The HTC One (M8) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Joshua Ho on March 26, 2014 7:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Mobile
- HTC One
Video
Since the rear facing camera only has a 4MP sensor resolution, there’s no support for 4K video recording - the maximum supported video resolution is 1080p. The available video modes are: 1080p30 (20Mbps High Profile H.264), 1080p60 (also 20Mbps High Profile), slow motion (720p) pand HDR video.
The camera preview in the video modes is pretty good. I noticed some dropped frames when recording 1080p30 but nothing substantial. The preview window when recording HDR video definitely dropped frames, to the point that it was fairly distracting. The resulting video itself was consistent in frame rate but not smoothly responsive to changes in dynamic range.
Extreme Power Saving Mode
This is a feature that seems to be all the rage these days. HTC now includes support for an Extreme Power Saving Mode that can be manually or automatically set to turn on when your battery reaches 20%, 10% or 5% remaining capacity. In the Extreme Power Saving mode you’re locked out from all but five apps (phone, messages, HTC Mail, HTC Calendar and Calculator ). The display brightness is clamped to 170 nits and max CPU/GPU frequency is limited to 1.2GHz and 320MHz, respectively. All four cores remain capable of being plugged in. Background data is also restricted - only SMS/MMS and phone calls will come in automatically. Emails need to be manually refreshed, and all other apps are quit upon entering the mode. The sensor hub is powered down, which disables features like the Motion Gestures and Pedometer.
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The Extreme Power Saving Mode features a large, simplified UI. The 5-inch display is evenly divided into large touch targets for each of the five apps as well as a button to exit the mode. The notification shade is disabled as well. You’ll still get alerts for things like open WiFi networks, but you’ll have no way to join/dismiss them while in this mode.
HTC claims up to 15 hours of standby time on the new One when running in Extreme Power Saving Mode (with 5% battery remaining). I still haven’t devised a good battery life test for these modes but I plan on measuring screen on standby time as soon as I get an opportunity to do so.
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Jeffrey Bosboom - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
I guess I should clarify: that means headphones, not speakers. (I share an office.)jk1 - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
i'd like to second this. i know htc is making a big deal out of its double camera, but we get endless details about the camera, special effects, humorous overlays and on and on. but we get nothing in any of these reviews about the quality of the dac for headphone use, or the quality of the sound of an incoming voice call or how you sound making a call using the phone.djvita - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
from gsmarena:"The HTC One (M8) audio quality is by far the best we've seen a mobile device produce so far - and that's including tablets. Even its impressive predecessor pales in comparison with the latest HTC flagship, which is not only the loudest around, but also delivers perfectly clean output.
The HTC One (M8) did perfectly in the active external amplifier part of the test, posting great scores all over the field. In addition it had volume levels higher than every other mobile device on the market right now.
More impressively, there's virtually no degradation when you plug in a pair of headphones. The stereo crosstalk rises so little that it remains better than what some smartphones deliver without headphones. The rest of the readings remain perfect too, while the volume is as high as they come. What do you know - dropping the Beats logo actually led to even more spectacular performance by the HTC flagship."
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_m8-review-1062p7.p...
dylan522p - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
The One was great for audio after you disabled beats EQ, so I'd expect the same.CoryWeston101 - Monday, March 31, 2014 - link
Amazing. Best audio experience headphones or no headphones on a smartphone.RaistlinZ - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
The lack of OIS really sucks. The difference is just painful to watch.fokka - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
but at least we can add bad looking "bokeh" to our shots...really, going for the second camera, which adds cost, requires space and is just plain ugly to look at, all while dropping an important feature for true photography has been a big mistake, if you ask me.
CoryWeston101 - Monday, March 31, 2014 - link
There is not difference. The duo camera does OIS but in a better way. With the second camera it doesn't need OIS because the second camera acts in the same way but better.Samuel Lord - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
@CoryWeston101:A nice theory, utterly untrue with the M8. No, it needs OIS for decent video but HTC punted, end of story.
Fergy - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
I love my HTC One. It feels great. Has great sound. A great screen. Good battery life.What I wanted improved: better camera and smaller. If they could just make the 4.7inch screen borderless and integrate the HTC bar buttons in the screen it would be the perfect size for me.
Instead it is larger in every way and even heavier! And the camera is the same...
The HTC One m8 is still the phone I would recommend to people but for me I have to keep on the lookout for a phone I can use with one hand.