They listen to customers feedback!

- The Blinkfeed now can be turn off and on
- more source news on Blinkfeed
- Updated interface and new video highlight options on HTC Gallery

Click here to learn more about HTC Sense 5.5 UI. Personally, HTC Sense is my most favourite UI. It is simple, sleek and buttery fast.

Camera

While HTC might not leading in terms of Megapixels in camera, they actually did a very great job on their 4mp ultrapixel camera. Definitely not a great choice for pixel peeper. HTC introduces the secondary camera at the back which uses to capture depth information. HTC calls this Duo Camera.

It mimics the stereoscopic abilities of the human eye - two independent lenses able to calculate the relative distance of the subjects in an image. HTC's dual camera setup enables cool effects such as selective focus (shallow depth of field) and post-shot refocusing. Unfortunately the editing has limitation where only auto mode and without flash images taken by the camera can proceed the editing.

The optical image stabilization of the original One is now gone, and the One (M8) will rely solely on digital stabilization. Similarly to Apple, HTC has improved the flash of the smartphone by using a two toned one - one cold and one warm LED, which can help the smartphone produce more accurate color tones in low-light conditions. HTC also claims the One (M8) can focus in just 0.3s.

If that's not enough for you, HTC is generous enough to packed the front facing camera with 5 Megapixel for selfie lover.

Well I believe pics speak louder than words.

* Selfie with the front camera *

* ISO 1600 still usable for me *

If you're curious, I have more photos in here including the comment I had on the camera. I brought it for street shooting and obviously, I enjoy it very much despite it wasn't my usual practise. Kudos to HTC again! Please make 8mp Ultrapixel for next gen!

Audio

I am not audiophile, but HTC One M8 speaker is definitely loud and one of the best. Improved from the very best HTC One M7, what else are you gonna complain??

Battery

HTC One m8 easily can has 3-4 hours on screen time for a single full charge. On normal usage it can easily last me a day (unplug since 6am and battery almost died on 10-11pm). Of course, different people different usage and apps installed. For a guy like me who heavily used on social apps, One M8 battery definitely not disappointing.

Verdict

One of the best UI. CHECK!
One of the best dual stereo speaker. CHECK!
One of the best design. CHECK!
One of the best camera. Sort of. CHECK!

So what else are you gonna complain about HTC One M8? It might not the most perfect phone but for me, it is close to perfect! If only the megapixel are higher (let's say 8mp), I will definitely score full point to HTC One M8. Hopefully it happen on the next successor of One M8!

The HTC One comes with a variety of accessories like the Flip Case, Double Dip case (each in three colors), Dot View case (showing you alarms, events, calls, battery, weather and more in a colorful dotted way) and more. The HTC One is available now with RRP RM 2,399.

HTC Malaysia launches the new One M8

This evening, HTC Malaysia officially launches the long awaiting One M8. It is a replacement for the One M7 and the new facelit promises alot to consumer.

HTC One M8 Key Specification :

• 5.0 inches Super LCD 3 screen with 1080 x 1920 of resolution
• 2.5 GHz quad core Qualcomm MSM8974AB Snapdragon 801 processor with Krait 400
• Andreno 330 GPU
• 2GB RAM
• 16 GB internal memory with microSD slot
• Dual 4 MP Ultrapixel camera with dual-LED (dual tone) flash
• 5MP front facing camera
• 2600 mAh battery
• Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat with Sense 6
• 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm
• 160 g

Like most company flagship phone, the One M8 is upgrade of One M7. Bigger screen, faster processor, microSD slot and camera as well. Of course, the new design now is much better than the predecessor. It is more metal now, rounded edge and feel slimmer. Personally, it is one of the beautiful crafted phone that I'll appreciate it. The HTC One M8 also come with new Sense 6 which bring alot improvement. One of the coolest new features brought by the updated package is Motion Launch, which lets you quickly open the camera or unlock the phone while the screen is off. Picking up the One (M8) in landscape mode and pressing the volume button will launch the camera. There's double tap or slide up from the bottom to wake the phone. While locked you can pick up the phone in portrait mode and swipe left on its screen to launch the widget panel or right for BlinkFeed.

Check out my quick hands on video on the HTC One M8 that focused most on the new camera features.

Eventhough it is still the same 4MP Ultrapixel camera, HTC introduces the secondary camera at the back which uses to capture depth information. HTC calls this Duo Camera. It mimics the stereoscopic abilities of the human eye - two independent lenses able to calculate the relative distance of the subjects in an image. HTC's dual camera setup enables cool effects such as selective focus (shallow depth of field) and post-shot refocusing. Unfortunately the editing has limitation where only auto mode and without flash images taken by the camera can proceed the editing. The optical image stabilization of the original One is now gone, and the One (M8) will rely solely on digital stabilization. Similarly to Apple, HTC has improved the flash of the smartphone by using a two toned one - one cold and one warm LED, which can help the smartphone produce more accurate color tones in low-light conditions. HTC also claims the One (M8) can focus in just 0.3s. If that's not enough for you, HTC is generous enough to packed the front facing camera with 5 Megapixel for selfie lover.

As I mentioned earlier, I love the design and material used in the HTC One M8. Personally, I still prefer the rough surface on One M7 since the One M8 surface pretty smooth as if it feel like plastic. It is no surprise that the UI and animation transition everything is smooth since Sense UI has been tone down since Sense 5. I still hate the fact the camera still 4MP since I am very much a pixel peep guy. However, I can assured that HTC One M8 camera works as advertise. It is quick in focus, great for low light capture as well and a tones of fun processing mode to be use. Overall, it is really a beauty plus functionality phone, one of the kind phone at the moment and it is for people who dare to change, to try and to explore the possibility using this phone. So once again, HTC did it!

The HTC One comes with a variety of accessories like the Flip Case, Double Dip case (each in three colors), Dot View case (showing you alarms, events, calls, battery, weather and more in a colorful dotted way) and more. The HTC One is available today with RRP RM 2,399.