established brand in the smartphone industry. From the iPhones, to the
Galaxies, consumers recognize these names and have high regard for them,
which in turn helps these phones to be engrained into the hearts and
minds of consumers. HTC has been on the hunt of late, aggressively
promoting and advertising its current flagship smartphone of 2014 – the
metal cladded HTC One M8.
Needless to say, it’s been a long time since we’ve been acquainted with a
premier Windows Phone from the company, so we’re naturally thrilled that
the time has once again come to fruition. In keeping with that tone of
uniformity, the company has taken the recipe it has with its existing
Android-powered HTC One M8, and merely applied Windows Phone 8.1 into
the mix. The end result, which might surprise people, is the HTC One M8
for Windows. You’re reading that correct folks, it’s the HTC One M8 for Windows!
Like we said people, HTC has taken the recipe it has established with its
existing Android-powered HTC One M8, and brought it over to the HTC One
M8 for Windows – so there’s nothing that should be too shocking with the
design. Considering that today’s set of Windows Phone flaunt the
characteristic design elements from Nokia’s Lumia line, it’s refreshing
to see something different in the Windows Phone landscape for a change.
Donning the same high-ality brushing aluminum chassis, the HTC One M8 for
Windows is undoubtedly premium in every respect. From its premium
construction, to its stunning design, there’s plenty to like about this
new Windows Phone – though technically, it’s nothing new in the space.
Additionally, we’re told that it’ll be offered in gunmetal grey, with
the possibility of more to come in the future. However, purists will be
pleased to know that signature HTC One M8 goodies are in tow with this –
like its dual frontal stereo speakers with HTC BoomSound, infrared
sensor, and duo camera.
Display
We’ve seen this before, so there’s nothing we’re going to get too excited
here with the HTC One M8 for Windows. Like its sibling, this features a
flagship-esque 5-inch 1080 x 1920 Super LCD-3 display with Gorilla Glass
3. Grazing over it briefly, all of the quality elements are present
here – like its rich detail, good visibility, and vibrant color
reproduction. As much as we would’ve been thrilled to potentially see a
higher-resolution display, to make it formidable in light of other
devices, it’s at least within the same scope as its other esteemed
rivals to make us feel confident about it.
Interface
and behold! The main difference here is blatantly the Windows Phone
8.1.1 experience it’s running, so it’s something we’re thrilled to see
from HTC. Taking into account that Microsoft is adamant on having a
uniform experience, we naturally find the HTC One M8 for Windows abiding
to those rules – so it’s not a shocker to see that the majority of the
experience is similar to Nokia’s line of Windows Phones. Interestingly
enough, however, HTC is able to once again sprinkle a few unique
experiences to differentiate its offering.
Gone is the HTC Sense Hub, which was one of the common things that differentiated HTC’s line
of Windows Phones in the past from others. Well, that’s something you’re
not going to find here with the HTC One M8 for Windows. Instead, it
manages to pack along some of the unique core experiences we’ve seen
with the HTC One M8 for Android – though, they’re more like apps, as
opposed to being integrated with the core Windows Phone 8.1.1
experience.
Looking at the Start screen, we have the familiar
dynamic live tiles once again – with the additional personalized element
of having a custom background. For the social networking conscious
folks, we have HTC BlinkFeed, which acts like its Android counterpart in
aggregating our social networking accounts. Switching the channel on
your television set is done via the HTC Sense TV app, which not
surprisingly, sports the Modern UI of Windows Phone with its
presentation. And finally, it’ll feature a few of the Motion Launch
gestures we’ve seen before, like double tapping the screen to turn it
on. However, in our quick hands-on look, we didn’t find any of the other
swiping based gestures supported – albeit, we’re told that it’s an
early software build we’re checking out.
Processor and Memory
Honestly, it’s a rare occasion for us to come across a sluggish running WindowsPhone of sort to – it just doesn’t happen all that much, which is goes
to show Windows Phone’s stringent attention to detail with its
operation. The internals here aren’t new, as it’s powered by the same
current-generation chipset from Qualcomm, a quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm
Snapdragon 801 SoC with 2GB of RAM. Yeah, it’s fast and snappy, a
quality of the chipset we’re accustomed to seeing, but somewhere in the
back of our head, we would’ve been thrilled slightly to see something
newer.
Sporting 32GB of internal storage, it’s a nice tally that
suffice for many things – even better when there’s a microSD card slot
ready to supplement things.
Camera
Low and behold folks! This wouldn’t be a true HTC One M8 if it doesn’t have a duo camera. Much like
everything else we’ve covered thus far, this made for Windows Phone
device packs the same two cameras as its Android-made sibling – a
primary 4-megapixel “Ultrapixel” camera, and a secondary one used to
measure depth information. The camera gear, of course, is similar to its
sibling, as it features 1/3” sensor, BSI, f/2.0 aperture lens, and a
dual-LED flash. Meanwhile, the front-facing one is the same wide-angle
5-megapixel snapper that’ll surely please selfie-making shutterbugs.
From
the looks of it, HTC didn’t tinker all that much with the camera
interface, seeing that its layout is identical. Even though it packs
along staple camera features such as uFocus, which allows us to apply
that neat bokeh effect post shot, it doesn’t offer the entire breath of
photo options and settings as its Android counterpart. Hopefully,
though, we’ll see more introduced down the road.
Expectations
Wehave fond memories of all the high caliber smartphones we’ve seen put
out thanks to the relationship between HTC and Microsoft. Placing the
emphasis on this reestablished relationship, we’re eager to see how
Windows Phone fanatics will take a liking to the HTC One M8 for Windows.
On one hand, we’re humbled to once again have a top-notch Windows
Phones from HTC, but at the same time, we can argue that this phone
could’ve gotten just a little bit more love.
Still, we can
totally comprehend HTC’s choice, seeing that the HTC One M8 brand
already has a cult following – so it makes sense for them to go with
this route of just adding the Windows Phone 8.1 experience. Launching
with a promotional price of $99.99 with a 2-year contract, it should no
doubt be an attractive option, but as we head into this upcoming holiday
season, it might be left behind as we see newer and mightier
smartphones on the horizon.
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