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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Johnmcl7 - Sunday, March 30, 2014 - link
Because there is no such thing as an absolute phone - everyone has different preferences and the market reflects that. I much prefer Samsung's lighter and durable plastic construction which can hold up to daily use and allows a removable battery rather than HTC's heavier metal cases which if used without a case easily pick up scuffs and scratches making them look decidedly second hand within a matter of months.w2aith - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
Fantastic phone. Good weight, great hand feel. Faster than I expected. Camera is unimpressive, but that is not what i look for in a phone. Sound quality from the speakers on the phone is the best I've heard.Death666Angel - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
"There’s nothing more to say other than I’m disappointed."Golden! Is it wrong that I read that in my head in Jon Stewart's Jewish Mother voice? :D
Death666Angel - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
Just finished reading your review.Feeling kinda underwhelmed by the M8. First off, I don't really care about the all metal design of a phone. I can appreciate that for all of 2 seconds before I put a plastic case on it and never see the body again unless it is for cleaning. So that advantage is lost for me. I want to like the camera and I kinda do. But 4MP is too low for me. Decrease pixel size, increase the sensor size a bit and give me 6 or 8. I don't need 13MP at 1.12 (?) um, but 4MP@2um is just not good enough, especially as a follow up to that same camera. I don't do that much low-light photography either, but I've used my SGS2 as a camera on holidays when my point and shoot was low on batteries, so outdoor pictures are very important. Losing OIS is an astonishing move and puzzles me greatly. The 801 is looking pretty cool, the mSD card helps, but those aren't unique features. For the price, the display needs to be calibrated better (although I also don't care much about that). I don't really care about the sound of a phone because my usage model does not involve playing anything without headphones plugged in.
The old M7 is still ~70 to 120€ more expensive than any of its competitors phones (Nexus 5, LG G2, SGS4, Xperia Z, not comparing the same capacities, because I am fine with 16GB on my phone), so I don't think the new M8 will be a price competitive offering. I don't see myself being impressed by the SGS5 either. Note 4 maybe? Haven't heard too much about it. But any smartphone that costs over 400€ needs to offer some serious advantages to get me to consider it instead of a Nexus.
If Nexus 5.2 gets a bigger battery, marginally faster SoC at better power characteristics and a better performing camera (1.4 - 1.7 um with 6 or 8MP image and OIS and a 4 or 5MP front facing camera), I'll be a happy boy and upgrade from my Galaxy Nexus.
tvandegr - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
Do we know if the Developer edition or the unlocked edition support carrier aggregation? They seem to be based off of the ATT model from what I have seen other places.skylinkdave - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
You know what's even more fun than a fiddly phone camera? A real camera that's able to do all of this in-camera without all the post.ol1bit - Saturday, March 29, 2014 - link
As always, Anandtech is spot on with the review. Good Job! Just read some of the other reviews for comparison.pdc200 - Saturday, March 29, 2014 - link
Hmmmm so what happened to reviewing things like Call Quality, Boomsound Quality and loudness? Quality of Audio from the Headphone jack?ghm3 - Saturday, March 29, 2014 - link
I've been eagerly awaiting the Sony Xperia Z2 ever since MWC, and this review doesn't change that at all, but at this is clearly my next choice. The addition of a micro SD slot makes this far more appealing to me now.Either way I'm so done with Samsung's cheap garbage loaded with shitware you can't remove without cracking the phone. Beyond the hardware with the Z2 I'm really looking forward to the mostly un-molested Android build on it. Can anyone provide insight into how HTC is in this department?
thisiskicker - Sunday, March 30, 2014 - link
Awesome It has a micro SD card expansion. This is what phones are now a days are missing.