Are you going to get the HTC M8 -Specs, carrier, discussion, and $$$DEALS$$$

[Phases]

Let's see what this bad boy is all about - will it match up to the hype? My wife is a huge HTC fan. Currently rocking my old Note 2 but she secretly wants back into the HTC world. So, I'm excited to see if this will be worth the trade!

 

[El Presidente]

As I mentioned in the speculation thread, I love my current handset, but I'm a huge HTC fan.

I've a jump/next like option on my plan but I need to fork out

 

[Shocky]

No, specs look boring, 4.1MP camera which is basically the same as the one in the first HTC One but with the colour and exposure issues fixed (hopefully).

Not sure what the point of the second rear camera is to be honest, most of the effects I've seen can be some with a single camera by taking a numbers shots in shot succession. I'd much rather have the 16MP camera on the Galaxy S5 which uses ISOCELL technology to capture more light and more accurate colours.

I'm glad they've included an sdcard slot, but I can only see one feature this has over competition and that's the stereo speakers.

Oh and that it's made of metal and it's shiny which people seem to like.

 

[AndroidifyMe]

No, specs look boring, 4.1MP camera which is basically the same as the one in the first HTC One but with the colour and exposure issues fixed (hopefully).

Not sure what the point of the second rear camera is to be honest, most of the effects I've seen can be some with a single camera by taking a numbers shots in shot succession. I'd much rather have the 16MP camera on the Galaxy S5 which uses ISOCELL technology to capture more light and more accurate colours.

I'm glad they've included an sdcard slot, but I can only see one feature this has over competition and that's the stereo speakers.

Oh and that it's made of metal and it's shiny which people seem to like.

For the most part you are right. A number of people dislike the S5, not realizing spec wise it's pretty much the same. As of today it comes down to the camera, and your personal fav in the custom skin department. Build and form factor of the device is a decision to make, but that alone has little in what the phone will do. Making the S5 out of metal wouildn't of done anything good for it alone. Samsung needs a better form factor as well.

There are no real innovative phones this year, but some do have their tricks and own unique features. Nothing mind blowing but still respectable. I guess they need to push more in software, because hardware wise what else do we need at this point in time?

 

[dgreen]

Well this sounds promising!

HTC One M8 said to top new benchmarks - CNET

 

[Shocky]

For the most part you are right. A number of people dislike the S5, not realizing spec wise it's pretty much the same. As of today it comes down to the camera, and your personal fav in the custom skin department. Build and form factor of the device is a decision to make, but that alone has little in what the phone will do. Making the S5 out of metal wouildn't of done anything good for it alone. Samsung needs a better form factor as well.

There are no real innovative phones this year, but some do have their tricks and own unique features. Nothing mind blowing but still respectable. I guess they need to push more in software, because hardware wise what else do we need at this point in time?

I think Samsung have innovated with their new camera, ISOCELL technology is a great addition and should help provide some nice shots, some of the claimed samples using the technology look amazing for a camera phone.

But that's the only innovation I've seen from these new phones, as for what we need improved, we need new battery technology with improved capacity and camera technology is an area where smartphones have a long way to go before they can come close to matching the cheapest compact DSLR.

Other improvements I would like so see is smaller bezels because devices are getting too big, also id quite like dedicated camera buttons to make a return.

Mobile projectors would be pretty cool as-well.

 

[Shocky]

I wouldn't put to much emphasis on benchmarks, HTC are just as bad as Samsung when it comes to cheating. In fact 3dmark have delisted the old HTC One for cheating and not the Galaxy S4 so make of that what you will. Samsung have also claimed they have stopped this now so the Galaxy S5 benchmarks should be legit.

Anyway, check out the size.

 

[SolApathy]

What a complete fail... 503 Service unavailable on the HTC streaming page...

 

[Shocky]

What a complete fail... 503 Service unavailable on the HTC streaming page...

Same, it's not going well.

Try this link, it's being updated live.

http://live.theverge.com/htc-one-m8-liveblog/

 

[SolApathy]

Wow....HTC will replace a broken screen within the first 6 months of purchase...For free This applies for the Original OG HTC One, Max, Mini, and the new M8...

 

[CafeKampuchia]

I wanted to love the HTC One last year, but I wasn't happy with them forcing BlinkFeed down my throat with the stock launcher and the lousy camera finally killed it for me. This year's One is even more compelling, but those two things haven't changed. I see no reason to trade my i9500 in for the new One.

 

[Hadron]

I think you can remove Blinkfeed, though couldn't swear to it. Using a custom launcher removes it anyway, so I never regarded it as a big issue.

And there will be no shortage of ROMs for it

 

[AndroidifyMe]

I was at the Verizon store directly behind my house after my computer class. A little before 1p.m. so they told me to wait 10min. They put it out on display. It really does look wonderful in person. It just feels so tiny though. I own a Note 3. I'm on Sprint, but I just went there to see it in person. Verizon is closer then just up the street from Sprint. The guy said they're getting theirs around 3pm and he's gonna use his as his work phone at Verizon. I assume customers can buy if you talk to him about it. There was an older man there and he filled out some info. I assume he was preordering. I wasn't able to test the camera of course. That's what will have me won over. I'm really big on taking pictures. I'm a little down about not being able to up the mp in their UltraPixels. MP isn't everything but 4mp isn't cutting it for me with the quality they were putting out vs other high end phones. I'll have to test it for myself or look at some fair reviews. The employee also said they might have the other colors in stock around 3pm later today so.

I caught a couple of images

I couldn't find the regular messaging app on there. I just saw Hangouts and Verizon messaging.

 

[CafeKampuchia]

On the 2013 One, you can only make the default desktop something beside BlinkFeed and do something like move BlinkFeed off to the far left, but you can't remove it. Like you said, no huge deal because you can go custom. You just lose the Sense launcher and its visual coordination with everything else.

Edit----
Just read that in Sense 6 you can remove BlinkFeed if you want.
--------

Then again, if it were my phone, it would wind up running CM11

The camera was/is the deal breaker. I can't believe they made the same mistake twice and actually removed OIS on top of that.

 

[richardmajor86]

YouTube

Here's an unboxing video - YouTube

 

[SolApathy]

I'm getting it as soon as it's available at Sprint!

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, they introduced Blinkfeed removal in Sense 5.5 (I've checked since the last post), but since I run custom ROMs and 3rd party launchers on my M7 I barely noticed

I guess "mistake" depends on who the camera is aimed at. They aren't aiming this at the pixel-peepers, but for many people's usage it will actually be fine, if those people don't get distracted by pixel counts. I find mine works well for casual shots, but I would never use any phone for real photography (in fact the most important purpose of a phone camera for me is short-term information capture: photographing receipts and whiteboards).

Removing OIS is bad. From what I've read the most important reason was probably that it didn't work with the 2 camera setup (could have made that an either/or, but I guess that adds to costs more than it adds to sales).

It's got a 5MP selfie-camera though, which will probably matter to the kidz .

 

[KOLIO]

Just briefly checked one out @ VZW. (Had it tethered to one of those Butt-Ugly LITE BRITE® cases, couldn't actually appreciate the top-notch build quality.)

Quick answer:No, I'm not getting this. Maybe next year's edition, if they pare down from the triple chin to a double. :hahaha:

Seriously, I compared actual usable screens w/last year's model. Virtually no difference @ all.
If offered in a MAX variant, yes, I'd seriously consider picking one up, but, this doesn't have enough to sway me over from my present handsets (G2 & FLEX).

Admittedly, I still miss BLINKFEED & SENSE TV, too bad it can't be ported over to the FLEX/G2.

Just hope that MAX will see the light of day, & this time, w/GSM compatibility.

 

[jaydensmomxo]

I'm a little confused, does anyone know when best buy will get the phone for at&t? on the website it says its available for pick up but no stores around here have it in stock.

 

[jaydensmomxo]

well just ordered mine online from att. best buy said they didnt give them dates when they would have it in stock. overnight shipping, hopefully getting it thursday maybe?

 

[grokr989]

Moved to a different thread

 

[CafeKampuchia]

I guess "mistake" depends on who the camera is aimed at. They aren't aiming this at the pixel-peepers, but for many people's usage it will actually be fine, if those people don't get distracted by pixel counts.

The entire purpose of introducing "UltraPixels" was to outperform traditional high megapixel cameras in low light. When you fail to accomplish that 2 years in a row against the same 2013 hardware no less (like the iPhone 5s, Galaxy S4, Note 3 and G2), yeah, I'd call that a mistake accomplished twice. I know phonearena.com's testing is subjective, but it seems to accord with what is generally found by the mainstream review sites.

This is not about "pixel-peepers" distracted by pixel counts, but HTC dishing out marketing baloney.

Camera Comparison: iPhone 5s vs LG G2, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S4, HTC One, Motorola Moto X, DROID Ultra - Indoor

Camera comparison: HTC One (M8) vs Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, iPhone 5s, LG G2, Nexus 5, Nokia Lumia 1520, Sony Xperia Z1S - Indoor

I wonder what this will look like when the M8 is tested against the S5 and other 2014 flagships yet to be released. It's not going to get prettier for HTC.

 

[SolApathy]

Just pre-ordered mine on Sprint today!

 

[Deleted User]

Well, here's my two cents worth. I've got an SGSIII, so most phones would be an upgrade for me. Now, i've played around with the N5 and the HTC One(M7). IMHO, the M7 blows away the Nexus5(you literally can blow it away because it's so light). From what i've read, the M8 is a step up from the M7, and since i'm sitting here with my two year old phone, it's a no brainer. M8 works for me.

 

[Slickyy]

I think you can remove Blinkfeed, though couldn't swear to it. Using a custom launcher removes it anyway, so I never regarded it as a big issue.

And there will be no shortage of ROMs for it

With 4.4.2 and the new upgrade for HTC Sense 5.5 you can disable Blinkfeed. I took it off, then realized I missed it and put it back on haha