The 'All New HTC One" (aka the M8)

[geeks]

I will get some of my pics from it up as well. Also have a few videos to take a look at as well that give a good reference for what it is capable of

[VEA]

your pics are better than mine.



must try harder

[Funk]

As I say, it's not the last word in photographic supremacy but for my purposes it's more than sufficient.

Forgot to mention I've gone back to the gel case. Not a fault of the Dot View case, but just the fact it's a flip case. Can't get used to it and found it a pain. The back is also smooth and the front grippy which feels 'wrong'. The gel case gives good grip in the hand and I like to use my phone one handed - the flip case didn't really work for me. Shame as the Dot View is cool as fk.

I may keep it as I liked the functionality and protection it offered and there may be situations where that comes in handy, but if anyone wants to make me an offer I'd consider it. It's literally a few days old, I paid £35 (retail) for it.

Edited by Funk on Friday 11th April 12:47

[VEA]

Funk said:

but just the fact it's a flip case.

Edited by Funk on Friday 11th April 12:38

This is the reason I didn't bother. I cannot stand flip cases. I've actually taken the gel case off mine now. Goes in the pocket so much easier without.

[Funk]

VEA said:

This is the reason I didn't bother. I cannot stand flip cases. I've actually taken the gel case off mine now. Goes in the pocket so much easier without.

I'd still be paranoid about damaging the gorgeousness. Mobile Fun have a nice clear case that will still let it look great, might investigate that...

[SimianWonder]

Funk said:

Shame as the Dot View is cool as fk.

Kittens.

Kittens are cool. And very, very cute.

[Polarbert]

I managed to get an official HTC One X white flip case from Amazon ages ago for a fiver, I actually bought three of them because they were so cheap and sold a couple of them. It was quite nice, being able to stand the phone up and what not when at the desk. Since getting the HTC One M7 I've had an Otter Box Commuter and a gel case, and never really been interested in a flip case. I'll actually have the phone sans case when around the home just due to the fact it feels nicer to use, and I'm careful so I know its not going to get damaged.

[melhookv12]

Got a M7 in January, but I'm due an upgrade. Do I go M8, or jump HTC ship and try a S5, any good deals out there on either. I currently pay £25 per month unlimited data, 500 mins and unlimited texts. All the plans I look at are for 4g and I don't really need 4g so why pay a premium for it.
It is nice to have a shiny new phobe, but is the jump from M7 to M8 worth it.

Then I'd be buying new case and car dock again ! Why can't they make the official docks like the kidigi one that takes the phone when it's in a gel case ?

[leglessAlex]

Could be worth looking at a GiffGaff PAYG sim, the £12 a month sim gives unlimited texts and data and 250 mins. Over a 24 month contract that saves 300 over what you're paying now, but I guess really it depends on how much you can get the phone only for.

[Funk]

melhookv12 said:

Got a M7 in January, but I'm due an upgrade. Do I go M8, or jump HTC ship and try a S5, any good deals out there on either. I currently pay £25 per month unlimited data, 500 mins and unlimited texts. All the plans I look at are for 4g and I don't really need 4g so why pay a premium for it.
It is nice to have a shiny new phobe, but is the jump from M7 to M8 worth it.

Then I'd be buying new case and car dock again ! Why can't they make the official docks like the kidigi one that takes the phone when it's in a gel case ?

Hello chap! EE still offer 3G-based tariffs for the M8. It's a big move on from the One but probably not enough to justify changing though unless you must have one...

[TheAngryDog]

I had a look at this in the metal today. It looks out of proportion to me. I don't think it is a big step up from my HTC One.

I think the Z2 or Find 7a may be on my radar now

[SimianWonder]

After having a slightly longer play with the S5 and feeling a little underwhelmed, I made my decision and my M8 landed yesterday. I left it on charge for a good few hours, and have spent today playing around with it. It feels a very definite step up from my previous Galaxy S3, both in terms of build (it's going to get tiresome talking about it, but it really does feel look and feel fantastic) and in operation. The S3 sat close to the summit of smart phone performance just two years ago, yet the One M8 makes it feel slow, (the Antutu benchmark test gave a score to the M8 of 36890 compared to S3's 18909) which shows just how far the tech has progressed in two years.

I received two free cases with the phone, one in the box - the clear HTC plastic effort - which is actually very good, and a "premium" designer faux-leather case, which feels cheap and nasty, definitely not something I want on something as pretty as the M8!

Features such as double-tapping the screen to wake it up are great addition, and for all the fuss about the camera having a low MP count, it takes pictures just fine. Will they hold up against higher-megapixel rivals on full zoom? No, probably not, but how many people seriously use their smartphone for doing that? In any case, there are a lot of options to play with when taking pictures, and just as many for editing afterwards, which means there's plenty to tinker with. And I love tinkering.

Very, very happy with the M8 thus far.

[joebongo]

Slightly OT but I had a Note 3 for a few days this week following my return of the M8. Sure enough the Note has a much better camera however the GPS is the same old crap present in all Samsungs - useless.

If the camera not being great is acceptable then the M8 is the way to go. Apparently the S5 will be just as st at GPS as every other Samsung.

[Funk]

Joe, out of interest, how would you rate the pictures I posted from my M8 further up this page?

[joebongo]

Hi Funk,

They're fine for normal use and look great. The main problem I saw was the whiteout on bright spots.

I took some comparative HDR shots with my iPhone 4S and the M8 which I've added below to show you. The 4S has an 8MP camera but I can't say whether it has any special sensors or anything like the M8 since apple keep it all quiet.

iPhone - notice the crispness and colour detail doesn't seem as good as the M8.




M8 - notice the whiteout through the window




iPhone - notice the colour of the breezeblocks - this is the real colour they are.




M8 - notice the breezeblocks are blue - never did work out why the camera did that.



In summary it's merely the fact I have a 4 year old son who won't keep still long enough for any camera to take a decent HDR shot aside from the iPhone and the Note 3. The lack of working GPS has led me full circle back to the iPhone.

Did I say I hate iPhones? I am not a fanboy in any way and really wish there was an android that had both a toddler compatible camera and flawless GPS.

iPhones are for the technically illiterate. Problem is they do what they do very well.

Hope this helps in some way!

Joe

[JumboBeef]

The Beaver King said:

Unlimited calls and texts or unlimited data? Your post is a little mixed up.

Three are doing unlimited everything for £44 a month or 600mins/unlim data for £41 a month.

EE are doing a deal right now for unlimited minutes/texts and 4GB of data for £37 a month.

Vodafone are doing unlimited minutes/texts and 2GB of data for £37.50 a month if you know someone who works for the NHS and will fill in a 5 minute form.

Those are the best I have seen so far.

I got unlimited calls/texts and 10GB of data for £34/month on EE (including 20% NHS discount), plus a £9.99 fee for the handset.

[SimianWonder]

A quick reference here, the top picture from the M8, the lower one from the 8MP snapper on the Galaxy 33.

M8 (full auto mode, no manually adjusted settings);



And the S3



The S3 looks washed out in comparison, though cropping the picture in anyway does show up the S3s higher megapixel count; it's less noisy on distant objects. In either case, the M8 picture appears the superior image.

M8;



S3;

Edited by SimianWonder on Sunday 13th April 11:09

Edited by SimianWonder on Sunday 13th April 11:13

[SimianWonder]

Both of these were taken on the M8, with no changes to settings. The only difference was that I very slightly changed the angle the phone was held at, the first picture being aimed slightly under the window, the second aimed at the window.

As you can see, the first picture suffers from heavy bloom effect around the window but picks out a lot more detail in its surroundings than the second image, which has drastically changed the exposure to reduce the glare and show objects (in this case a brick wall!) beyond the window.

[SimianWonder]

Pretty much. The camera is excellent with low light conditions, and can deal well with bright light situations as well, but seems to struggle when presented with both in a single shot. There may be a way to combat this in the camera settings, though as a photography luddite I wouldn't know where to start.

[Coolbanana]

There isn't a 'point and shoot' camera or phone that can satisfy my photography needs when I'm wanting good shots; my DSLR's are for that purpose. But I do like to use my phone for fun shots and to this end, the M8 is perfectly fine.