The HTC One (M8) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Joshua Ho on March 26, 2014 7:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Mobile
- HTC One
Video
Since the rear facing camera only has a 4MP sensor resolution, there’s no support for 4K video recording - the maximum supported video resolution is 1080p. The available video modes are: 1080p30 (20Mbps High Profile H.264), 1080p60 (also 20Mbps High Profile), slow motion (720p) pand HDR video.
The camera preview in the video modes is pretty good. I noticed some dropped frames when recording 1080p30 but nothing substantial. The preview window when recording HDR video definitely dropped frames, to the point that it was fairly distracting. The resulting video itself was consistent in frame rate but not smoothly responsive to changes in dynamic range.
Extreme Power Saving Mode
This is a feature that seems to be all the rage these days. HTC now includes support for an Extreme Power Saving Mode that can be manually or automatically set to turn on when your battery reaches 20%, 10% or 5% remaining capacity. In the Extreme Power Saving mode you’re locked out from all but five apps (phone, messages, HTC Mail, HTC Calendar and Calculator ). The display brightness is clamped to 170 nits and max CPU/GPU frequency is limited to 1.2GHz and 320MHz, respectively. All four cores remain capable of being plugged in. Background data is also restricted - only SMS/MMS and phone calls will come in automatically. Emails need to be manually refreshed, and all other apps are quit upon entering the mode. The sensor hub is powered down, which disables features like the Motion Gestures and Pedometer.
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The Extreme Power Saving Mode features a large, simplified UI. The 5-inch display is evenly divided into large touch targets for each of the five apps as well as a button to exit the mode. The notification shade is disabled as well. You’ll still get alerts for things like open WiFi networks, but you’ll have no way to join/dismiss them while in this mode.
HTC claims up to 15 hours of standby time on the new One when running in Extreme Power Saving Mode (with 5% battery remaining). I still haven’t devised a good battery life test for these modes but I plan on measuring screen on standby time as soon as I get an opportunity to do so.
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Gam3sTr - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Htc m8 in Asia will be equipped with the ac version of snapdragon 801...geniekid - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
They should've dropped their logo from the front since they're using on screen buttons now. That would've reduced the height close to the M7.asaini007 - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
They would if they could. Why does nobody realize that? There exists such a thing as physical size constraints.Death666Angel - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
But only because of their internal space arrangement, maybe even the secondary camera. There are enough phones out there with minimal bezel that your statement is a bit weird.asaini007 - Saturday, March 29, 2014 - link
You're ignoring the boomsound speakers. Those take space. If you remove those (and add a little to make room for the front facing camera and other sensors) then the One would have relatively thin bezels. People like the boomsound and then complain about bezels. Honestly it's one or the other.LifeEngineer - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
@AnandI trust all your reviews and you are THE best reviewer ever!
In one word, "LG G2" or "HTC M8"?
Thanks.
Human Bass - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
I would go for the g2, i find a 4MP camera unacceptable.jospoortvliet - Sunday, March 30, 2014 - link
I'd go for the HTC, most pictures are made under mediocre light circumstances and the HTC will thus usually beat the crap out of the g2 in terms of image quality...pjcamp - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
I had such hopes for this one. Unfortunately, a solid camera is a core function of a smartphone, second only to phone calls. Often, it is the only camera we have with us. This one is clearly intended for nothing but snapshots for text messages and maybe web posting. For those of us with large displays or who, god forbid, still print the occasional picture and hang it on our walls, it is crap. The photos I saw here were somewhat desaturated colors with blown highlights and would be pixellated to death if printed at any reasonable resolution. Comedy effects are not an adequate substitute and would not be used after the novelty wears off (though you really should cultivate an actual Simon Legree mustache). On my last vacation, I forgot my usual camera so the phone was all I had with me to take pictures of the visit to Mount St. Helens. God forbid that phone was the One.It continues to baffle me why no Android manufacturer seems inclined to create an "absolute best." It might add an extra $50 to the phone, but many of us would pay that. If Samsung gave up their addiction to butt ugly polycarbonate pincushions, they'd have it. If HTC offered a version with a 13, or even 8, mp camera, they'd have it. Oddball cost cutting doesn't make any sense to me. If they expect me to plunk down $600+ for a phone, there had better be no compromises.
The One is not that phone. I need a new device, but I fear I'm going to get into the summer having my choice of a plastic Galaxy, a One with no usable camera, and a G3 with no sd card slot. Android manufacturers, pay attention! Fix any one of these problems and you will have hit it out of the park.
Blairh - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
I find it odd that you forgot your 'usual camera' for a vacation. Who forgets their camera in such a scenario?After handling the M8 I went ahead and purchased a Nexus 5 online. The quality of the camera appears to be fine for moments where I don't have my dedicated shooter. It's really a shame that an Android device with the camera of the Nokia 1020 does not exist. The G3 isn't coming until this fall I believe. If you must have an SD card slot and hate Samsung phones you might be SOL right now. (Or maybe the Sony Z2?)