The HTC 10 Review
by Joshua Ho on September 19, 2016 8:00 AM ESTVideo Performance
Now that we've discussed how the HTC 10 does on still images we can go over how well it does for video recording. There have been a lot of cases where a smartphone can take great images but the video quality is often appalling and pretty much an afterthrought. In order to try and see how the HTC 10 does we can start by looking at the kind of encode settings that the HTC 10 uses.
| HTC 10 Video Encode Settings | ||||
| Video | Audio | |||
| 1080p30 | 20 Mbps H.264 Baseline | 192 Kbps, 48 KHz AAC 24 bit, 96 KHz FLAC |
||
| 4K30 | 56 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 192 Kbps, 48 KHz AAC 24 bit, 96 KHz FLAC |
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| 720p120 | 24 Mbps H.264 Baseline | 192 Kbps, 48 KHz AAC | ||
Right off the bat things are a little concerning here. For some reason HTC is using AVC Baseline for encode in 1080p30 and 1080p60 is absent altogether. I'm not sure why this is but really neither of those things should be the case. 720p120 also uses AVC Baseline which really shouldn't be the case. Interestingly enough, HTC has also included the ability to record video with FLAC audio which results in an mkv file output instead of an mp4 but as far as I can tell nothing else seems to change as far as video encode settings go.
| 1080p30 Video |
In 1080p30 video HTC manages to pull off an interesting trick, which is that their video is actually properly stabilized instead of whatever is going on with the Galaxy S7 and G5. I would say that the color is also a little more accurate from what I saw at the time of recording but without a proper ColorChecker chart I can't really prove this assertion. At this point the HTC 10 and OnePlus 3 both have strange issues with artifacting around the sky that makes me wonder whether the Snapdragon 820 has some sort of issue with the encode blocks leading to such poor quality. Audio quality with FLAC is just clearly superior here though.
| 4K30 Video |
In 4K30 the HTC 10 unfortunately loses the software stabilization so the result is basically just as shaky as the Galaxy S7 and by extension the Note7. Even using AVC High profile I can still see strange artifacts in the sky which is really strange. Audio capture continues to be better as far as suppressing wind noise goes than Galaxy S7, likely due to the use of dual level microphones similar to what we saw in the One M7. I would say color rendition is more accurate here as well but this is a subjective observation. The iPhones 6s continues to be one of the best phones for 4K30 capture almost entirely because it actually has the ISP throughput to process 4K video properly.
| Slow Motion Video |
In 720p120 the HTC 10 really starts to show its weakness. I suspect we're dealing with some kind of sensor limitation here because 4K30 is possible but for some reason 720p240 isn't. Color rendition is mildly cooler here as well relative to the Galaxy S7 but detail isn't great here and obviously it isn't going to be able to capture motion as well as anything with 240 FPS capture. The iPhone 6s would obviously beat it here by virtue of its 1080p120 capture.
Overall, video capture is somewhat disappointing on the HTC 10. It definitely isn't unusable and the FLAC audio is a compelling addition along with proper 1080p30 video stabilization, but things like poor slow motion capture and some strange artifacting and poor encode profiles mar the experience. Relative to something like the Galaxy S7 I would say that 1080p30 and 4K30 capture are clearly superior, but 720p120 and the utter lack of 1080p60 video means that depending upon what you use the camera for the HTC 10 can end up falling short of the competition. 720p240, 1080p60 for next year as well as AVC High Profile across the board would be great to see and would resolve a lot of the issues here.
Looking at the camera overall, I think the HTC 10 is very much the equal of the Galaxy S7 as far as camera goes. The Galaxy S7 and Note7 have incredible user experience due to the sheer speed of capture and focus, but the image quality, oil painting-esque processing, and somewhat off color rendition in a lot of cases means that the HTC 10 can give you a better result if you can tap to focus properly and possibly adjust the exposure metering. It definitely could use some work to clean up the details and loose ends, but HTC has finally shipped a camera that they can be proud of and lives up to the promise of the marketing and specs.
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edlee - Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - link
i loved my m8, nothing i got recently feels as good as that phone did.Since that phone, i have had s6, and s7 edge, but for some reason m8 will always stick with me
bennyadamo - Thursday, October 6, 2016 - link
Agreed. The One M8 was a smartphone masterpiece. I owned both the M8 and a Galaxy S5 (and numerous iphones) and in terms of design, performance and user interface you still can't beat the M8. And HTC's Sense UI absolutely blows iOS and "Touchwiz" out of the water (just an aside, but how idiotic is "touchwiz" as a name for a UI? Or for anything else for that matter? I feel embarrassed just typing it). If you think the UI doesn't make a huge difference in your phone experience, try using Sense and Touchwiz side-by-side for a week. Even just small things like the small amount of lag time it takes for the display to re-orient from portrait to landscape when rotating the phone in your hand become infuriating when you have to live with Touchwiz daily. And besides the superior UI, the One M8 just looked and felt like a premium piece of hardware. Many, many times I had people ask me what type of phone it was or inspect it front to back when I let them hold it in their hands, impressed by the solid/premium feel of it. At this point, the One M8 is still (rather unfortunately) HTC's high-water mark. Although having said that I did just order the HTC 10 to take advantage of their sale ($150 off if you buy an unlocked phone directly from HTC from 10/1/16 to 10/8/16).Also, I read some of these comments saying that it's a waste of time to review or buy a phone 7 months after it's launch - that's not true and is a really misguided/misinformed opinion. A lot of people buy a phone that long after it's come out simply because they are waiting for their current phone contract to expire. Other reasons are because some of the teething bugs have been worked out or simply because the price drops after that amount of time (read above re: HTC's current sale on the HTC 10). The average person doesn't need to buy the newest/highest-end/highest-spec phone every year, and most people probably get 2-2.5 years out of a smartphone like this.
ipaulw83 - Monday, September 19, 2016 - link
certainly not dead, the HTC 10 is a far much better choice than the G5, S7 & Note 7 "Fiasco" and other flagships. the only real threat to HTC is the OnePlus 3 but overall the build quality and camera is in favor of HTC 10... i would hate to see them die or break software updates promises as recent news, nevertheless they have a great product that is more special than any other current android flagship (IMHO).i do not own any HTC product currently or stock or anything i use an iphone and an LG nexus 5x but wanted to give my opinion
repatch - Monday, September 19, 2016 - link
"far much better choice" for you perhaps. Why all the generalizing?I for one went with the LG G5, for one reason: the camera. The super wide angle camera on this thing is FANTASTIC, everyone who's seen it marvels at the kind of shots you get with it. It's REALLY fun. For ME, the "far much better choice" is the G5, but that won't apply to most others.
The S7 for me was a no go due to the glass back (can't stand glass backs because they are so prone to breakage, my Nexus 4 went through 3, and NONE of those were broken due to drops). The HTC 10 just didn't have anything 'special' going for it.
Again, that's MY opinion, it's best to sit down and write down what are go/no go's, for YOU, and make a choice that way.
IMHO of course.
Impulses - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
I really wanted to like LG's latest, I use an ultra wide lens on my mirrorless M4/3 cameras so that was right up my alley... The overall package (and uber gimmicky modules on their latest) never convinced me.If I HAD picked up a new phone last year it would've been a 10, for the better audio and lack of TouchWiz... My N5 is still trucking along tho, at least until the Pixels come out.
This breadth of choices, even in a market that's contacting, is still something I really like about the Android ecosystem.
FourEyedGeek - Monday, September 19, 2016 - link
Already have the Galaxy S7...smorebuds - Monday, September 19, 2016 - link
And this article is for you and only you...FourEyedGeek - Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - link
Its for all those people who want to make a decision on buying a new smartphone, but might have been helpful to those making a choice months ago don't you think?Freido - Monday, September 19, 2016 - link
HTC 10 is a nice looking phone. But it lacks a high brightness screen. It is a tad bigger as well. Thats my personal opinion. If it was a bit smaller like 4.9", I would have bought it. I've decided to buy Sony X compact or iPhone SE. Recent Sony phones like xlX performance and XZ sports very good displays I think. Looks as stunning as of iphones IPS displays.I was wondering why Anandtech never reviews Sony flagships even though they does release good phones with less gimmicks.
Will anyone consider my suggestion?
fanofanand - Monday, September 19, 2016 - link
They have addressed this in the past, typically Sony does not give out samples to the press. In today's "give me everything for free" world, websites like this simply don't have the excess cash to go buying every cool new toy that comes out. Would it be sweet? Absolutely, but for the most part if Anandtech doesn't review something it's because they couldn't obtain one from the company.