Thinking about getting a HTC One M8

D

dblumenau

Active Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Messages
68
Reaction score
0
Location
Johannesburg
Hey everyone

So since fans of smartphones have very strong opinions, I am going to put this one out there.

I am thinking about getting an HTC One M8 and ditching my old Galaxy S3.
I don't do contracts so I am just going to be buying it cash, so it's not a given that I should even get anything instead of sticking with my old phone.

Should I wait for a potential new iPhone instead (the bigger screen on the galaxy s3 convinced me to get it over the iPhone 4S of the day, and even the iPhone 5 4" inch screen was not enough for me. However, the fluidity of iOS compared to the stickiness of Android with its random waiting and delays (and yes I did do a reset etc, I am convinced that I am just hitting the benchmark barrier with the aging processor) made me wish I just got an iPhone instead, smaller screen and all.

But apparently those concerns are now long in the past with the HTC One M8, which I have read, never lags for even one minute anywhere.

If you are in the mood to convince me for or against, let me know.

And for any potential thread Nazi's out there, I did do a search and couldn't find any discussions on these forums. On other forums yes, but not these, and I always prefer mybroadband community advice to random internet people advice. and as the banner right above this says
We noticed that you have not posted anything recently. We need your comments and views dagnabbit, so please post!
Click to expand...

I hope for my sake that there really aren't because I can already see the following comment coming

THIS QUESTION HAS BEEN POSTED A THOUSAND TIMES ALREADY DAMMIT WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP MAKING NEW THREADS AHHHHHHHH!!!!!1111!!!
Click to expand...
 
I would do it if I were you. And since you're looking to buy cash, Orange's price is pretty good (relative to other places). The only reason I haven't done it is because I find it hard to justify to myself parting with over R7k for a phone (albeit a damn good one). I'm waiting it out at the moment for the new nexus phone- should be awesome and not as expensive (I hope).
But if that isn't your concern then why not? All evidence points to the fact that it's an awesome phone.

Just as a side note, have you handled an HTC m8 yet? I hear it is quite a large thing. Also, have you looked into others such as the Xperia Z2, LG G3, Nexus 5 for that matter, etc (galaxy S5 isn't my cup of tea)
 
Thanks for your reply. Yes I was actually thinking about using Orange. And I feel exactly the same, I don't want to plonk down R7K for a phone either, I'm really just thinking about it because my old phone is bugging me, and my old phone is only bugging me because I read how good the HTC is.
I haven't been able to find a place that has the One M8 as a demo unit so that I could try it in person, as I am also concerned about it being too big, although I find that hard to believe as I thought that my aunt's Note 2 was not at all too big, and the note 2 is even bigger than the HTC). One place was willing to let me look at the box, but I don't see how that would help :wtf:
And then I definitely considered the Nexus 5, and as shallow as this sounds, the reviewers were completely bonkers about the phone, but not about the build quality compared to the HTC or the iPhone. Before I got my Galaxy S3 I would have dismissed that comment as completely pointless and irrelevant, but now, having owned a phone that was said upon it, "It has a cheap feel to it", I totally understand what they mean.
Call me spoiled, or materialistic, or not focused on functionality instead of aesthetics all you want (which is exactly what I thought of those initial Galaxy S3 reviewers), but there really is something to holding a nice even weighted piece of metal instead of a light piece of plastic, even if the screen, buttons etc function exactly the same.
I am sure that the new Nexus 5 is not exactly the same cheap feel as the Galaxy S3, but no one argues that the HTC feels the best.

On the other hand (and please excuse the pun, because I couldn't help myself...) you know what else feels nice?
Having an extra R7739 in your hand (or bank account because who touches cash these days :rolleyes:)

I completely hadn't considered the Xperia Z2.
The LG G3 doesn't appeal to me as much. One theory that I have is that people see it and fall in love with it because LG just chose a fantastic wallpaper for the posters.
http://phandroid.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/lg-g3-wallpaper-2.jpg
But the screen apparently is not THAT good (I mean yes, its amazing, but they don't think that it is any better a 1080p screen since it is on a sub 7 inch device) and the screen would be the main reason to consider the G3 over the HTC.
I agree Galaxy S5, not my cuppu either, mainly because I am a creature of novelty, and I already owned the S3, (plus my metal rant above).
I didn't think that they are doing a new Nexus any time soon though? They just released the 5 a few months ago so I think that there must be good 9 months wait still, plus a few extra weeks for us down-under-to-the-left.
 
I hear you, I do. I've just been asking myself if the HTC is over R2k better than the nexus. I think I would have to have both phones in my hand side by side to decide that, but since that's probably not possible, I'd be more inclined to go with the nexus (call me cheap, but hey!).

I'm sure either way you'd be super happy, and if a note 2 isn't too big for you, I'm sure the HTC would be perfect. I still have my old iphone 4s, and getting rather tired of the small screen, so like you, I'm thinking of getting an upgrade.

Agree with you re the LG, same price pretty much, so you'd rather get the HTC because of the awesome build quality, and the higher resolution of the LG is apparently not noticeable.

Wasn't the nexus 5 released in Nov? I really want to wait and see what's to come
 
joshlister said:
I hear you, I do. I've just been asking myself if the HTC is over R2k better than the nexus. I think I would have to have both phones in my hand side by side to decide that, but since that's probably not possible, I'd be more inclined to go with the nexus (call me cheap, but hey!).

I'm sure either way you'd be super happy, and if a note 2 isn't too big for you, I'm sure the HTC would be perfect. I still have my old iphone 4s, and getting rather tired of the small screen, so like you, I'm thinking of getting an upgrade.

Agree with you re the LG, same price pretty much, so you'd rather get the HTC because of the awesome build quality, and the higher resolution of the LG is apparently not noticeable.

Wasn't the nexus 5 released in Nov? I really want to wait and see what's to come
Click to expand...

I read this review of it, and after reading it all the way through, I can see that they are seriously not chuffed with the camera.
So, I am ruling it out for now. I am hardly a phone photographer, but I am fussy, so if I will spend R7800 on a phone, it's just not going to cut it for the camera to not work properly, at least to work as good as the Nexus. I asked myself, "If this phone cost the same as a nexus, would you get it?" and when I didn't answer yes right away, then I knew what my decision was.

So I am pretty much decided on the Nexus, partly because of you! But I am still going to give it a few days before I actually click buy.

And if you think that you are cheap, you should hear what I did.
I thought that for now, if I really wanted the feel of a premium metal phone, I'll just get a metal cover. So I got this capdase one, and hey presto! Instant 'quality design feel'.
How is that for cheap?
:wtf:
:)
 
I bought an M8 from the Orange store. And I don't regret it. It's a beautiful phone, with stunning sound and it has a premium feel - in and out of it's cover. After many reviews of it and it's competition (Z2, S5) it came down to the wow factor, and the M8 had (and still has) it.

I can't compare it to any Apple products due to lack of interest in them :P And I'll be the first to agree with people who side with Sony or Samsung that those may seem better depending on how you look at it.

I had my heart set on the M8 when the rumors came out. I held the S5 when they were demo'ing it at Gateway. I played with a Z1 and wasn't impressed (yeah it's no Z2 but still).

Chipset wise, the S5, M8 and Z2 are more or less the same (with the Z2 having more RAM, and the S5 with a slightly higher clockspeed).

GPU wise, they're all the same.

Camera wise, I'd say the Z2 comes out tops (in terms of raw megapixels). If you want a camera with a phone, the M8 isn't for you - unless you take a lot of night shots, but that's a tiny bit debateable. I read a ton of reviews and was almost put off by the camera. For a moment. But I still went with it. If you're really concerned, check out some samples here (they're not mine).

Otherwise, get one of those Nokia thingymajigs with 41 megapixels. Or ditch a high end phone and go for a Gobii / Zest, and spend the rest on a DSLR camera ;)

so if I will spend R7800 on a phone, it's just not going to cut it for the camera to not work properly, at least to work as good as the Nexus.
Click to expand...

The camera works. It is far from broken. To put it in perspective, it takes better pictures than the S2 I used to use. The S2 has 8 megapixels, and the HTC only has 4. Just don't expect miracles if you zoom in / crop images.

Support wise, Samsung come out tops with their ADH stuff. I am a touch envious there :/

Build quality seems to be a matter of opinion. I'm a huge fan of the HTC and the metal body. In my opinion, the HTC comes out tops here, with the Sony being a close second (The Z2 has an aluminium frame, with glass on the back as well). After years of using a solid plastic phone, it's a great change. It really feels like the cost was justified.

I thought that for now, if I really wanted the feel of a premium metal phone, I'll just get a metal cover. So I got this capdase one, and hey presto! Instant 'quality design feel'.
Click to expand...

No.. just no... A cover is a cover. If that floats your boat, I'm happy for you. If you're anything like me, you'll use a cover for a while, get annoyed of it being bulky, remove it, and you'll be sad.

Do I regret not going Samsung or Sony, or even LG? No. It's what I wanted, so I got it.

I am by no means trying to convince you to get the phone. Perhaps think about what you want in a phone, then look at what's out there.

Other alternatives would be the LG G2, Ascend P6 / Ascend P7, Hi-Sense Infinity Pure 1 or even a Oneplus One if you manage to somehow get yourself an invite.
 
Wow, thank you for this detailed reply!
Its all very helpful information, especially since it is coming from a real M8 user, not just a reviewer.

And as far as the camera goes, if you were to scroll through my GS3's gallery, you would see that I have barely taken any photos the past few months. Granted, I haven't really gone anywhere interesting recently (besides for a trip to the Drakensburg, but that was taking care of a group of school kids, so there was hardly a second to even eat, never mind take photos) but going from my pre-smartphone days, to my GS3's camera which pretty much blew my point and shoot out of the water, made me really put that up there as a consideration when buying another phone. There is just a convenience to knowing that when going on holiday, I can pack my clothes, wallet, car keys, and then phone and I am all set in terms of taking pictures. No need to worry about bringing along another device.

I don't want to lose that by getting another phone, or at least have anything less than an equal experience to what I have now, seeing as what I am giving them is nearly R8000, so I deserve that. But what you are saying about the camera, and from that helpful link you gave me, it shows that the situation isn't really all that dire. The camera just isn't amazing, but it is perfectly reasonable and will do the job just fine, as one person says on the page that you linked to:

Yeah, um, those Flickr photos look more than acceptable for me. I don't need the best camera if I'm getting the best screen, audio quality, and experience that the M8 will surely offer as the M7 did. The camera is literally secondary (or, well, further than that) than all of those areas and, even then, it's not really bad at all.
Click to expand...

And I am with you all the way regarding Apple.
Although I have a Mac Mini as my computer, and I own an iPad too, I think that they took just way too long to recognise that people want 1080p on their phones (and I am giving them major benefit of the doubt right here, because they haven't even actually released their mythical larger screened device [see this video for a humourous ad on that topic, although the man in that video is acting way too obnoxiously arrogant about it for my liking, it still demonstrates the point in a funny way], which by the way, and I am getting angry now, mark my prediction, the bigger screened iPhone 6 will be presented by them as completely 'Revolutionary', and 'Unique', and blah blah, typical Apple Reality Distortion Field bloat.

I have thrown out the idea of an Ascend P7 over a Nexus 5 for sure. Didn't like the sound of the reviews, and it costs R7000, so why not just go for the M8 then.
So basically it's Nexus 5 vs M8.
I definitely would go for a M8 over the Sony, or S5, ...although the Sony does have a great camera, and S5 has great ADH, but that's it.
Right now I am siding Nexus, then M8, then S5 then Z2.
Knowing me, I'll just hem and haw until an M9 S6 and Z3 come out, and even then still not have made up my mind.

Oh, and P.S
I know, I know, the cover thing will last maybe two days, although it really is a nice cover. It adds almost no bulk to the phone and protects it against minor drops. It's not a rugged IP67 rig, but it fits what I need.
 
I'm in a similar boat, although mine is a contract upgrade, not a cash buy.

I checked out the M8, looks like frigging fantastic phone. Apparently the camera isn't all that bad, plus you get great manual control options and effects (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=51415071&postcount=8428). A big draw, for me at least, on this phone is the fact that you can flash the Google Play Edition rom on there if you get tired of the Sense interface. And when Android L drops in all its beauty, you can get the update!

My big worries about the M8 relate to the non-replaceable battery (for someone on a 2 year contract this is more of an issue I suppose) and the reports about the camera lens scratching up (not to mention the pink-tint issue on the camera). Also saw reports about speaker buzzing issues. Usually this wouldn't be a problem (just get a replacement), but I'm not 100% confident about HTC's after-sales support here in SA. I hope I'm wrong though.

At the moment I'm looking at grabbing an LG G3 (which isn't without its own reported problems), but a part of me really wants an M8. Somebody please talk me into it!
 
Keigo said:
This is one of the reason I want to get HTC One M8. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLWJrRem-mw
Click to expand...

Before I got the phone, I wanted one. Back then the price was still quite steep. That and the fact that it didn't sit flush with the back when the flap was open, as well as it being a mission to hold the flap open when using the camera put me off.

Perhaps one day I'll get one though.

TopFloorBottomBuzzer said:
I'm in a similar boat, although mine is a contract upgrade, not a cash buy.

I checked out the M8, looks like frigging fantastic phone. Apparently the camera isn't all that bad, plus you get great manual control options and effects (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=51415071&postcount=8428). A big draw, for me at least, on this phone is the fact that you can flash the Google Play Edition rom on there if you get tired of the Sense interface. And when Android L drops in all its beauty, you can get the update!

My big worries about the M8 relate to the non-replaceable battery (for someone on a 2 year contract this is more of an issue I suppose) and the reports about the camera lens scratching up (not to mention the pink-tint issue on the camera). Also saw reports about speaker buzzing issues. Usually this wouldn't be a problem (just get a replacement), but I'm not 100% confident about HTC's after-sales support here in SA. I hope I'm wrong though.

At the moment I'm looking at grabbing an LG G3 (which isn't without its own reported problems), but a part of me really wants an M8. Somebody please talk me into it!
Click to expand...

Sense was part of the reason I went for the M8. I actually prefer Sense over TouchWizz and whatever Sony has. It's so pretty. They've moved past the bloated Sense back in the day. They've made huge improvements speed wise. And now when Sense apps update, you don't need to wait for it to come with a new ROM. They update through the play store :)

If the battery starts giving up in it's second year, I will definitely be sending it off to get it replaced under warranty. I'm hoping it's possibly, especially if the battery life really dips. Yeah, I see the non-removable battery as a huge downside to the phone. But I suppose they had to make some sacrifices to make it look so beautiful :)

The pink tint issue on the camera was more of a problem on the M7. I have seen cases of it happening to people on XDA and the M8 (I think). But something like that you can just send it in to get fixed.

As for support, you won't get much other than the use of their repair centre if something breaks. HTC doesn't even come close to Samsungs ADH. It's sad, but true.

I've seen a few threads on XDA mention the scratched camera lense. Can't really comment there as I didn't pay much attention :P

Now, I've saved the worst for last. Specifically this...

Also saw reports about speaker buzzing issues.
Click to expand...

I've been beaten with the bad luck stick. Twice. Ordered my phone from Orange in the middle of June. It got here 5 days later. That's when I noticed the buzzing, and it was quite bad - specifically when playing music (via YouTube, the Music app or SoundHound).

It's sounds more like a loose connection / weird electricity sound, cross buzzing. It's almost a distortion, or a clipping sound, but it's not clipping.

I waited a month for the replacement. Got it two days ago. Last night I listened to music again, just to make sure it wasn't faulty as well, and my heart sank. It wasn't nearly as bad, but there is a distinct difference in clarity between the top and bottom speaker. What's really odd is when I listen to some trance tracks at full volume, it sounds crystal clear. However something light, like with just a piano, has the buzzing.

Honestly, I found myself thinking "can I live with this buzzing for the next X years, cause I'm tired of waiting for the phone". Then I remembered how much I paid for the phone, and how the buzzing would irk me :/

All things considering, even if they gave me my money back, I'd still buy an M8. I just want one that works.

Oh, some other things to look out for is a loose volume rocker, as well as a loose power button. I didn't realise it was a problem until I sent the other one back - it had a loose volume rocker :P

I was a bit tired when posting my last post. But I remember reading these two comparisons (after I bought the phone LOL):

- LG G3 vs. M8
- S5 vs. M8

One thing to remember if my experience is rather off-putting, is that these devices are manufactured in huge quantities, so there are bound to be problems. I also seem to attract the phones with problems :P Don't be put off by my bad experiences.
 
mr_norris said:
Before I got the phone, I wanted one. Back then the price was still quite steep. That and the fact that it didn't sit flush with the back when the flap was open, as well as it being a mission to hold the flap open when using the camera put me off.

Perhaps one day I'll get one though.



Sense was part of the reason I went for the M8. I actually prefer Sense over TouchWizz and whatever Sony has. It's so pretty. They've moved past the bloated Sense back in the day. They've made huge improvements speed wise. And now when Sense apps update, you don't need to wait for it to come with a new ROM. They update through the play store :)

If the battery starts giving up in it's second year, I will definitely be sending it off to get it replaced under warranty. I'm hoping it's possibly, especially if the battery life really dips. Yeah, I see the non-removable battery as a huge downside to the phone. But I suppose they had to make some sacrifices to make it look so beautiful :)

The pink tint issue on the camera was more of a problem on the M7. I have seen cases of it happening to people on XDA and the M8 (I think). But something like that you can just send it in to get fixed.

As for support, you won't get much other than the use of their repair centre if something breaks. HTC doesn't even come close to Samsungs ADH. It's sad, but true.

I've seen a few threads on XDA mention the scratched camera lense. Can't really comment there as I didn't pay much attention :P

Now, I've saved the worst for last. Specifically this...



I've been beaten with the bad luck stick. Twice. Ordered my phone from Orange in the middle of June. It got here 5 days later. That's when I noticed the buzzing, and it was quite bad - specifically when playing music (via YouTube, the Music app or SoundHound).

It's sounds more like a loose connection / weird electricity sound, cross buzzing. It's almost a distortion, or a clipping sound, but it's not clipping.

I waited a month for the replacement. Got it two days ago. Last night I listened to music again, just to make sure it wasn't faulty as well, and my heart sank. It wasn't nearly as bad, but there is a distinct difference in clarity between the top and bottom speaker. What's really odd is when I listen to some trance tracks at full volume, it sounds crystal clear. However something light, like with just a piano, has the buzzing.

Honestly, I found myself thinking "can I live with this buzzing for the next X years, cause I'm tired of waiting for the phone". Then I remembered how much I paid for the phone, and how the buzzing would irk me :/

All things considering, even if they gave me my money back, I'd still buy an M8. I just want one that works.

Oh, some other things to look out for is a loose volume rocker, as well as a loose power button. I didn't realise it was a problem until I sent the other one back - it had a loose volume rocker :P

I was a bit tired when posting my last post. But I remember reading these two comparisons (after I bought the phone LOL):

- LG G3 vs. M8
- S5 vs. M8

One thing to remember if my experience is rather off-putting, is that these devices are manufactured in huge quantities, so there are bound to be problems. I also seem to attract the phones with problems :P Don't be put off by my bad experiences.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your detailed and even-handed reply! I'm really sorry to hear about your bad luck streak.

I agree that any mass-produced product will have a few bad apples in the batch. Thanks for mentioning the loose volume rocker issue, I knew about it, just forgot to mention it. I've pretty much been reading everything I can about the G3 and the M8, both are fantastic phones and I think that the M8 is closer to my needs. However, I just don't know if I'm willing to take the risk on the M8. I've been a bad luck magnet before, I don't know if I can do it again ;)

Another thing to mention is that the M8 seems hella durable and scratch resistant, at least on the screen. Saw a youtube video where the dude did a torture test with keys and knives and stuff. He basically had to hit it hard twice with a hammer to even begin to crack the screen, pretty damn impressive! Sucks that SA buyers don't get HTC Advantage, though. That would've have swung it for me.

Have you tried installing the Google Play Edition rom? Might be interesting to see whether it makes any difference to your speaker problem.

Thanks again for taking the time to write a thoughtful reply!
 
I'll just echo what most others have said. I've had the M8 for about a month(also upgraded from S3) and it's been a pleasure.

Design / Aesthetics / Build quality:
I've never seen in real life or online a phone more pleasing to the senses than the M8. In my opinion they got the aesthetics and build materials absolutely spot on. It's not just me, friends, family, colleagues and pretty much everyone else(even MTN staff) who has seen it agrees. I also really like the design, feels really good in the hand. The button layout took some getting used to though with a lot of accidental presses in the first week. The gestures that turn on and off the screen work really well. I do miss the dedicated Android button on my S3 and wish that HTC had one. AFAIK its Google pushing manufacturers down this path.

OS:
Please do not let that laggy Samsung mess called Touchwizz put you off Android. I actually liked my S3(besides for Fischer Price build) once I had ditched Touchwizz and installed Cyanogenmod. HTC Sense on the other hand I will be keeping. The hardware matches the software, very smooth and polished. There are professional reviewers on youtube who prefer Sense to stock Android :o

Battery:
I can't compare it with the S5, Z2 and other 2014 phones but compared to my S3 it is it is brilliant. I get two days quite easily with everything left on and with moderate usage. Literally double what I was getting on S3.

Sound:
Nothing comes close. HTC boom sound is epic. You will be wow'd when you first hear it and giggle when you here other phones thereafter.

Camera:
Camera app and gallery is the best I have ever used. Again the software matches the rest of the phone, super refined and elegant. Zoe is surprisingly useful. I have only used the duo camera features once or twice and they work well. I don't use camera all that much but I'd imagine the instagram people would love these features.
Front camera is very good, way better than S3.
Rear camera is good as long as you don't zoom in too much or make big prints. Perfect for social media. Camera excels at night with or without flash. Two tone flash gives a lot more natural light (i.e. not making everything white)

I got a free HTC branded case with mine which is pretty good. Suits the phone well.
 
Last edited:
TopFloorBottomBuzzer said:
Thanks again for taking the time to write a thoughtful reply!
Click to expand...
Ditto the above!
Thank you so much for taking the time to relate your experiences! Very illuminating.
Brawler said:
I'll just echo what most others have said. I've had the M8 for about a month(also upgraded from S3) and it's been a pleasure.
...
Camera:
Camera app and gallery is the best I have ever used. Again the software matches the rest of the phone, super refined and elegant. Zoe is surprisingly useful. I have only used the duo camera features once or twice and they work well. I don't use camera all that much but I'd imagine the instagram people would love these features.
Front camera is very good, way better than S3.
Rear camera is good as long as you don't zoom in too much or make big prints. Perfect for social media. Camera excels at night with or without flash. Two tone flash gives a lot more natural light (i.e. not making everything white)
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that the camera is not nearly as bad as the doomsayers have preached!
Also glad to hear that the battery really is what people have been saying about it and more.

I just need to see if I really should get it now. I would just be buying it cash so no upgrade or anything like that, and the reason I even got to thinking about buying a new phone is because my S3 has been running so slowly for a while. I decided to flash the ROM with Cyanogenmod 11, and since I did it has been blazing through every menu, no more taking ten seconds to load the keyboard!

If a psychologist were to analyse me, I think that they would say that subconsciously I was kinda hoping that I would brick my phone in the process of flashing it (very difficult nowadays with improved techniques) and then I would be forced to get a new one. Now that my current phone is back to normal, I will have to think harder about if I should really drop the cash on it.
From the above, it sounds like it still would be an enjoyable purchase.
 
I see the other guys here have seemingly convinced you for the HTC. What are your thoughts? HTC or Nexus? Let us know
 
Got the phone (from Hong Kong, great price) over the weekend and have had a few days to play around with it. My biggest and only real gripe with it - is the lack of a dedicated home button on the face of the phone. I realize this is the case with many other phones out there - but coming from a Samsung Galaxy SII...I really miss having it. As it stands there are two options when I want to turn the screen on whilst the phone is lying flat on the desk:

1.) Press the power button at the top. Not too bad, but it's still easier to clumsily whack a big button than invoke dexterity lvl1 and press tiny buttons off to the side
2.) Life the phone and double tap the screen. Not bad either - but it means lifting my phone which I don't want to have to do all the time.

It's something that I'll get used to over time, but as a design choice I don't understand why they're making it (apparently) more difficult to interact with my device when I'm at my desk (aka most of my day).

That aside - it's fantastic :). The speakers are good. A few times I've been testing it out at home or in the car and just left it playing because it wasn't really that bad, vs other phones where it's a little too bad to carry on. The car mode works quite well - gives you big icons on the screen and voice control for navigation and music.

Camera - well it's way better than my SII. Still need to play around a bit more, but the software is nice to use and it focuses really quickly. I thought it was stuttering the first time I used it but was actually just the burst-fire mode being triggered. clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick.

Battery life: I went to sleep with 75% remaining yesterday, whereas with the SII and a new battery I was down to 20% remaining. There are some decent power saving options available via quick settings pulldown menu. Oh and I like that the tiles on the quick setting pulldown each have a 'options' button on the tile.

The phone looks awesome. The dudes at the cellc store don't carry the phone because it's 'not popular enough' and they were drooling a bit. Dude in the coffee shop asked about it as well this morning. I almost hate to put a cover on it because it looks and feels so great. Thinking of getting one of those DOT covers which give that dot-matrix vibe on the front with the light coming through.

Overall it's smooth, the software is great and I'm really enjoying the experience. Was going to root it asap, but with most of the un-used apps disabled via settings->apps->disable I'm not gonna bother (for now) with rooting.
 
Last edited:
Well I was swinging toward Nexus at first simply because I was fed up with my S3 being so slow.
I would literally tap on whatsapp, wait 5 seconds, then tap on a contact, wait 3 seconds, then tap on the blank area at the bottom to write a message, wait, and I am not exaggerating, up to twenty (!) seconds. This may sound like I am an impatient person (which I definitely am!) but more annoying is that my old Nokia E63 that I got from game for R1100 did the above in a tenth of the time.

But then I read that flashing your ROM to Cyanogenmod could speed things up tremendously, and they have developed an installer that takes all the complications out it, and does everything in one click.
Since I have done that, my phone runs much quicker, so speed is now no longer my main concern, or benefit for upgrading. It would now be a question of just design and battery life, which the HTC beats the Nexus in (and wipes the floor with it after).

So I choose HTC One M8.
But now I am holding off on buying it because I have to convince myself that I actually need a new phone, since thanks to Cyanogen, my S3 runs like a dream, albeit a relatively lower resolution plasticky one and I can't really do that yet.
 
My argument still stands, is the HTC nearly R3k better than the nexus? I'm siding with no, but it really is up to you. Yes, it is a more premium device, but internals wise, there's not much to differentiate the two. I'll be waiting for the next nexus- my iphone 4s can hold out until then I think (I'm guessing around the end of the year)
 
joshlister said:
My argument still stands, is the HTC nearly R3k better than the nexus? I'm siding with no, but it really is up to you. Yes, it is a more premium device, but internals wise, there's not much to differentiate the two. I'll be waiting for the next nexus- my iphone 4s can hold out until then I think (I'm guessing around the end of the year)
Click to expand...

Ya, I am going to chill a while until the next Nexus. I have read that it will probably be 64 bit and more future proof than the 32 bit phones.
It would be just my luck to jump in at the very end of the 32 bit era. Not that the HTC is lagging in any way.
And for what it is worth, if I were on a contract, I would choose the HTC in a flash.
 
Ya I'm with you there. I suspect that the next nexus will come in at about R6k, which I'll probably pay. I'm just hoping that it's not a huge 6" screen. 5 is the sweet spot- if I wanted a phablet, I'd get a galaxy note.

I think if you were to go for either phones at the moment (HTC or nexus), they'd last you a good few years. The reasons as to why I'm waiting are, I'm a bit stingy to lay down loads of cash, and seeing as the next nexus will be an improvement, it's going to be awesome, since the current one is already great. ie better camera, fingerprint scanner, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X