The All New HTC One (M8)

[Fernandez21]

So ONLY the camera, battery, bezel, and footprint are keeping it from being the ideal phone. That's an awful lot of ONLYs.

IMO, the Xperia Z2 is a lot closer to being the ideal smartphone--just needs to trim a lot of bezel to reduce overall footprint. It has a terrific camera, big battery, solid build, a fairly light software skin over KitKat and is waterproof, all while matching or exceeding the new One in RAM, CPU, display size, expandable storage, and stereo speakers.

Well, part is design. I prefer the design of the one more and I prefer sense to timescape (I think that's what Sony skin is called).

But yes, if Sony could significantly reduce the bezel and footprint it would be the best phone out right now. It may be the best phone out now regardless.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Is the event streaming live today?

 

[MRU]

Just out of curiosity, does the GE work fine here in Europe? I mean the radios, 4G, wall charger (with adapter I suppose), etc?

I was considering buying a GE from eBay but I don't know if the radios are compatible and all that.

I read that the 4G from the US Nexus 5 is not compatible with Europe for example.

We don't have 4g here so can't tell you if that is working, but everything else works no trouble at all. Charger is just micro USB at the end of the day.

 

[The Game 161]

Is the event streaming live today?

What time is it?

 

[JaySoul]

Yeah HTC flopped massively hard on this One.

Don't think I'll even bother catching the live stream. Will watch the footie instead.

 

[Shanghaichica]

What time is it?

It's at 11th EST so about 4pm our
time.

Edit:it's at 3pm

You can stream from. Here
Live from the HTC One event in London and New York City! (11 a.m. EDT, 3 p.m. GMT) http://www.androidcentral.com/live-htc-one-event-london-and-new-york-city

 

[The Game 161]

Cheers shang

Will be available to buy straight away after the event too. Interesting who gets it straight away

 

[HiDEF]

The Article only says that the UltraPixel Cam has according to HTC a better Quality then 12-16 MP Cams.

Well there you go.... They are simply drumming up BS like they did with the original Ultrapixel in the One.

The reality is a 4mp camera can not capture the amount of detail a 13-16mp can, and no buttering up of words from HTC will ever change that FACT.

Sadly they lost a day 1 sale here.

MacRumorUser is right.

 

[The Game 161]

Let's see in an hour if the camera is as it is

 

[MRU]

Let's see in an hour if the camera is as it is

Well lets be honest. During the press conference they will likely say it's the best thing since slice bread and will rival everything under the sun ...

Even initial press reviews of the HTC One were very 'favourable' in regards to camera performance with very few criticising it.

It was only when after time it got into consumers hands and the realisation that ultra pixel wasn't what it was drummed up to be. So expect lots of BS, lot's of drumming and chest beating, lots of glam, lots of glitz, and then prepare for the inevitable fallout as realisation once again hits home.

Don't get me wrong, it will undoubtably have some FAB features, with ZOE being enhanced which was already great, and the gallery app will be fantastic, and the bells and whistles will be fun too - but the end result will still be photos that are good for Facebook and social media, but next to useless for printing or using as your 27" desktop monitor wallpaper......

I will watch the launch, but in my heart I'll still be pining for a 13-16mp camera inside there ...... curse you HTC.

 

[blairh]

I believe HTC is also streaming it live.

http://www.htc.com/us/go/launch/

 

[The Game 161]

Seems odd to me as 13-16mp cameras should be the norm these days. Not doubt the note 4 will feature it.

 

[JaySoul]

Well lets be honest. During the press conference they will likely say it's the best thing since slice bread and will rival everything under the sun ...

Even initial press reviews of the HTC One were very 'favourable' in regards to camera performance with very few criticising it.

It was only when after time it got into consumers hands and the realisation that ultra pixel wasn't what it was drummed up to be. So expect lots of BS, lot's of drumming and chest beating, lots of glam, lots of glitz, and then prepare for the inevitable fallout as realisation once again hits home.

Don't get me wrong, it will undoubtably have some FAB features, with ZOE being enhanced which was already great, and the gallery app will be fantastic, and the bells and whistles will be fun too - but the end result will still be photos that are good for Facebook and social media, but next to useless for printing or using as your 27" desktop monitor wallpaper......

I will watch the launch, but in my heart I'll still be pining for a 13-16mp camera inside there ...... curse you HTC.

Unfortunately I think your cynicism will be proven correct.

It's really myopic from HTC. I did read a long time ago that they had a concrete 2 year deal for this Ultrapixel thing so it was always going to be 4MP in this new model too - don't know how accurate that report was but it seems to be true.

 

[The Game 161]

Feed is sort of working...

 

[akuma13]

If there is to be any image improvement, it'll probably be the same software technology that the Oppo is using.

 

[Shanghaichica]

It looks stunning.

----------

Is he going to stop going on about how good good the phone looks.

I want to know what it's got.

 

[JaySoul]

Some reading material:

http://gizmodo.com/the-new-htc-one-..._source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/25/htc-one-m8-specs-availability/

http://mashable.com/2014/03/25/htc-one-m8/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

http://www.androidauthority.com/htc-one-m8-vs-htc-one-m7-361190/

http://www.androidauthority.com/htc-one-m8-officially-announced-heres-need-know-361216/

 

[RMXO]

So their bring back Lite Bright for all of us that didn't have one as a kid in their new case.

 

[MRU]

mmmmmm.

My cynicism seems to have been warranted. More BS about the camera - with lots of very handy features - but still a 4mp image can not capture detail that a 20mp camera can. Sorry HTC.

Case is really sweet though.

 

[Razeus]

8MP should be the bare minimum.

I like the original design better.

That HTC logo on the front needs to go.

 

[MRU]

8MP should be the bare minimum.

Yep. Agreed, especially as the market moves onto 16-20mp as standard.

Heck the lower end Desire has a 13mp. It just doesn't make HTC sense.

 

[2298754]

More BS by HTC. Pass on this. Gimmicky two cameras. No real improvement on the sensor.

The side by side with the old One shows how poor its packaging really is. Why is it so big? Why is it that Samsung can increase screen size and keep the overall size about the same, but HTC can't?

 

[MRU]

Engadget review sums up the camera for me

Photos taken during the day turned out nearly identical to the original One. That's not a bad thing since we still love using that phone to take pictures, but it's disappointing that there wasn't much of an improvement in actual image quality. It seems that most of HTC's resources were spent on getting the Duo Camera ready for action. Ultimately, the One still takes great shots for viewing and sharing on your phone or other mobile device, but they aren't the kind of photos you'll be framing on your wall. You'll also need to get used to an aspect ratio of 16:9 if you want to take advantage of Duo Camera features or even the full 4MP image.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/25/htc-one-2014-review/




At the end of the day its a really nice handset - but the camera means it's a no go for me sadly.

 

[JaySoul]

More on the camera from Gizmodo:

"The app itself aside, the camera is a bit of a mixed bag. To its credit, it is extremely fast. Focus locks lightning quick, there is no shutter-lag, and you can rattle off bursts like a machine-gun and then pick the best one. All that stuff is great. But in terms of image quality, it's just okay. It's definitely better than the 2013 HTC One's cam— especially in terms of saturation and color-balance in daylight—but it still lacks detail when compared to the Nexus 5, which itself has a camera that's just pretty good. There is also a lot of compression noise, which is especially an issue in darker situations."

http://gizmodo.com/htc-one-2014-rev..._source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

 

[Rogifan]

More BS by HTC. Pass on this. Gimmicky two cameras. No real improvement on the sensor.

The side by side with the old One shows how poor its packaging really is. Why is it so big? Why is it that Samsung can increase screen size and keep the overall size about the same, but HTC can't?

Yeah I prefer the design of last years One better. This phone is has more metal, but the more rounded design and brushed metal don't give it that premium look & feel. Also it's a shame the overall size of the device had to get bigger. To me once you're getting close to 5" the phone becomes too big. That's why I'm hoping the new iPhone will be in the 4.5-4.7" range.