Even with Sense 6 running on
top of Android 4.4 KitKat, the phone feels incredibly responsive, loading apps quickly and drawing image- heavy websites like BBC News and The Guardian with no noticeable lag or slowdown. This translates to impressive benchmark scores too; the m8 managed 662ms in the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, making it the fastest Android-powered smartphone we've fully tested to date when it comes to web
browsing. The Adreno 330 GPU is also more than adequate for playing any game in the Google Play Store today; it played demanding 3D titles like Real Racing 3 smoothly and scored 20,465 in the 3DMark
Ice Storm test.
HTC has also added a microSD card slot to the HTC One (m8),
letting you add up to 128GB of extra capacity to the 16GB or
32GB of internal storage (depending on the model)
As one of the few Android phones to truly compete with Apple in terms of design, the HTC One (m8) is a beautiful handset.
The m8 is almost 90% metal, with the few slivers of plastic left only being used to ensure the best possible reception for the
internal antennae. The curved back fits your hand comfortably and the brushed metal finish on our metal grey review unit glints in the light, making no mistake that the phone is made from metal rather than plastic. The m8 is also
available in gold, silver, red and pink colours, but these have a
more subtle matte finish.
The HTC One (m8) is slightly larger than the original HTC One, to make room for the bigger 5in LCD display. Both phones have the same 1,920x,1,080 resolution, which means pixel density has dropped
from 469ppi on the 4.7in original to 441ppi here, but in practice it's still impossible to see individual pixels. The m8 looks incredibly sharp; even the tiniest of fonts are still legible and images are incredibly detailed. Image quality is fantastic, with natural colours and pure bright whites, along with impressively
deep blacks for an LCD panel. With a peak brightness of 491cd/m2 and an sRGB colour spectrum coverage of 93.7%, the M8 is among the best LCD screens we've seen in a smartphone, rivalling the iPhone 5s in terms of brightness and contrast.
A stunning phone with very few flaws
OS: Android | Screen size: 5-inch |Resolution: 1920 x 1080 | RAM: 2GB |Storage: 16GB/32GB | Battery: 2,600mAh | Rear camera: 4MP dual | Front camera:5MP
What to say about the HTC One M8? They often say the second album is the hardest, but the follow up to the all-conquering HTC One takes the best of that phone and yet still re-invents things enough to make it a massive recommendation over the old model.
We love the speed of the camera, the Duo Camera is smart as a tack, the Boomsound upgrade is impressive and the design... well, you have to hold it.
The Snapdragon 801 processor has boosted battery dramatically compared to the 600 of last year, and that means that photos also process much more quickly as well - even the front-facing camera is much better.
Gaming, movies, photography, browsing all work really well, and in a phone that that's easily going to destroy whatever anyone else can design. LG ran it close with the G3 but ultimately wasn't the best package, and the iPhone 6 still suffers on price and, inexplicably, a lower-res screen.
Quick Verdict
If we were to criticise the One M8, it would be the camera's lack of a megapixel upgrade, which means pictures are a little less sharp than they might otherwise be, and the bright light performance isn't top - and that sounds like something that will be fixed in the imminent upgrade that's appearing in the shape of the HTC One M9.
That said, it's a minor point in a phone that has barely any flaws. The lower megapixel camera means faster shutter speeds, and if you don't want to zoom in a lot, most will enjoy the depth perception and background de-focus ability to make some pro-looking snaps.
We urge you to hold this phone for a few seconds and try not to feel at least a small flicker of smartphone attraction. It's got great specs, a splendid design and some clever hardware innovation where the competition is relying on software to do the same thing.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the Xperia Z3 failed to take the top spot, and the iPhone 6 didn't manage the feat either - so the big question now is whether theHTC One M9 can actually get much better than this.
