After months of leaks and rumours, HTC on Tuesday has officially announced the much-awaited successor of yesteryear HTC One, dubbed as the HTC One (M8), also known as the HTC One (2014). The newly announced One (M8) comes with top-end specs and features a unique Duo Camera. The phone is already available in select markets and will be available via over 230 carriers in more than 100 countries in the coming weeks.
HTC One (M8) comes in three colours, Gunmetal Gray, Glacial Silver and Amber Gold. With the launch of HTC One (M8), HTC has renamed the original One, and will now be pronounced as HTC One (M7), so as to prevent confusion. Not only that, HTC has dropped the price of original One by $100, and is currently retailing in U.S. for just $499 (~ Rs. 30,000).
HTC One (M8) looks a lot like the original HTC One, so to help users differentiate, HTC has made the One (M8) back much more refined with more rounded corners than the original M7. The company has also, finally, ditched the capacitive buttons on the One (M8), and has replaced it with on-screen buttons (software keys).
The chassis of HTC One (M8) is made up of 90 percent metal, against 70 percent in the original One. The phone comes with similar BoomSound speakers, but is now 25 percent more louder than the HTC One (M7). "The new HTC One (M8) has dual frontal stereo speakers with a new amplifier, redesigned speaker chambers and a tailored audio profile for a truly high-definition experience," HTC noted in the press release.
HTC has stuffed the M8 with many cool features, one of them is the Motion Launch, which lets you perform various gesture based task. When the screen is off, pick up the phone in portrait orientation, then Double tap (to wake up), swipe left (to launch widget panel), swipe right (to launch BlinkFeed) and swipe up (to unlock). When the screen is off, pick up the phone in landscape orientation, then press the volume button to launch the camera app.
The smartphone also comes with a new Extreme Power Saving Mode, which delivers 60 hours of extra standby time at 20 percent power, 30 hours at 10 percent power and 15 hours at 5 percent power.
Taking about the Duo Camera now, HTC One (M8) is HTC's first phone to come with two rear-facing cameras. HTC calls this set up as "Duo Camera". The main camera has same 4MP UltraPixel snapper, while the secondary camera on the back, above the main camera, is used for capturing depth information. This camera will help you apply a new UFocus effect to images. Other tools include Seasons animations, Copy & Paste, and Dimension Plus, which presents a unique perspective by changing the image angle with a simple screen tilt.
The camera autofocus operates at a speed of 300 milliseconds (0.3 sec). The phone also feature intelligent dual-LED flash, which automatically selects the exact colour tone and light intensity for more natural skin tones and a professional-looking shot. HTC One (M8) also has an integrated Slow Motion mode, which enables high-definition video capture in slow motion to produce unique effects in the final version.
Coming to specifications, HTC One (M8) comes with a 5.0-inch Full HD Super LCD 3 display with pixel density of 442 ppi, 2.5GHz / 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM and Android 4.4.2 KitKat with HTC Sense 6.0 user-interface. The One (M8) is 9.35mm thick and weighs 160 grams.
Other specifications include Duo Camera (4MP UltraPixel primary + depth capturing secondary camera) with dual-LED flash, 5MP front facing camera, 16GB / 32GB internal storage with up to 128GB supported microSD card slot and 2,600 mAh battery. The HTC One (M8) requires a nano SIM and connectivity features include Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, DLNA, MHL, GPS with GLONASS, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and HTC Connect. It supports IR remote control for TV use too.
HTC India has revealed that the company will be launching the HTC One (M8) in India in the the third week of April, which is a week later after Samsung releases the Galaxy S5 in the Indian market, since the announcement is scheduled for tomorrow. There is no word pricing, but we will bring you more information on M8 pricing and availability as soon as we get it.
To be updated...