Before the release of the HTC One M8 there were more leaks going around than with a bucket full of holes, but at least it’s nice to know that the pre-release picture was accurate overall. The handset did turn out to be a premium device with a new design for the bodyshell, lots of power and a display to die for.
So how does it measure up to some of the other Android devices on the market? The Nexus 5 is a fearsome contender as it comes with a processor that is top of the range and enough high grade features to make sure that it packs a punch.
Google changed the back of the Nexus 4 and put a glass backing over the sparkly back panel, with a grip of rubber around the edges. The Nexus 5 has a makeover and it is more durable and easy to hold. The soft touch plastic extends from the surround and it covers the whole of the device. The body of the handset is larger and it has to be to make room for the screen. The device is slinkier and it does happen to be more streamlined. It is also lighter and the unibody is more contoured.
But aesthetically speaking no one can do it like HTC and the HTC One M8. They took the design of the HTC One back to the drawing board. The overall shape is very similar but HTC tweaked it to create a successor that is more refined.
The HTC One M8 unibody has been enhanced and it extends around the sides in one piece. The handset does have a lot of curves and it is comfortable to hold. The design along with the metal finish reminds you a lot of the Aston Martin DB5 or the Shelby Cobra.
The device has been designed in aluminium and this means that it feels solid in the hand. It has a brushed texture and gloss coat, so it does feel smooth in the hand. Colour options for the handset are Amber Gold, Metal Grey and Arctic Silver. There is the distinctive end cap design of HTC with stereo speaker grilles on the front, which look classy.
There is good reason why the device is attracting a great deal of attention and it is said to be one of the best looking handsets on the market. On the downside it doesn’t look as though durability has been improved and aluminium is soft and tends to scuff and scratch easily.
The display of the HTC One M8 is 5 inches, in comparison to the 4.7 on the predecessor. HTC said that the Super LCD3 display has been improved. It is sharp and comes with viewing angles that are decent and it has good brightness.
The contrast is good too and you can see the display better than on the HTC One, when viewing outside. While the display is good, there are handsets that beat it. The device has a full HD 1080P resolution with 440ppi.
The display of the Nexus 5 is 4.95 inches and it has the True HD IPS, which was seen on the LG G2. This offers clear images at 1080p resolution with 445ppi. The brightness and colour is very punchy.
There are choices of 16GB and 32GB of onboard storage with the Nexus 5, but they cannot be expanded with SDcard. For connectivity there is 4G LTE/3G, dual-band Wi-Fi (with Direct and Hotspot), DLNA, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, microUSB and wireless charging capabilities.
The HTC One M8 is offered in 16GB for the UK and a 32GB model will come out in other markets.
The 16GB can be expanded thanks to microSD card to 128GB and it comes with support for MHL TV-Out and infrared blaster. Connectivity choices are about the same. The handset has BoomSound stereo speakers on the front and these have a built in amplifier. This means that the quality of sound is fantastic and unlike anything on the market.
The HTC One M8 offers a battery of 2600mAh and the Google Nexus 5 has the 2,300mAh battery, both cannot be swapped.
There are quite a few tricks up the sleeve of the HTC One M8. There is a motion co-processor that is dedicated and which offers many features. The device can be put to sleep or woken up with a double tap on its screen. Owners can answer a call just by lifting it up to the ear or the handset can be opened from sleep inside one of several applications through a swipe gesture.
The Nexus 5 runs on a powerhouse processor thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad core at 2.3GHz alongside 2GB of RAM and the Adreno 330 GPU. This means that everything runs at a nice smooth pace.
HTC went for the new version of the hardware. It offers the Snapdragon 801 processor at 2.3GHz and it has 2GB of RAM.
On the Nexus 5 there is the 8MP illuminated sensor and this comes with optical image stabilisation along with LED flash. It can take video at 1080p and offers PhotoSphere. This is similar to a panoramic capture in 360 degrees and it can be linked to Google Maps. It is a good point and shoot, but it doesn’t offer anything exceptional.
The HTC One M8 camera is a cornerstone for the handset where HTC is concerned. The company revamped the imaging suite. The camera has the f/2.0 aperture along with the 1/3 inch, 4MP BSI sensor with Ultrapixels and it can take video at 1080p with a dual LED two tone flash, one of white and the other amber, for capturing in low light. HTC did lose the optical image stabilisation.
There is a second lens above the main port of the back panel and this takes a sweep of partial data, much like a Lytro camera. It then stores the info in an image file. It has some clever tricks, one of which is the ability to select and re-select a new focal point. There is also a 3D hologram parallax effect when you tilt and shift the image.
Both handsets offer KitKat 4.4, but the Nexus 5 has the stock version. The HTC One M8 has the Sense 6 UI.
Google has done well with the stock Android and there has been a visual revamp with transparent elements replacing the old black bars. The app icons aren’t large anymore and the font has been slimmed down.
Google Now has always on voice activation; owners just have to say Ok Google and then tell it a command.
HTC Sense is lovely, so we don’t mind the overlay. It is fast and slick and has customisable fonts, colour themes and its own unique app icons.
Sense 6.0 uses the BlinkFeed homescreen of HTC, however you can disable this if you want. It is good for getting your social networking, news and photos at a glance.
There is also the transparent UI elements of KitKat and it is the small things that HTC did that make a lot of difference.
The HTC One M8 doesn’t do anything that other devices cant, however it does do many things a lot cooler, this does make it appealing and a joy to use.
