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
Snapdragon 801 Performance
The M8 is the first smartphone we’ve tested to use Qualcomm’s newly announced Snapdragon 801 SoC. At a high level the 801 is a frequency bump enabled by a 28nm HPm process push, giving it a tangible increase in performance (and potential decrease in power consumption) compared to the outgoing Snapdragon 800. The table below compares the 801 variants to the Snapdragon 800:
| Snapdragon 800/801 Breakdown | ||||||||||
| SoC Version | Model | Max CPU Frequency | Max GPU Frequency | ISP | eMMC | DSDA | Memory IF | |||
| MSM8974VV | v2 | S800 | 2.2GHz | 450MHz | 320MHz | 4.5 | N | 800MHz | ||
| MSM8974AA | v2 | S800 | 2.3GHz | 450MHz | 320MHz | 4.5 | N | 800MHz | ||
| MSM8974AB | v2 | S800 | 2.3GHz | 550MHz | 320MHz | 4.5 | N | 933MHz | ||
| MSM8974AA | v3 | S801 | 2.3GHz | 450MHz | 320MHz | 5.0 | Y | 800MHz | ||
| MSM8974AB | v3 | S801 | 2.3GHz | 578MHz | 465MHz | 5.0 | Y | 933MHz | ||
| MSM8974AC | v3 | S801 | 2.5GHz | 578MHz | 465MHz | 5.0 | Y | 933MHz | ||
In most parts of the world the M8 will ship with a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801. In Asia/China however we’ll see the 2.5GHz MSM8974AC v3 SKU instead.
Compared to the outgoing Snapdragon 800, peak CPU performance shouldn’t increase all that much. What we may see however is an improvement in power efficiency thanks to the improved 28nm HPm process.
It’s really the GPU that will see the largest increase in performance. With a maximum speed of 578MHz and paired with faster LPDDR3-1866 memory, we should see up to a 30% increase in GPU bound performance over Snapdragon 800 designs.
- Physics
| Snapdragon 801 vs 800 vs 600 | |||||||
| HTC One (M8) - Snapdragon 801 | Google Nexus 5 - Snapdragon 800 | HTC One (M7) - Snapdragon 600 | 801 vs 800 | 801 vs 600 | |||
| SunSpider 1.0.2 | 772.8 ms | 686.9 ms | 1234.8 ms | -12% | +37% | ||
| Kraken Benchmark 1.1 | 6745.2 ms | 7245.9 ms | 12166.5 ms | +7.4% | +45% | ||
| Google Octane v2 | 4316 | 3726 | 3103 | +16% | +39% | ||
| WebXPRT Overall | 373 | 392 | 244 | -5% | +53% | ||
| AndEBench - Native | 17430 | 17480 | 12381 | -1% | +41% | ||
| 3DMark 1.1 Ultimate | 19631 | 17529 | 10519 | +12% | +87% | ||
| 3DMark 1.1 Ultimate - Physics | 50.5 | 51 | 33.1 | -1% | +53% | ||
| Basemark X 1.1 - HQ | 12194 | 11275 | 4807 | +8.1% | +154% | ||
| GFXBench 3.0 - Manhattan Onscreen | 11.1 fps | 9.3 fps | 5.1 fps | +19% | +118% | ||
| GFXBench 3.0 - Manhattan Offscreen | 10.4 fps | 8.7 fps | 4.4 fps | +20% | +136% | ||
| GFXBench 3.0 - T-Rex HD Onscreen | 29.9 fps | 24.3 fps | 12.6 fps | +23% | +137% | ||
| GFXBench 3.0 - T-Rex HD Offscreen | 27.9 fps | 22.9 fps | 12.6 fps | +22% | +121% | ||
CPU Performance
GPU Performance
NAND Performance
The One is available in either 16GB or 32GB configurations, there are no higher capacity versions offered. There is now a micro SD card slot on the right side of the device, just above the volume rocker.
Despite using a Snapdragon 801 SoC, the internal storage is still an eMMC 4.5 solution.
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ShieTar - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
I think if you compare a 2MP and a 8+MP picture by looking at it on a 2MP-5" screen, about 100% of the people will not be able to tell which one has the better resolution.But I agree with your general comment, people complaining endlessly about the photographing qualities of a device that can't be connected to a good objective anyways is just weird.
Braumin - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Sorry I don't agree with you. 4MP is lots for twitter and facebook, but you can't crop the image at all. Plus 4MP doesn't allow 4k recording.Also they took out the OIS. The camera is fine in the One, but it's a regression from last year's model. That's why it's getting knocked. People had issues with the camera last year, and now they've actually gone back a step rather than address the issues.
Don't forget you're not talking about a Lumia 520 here, or even a Moto X. This is a full flagship phone, with the price to match. They needed to put a larger physical sensor in this year. If they had done 6-8 MP with the "ultrapixels" that would be one of the best camera's on a phone. Instead they regressed. That's never what you want to see in a flagship and they've been rightfully called out on it.
darkich - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Don't you ever, like, zoom in the photos?For, you know, seeing the finer detail?
sevenmack - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Depends. While I do a lot of cropping of my photos, I usually use Photoshop for that purpose. Does the job better than most mobile apps (including those that come with the phone itself). But for the average person, cropping is a rare event. In fact, you would be lucky to talk to someone who regularly crops smartphone camera photos for detail purposes.So Jonup does have a point. Doesn't mean that the M8 suits your needs; to each their own on that one. But for most folks -- including many professional photographers such as Mahmoud Mfinanga of EmmazedPhotog.com, and Colby Brown -- the M8 (and the M7 before it) more than does the job.
Scootiep7 - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
You do realize that most of the actual, professional photography work that Mahmoud Mfinanga and Colby Brown do uses either film or high end DSLR's cameras right? I mean it's literally on their websites. And no, the M8 and M7 would not cut it for them.doosh bag - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
They didn't say they used the phone camera, they simply endorsed it. Have it a thumbs up, if you will.CoryWeston101 - Monday, March 31, 2014 - link
I know a few that would disagree. And believe the M8 and M7 have great camera's for smartphones.sephirotic - Sunday, March 30, 2014 - link
Finer detail, on 16mpx 1/3" sensor? Good joke, sir.CoryWeston101 - Monday, March 31, 2014 - link
No. That's stupid.jond11 - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Maybe you should do better research. The camera improved from last year's model even with them removing ois. Not one tech site yet said picture quality is worse on the M8 compared to the M7. Actually, anyone who reviews the 2 phones all agree it takes better pictures. It's funny how the HTC ONE 2014 performed better than any phone on the plantet, but it wasn't worthy because it had a 4 ultra pixel camera. Yet the Note2, Note3, and S4 don't perform half as smoothly as the ONE and was considered great phones. So Iguess iit's ok now to make flagship phones buggy and filled with lag as long as it carries a 8 megapixel camera or better, lol.