for your consideration, robsawalker
Very kind of you to say, but really I am just a keen amateur. I can offer a few simple pointers though:
There are literally hundreds of website out there telling you how to take good photos; by FAR the two most important things are: 1) opportunity and 2) good composition.
If you don't have a camera on you which you can access quickly, you will lose the opportunity for many great pictures. Luckily the HTC One is one of the fastest cameras to boot and take a photo with. When I go out walking I hold my phone in my hand. (If I go bird/wildlife watching I take an SLR - a proper camera!). If you are out for the night, keep your phone handy to snap of a quick pic. With people, the best photos are almost always best when the subject doesn't know you are taking the picture (I don't mean go around being creepy!) People struggle to act casual when they are aware you are taking a photo.
The next two things are the golden rule and light. Take a look at this:
Golden Section and Rule of Thirds (Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, Golden Proportion, Golden Triangles). It is tied in to the fibonacci sequence, which appears in nature everywhere.
Light: As I explained earlier, with a camera you only have one lens and it is capable of only focusing on one area at a time. If you have framed a picture and there is a strong light source and heavy shadow (like the window inside example I showed earlier) then you have to decide what you are going to focus on. Try and change the framing if you can. HTCs HDR mode is useful here because it takes two shots, one exposed on the bright area and one on the dark area and combines them (other cameras also use HDR). Another simple rule is, try not to take shots with the sun in front of you.
How to Shoot in Direct Sunlight - Digital Photography School
Thats the basics. You can alter the 'sensitivity' of the sensor to light by changing ISO: basically, the higher you go the more light sensitive it will be and the more grainy it will be.
Just look online, there are loads of sites which will help you with the basics. Smartphone cameras are very rudimentary, it wont take you long to play and learn. I would urge you to try changing all the settings and see what happens - at the very bottom of the menu you can reset to stock so play as much as you like!
Cheers,
R