From the day it was announced I wanted this phone.
My first exposure to HTC was in 2010 when I bought my first smartphone, a Droid Incredible (of which I’ll be posting a review in the near future). When this phone came out under Verizon’s lineup, it was touted as one of the big Android competitors to the original Apple iPhone.

Since that purchase I have been a loyal HTC customer. HTC had been working hard to please their customers with a flagship phone that could compete with Samsung’s Galaxy line and Apple’s iPhones, so when this model was announced, I was sold. Now, brand isn’t the only thing I look for in my products. It is nice to have a company you can point at and say “Yeah, their stuff is consistently solid”. However, I want quality hardware as well and had Samsung, Motorola or LG offered a better option I would have purchased differently. I am solidly in the Android camp for my cell phone needs/preferences, so an iPhone was not something I was even considering.

One feature the M8 marketed was an aluminum enclosure, and it drew me in. With so many manufacturers making smartphones from various plastics it was a refreshing change. I love the solid, sleek feel of this phone in my hands. It was absolutely worth the $699 price tag.
That being said, I am a bargain shopper. If necessary I would have purchased this phone directly from HTC at full retail. Thankfully sites like swappa.com exist and I purchased a gray tone HTC One M8 for just under $400 all told.

As I was taking my new phone out of the box, I’ll admit, I was grinning from ear to ear. This was my first major purchase of high-end hardware, or what I like to call my ‘peripherals’, in quite some time. I loved the heft of it in my hand, yes the high polish finish made it a bit slippery, but that’s why I had purchased a case in advance. Yes, in advance, I take the protection of my tech pretty seriously. I chose the UAG line in dark gray and blue for the M8. However, since I dislike the ‘off’ feeling I get when using a touch screen with a screen protector, I opted to not get one for this phone.

The M8 has more than looks going for it though, this phone has the option of 32gb on-board storage and a SD card slot that allows up to a 128gb microsd card, I had no concerns about running out of space for all my apps, photos, vids, and randomly download files. There are a few phones out there whose manufacturers chose to remove this option. I have no idea why, it seems an odd feature to leave out.

I will admit that I was hesitant when I learned that the M8 does not have a removable battery. It’s high quality, precision machined body does not have a ‘back cover’. By the time this unit hits the shelves, it may as well be one piece. This did concern me at first, as I wanted a way of shutting the phone down if it was glitching out. I did some research and found out that if you hold the power button down and the volume rocker up simultaneously for around 10 seconds or so, you can get the phone to reboot, which then (usually) allows for you to get it to the main screen and properly shut down.

I have had this phone for around 7 months, and so far the battery has consistently kept up with me through a 10 hour day and still had enough juice that I didn’t need to rush it to the charger when I got home. I do need to mention that I am a stickler for always closing out apps when I am done with them. I have my phone set up (and rooted) so that I control what apps are allowed to auto start, run in the background, connect to mobile data an so on. For someone who doesn’t want to go through all that, the un-rooted HTC M8 should get you through at least 5 or 6 hours of steady use before you need to hunt for an outlet. If all you do is check e-mail, you’re probably golden. If you play a bunch games, you definitely want to keep your charger handy.

Which brings me to the one fault of this phone. It overheats. I mean, really, it can turn into a hot brick if you are gaming and charging it, or using Google Maps for more than a half hour. It won’t burn you, but you can definitely feel the heat. When this happens, I close out all the apps, turn the screen off and let it charge on a non-cloth covered surface. Your phone is not going to melt, or explode, it just needs some down time.

Even with a few faults the phone has solid speakers, camera (image and video), gorgeous screen, and easy to use interface. HTC sense gives you a fairly intuitive way of getting around your phone without shouting at you “go here for this” “we keep this thing here”. When you first set it up, there are one or two tutorial bits, but you can sidestep them for the most part if you want. You can customize your app drawer, sort everything into folders and my personal favorite, change the themes with HTC’s own ‘Themes’ app. You can make your own or pick from pre made ones.

The boom sound speakers are above average as phone speakers go, but they are still cell phone speakers, and they can only do so much.

Now, if you have read any reviews on this phone you will have heard that, “It’s camera is not as good as the S4, or an iPhone camera”. Okay, yeah it might not be, but it is still a great HD camera and HD video recorder. I have taken photos at night, in bright daylight, and indoors, and I’ve turned out some very nice images. One of the things I like best is that you have the option to control the settings. You can set your ISO from 200 to 1600, you can set the white balance, and the F-stop. The lenses aren’t huge, but the depth of field you can get is pretty fantastic. I will say, trying to get a very up close macro like shot is hard. Sometimes the camera simply will not focus in as close as I want it to.

I find that the M8 is a solid, classy, high-powered smartphone. It’ll reliably last a few years if you take care of it and don’t introduce it to any large bodies of water.
Cheers!

~K

Vendor Site – HTC M8