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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HangFire - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
The problem with creating an "absolute best" (in all respects) phone is time-to-market; by the time you get all the top-of-the-line components sorted out, it's obsolete in some way, a competitor just bested one aspect or another.deskjob - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
I agree that the M8's camera is less than ideal. I personally would've taken OIS over the second sensor. If I had my pick - a 8MP @ 2um with OIS, and they can throw in the second sensor if there's room.That being said, I think you have to keep in mind, a big chunk of photos taken with phones are strictly shared digitally, and most likely via social networking sites. I have never printed out a photo taken with my phone. I make sure to have a "real" camera, whether a decent pocket or DSLR, for those situations where photo quality really matters.
Of course it all boils down to each person's unique priorities. And again, I agree they should have gone up to a 8MP main shooter @ 2um. The current 4MP doesn't not leave much spatial resolution for down-sampling.
HangFire - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
Thinking about it, 8MP @ 2uM might require more focal length and glass then the phone's profile would allow, and I don't want to carry one of those big ugly phone/cam hybrids like Samsung and Sony have made. Nokia has shown us how it's done. I don't care exactly what the MegalPixel count or sensor size is. I just want a cam that takes a really good pic within 1/4 second of being triggered, on a flagship phone.itsthesun - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
OK guys whatever about this phone... Where is Briankevith - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Great review!One question: Is the camera lens still covered with a soft plastic, that will scratch very easiy?
Taracta - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Anand,How about a running (side) list of the cellular bands that carriers support, not just what the phones support, in each of your reviews?
We would like to see the bands that the carriers uses and whether they support carrier aggregation (CA) where applicable and compare that to what the phones actually support and whether all feature of the carriers are implemented or just some. There could also be times where carriers add additional bands which could make a difference in buying decisions.
jk1 - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
people have different priorities in choosing a device. for me, i care about call quality both incoming and outgoing [not addressed], sound quality as a music player to headphones- choice of dac, fidelity of output [not addressed]. and i'd prefer a replaceable battery and the ability to use a micro sd card. [specified in the review]. then comes input options: ocr for documents or for handwriting for a note-type device.the review seemed to be mostly about the camera and - essentially- the phone's ability to play games. and of course, it's ability to make android users look almost as fashionable as apple users.
when i care about pictures i use a real camera- it produces better output than any phone camera. i don't play games. and i don't think of my phone as a fashion statement. thus the review left out the content that would have been most valuable to me.
JacksonSparks - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
This is a depressing comment. In summary, booooo.evonitzer - Saturday, March 29, 2014 - link
God I wish there was upvoting on Anandtech comments. +1I leave my phone in my pocket, get dirt in my pocket, and then have to meticulously clean my phone off, none of which was addressed in this review. Why do I even go on living?
sevenmack - Wednesday, April 2, 2014 - link
I understand your point, jk1. From where I sit, camera and build quality are both important. But not so important that other matters -- including call quality, and sound quality as a music player -- are rendered unimportant. A top-notch review should cover all of those issues, and this one doesn't; I would also say the same for reviews of the M8 by Anandtech's competing sites.Based on my own handling of the M8, the phone actually does well on all those counts. The call quality is actually quite solid, and the sound quality is more than good enough for audiophiles; like the M7, the M8 can also play lossless audio such as FLAC and does so well. The BoomSound speakers do the job and this generation's version is louder than that on the M7. But put in your Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headsets and the sound is sublime, as good as you can get on a smartphone.
The camera? Not perfect, but it is also better than most reviewers will admit; the big problem has more to do with the inability of many users to do something as simple as adjust settings than with pixel counts. If pro shutterbugs such as Colby Brown think the M8 is good enough for their work, then the rest of us should stop carping. And the phone is definitely nice to hold; even though it is longer than the M7, it is still easy to handle with one hand. You don't need to worry much about getting it dirty or scratched.