Share your HTC One (M8) first impressions and personal reviews!

zkSharks

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A penny for your thoughts? We've seen plenty of this device leading up to the official launch, but I'm looking forward to what everyone here has to say. Here's the official review, for those who haven't seen it yet.

If anyone wants to do a more detailed write-up of their thoughts, feel free to post it in this thread and drop me a link via PM. I'll add it to this post. :)
 

jameskk1

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Re: Share your HTC M8 first impressions and personal reviews!

I owned the original One and to be honest I wasn't that all impressed when I first got it. I thought it was awkward to hold and use for some reason. Never felt good in my hand like others claimed. It took me a long time to like the phone but in the end I loved it. That being said, the HTC One M8 that I picked up today at Verizon is a different story. The phone is perhaps the most elegant and best first impression to hold phone that I've had outside of the iPhone 5. The phone is lighter than the previous and the wrap around metal design is a pleasure to hold and use. The screen is bigger and gorgeous to look at. The speakers are finally LOUD as well as super crisp and clear. I love the new blinkfeed. I had to disable the gestures as I kept turning on the phone everytime I touched it. I would like to be able to just have the double tap gesture but there doesn't seem to be a way to enable one gesture and not the other ones. Overall I am extremely impressed with the phone. For those who had the HTC Droid DNA, this reminds me of a metal version of the DNA.
 

zkSharks

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Re: Share your HTC M8 first impressions and personal reviews!

The speakers on the M7 were very good in terms of clarity, but they weren't the loudest. If the M8 bumps that up while retaining clear sound, I'll be very happy.
 

Ramcclain007

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Just picked up the new HTC One M8 in gunmetal gray

WOW! what a phone. I upgraded from the Incredible 4G. Didn't have any real problem but kept running out of storage.

Been looking at it since the rumors started to appear. What a really nice phone. The gunmetal gray is very slick. I wanted the dot view case as they had one on display. But alas, they didn't have any in stock. My sales person will call when they arrive.
 

wizzrah

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Re: Just picked up the new HTC One MA in gunmetal gray

WOW! what a phone. I upgraded from the Incredible 4G. Didn't have any real problem but kept running out of storage.

Been looking at it since the rumors started to appear. What a really nice phone. The gunmetal gray is very slick. I wanted the dot view case as they had one on display. But alas, they didn't have any in stock. My sales person will call when they arrive.

Nice! Hope you like it and take care of it too!
 

alcor34

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Re: Just picked up the new HTC One MA in gunmetal gray

Amazing. This phone is more than I expected that it would be. I did have my reservations as I had a Droid DNA. However, the phone is buttery smooth. Battery life is holding good though I started at 60%. The camera is way better than what I experienced on the original One. The download speeds is what has blown me away. It is super fast. Also, sound playback through the headphones is just amazing, and loud. So far so good.
 

anon(829886)

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Re: Share your HTC M8 first impressions and personal reviews!

Spent 20 minutes with the M8 today. I have very mixed feelings about the device.

The good: Back of the phone looks and feels amazing in hand. SD card slot is a welcomed addition. Motion Launcher seems to work great. Didn't feel too heavy in hand. Volume rocker is no longer flush. On-screen buttons are better than M7 strange setup. Rounded edges feels much nicer in hand versus sharper M7 edges.

The bad: Despite not feeling too heavy in hand, I would have prefer it stayed the same weight as the M7 if not lighter. Bezel is ugly. Phone is too tall IMO. From all reviews camera is a big letdown IMO (and OIS removal?!?). Despite universal praise, BoomSound did not wow me. Had it at full volume in a semi-empty store and I expected more honestly.

As long as you are cool with the height and camera, I would recommend the M8. I just wish HTC could have fit the 5" screen on a phone the same height and width as the M7. If the M7 sales letdown HTC, I don't see the M8 doing anything to turn the tide in their favor.
 

thegrants82

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Re: Share your HTC M8 first impressions and personal reviews!

I actually have had mine for about 6 hours now so this is pretty early on. Love the feel and build, at par with my iPhone 5S. The camera from what I can tell is actually surprisingly good. The device is tall....not sure why they had to make it so tall but it's really not an issue for me. I just sold my Moto X dev and to be honest, this device is smoother than the Moto X. No stutters what so ever. Totally a keeper. This thing is great. Not sure about the battery saving feature that I saw on the german you tube video....I don't have that in my settings. GSAM is installed, will update as the next few days go by.
 

cdd543

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Re: Share your HTC M8 first impressions and personal reviews!

Picked one up today--I owned the original and currently have been using the 5s.
The design is really quite stunning and has been taken to the next level. Forget about those odd gap issues on the m7--this thing is smooth and beautiful. I agree with the sentiment that it's oddly tall--it's sort of like when apple went from 3.5 to 4" by stretching vertically...at least that's what the aspect ratio reminds me of. Luckily the various ways to unlock alleviate the need to reach for the damn power button.
The screen is lovely, but completely invisible through polarized sunglasses(at least the ones I run in)--my other shades are fine so I'm curious what others experience. It feels wickedly fast and I've yet to see a hiccup and it seems buttery smooth--more so even than the note 3 or lg-g2 I've used.
I've been able to pretty easily get some pretty good camera shots with this thing--seems easier than the m7 was imho. In some lighting situations, sunlight does tend to over expose the image. Focus and capture seems to be instantaneous. I've posted a few shots on the image thread as well.
That's about it for now...pretty impressed overall.

Only real hiccup so far is that the camera app crashed on me one time.
 
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QBeebo

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I went to play with it in Verizon today and it seemed cool I wasn't impressed much but liked the case it had on it. I have read and keep re-reading the specs and I like the specs but didn't get to really play with it guess I need to buy but where will HTC head I am sort of like S5 is the way to go idk


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QBeebo

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Anyone was not like wow'd by the interface? Seemed so basic to me the black and I would have to get used to the up and down scrolling...I am on iPhone 5S


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Joe the Insider

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Anyone was not like wow'd by the interface? Seemed so basic to me the black and I would have to get used to the up and down scrolling...I am on iPhone 5S


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You can't get anymore basic than IOS and it's interface. The Ones interface is excellent.

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jimbo1mcm

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I have an Iphone 5s but I picked up the new HTC one yesterday to try it out. It is a beautiful, fantastic phone. The OS is buttery smooth and the processor is super fast. My problem is that, to me, it is HEAVY!!, compared to my 5s. Everyone has different reasons for liking a phone. This is a great phone and is probably the best Android device out there now. If you can handle a larger screened, slightly heavier device, then don't walk, run to your carrier.
 

cdd543

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I think my biggest issue with the device is going to be the size of it. It's really almost like owning the note 3 again with the length of the device.
HTC logo bezel and speakers take a lot of space. I'm guessing it helped them squeeze in some extra battery, but I think they'll lose people due to the near phablet length.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
 

GolferChris68

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It's funny... some think it's too heavy, others that it's too light. It's always interesting to see how we all perceive the same device differently, based on our experience with previous devices.
 

dtblair24

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Been a long time android user. Switched to iphone 5s from an HTC ONE in Oct. Now i'm back to rejoin the good side.

But I loitered in a verizon store about a half hour today and I was impressed with the HTC One. It felt dang good in the hand. Not as sharp as the previous version. As far as weight it seemed light for the size. Glad they introduced the gunmetal color. Looks really cool and person.

Not even sure if it is necessary to comment on performance any more these days but everything absolutely flew. Super smooth. Quick boot. I am nervous about the idea of switching from an excellent camera to an inferior one though. I tested it in the store and it seemed fine. I am thinking that my photography expectations are not that high so I think it will be ok. The front facing camera was top notch !
I do hate the height. It almost looks awkward. Seems like there is no point in having on screen buttons because you still got the black bar where the off screen buttons should be. It's just a big empty void on the bottom of the phone. I do anticipate that I will quickly get over it and get used to it. But initially it looked weird to me.
I still think this will be the best android phone this year, with the design and look/feel carrying the weight.
 

Jmobie

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Not sure if my post belongs here since my M8 will be arriving tomorrow. (I am going from the M7, to the Note 3, and back to the M8. A long-time HTC fan, going back to the days of the classic Droid Incredible.) Anyway, I see a lot of comments about the HTC logo bezel. However, doing the math, the M8's screen is a larger portion, percentage-wise, of its front than the M7's screen is of its front. A small increase, 65% to 67%, but an increase. Everyone is different, and everyone has different tastes and values. Personally, I would rather look at the HTC logo bezel, even if some consider it wasted space, than look at Samsung's Touchwiz menus and "chrome" edges.
 

theboldest

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got mine yesterday, first droid ever.. was a blackberry bold user, and the M7 was the same width as my bold, just about .375 taller. This M8 is about 1/8 wider and A LOT taller! they definately did not need to make this thing this tall. I measured the visible illuminated screen with some calipers and the screen is actually 1/8" shy of 5" diagonally. Must be the new 5" "Class" display.
 

Ken_FSU

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Picked up a Verizon M8 on launch day as a replacement for my Galaxy S3. I had to give up my unlimited data for it, but it was bound to happen eventually and I was getting a little tired of paying off-contract price for everything. A few random thoughts:

1) The build quality is out of this world. Aside from the iPhone 4 (which I prefer, build-wise, to the tall, cartoonishly light iPhone 5), I don't think I have ever been so floored by the design of a phone before. The word "luxurious" sounds pretentious to me, but it's definitely fitting. It's elegant and executive, like a really nice watch. Much more comfortable having this on my desk at work than a white Galaxy phone, for example.

2) I'm really liking Sense 6.0. It's my first experience with Sense since the original Droid Incredible. I hate Touchwiz, and have installed stock-ish Android (CM) on every Android phone that I have used in recent years, but I find Sense 6.0 clean, simple, and unintrusive enough (yay for the ability to at least hide the Verizon bloat) that I'll probably end up keeping it.

3) Sound is fantastic. I have no basis of comparison against the previous M7, but music sounds incredible through decent headphones (yay also for pack-in headphones), and the front speakers are loud enough for bedroom television, movie, or YouTube viewing, or even for listening to podcasts while driving.

4) Display is top-notch. Again, no basis for comparison with the M7, but even as an unapologetic AMOLED lover, I'm kind of smitten with the Super LCD panel. Prefer my aspect ratios to skew a little less tall and a little more wide, and capacitive buttons beside the HTC logo would have freed up some additional real estate, but whatevs.

5) I found the buttons nearly impossible to press easily. Maybe it's just me. Top power button is an impossible reach (all phones should adopt the double-tap to wake), and the volume rocker is pretty hard to reach into a pocket and find.

6) Speed: Nothing I can throw at this phone will cause even a millisecond of stutter. I can practically hear it telling me, "Seriously, is that all you've got?"

7) Camera: Definitely the achilles heel of an otherwise flawless phone. The camera itself is perfectly serviceable. It takes pretty good pictures, if you don't fancy yourself an Ansel Adams. If you can find a way to not compare it to its contemporaries, you'll probably be more than happy with it. If you compare the pictures side-by-side, even against an older phone like my Galaxy S3, the fidelty just isn't there however. Even at minimal zoom. Front-facing camera, however, is the best in class. As others have mentioned, it probably does take sharper photos than the rear facing camera.