HTC One M8 Review: The Best Smartphone From HTC Is Still Missing Some Key Pieces

Announced in March, the HTC One M8 is reviewed as among the top Android phones today. And even after newer releases from othe Android OEMs, the HTC flagship is still ranked among the top. 

Design

The HTC One M8's design is the best design in any of its flagship rivals today. The aluminum casing with brushed metal finish leaves the Samsung Galaxy S5 in the dust, while the LG G3 can enviously look along with its 'fake coating'. For the past years, the Taiwanese manufacturer's strongest points is its design and aesthetics deparment, and for the One M8 the company surely did not disappoint. One design issue is the big top and bottom bezels which make the phone larger than it really is. 

Performance

The HTC flagship packs a Snapdragon 801 chipset, which is the staple among high-end smartphones today. It is paired with a decent 2GB RAM though we certainly hoped HTC made it 3GB. Unfortunately, in spite the newer chipset, the HTC One M8's quad-core CPU is only clocked at 2.3GHz, slightly slower than the 2.5GHz clockspeed of Krait 400 CPUs. With Android 4.4 Kit Kat on board, Sense 6 functions smoothly and lags when scrolling or during animations are very minimal if not non-existent. 

Camera

During HTC's prime years in the Android business, its camera department is one of its strengths. The company worked so hard to include the Duo UltraPixel sensors at the back of the device. Sure, we appreciate the cool features that come with it, but the company could have certainly managed a higher resolution for the sensors. At only 4MP, even UltraPixels can not stand a chance against a 'standard' camera with 13 megapixels. Thankfully, there is a 'regular' 5MP front cam for selfies. 

Verdict

Even after a few months after it was released, the One M8 remains as one of the Android phones to beat. However, its dismal performance in the camera department and a somewhat limited 1080p resolution and 2GB RAM is already outrun by LG's G3 and other manufacturers including Oppo and Sony.