The original HTC One was the company’s first major push into
an all metal body construction, milling out a single block of aluminium for what
was a pretty striking phone. But the new HTC One is futuristic. More metal. A
more impressive design. A bigger display. The new HTC One is, quite simply, the
best smartphone HTC has ever made.
The new HTC One is a tad bigger than the old HTC with a 5
inch Super LCD3 display at 1080 p with 441 ppi, covered by Corning Gorilla Glass
3. It’s nearly a full centimetre taller, a couple of millimetres wider and
just about as thick, though that’s tempered by the slope to the sides.
The M8 is just as beautiful as its predecessor. It uses a
gorgeous all-aluminium body which flaunts a similar curved backing. The M8 also
feels superbly solid, strong, and well-constructed.
The M8 runs Google's Android 4.4.2 operating system, the latest iteration from the tech
giant. KitKat brings a cleaner, less cluttered layout, tighter integration with
Google search, plus faster performance. Layered on top of that is HTC's most
recent revamp of its Sense UI, version 6.
The new HTC One packs in some of the fastest smartphone
internals available in early 2014.Its backed up by an ample 2GB of DDR2 RAM,
and 16 or 32 GB of internal storage and a micro SD slot for expandability. It’s
powered by a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 CPU (MSM8974AB), one of the latest and
greatest from Qualcomm. But China and some other parts of Asia will get a
slightly faster 2.5GHz model — still a Snapdragon 801 .It has a 2,600 mAh
battery with “EXTREME POWER SAVING MODE!!!”.
The handset has the same 4 MP ultrapixel camera but has
sensor at the top of the camera. It's a depth sensor that, when used in tandem
with the main camera lens, is able to calculate the distance of subjects in
your image. HTC's Duo Camera, however, eliminates the need for these separate
modes because it takes just one image and uses the image's depth information to
determine which part of the photo to keep in focus.
The new HTC One Boomsound speakers is more powerful than
before. HTC says total output is about 25 percent louder, thanks to a new
amplifier and some extra space carved out behind the speakers. Sound also is
slightly more full. You've got a whole new sound palette to play with as well.
As for BlinkFeed, the One now offers more ways to customize
it and increases the number of social media services it works with. Through a
partnership with Foursquare, BlinkFeed also suggests restaurants based on the
time and location.
HTC has added some additional functionality to the lock
screen in Sense 6. You’ve got the usual app short-cuts — by default they’re
phone, HTC text message app, HTC’s browser and the camera — which you can open
directly from the lock screen.
Motion Launch is the new hotness, and it comprises five
actions that will wake the phone:
- Double
tap the display to wake the phone.
- Swipe
left to “wake the widget panel,” which means open to the home screen.
- Swipe
right to wake the phone and launch BlinkFeed.
- Swipe
up to simply unlock the phone and return to whatever you were doing when
it went to sleep.
- Swipe
down to wake the phone and turn on voice dialing.
The new HTC One M8 is one heck of a handsome device, the
sexiest smartphone I've seen all year in fact (including the Galaxy S5 and Sony
Xperia Z2). While HTC's latest creation is more conservatively-styled than
the previous One, it has a look that's just as premium.
