HTC has officially launched its new flagship phone for 2014, the HTC One M8. The One M8 follows the successful HTC One, which is now rebranded as the One M7.
The "All New HTC One" sports a larger screen, a 90% metal design body with a tweaked design, bigger battery, and further upgrades to the HTC Sense OS, camera, audio performance and more.
The five-star HTC One fell just short of the best smartphones of 2013, and now the M8 is set to do battle with the iPhone 5S and forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S5 for top dog status in 2014.
Look out for a full review very soon but in the mean time you can check out our first impressions and video in our HTC One M8 hands on review.
HTC One M8 specs
Curved edges, an even more metallic chassis (90% metal, says HTC) and a choice of three finishes – Metal Grey, Amber Gold and Arctic Silver – certainly make for a stylish exterior.
The new One M8 features a 5in screen, with a 1920 x 1080 full HD resolution and a pixel density of 468ppi, and uses similar technology to that found in an IPS display. Inside is a new processor, a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chip, supported by 2GB RAM.
Integrated storage is limited to 16GB but there's an SD card slot for expanding that by up to 128GB. You also get some free Google Drive storage (no longer Dropbox) in to the bargain.
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Battery life should have got a hefty shot in the arm thanks to the inclusion of a 2600mAh battery, as compared to a 2300mAh battery on the original HTC One.
A 4G phone, the One M8 also sports aptX Bluetooth, NFC, and IR blaster and WiFi a/b/g/n/ac.
HTC One M8 new features
Inside is the latest version of HTC's own operating software, HTC Sense 6.0. This includes a new and improved (so HTC says) version of Blinkfeed, HTC's content aggregating homepage.
Also new are various gesture controls, including Motion Launch, which works not unlike the LG Knock On feature which was launched on the G Pro 2.
Boomsound replaces Beats Audio when it comes to sound processing inside the HTC One M8, while the stereo speakers on the outside and the amp on the inside have both had design tweaks.
As is de rigeur for smartphones in 2014, there's plenty of focus on the camera. The One M8 uses 'ultrapixels' rather than 'megapixels' and claims its 4.1 ultrapixel lens and Due Camera design will produce better than ever results.
Look out for our full review very soon but in the mean time check out more pictures and our first impressions in our hands on HTC One M8 review.
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by Joe Cox
