The 'All New HTC One" (aka the M8)
Discussion
EE confirmed that whilst the phone is network-locked, updates for it will come direct from HTC which is perfect.
So mine arrives tomorrow in gunmetal grey. Oops.
I may also have ordered the View dot matrix cover (that won't be here until next week though).
£9.99 for the phone
Unlim calls
Unlim texts
20Gb 4G double-speed
Tethering
VOIP
£28.79/mo with my discount.
Now to sell the One X and car dock...
So mine arrives tomorrow in gunmetal grey. Oops.
I may also have ordered the View dot matrix cover (that won't be here until next week though).£9.99 for the phone
Unlim calls
Unlim texts
20Gb 4G double-speed
Tethering
VOIP
£28.79/mo with my discount.
Now to sell the One X and car dock...
Seems I may have been lied to about the updates. I'll see what the phone has on it when it turns up tomorrow. If it's full of EE stuff, I may send it back - I would sell it on, but EE specifically mentioned that I couldn't resell it for at least 6 months, apparently it legally belongs to them until then. How they'd know/what they'd do about it I have no idea. It's likely that clause applies to all new contract phones regardless, so my plan to sell an 'unwanted upgrade' on to fund a SIM-free One M8 is probably a non-starter.
The tardy operator update were my greatest frustration with my One X, so a non-EE build is a must for me. I'm also not sure how long I'll last without rooting it to go ad-free. I lasted 3 days with my Nexus 7! I'm not in a position to buy one SIM-free outright yet, all my spare cash at the moment is going toward a freehold purchase...
The tardy operator update were my greatest frustration with my One X, so a non-EE build is a must for me. I'm also not sure how long I'll last without rooting it to go ad-free. I lasted 3 days with my Nexus 7! I'm not in a position to buy one SIM-free outright yet, all my spare cash at the moment is going toward a freehold purchase...
Heh, there's already a version of ARHD for the M8. Nice to know I can sort it and go my own way like I did with the One X.
Edit: Just found EE lied about the storage too - it's 16Gb not 32Gb. I'll be bouncing the delivery tomorrow and rejecting the phone.
I'm actually considering mugging off EE completely after this, they're taking the piss.
Edit: Just found EE lied about the storage too - it's 16Gb not 32Gb. I'll be bouncing the delivery tomorrow and rejecting the phone.
I'm actually considering mugging off EE completely after this, they're taking the piss.
Edited by Funk on Wednesday 26th March 17:21
king suck.I'm back in two minds again. That deal is ridiculously good, even with a 16Gb phone. Might take it and stuff a 64Gb card in it (7DayShop have Class 10 microSD for £24), roll with it for 6 months and sell it when the 32Gb comes out - then buy a network unlocked stock version with the proceeds. I reckon it'll still be worth £400 in 6 months' time and I'll get £100-120 for my One X as well which I can bank.
Argh... decisions!
Argh... decisions!
I'm going to keep the one that's coming today. It's too good a tariff to pass up and I would resent paying my monthly charge without 'something' to show for it. I'm about to order a 64Gb card and I already have the Dot Matrix case on order from Expansys, should ship tomorrow all being well.
Re. the One X, yes, I was looking at Sold Listings on eBay for a 32Gb One X, network unlocked. Mine's in excellent condition and I have the car dock to go with it (the one I bought from melhook). Might keep it as a backup for the time being. I'll post some pics of the new phone when it gets here.
Re. the One X, yes, I was looking at Sold Listings on eBay for a 32Gb One X, network unlocked. Mine's in excellent condition and I have the car dock to go with it (the one I bought from melhook). Might keep it as a backup for the time being. I'll post some pics of the new phone when it gets here.
Right, I'm home and got all the other flim-flam out the way.
So the phone arrived this morning, stuck it on charge and left it all day. It comes nicely packaged, despite being lightweight (read 'eco-friendly') packaging, it still feels like a premium product. The phone itself is, frankly, stunning. The finish is exquisite in the metal, I went for the 'Gun Metal Grey'. It has a nice weight to it, not too much to be heavy or cumbersome, but enough to know you're holding something worth holding. The edges aren't as sharp as the original One, it's softer-edged and more curvy. Lovely as the original One is, the M8 is nicer in the hand, if a little slippery without a case (a firm gel case came in the box, along with the appropriate charger and headphones).
Fired up, the screen is stunning. Perfect size imo, anything more moves you into 'phablet' realms so I'm glad I chose not to wait for the Oppo (5.5"). The quality of the screen is great, it's bright, clear and the colours are great - I've often found the various Samsungs I've played with to be a bit gaudy and overly-vibrant.
This thing is FAST. I mean properly, no-lag, whip-crack fast. It just reacts instantly. I was downloading my apps from the Market (sorry, 'Google Play Store') on 4G and it was insane. From clicking 'Install' to the app being downloaded and installed we're talking seconds. The only time it lagged (and I can't blame it for this) was when I dumped the 500+ pictures across from my old phone and it had to make thumbnails of them all. A one-time operation on that scale and hell, even my i7 laptop lags when generating thumbnails in a grid view of all the pictures I have on it...
Incidentally I ran a speedtest on 4G and got 34mb down, 5mb up - impressive but pointless in my view, I can't imagine where I'll need to use that kind of speed. If I'm honest, I think that the networks are using this as a 'differentiator'. Unlimited texts and calls are the norm, what else do they have to shout about? 'Coverage' is a bit dubious at best - we all know where our local signal blackspots are - but speed...? That's something that everyone understands and is easy to 'sell'. I don't need 34mb download on my phone, let alone the 60 I'm told I can theoretically get I stand in the right place and go all 'Lion King'. I'd rather have more consistent 3G coverage than 4G.
There's coverage where I work but not yet where I live. However, when I'm at home, I'm on my fibre connection via wifi anyway so it's not really an issue.
The sound from the speakers is mind-blowing for such a small device. I'm a bit of an audio snob and am impressed how rich the speakers sound. It'll be absolutely fine for films or YouTube, and if you're stuck for any other source of audio, it's perfectly listenable. Better than anything else I've heard before from a phone. From what I can see, battery life is going to be excellent. I took the phone off charge when I left the office at 17:30 and despite lots of Shiny New Toy Fiddling including setting everything up for syncing, downloading and setting up my apps, running some videos and music to test it, it was still on 83% when I plugged it in to charge again about 15 minutes ago. The screen's been on a lot, so very impressive - I think the claims about 40% improvement are legit. Charging seems fast, it's supposedly capable of charging to 80% in an hour which seems about right from what I've seen. Not as quick as the Oppo Find 7 claims to be (75% in 30 mins!) but good enough.
There are a few things that I miss from my ARHD'd One X around the way the phone works. It's been so long since I used a stock HTC build, I can't really remember what's standard and what's modded. One of the things I've noticed is the 'stay awake when charging' option which I used to use all the time - nice to have the phone on but charging on the desk. Speaking of which, I mentioned earlier that the tap-to-wake works on a desk; it seems to be that sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I'd suspect that it's because I've moved the phone slightly whilst tapping it, so it thinks it's been picked up. I can see why they've done it that way as the potential for accidentally turning the screen would be quite high. I've found a simple nudge followed by multi-tap is enough to make it spring to life without needing to pick it up though.
The camera seems to be a hot topic on many of the review sites I've read. As far as I'm concerned, it's absolutely fine. That said, take my comments with a pinch of salt as I've already stated earlier in this thread that my demands from the camera aren't that high. I use it for the odd snap here and there but I know others will be more exacting as to what they're looking for. I have a Canon DSLR if I want to take my next Pulitzer-winner, for day-to-day photos the phone is great. It also seems to take pictures where the One X won't. The images are a little noisier, but when you compare to the dark, under-exposed picture taken on the One X it's more than acceptable. The camera has a load of post-processing options, 99% of which I'm sure I'll never use. I'm sure others will give better comment on the camera overall than I but ultimately it is more than sufficient for my requirement.
Sense 6 is very nice. And that's pretty much all that can be said about it. I was running a One version of Sense 5 on my One X (ie. one that technically wasn't ever released for the One X, I was running ARHD 4.2.2. One of the things I miss is the 'rippling' effect when scrolling through Blinkfeed, Sense 6 is a 'flat' interface. I thought I'd hate Blinkfeed when I read about it, but I have to concede it's actually been very interesting to have - I've read more news and articles that I'd never have found otherwise thanks to them appearing in the feed. I like it.
The usual Google junk is included (Play This, Play That, Play The Other) and some HTC app thing, HTC Backup and HTC Guide, all of which I'll also never use. I got a free 50Gb bump on Google Drive for two years (taking me to 75Gb for free in total) although Google do trick you into having to sign in with a Google PLUS account (not just a regular Google account), presumably to bolster their 'uptake' and 'engagement' numbers for it this quarter. I went straight in and deleted my G+ profile after - I think part of my objection to it is that I don't want it, yet Google seem to keep trying to foist it upon me. Forcing me to have it will not make me a) use it or b) love it. In fact, it's the opposite. I no longer leave app feedback on the Play Store. I don't comment on YouTube (although that was rare, to be fair). I HAVE to have a G+ profile to do that? Y'know what? I won't bother then. Anyway, enough about Google+.
What else? The single, tiny notification LED is still poor - it was on the One X (and I assume the One, too). It's not prominent enough to catch your eye that you've missed a message/text/email. The Nexus 7 has a lovely pulsing light built in at the base under the screen, the One M8 needs something like that (perhaps make the HTC logo there pulse?). The Oppo Find 7 has that lovely 'skyline' notification light - if they can do it, HTC can too...
I had a play with the TV remote/IR blaster - clever, but I'll never use it. It's quicker to pick up the normal remote from the coffee table, I could do what I wanted ten times over by the time I'd have picked up the phone, unlocked it, scrolled to the app, launched it, selected the device I want to control... You get the idea.
I've read in a couple of places that the 32Gb may not make it to the UK. At first I thought it was a bit stupid but given one can add up to 128Gb more to the phone, what more do you really need? I've ordered a 64Gb Kingston card which will take me to 80Gb (probably 75Gb after system space etc). And with 75Gb on Google Drive, 50Gb on Box etc and a good connection, I think that'll be sufficient.
My 'Dot Matrix' case is on its way and should be here Monday. Looking forward to having a play with that. I'm sure there's more to find out about the phone and that's sometimes the joy of it; finding something you didn't know it did.
With regard to my earlier comments around an 'EE' build, there's very little to give away that it's not stock HTC. The only stuff that's 'EE'ified is the inclusion of the 'My EE' app (which I had anyway on my One X) and the homepage on the Internet app was set to EE. That's it. There's no EE splash screen when the phone boots, it's straight to the HTC One screen. I'm sure that it IS an EE build but the only time that was a pain on the One X was when I wanted to go to Android 4.2.2 and needed the hboot updating....which had to come from T-Mobile. Even then, T-Mobile never released the ROM I'm running so there are reasons behind why it matters to me.
I'd see the main competitors to this being, in no particular order, LG's G2, the Sony Xperia Z2, the Oppo Find 7 and the S5 and do I wish I'd waited for any of them? No. Even if I weren't a long-time HTC user, I'd still be drooling over the machined aluminium case and overall tactility. On looks and feel alone, I don't think there's anything else on the market to touch it. The one concession I'll make to the Sony and Samsung is their IP ratings - I think this might be a big factor for some users.
However, 'HTC One (M8)'? Really? That's the best they could come up with? They did kind of paint themselves into a corner when they went with 'One' though.
It's enough of a leap on from the One to be worth making too, let alone from the One X (and I suspect many of us taking delivery of our M8s will be One X owners). Overall I'm very impressed and pleased with the phone, I think HTC have another winner on their hands following the success of the original One. I'm also gobsmacked that HTC managed to keep the production under such tight wraps, allowing them to go from announcement on the 25th to orders later that day and delivery from the 26th onward. Very, very impressive. They needed to get out ahead of Samsung with the S5 as that's the biggest threat in my view, I hope it translates into a sales success for them.
I'm going to run it for a little while longer, make sure there's nothing that would require a warranty claim and then I'm going to root it to get rid of the ads.
Nicely played, HTC. Very nicely played indeed.
So the phone arrived this morning, stuck it on charge and left it all day. It comes nicely packaged, despite being lightweight (read 'eco-friendly') packaging, it still feels like a premium product. The phone itself is, frankly, stunning. The finish is exquisite in the metal, I went for the 'Gun Metal Grey'. It has a nice weight to it, not too much to be heavy or cumbersome, but enough to know you're holding something worth holding. The edges aren't as sharp as the original One, it's softer-edged and more curvy. Lovely as the original One is, the M8 is nicer in the hand, if a little slippery without a case (a firm gel case came in the box, along with the appropriate charger and headphones).
Fired up, the screen is stunning. Perfect size imo, anything more moves you into 'phablet' realms so I'm glad I chose not to wait for the Oppo (5.5"). The quality of the screen is great, it's bright, clear and the colours are great - I've often found the various Samsungs I've played with to be a bit gaudy and overly-vibrant.
This thing is FAST. I mean properly, no-lag, whip-crack fast. It just reacts instantly. I was downloading my apps from the Market (sorry, 'Google Play Store') on 4G and it was insane. From clicking 'Install' to the app being downloaded and installed we're talking seconds. The only time it lagged (and I can't blame it for this) was when I dumped the 500+ pictures across from my old phone and it had to make thumbnails of them all. A one-time operation on that scale and hell, even my i7 laptop lags when generating thumbnails in a grid view of all the pictures I have on it...
Incidentally I ran a speedtest on 4G and got 34mb down, 5mb up - impressive but pointless in my view, I can't imagine where I'll need to use that kind of speed. If I'm honest, I think that the networks are using this as a 'differentiator'. Unlimited texts and calls are the norm, what else do they have to shout about? 'Coverage' is a bit dubious at best - we all know where our local signal blackspots are - but speed...? That's something that everyone understands and is easy to 'sell'. I don't need 34mb download on my phone, let alone the 60 I'm told I can theoretically get I stand in the right place and go all 'Lion King'. I'd rather have more consistent 3G coverage than 4G.
There's coverage where I work but not yet where I live. However, when I'm at home, I'm on my fibre connection via wifi anyway so it's not really an issue.
The sound from the speakers is mind-blowing for such a small device. I'm a bit of an audio snob and am impressed how rich the speakers sound. It'll be absolutely fine for films or YouTube, and if you're stuck for any other source of audio, it's perfectly listenable. Better than anything else I've heard before from a phone. From what I can see, battery life is going to be excellent. I took the phone off charge when I left the office at 17:30 and despite lots of Shiny New Toy Fiddling including setting everything up for syncing, downloading and setting up my apps, running some videos and music to test it, it was still on 83% when I plugged it in to charge again about 15 minutes ago. The screen's been on a lot, so very impressive - I think the claims about 40% improvement are legit. Charging seems fast, it's supposedly capable of charging to 80% in an hour which seems about right from what I've seen. Not as quick as the Oppo Find 7 claims to be (75% in 30 mins!) but good enough.
There are a few things that I miss from my ARHD'd One X around the way the phone works. It's been so long since I used a stock HTC build, I can't really remember what's standard and what's modded. One of the things I've noticed is the 'stay awake when charging' option which I used to use all the time - nice to have the phone on but charging on the desk. Speaking of which, I mentioned earlier that the tap-to-wake works on a desk; it seems to be that sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I'd suspect that it's because I've moved the phone slightly whilst tapping it, so it thinks it's been picked up. I can see why they've done it that way as the potential for accidentally turning the screen would be quite high. I've found a simple nudge followed by multi-tap is enough to make it spring to life without needing to pick it up though.
The camera seems to be a hot topic on many of the review sites I've read. As far as I'm concerned, it's absolutely fine. That said, take my comments with a pinch of salt as I've already stated earlier in this thread that my demands from the camera aren't that high. I use it for the odd snap here and there but I know others will be more exacting as to what they're looking for. I have a Canon DSLR if I want to take my next Pulitzer-winner, for day-to-day photos the phone is great. It also seems to take pictures where the One X won't. The images are a little noisier, but when you compare to the dark, under-exposed picture taken on the One X it's more than acceptable. The camera has a load of post-processing options, 99% of which I'm sure I'll never use. I'm sure others will give better comment on the camera overall than I but ultimately it is more than sufficient for my requirement.
Sense 6 is very nice. And that's pretty much all that can be said about it. I was running a One version of Sense 5 on my One X (ie. one that technically wasn't ever released for the One X, I was running ARHD 4.2.2. One of the things I miss is the 'rippling' effect when scrolling through Blinkfeed, Sense 6 is a 'flat' interface. I thought I'd hate Blinkfeed when I read about it, but I have to concede it's actually been very interesting to have - I've read more news and articles that I'd never have found otherwise thanks to them appearing in the feed. I like it.
The usual Google junk is included (Play This, Play That, Play The Other) and some HTC app thing, HTC Backup and HTC Guide, all of which I'll also never use. I got a free 50Gb bump on Google Drive for two years (taking me to 75Gb for free in total) although Google do trick you into having to sign in with a Google PLUS account (not just a regular Google account), presumably to bolster their 'uptake' and 'engagement' numbers for it this quarter. I went straight in and deleted my G+ profile after - I think part of my objection to it is that I don't want it, yet Google seem to keep trying to foist it upon me. Forcing me to have it will not make me a) use it or b) love it. In fact, it's the opposite. I no longer leave app feedback on the Play Store. I don't comment on YouTube (although that was rare, to be fair). I HAVE to have a G+ profile to do that? Y'know what? I won't bother then. Anyway, enough about Google+.
What else? The single, tiny notification LED is still poor - it was on the One X (and I assume the One, too). It's not prominent enough to catch your eye that you've missed a message/text/email. The Nexus 7 has a lovely pulsing light built in at the base under the screen, the One M8 needs something like that (perhaps make the HTC logo there pulse?). The Oppo Find 7 has that lovely 'skyline' notification light - if they can do it, HTC can too...
I had a play with the TV remote/IR blaster - clever, but I'll never use it. It's quicker to pick up the normal remote from the coffee table, I could do what I wanted ten times over by the time I'd have picked up the phone, unlocked it, scrolled to the app, launched it, selected the device I want to control... You get the idea.
I've read in a couple of places that the 32Gb may not make it to the UK. At first I thought it was a bit stupid but given one can add up to 128Gb more to the phone, what more do you really need? I've ordered a 64Gb Kingston card which will take me to 80Gb (probably 75Gb after system space etc). And with 75Gb on Google Drive, 50Gb on Box etc and a good connection, I think that'll be sufficient.
My 'Dot Matrix' case is on its way and should be here Monday. Looking forward to having a play with that. I'm sure there's more to find out about the phone and that's sometimes the joy of it; finding something you didn't know it did.
With regard to my earlier comments around an 'EE' build, there's very little to give away that it's not stock HTC. The only stuff that's 'EE'ified is the inclusion of the 'My EE' app (which I had anyway on my One X) and the homepage on the Internet app was set to EE. That's it. There's no EE splash screen when the phone boots, it's straight to the HTC One screen. I'm sure that it IS an EE build but the only time that was a pain on the One X was when I wanted to go to Android 4.2.2 and needed the hboot updating....which had to come from T-Mobile. Even then, T-Mobile never released the ROM I'm running so there are reasons behind why it matters to me.
I'd see the main competitors to this being, in no particular order, LG's G2, the Sony Xperia Z2, the Oppo Find 7 and the S5 and do I wish I'd waited for any of them? No. Even if I weren't a long-time HTC user, I'd still be drooling over the machined aluminium case and overall tactility. On looks and feel alone, I don't think there's anything else on the market to touch it. The one concession I'll make to the Sony and Samsung is their IP ratings - I think this might be a big factor for some users.
However, 'HTC One (M8)'? Really? That's the best they could come up with? They did kind of paint themselves into a corner when they went with 'One' though.
It's enough of a leap on from the One to be worth making too, let alone from the One X (and I suspect many of us taking delivery of our M8s will be One X owners). Overall I'm very impressed and pleased with the phone, I think HTC have another winner on their hands following the success of the original One. I'm also gobsmacked that HTC managed to keep the production under such tight wraps, allowing them to go from announcement on the 25th to orders later that day and delivery from the 26th onward. Very, very impressive. They needed to get out ahead of Samsung with the S5 as that's the biggest threat in my view, I hope it translates into a sales success for them.
I'm going to run it for a little while longer, make sure there's nothing that would require a warranty claim and then I'm going to root it to get rid of the ads.
Nicely played, HTC. Very nicely played indeed.
Edited by Funk on Friday 28th March 23:18
Based on my limited experience with the original One, I think there's sufficient difference in design, look and feel of the interface, battery performance and the increased screen real estate to warrant a move. The move to on screen buttons is great, they now rotate to sit under the screen in landscape mode like my Nexus 7 and it's more intuitive. I also find it more comfortable in my hand (I did a direct comparison with a mate's OH's One last night as it happens). YMMV I guess.
The ability to expand storage is also a big thing for me. I was constantly running out of space on my 32Gb One X. Although I suspect I'll use up all 75Gb on the M8..
One other thing I'm missing is the option to change the operation of the volume keys when in landscape. My One X inverts the operation which makes much more sense. It reverts to standard in portrait again. I think that was one of the custom ROM tweaks though.
I think it's more of a leap forward from the One than I think the S5 will be from the S4 will be for example. That said, the One is still a great phone, no mistake.
The ability to expand storage is also a big thing for me. I was constantly running out of space on my 32Gb One X. Although I suspect I'll use up all 75Gb on the M8..
One other thing I'm missing is the option to change the operation of the volume keys when in landscape. My One X inverts the operation which makes much more sense. It reverts to standard in portrait again. I think that was one of the custom ROM tweaks though.
I think it's more of a leap forward from the One than I think the S5 will be from the S4 will be for example. That said, the One is still a great phone, no mistake.
Edited by Funk on Friday 28th March 07:47
Sonys have always had very good cameras (the Oppo Find 7 uses Sony's Exmor sensor so should turn in a good performance too). I swore I'd not buy anything from Sony again after their débâcle with PSN, the implementation of Cinavia and the deliberate crippling of the USB ports on the PS3 which meant you can't use large memory sticks. When my PS3 got stolen last year, I didn't replace it. It's a personal choice I guess.
If I'm honest, the Oppo was the only one that made me think hardest about the One M8. Samsung didn't get a look-in and the LG G2 just didn't really compare with the One M8. Whilst I don't dispute that the camera on other phones might be a bit better, the One M8 counters in other areas which are more important to me.
Interesting quirk though; the 64Gb card arrived today and went into the phone. It's seen as a 'second external' (the internal partition for the data is already treated as 'sdcard0' so the second card became 'sdcard1' effectively. Not a problem at all with the exception of ³, my music player of choice.
It only sees 'Internal' and 'External'. The Android music app sees the 'internal external' as 'internal' and the 'external external' as 'external' if that makes sense?
³:
Music app:
I've tweeted the creator of ³ to see what he says. It's an app issue rather than a phone issue. I'll just use the inbuilt music app for now.
Edit: Sorry, HUUUUUUGE pics!
By the way, the finish of this phone is something else. It's stunning. As all my pics are huge we may as well take advantage:
If I'm honest, the Oppo was the only one that made me think hardest about the One M8. Samsung didn't get a look-in and the LG G2 just didn't really compare with the One M8. Whilst I don't dispute that the camera on other phones might be a bit better, the One M8 counters in other areas which are more important to me.
Interesting quirk though; the 64Gb card arrived today and went into the phone. It's seen as a 'second external' (the internal partition for the data is already treated as 'sdcard0' so the second card became 'sdcard1' effectively. Not a problem at all with the exception of ³, my music player of choice.
It only sees 'Internal' and 'External'. The Android music app sees the 'internal external' as 'internal' and the 'external external' as 'external' if that makes sense?
³:
Music app:
I've tweeted the creator of ³ to see what he says. It's an app issue rather than a phone issue. I'll just use the inbuilt music app for now.
Edit: Sorry, HUUUUUUGE pics!
By the way, the finish of this phone is something else. It's stunning. As all my pics are huge we may as well take advantage:
Edited by Funk on Friday 28th March 13:33
Interesting. Been looking into the sdcard issue. It seems that for security reasons, Google have locked down 3rd party app ability to write to that storage. The reason being that FAT32 doesn't support permissions, meaning any app with write access could, in theory, mangle other apps' data or clutter the storage with junk wherever it wants to (I've seen that happen). Only approved apps (read 'manufacturer's' and 'Google's'..) can do what they want on sdcard storage which is why the native app works. 3rd party apps can only write on the internal storage where Google can control the permissions.
Ultimately the reasons are right but it would be better to enforce exFAT format which, I believe, supports the appropriate permissions. This would be better than crippling the apps. It can be worked around if you have root access (you can revoke the security lockdown with root which solves things) and I can see mine being rooted pretty quickly...
Ultimately the reasons are right but it would be better to enforce exFAT format which, I believe, supports the appropriate permissions. This would be better than crippling the apps. It can be worked around if you have root access (you can revoke the security lockdown with root which solves things) and I can see mine being rooted pretty quickly...
JulianHJ said:
Funk said:
Interesting quirk though; the 64Gb card arrived today and went into the phone. It's seen as a 'second external' (the internal partition for the data is already treated as 'sdcard0' so the second card became 'sdcard1' effectively. Not a problem at all with the exception of ³, my music player of choice.
It only sees 'Internal' and 'External'. The Android music app sees the 'internal external' as 'internal' and the 'external external' as 'external' if that makes sense?
³
I've tweeted the creator of ³ to see what he says. It's an app issue rather than a phone issue. I'll just use the inbuilt music app for now.
I've not heard of this music app, I've tried to locate it without any luck - could you point me in the right direction? Thanks!It only sees 'Internal' and 'External'. The Android music app sees the 'internal external' as 'internal' and the 'external external' as 'external' if that makes sense?
³
I've tweeted the creator of ³ to see what he says. It's an app issue rather than a phone issue. I'll just use the inbuilt music app for now.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....
ChickenvanGuy said:
Can anyone comment on sound quality through headphones? I think I've read the M8 has an internal amp, does it sound ok through good headphones? This seems to be a judgement missing from most phone reviews yet it matters a good deal to me, as it's a function I use a lot.
Very, very quick one on this (I'm heading out the door). HTC have supplied some decent noise-isolating buds with this phone which actually sound really rather good. Listening to Daft Punk's 'Give Life Back To Music' in ogg transcoded from the 24bit Studio Edition, it sounds good. Weighty, well-balanced and crisp. That's with BoomSound turned off. Turning the BoomSound on turns it into a horrendous mess, I'm not even sure anybody even checks these things when they create the EQs.I have a reasonable pair of Sennheiser (these) which I really rate. With BoomSound off on both, I think the HTC buds may actually sound better than the Sennheisers, and they feel more comfy in-ear. Not something I thought I'd be saying if I'm honest. The ONLY criticism of the HTCs is that perhaps they lack a little bit of control at the very bottom end and can move into sounding a little 'boomy' on some tracks. In fact, with the advantage of the HTC buds having an inline mic for calls, I'd probably choose them over the Sennheisers.
Overall though, the phone sounds great on earbuds and will go louder than I'd advise or use. Easily the best 'supplied' earbuds I've ever had with a phone which makes a nice change as it's normally an area manufacturers skimp on in order to save a few quid.
Crafty_ said:
Interesting, although my personal benchmark results were nothing to get excited about if I'm honest. That said, the reality, as someone posted above, is that all the hardware is much of a muchness and it's the customisation of Android that defines the experience. I think this is true now; where am I ever going to trouble a 2.3Ghz quad-core processor on my phone..?I also did some investigating into the camera and have some perhaps-contentious thoughts on it...
I'll echo the comments about battery - it really is a vast improvement on what's gone before. Not really run mine down hard yet, but I've been getting through a day without any issues at all.
Couple of potentially useful tips... You can enable % battery indicator (Settings > Power > Show battery level in status bar) and also I found the missing 'Stay awake whilst charging' function I liked - it's moved from the Power menu to the Developer menu for some bizarre reason. To access the developer menu, go to Settings > About > Software Information > More and then tap on 'Build Number' seven times. Doing this won't invalidate any warranty at all. When you go back to the 'Settings' menu, you'll find the Developer Options are now available to you. Do be careful with this if you don't know what you're doing though. In there is the option 'Stay awake' (screen will never sleep while charging). This enables you to have the phone on charge with the screen on permanently (you can still turn it off if you want to) but I've found it invaluable in the car where I want the screen on all the time, not to have to wake & unlock it.
I haven't rooted....yet...
Couple of potentially useful tips... You can enable % battery indicator (Settings > Power > Show battery level in status bar) and also I found the missing 'Stay awake whilst charging' function I liked - it's moved from the Power menu to the Developer menu for some bizarre reason. To access the developer menu, go to Settings > About > Software Information > More and then tap on 'Build Number' seven times. Doing this won't invalidate any warranty at all. When you go back to the 'Settings' menu, you'll find the Developer Options are now available to you. Do be careful with this if you don't know what you're doing though. In there is the option 'Stay awake' (screen will never sleep while charging). This enables you to have the phone on charge with the screen on permanently (you can still turn it off if you want to) but I've found it invaluable in the car where I want the screen on all the time, not to have to wake & unlock it.
I haven't rooted....yet...
The official HTC store was where I ordered mine.
However, the expected delivery date sends to have gone from 3 days to 32...
Might cancel it and order elsewhere. That said, I really like the standard gel case it came with, not sure if the Dot Matrix one might get annoying. Some of the videos also seemed to show somewhat suspect responsiveness..?
However, the expected delivery date sends to have gone from 3 days to 32...
Might cancel it and order elsewhere. That said, I really like the standard gel case it came with, not sure if the Dot Matrix one might get annoying. Some of the videos also seemed to show somewhat suspect responsiveness..?
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