Get a HTC One M8 or wait for Nexus 6?

[Wrathen]

So I have only ever had Nexus phones prior to that only used iPhones. I currently have a Nexus 4 and love the stock Android experience. My phone is lately been feeling super slow and I have been itching for an upgrade. Rumors abound about the Nexus 6 but we are 4 months or so at least from its release.

Should I go ahead and go with the HTC One M8 which I like the looks of and would be a nice upgrade from my Nexus 4? or should I wait for the Nexus 6?

How does the HTC's flavor of Kitkat very from stock Android? will switching over drive me nuts (this is my biggest worry). My dad has a Galaxy s4 and hates it. I have played with it as well as a friends S5 and REALY! dislike Samsung's skin of Android. I only know one person with an HTC One M8 and she says its pretty nice but she misses her Nexus 5. I dont live near her so I cant play with her phone and only have limited hands on time with the phone from the AT&T store.

IF I decided to go with an HTC One M8 it wouldnt really cost me anything but a 2 yr contract flag on my account. My dad has said he wants my Nexus if I decide to get rid of it... so he is going to trade me his Galaxy S4 which seems to be selling for $200+ on craigslist. Currently AT&T has the One M8 for $199 with contract so I wouldnt be out much.

I have been so up in the air about this for the last 2-3 weeks. Anyone have any advice or opinions? anyone coming from a Nexus phone have thoughts about the switch from the stock android experience? good or bad.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

I have both a Nexus 5 and Nexus 7. I've also got an HTC One M7 and M8. Previously used a Samsung Galaxy S3. Personally, I think HTC Sense is the best of the three. I will never touch a Samsung device ever again, they're horrendous. Hardware-wise, the Nexus devices are solid but the 5 is definitely a mid-range device, which is expected for its price. The M8 walks all over it hardware-wise.

Software-wise, I dislike what Google imposes on Nexus devices for external storage, both their lack of SD card expansion and how they gimp USB OTG support. The 5 & 7 both require Nexus Media Importer for USB thumb drives, which isn't that great of an app. HTC makes thumb drive support much more seamless IMHO.

Otherwise, Sense isn't bad at all, in many ways I like it better than stock Android.

BTW, last I checked, AT&T has the M8 for $99 online. This seems to come and go so time your purchase when they're on sale.

 

[Wrathen]

I'll have to keep a look out for a sale then. I can see where for some people the external memory might be an issue I have never had a problem with it or needed more memory on ether my Nexus 4 or 7.... thought maybe if I had the option I would use it.

How hard is it to flash the ROM for the Google Play Edition? If I didnt like Sense is that a fairly easy then to do?

 

[mookster]

Not sure how this would affect you, but all my phones I've used the Nova Launcher set to Google defaults. I know that it just masks the UI, but it has always made me feel like I had the pure Google experience along with whatever goodies are baked into the OS. I just switched to the M8 from an Xperia Z1S and like the hardware and sense much better over the Z1S and Sony UI. (Or course, both are leaps and bounds ahead of touchwiz and the Sammy GS3 I had at the start of the year.)

 

[johnmcc0710]

Not sure how this would affect you, but all my phones I've used the Nova Launcher set to Google defaults. I know that it just masks the UI, but it has always made me feel like I had the pure Google experience along with whatever goodies are baked into the OS. I just switched to the M8 from an Xperia Z1S and like the hardware and sense much better over the Z1S and Sony UI. (Or course, both are leaps and bounds ahead of touchwiz and the Sammy GS3 I had at the start of the year.)

How do you set it to use Google defaults? I am running Nova Launcher and didn't see it.

Thanks

 

[law2010]

So I have only ever had Nexus phones prior to that only used iPhones. I currently have a Nexus 4 and love the stock Android experience. My phone is lately been feeling super slow and I have been itching for an upgrade. Rumors abound about the Nexus 6 but we are 4 months or so at least from its release.

Should I go ahead and go with the HTC One M8 which I like the looks of and would be a nice upgrade from my Nexus 4? or should I wait for the Nexus 6?

How does the HTC's flavor of Kitkat very from stock Android? will switching over drive me nuts (this is my biggest worry). My dad has a Galaxy s4 and hates it. I have played with it as well as a friends S5 and REALY! dislike Samsung's skin of Android. I only know one person with an HTC One M8 and she says its pretty nice but she misses her Nexus 5. I dont live near her so I cant play with her phone and only have limited hands on time with the phone from the AT&T store.

IF I decided to go with an HTC One M8 it wouldnt really cost me anything but a 2 yr contract flag on my account. My dad has said he wants my Nexus if I decide to get rid of it... so he is going to trade me his Galaxy S4 which seems to be selling for $200+ on craigslist. Currently AT&T has the One M8 for $199 with contract so I wouldnt be out much.

I have been so up in the air about this for the last 2-3 weeks. Anyone have any advice or opinions? anyone coming from a Nexus phone have thoughts about the switch from the stock android experience? good or bad.

The HTC One M8 is well worth your dollar. Since you are on AT&T, the GPE ROM has already been ported over and is easy to install. Rooting the phone has been made very simple. You should be good to go.

I am sure the Nexus 6 will be fun, but the premium feel of the M8 is second to none.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Relgoshan]

So I have only ever had Nexus phones prior to that only used iPhones. I currently have a Nexus 4 and love the stock Android experience. My phone is lately been feeling super slow and I have been itching for an upgrade. Rumors abound about the Nexus 6 but we are 4 months or so at least from its release.

Should I go ahead and go with the HTC One M8 which I like the looks of and would be a nice upgrade from my Nexus 4? or should I wait for the Nexus 6?

How does the HTC's flavor of Kitkat very from stock Android? will switching over drive me nuts (this is my biggest worry). My dad has a Galaxy s4 and hates it. I have played with it as well as a friends S5 and REALY! dislike Samsung's skin of Android. I only know one person with an HTC One M8 and she says its pretty nice but she misses her Nexus 5. I dont live near her so I cant play with her phone and only have limited hands on time with the phone from the AT&T store.

IF I decided to go with an HTC One M8 it wouldnt really cost me anything but a 2 yr contract flag on my account. My dad has said he wants my Nexus if I decide to get rid of it... so he is going to trade me his Galaxy S4 which seems to be selling for $200+ on craigslist. Currently AT&T has the One M8 for $199 with contract so I wouldnt be out much.

I have been so up in the air about this for the last 2-3 weeks. Anyone have any advice or opinions? anyone coming from a Nexus phone have thoughts about the switch from the stock android experience? good or bad.

M8 is decent and it is NOW. Last I looked, Nexus 6 was being prototyped as vaporware and buzz was shifting over to Silver. I am still unsure what Silver would be but it's likely taken the place of Nexus 6. And last rumors I read implied 2015 as the release target which is a long time.

 

[TJGEsq]

I'd go with the M8 now.

The Nexus 6 will not likely have front facing stereo speakers like the M8. It may have a slightly faster processor, but the M8 is already super fast. I doubt an upgraded processor will be much of a factor. Moreover, the Nexus 6 will likely be light years behind the M8's sleek design with the metal casing. So I think the M8 will be superior so far as hardware is concerned.

As far as software goes, I have no problem with Sense 6. In fact, I like it (though I recently installed Nova Prime, which I like better than the Sense 6 launcher). Just so you know where I'm coming from, I had the M7 as well, and hated Sense 5 with a passion. I hated it so much, I regretted making the leap from iPhone to Android. In desperation, I rooted the M7 and installed CM. I instantly fell in love with Android. My point is, I'm not just talking smack when I say that Sense 6 is nice. If I thought it was crap, I'd have rooted it and installed CM long ago like I did on the M7.

 

[the tall guy]

How do you set it to use Google defaults? I am running Nova Launcher and didn't see it.

Thanks

I was going to ask the same thing, I don't think I've ever seen the option in Nova to set anything as "Google default"

 

[Wrathen]

Well I ended up going by AT&T yesterday after working and getting an M8 so far I'm super happy with the upgrade and the over all premium feel of the phone. It feels very solid and has that top of the line feel and so far I really like what HTC did with their skin. A few minor things I have to work through

 

[the tall guy]

Well I ended up going by AT&T yesterday after working and getting an M8 so far I'm super happy with the upgrade and the over all premium feel of the phone. It feels very solid and has that top of the line feel and so far I really like what HTC did with their skin. A few minor things I have to work through

I'm happy that you just went and got it. Technology changes all the time, a new phone doesn't stay new for long - hope you enjoy the best looking phone to date

 

[Citizen Coyote]

I was going to ask the same thing, I don't think I've ever seen the option in Nova to set anything as "Google default"

While I don't think there's a "Google default" setting in Nova, you can certainly make it look like stock easily enough. I'm betting that's what the poster was talking about.

As for the phone, as a Nexus 4 user myself I think Sense is the most likeable of the various OEM skins (outside of Moto's near-stock skin). I think you'll be happy with your purchase.