The 'All New HTC One" (aka the M8)
Discussion
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.
Funk said:
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.
I've read plenty of reviews and watched plenty of Youtube reviews on recent phone releases. Can't recall any commenting on headphone sound quality, yet it must be one of the most used functions. Strange.
I had an M8 for one day and sent it back (DSR return).
It's beautiful in every single way apart from the camera. Which frankly is a bit pants. Even though it's fast it can't take decent sharp snaps of my 4 year old son being Sportacus or a Banana in Pyjamas or whatever the mood takes him. It also has a massive light bleed problem washing out bright areas if they're not the place of focus. You also can't zoom in on a computer much without getting lots of artefacts and graininess due to being 4.1MP which is very low tech for 2014. A duo ultrapixel camera with 8MP would be excellent. So my old iphone 4s remains king, much as I hate apple devices (I bought the iphone before android tomtom came out and needed it for my national travels) I have reverted back.
I'm absolutely gutted. The M8 is so lovely. And iphone is so outdated but good snaps of my little co-driver growing up are important to me.
If HTC sort out the camera on the phablet version I'll be looking to get that instead.
It's beautiful in every single way apart from the camera. Which frankly is a bit pants. Even though it's fast it can't take decent sharp snaps of my 4 year old son being Sportacus or a Banana in Pyjamas or whatever the mood takes him. It also has a massive light bleed problem washing out bright areas if they're not the place of focus. You also can't zoom in on a computer much without getting lots of artefacts and graininess due to being 4.1MP which is very low tech for 2014. A duo ultrapixel camera with 8MP would be excellent. So my old iphone 4s remains king, much as I hate apple devices (I bought the iphone before android tomtom came out and needed it for my national travels) I have reverted back.
I'm absolutely gutted. The M8 is so lovely. And iphone is so outdated but good snaps of my little co-driver growing up are important to me.
If HTC sort out the camera on the phablet version I'll be looking to get that instead.
Edited by joebongo on Saturday 29th March 22:50
Funk said:
The DHD was obscenely hefty for its size though. Smaller battery than the Desire too iirc?
Yeah, it is very heavy, probably the heaviest phone I've held. Never had a problem with battery life on it tbh, maybe I'm not a heavy user. I did have a battery fail on me about 6 months ago, picked up a new one from eBay for £5 and it's been all good since! Looking at the Xperia SP now. Cheap, looks good and is nice and small...Edited by Funk on Saturday 29th March 14:20
Funk said:
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...
So, Funk, couldn't resist it eh! It looks a great phone, but as I have an M7 I want something different for my next phone. As I can't get an Oppo right now I am pre-ordering a Z2 monday. I might start putting some dosh away to buy a Find 7 too though.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...
My understanding of the changes to SD card is that apps CAN write to it, but ONLY to a specifically created directory for that particular app. People were writing all over them before, which is obviously not good.
Funk said:
So who's taken the plunge with me then? Lots of chat in this thread but are people holding off until the Xperia Z2 and S5 come out next month?
Mine should be turning up in a couple of days... Always been a fan of the way HTC gently tweak the underlying OS, compared with the wholescale changes wrought by the likes of Samsung, and having been an almost entirely happy user of a One X these last 2 years I'm really looking forward to seeing what the M8 is capable of.
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...
joebongo said:
I had an M8 for one day and sent it back (DSR return).
It's beautiful in every single way apart from the camera. Which frankly is a bit pants. Even though it's fast it can't take decent sharp snaps of my 4 year old son being Sportacus or a Banana in Pyjamas or whatever the mood takes him. It also has a massive light bleed problem washing out bright areas if they're not the place of focus. You also can't zoom in on a computer much without getting lots of artefacts and graininess due to being 4.1MP which is very low tech for 2014. A duo ultrapixel camera with 8MP would be excellent. So my old iphone 4s remains king, much as I hate apple devices (I bought the iphone before android tomtom came out and needed it for my national travels) I have reverted back.
I'm absolutely gutted. The M8 is so lovely. And iphone is so outdated but good snaps of my little co-driver growing up are important to me.
If HTC sort out the camera on the phablet version I'll be looking to get that instead.
For pictures like that, the only way forward (to get truly useful results) is a device with a proper flash - ie. a xenon. The LED units just don't have the range, and don't freeze the motion. From what I've read, the camera is the only area where the M8 is really lacking.It's beautiful in every single way apart from the camera. Which frankly is a bit pants. Even though it's fast it can't take decent sharp snaps of my 4 year old son being Sportacus or a Banana in Pyjamas or whatever the mood takes him. It also has a massive light bleed problem washing out bright areas if they're not the place of focus. You also can't zoom in on a computer much without getting lots of artefacts and graininess due to being 4.1MP which is very low tech for 2014. A duo ultrapixel camera with 8MP would be excellent. So my old iphone 4s remains king, much as I hate apple devices (I bought the iphone before android tomtom came out and needed it for my national travels) I have reverted back.
I'm absolutely gutted. The M8 is so lovely. And iphone is so outdated but good snaps of my little co-driver growing up are important to me.
If HTC sort out the camera on the phablet version I'll be looking to get that instead.
Edited by joebongo on Saturday 29th March 22:50
So either buy a dedicated camera, or a Nokia 1020 ....
I popped into a phone shop on Saturday while waiting for the GF to decide on some shoes...
Anyway, I had a look at the M8 and, Jesus Christ, is that thing fast! I messed about opening every app/browser/image/video I could find and it was exceptionally quick.
Extremely tempted by this now, although I will be holding off until I can get my hands on a Z2 to see how it compares.
Anyway, I had a look at the M8 and, Jesus Christ, is that thing fast! I messed about opening every app/browser/image/video I could find and it was exceptionally quick.
Extremely tempted by this now, although I will be holding off until I can get my hands on a Z2 to see how it compares.
I'm just waiting for GiffGaff to get them in stock. They seem to be offering the cheapest deal on it too.
My Desire HD can't even last 3/4 of a day on a charge now which has become very irritating. Tried half a dozen batteries so it's not that.
I am concerned about the camera resolution, but what the hell.
My Desire HD can't even last 3/4 of a day on a charge now which has become very irritating. Tried half a dozen batteries so it's not that.
I am concerned about the camera resolution, but what the hell.
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