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
Battery Life
The new One features an integrated 3.8V 2600mAh battery (9.88 Wh), a 13% increase in capacity compared to the previous model. The battery comparison isn’t that simple however. The M8 has a larger display (5” vs 4.7”) but it also has a higher performing and more power efficient SoC (Snapdragon 801 vs. 600). To find out how the new One stacks up against its predecessor, we turn to a mix of old and new battery life tests to help better characterize the device.
We’ll start with our standard browser based battery life tests. Keep in mind here these tests are as much about replicating a particular CPU profile as they are about loading specific web pages in order.
We saw a substantial gain in battery life with Snapdragon 800, and 801 extends that even further. For the same, relatively light (yet constant) workload, the M8 improves battery life over the M7 by as much as 71%. On WiFi the advantage drops to only 38%, but we’re still talking about absolutely huge generational gains.
A constant workload is only one part of the story though. More often than not, when you’re faced with faster compute you end up doing more. To see what the other extreme of battery life looks like I turned to two canned tests: BaseMark OS II and GFXBench 3.0.
I ran both of these tests under the same controlled conditions we always use, with all displays calibrated to 200 nits. BaseMark OS II runs through a bunch of CPU and storage benchmarks (basically the same tests used for the BaseMark OS II system and memory tests), as fast as possible, until the battery dies.
I like this benchmark as it gives us an indication of worst case battery life if you’re absolutely hammering the CPU (and storage) relentlessly.
Despite the faster CPU cores, the M8’s battery life actually goes up compared to M7. Here we’re really seeing the benefits of 801’s updated 28nm HPm process compared to the Snapdragon 600’s 28nm LP process.
GFXBench provides a similar test, with effectively uncapped performance (on today’s devices at least since we’re not hitting v-sync limits), but stressing the GPU instead of the CPU. Here we’re running the T-Rex HD benchmark, onscreen, until the battery dies.
This is the first and only test we’ve got here that shows a regression in battery life compared to M7. The M8 loses about 6% of runtime compared to the M7, despite having a larger battery. Now look at what happens if we look at performance at the end of the run:
Now the M8’s battery life regression doesn’t look so bad. You give up 6% of runtime but you get almost twice the performance compared to M7. Snapdragon 801 is just a huge upgrade compared to 600.
Charge Time
The M8 features a Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 enabled PMIC, which enables faster battery charge times through higher voltage charging. Unfortunately the in-box wall adapter is only Quick Charge 1.5 compliant so you'll only pull 7.5W from the wall. HTC expects to offer a Quick Charge 2.0 compliant power adapter later this year.
The M8's charge time is a bit slow compared to what we've seen from other devices with larger batteries.
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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?)