Gadgetory

how do you succeed a smartphone like last spring's HTC one a phone so roundly praised it's still winning awards a year after its release in other words how do you top yourself well if you're HTC you take what you did the first time and make it better that's the company's strategy with the all-new HTC One for 2014 but can the company capture lightning in a bottle twice that's what we're here to find out you're watching pocket now I'm Michael Fisher and this is our video review of the all-new HTC One beauty through crafts beauty through purity beauty through simplicity these were the tenets HTC worked under when designing the new m8 and the end result is a stunning piece of hardware available in three colors probably the most striking is our gunmetal gray test unit whose aluminum casing bears a brushed hairline finish that sets it apart without going overboard but a quick look isn't enough to fully appreciate the craftsmanship of the new HTC One you need to hold it the cool metal casing is completely seamless in the hand the contours and wide radius corners feeling almost impossibly smooth against the palm while the crisp chamfers and machined speaker grills up front pay homage to its predecessor it's a little on the tall side and at 160 grams it's definitely not lightweight but the extra mass works for it rather than against it at 5 inches the SLC d3 display is gorgeous beneath its protective Gorilla Glass 3 panel and while the extra camera sensor around back isn't necessarily attractive it's not quite prominent enough on the gray version at least to take away from the phone's overall look once again HTC has crafted a beauty of a smart phone that beauty continues beneath the surface a Snapdragon 801 processor ensures a long useful lifetime backed up by two gigabytes of RAM and 16 or 32 gigs of storage plus a microSD card slot capable of supporting an additional 128 gigabytes HTC also offers 50 gig of Google Drive storage free for two years with the new device so those in need of lots of space on the go should feel right at home here a 2600 milliamp hour lipo battery provides power but it's not removable for connectivity there's Bluetooth 4.0 dual band Wi-Fi and IR port and 3G and 4G radio packages in depending on region there's also a new sensor hub controlling the gyro and accelerometer package and giving the one a degree of contextual awareness that awareness enables some useful additions to the M aids software most visible and convenient are the new gesture based unlock features which allow you to tap or swipe on the screen to unlock the phone or launch certain apps this is an idea we've seen used to great effect elsewhere but here unfortunately it's a little inconsistent to save on battery life and to minimize accidental screen wake-ups HTC has made the gestures contingent on moving the phone first so while they're very convenient when taking the phone out of a pocket for example they're less handy when it's stationary sitting on a table you still have to reach all the way up to that power standby key annoyingly still located on the top of the phone to wake it up these gestures are very smart shortcuts we just wish they worked a little more reliably for the new one HTC has brought a new version of its third-party UI sense 6.0 running atop Android 4.4.2 it's very similar to the sense we know and love from last year's one it's straightforward stylish and almost impossible to trip up the sombre minimalism of last year's version is given away to a slightly more jovial approach in 2014 with accent colors and a brighter feel overall we're not crazy about the entire palette but it's nice to have options for changing up the look of the software of course blinkfeed is back and more customizable than ever allowing you to blend social news and custom search feeds into one stream of curated data with plugins for calendar appointments locally stored photos and third-party apps like Fitbit the new blinkfeed is kind of like a modern take on the old today screen from the Windows Mobile days it's much more than just a Flipboard clone other changes across sent six are more subtle the new on-screen button configuration makes a lot of sense the multitasking panes are easier to see and if you're a fan of controlling your home entertainment from your smartphone since TV works better than ever in the midst of all these improvements there is one disappointment lurking on the MAS spec sheet at least in terms of metrics the camera HTC has decided that four megapixels was fine for 2013 and so it's also plenty for 2014 and what's more the company has also done away with optical image stabilization now there are solid reasons for this HTC told us that o is is incompatible with its new approach to photography which uses the dedicated depth sensor of the duo camera to reduce focus time and to enable more artsy photos adjusting focus after taking a photo is a very cool trick and while it doesn't always work perfectly those who appreciate bouquet effects will no doubt have some fun with this also while 4 megapixels is still pretty paltry sounding it's important to note that it's not the same sensor as last year's according to HTC well it's kind of ridiculous that the primary camera has a lower resolution than the 5 megapixel front-facing one it's still capable of some very nice shots low-light performance is still a high point though the lower the light the noisier the photo and you can still expect some overexposure in some shots the real improvements to the camera are in software which has been completely rethought the new viewfinder is still not as idiot-proof as samsung's or Motorola's but what it lacks in fluidity it makes up for in features dual capture has been added there's a 360 degree panorama option all the fun filters are here and manual settings can now be saved as preset best of all HTC's celebrated zowie feature is back now with its own app which will eventually allow for crowd-sourced videos you also get more editing options to hone highlights HTC absolutely dominates this area there's no easier way to whip up a quick summary of a house-party for example and the stock effects do a nice job of covering up whatever deficiencies might exist in the rough on the video front we're not looking at anything special here the software stabilization does an okay job of keeping the shot steady when walking but it's not quite as smooth as on the original one frame rate seems to suffer a bit with quick movements - on the plus side colors are nice and rich exposure and auto focus are plenty fast and sound capture is excellent focus autocorrect the Sun going in and coming out willy nilly today but there's our exposure correction and hopefully you got a sense from I walk earlier just how well stabilization works on this device we tested the all-new HTC One over a six day period between Boston and New York City our demo unit is a UK edition so we were confined to 3G here in the States but we encountered no reception difficulties on AT&T and our voice calls were clear callers reported that the phone's noise cancellation worked well and we especially enjoyed the feature of just putting the ringing phone to our ear to answer it HTC's boomsound has become one of the company's most celebrated offerings over the past year and the all-new one takes it to a whole new level you won't find a pair of louder richer better balanced speakers anywhere something you reminded of every time you stream a song play a loud game or watch a movie don't call me tidy speaking of gaming it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Snapdragon 801 has no trouble handling even the most demanding titles asphalt 8 plays very smoothly in full resolution as do Riptide gp2 and sky gamblers air supremacy odds are if you can think of an Android game the new one can handle it no sweat as usual though go easy on the gaming if you want the phone's power pack to last while HTC's new extreme power saver will help out once you get down to the dregs of your battery that just covers the basics we have more detailed information on battery life in our full written review linked in the description below in the world of smartphones the very best products are those which deliver consistency across the physical and the virtual HTC did it with the first one last year and it's done it again with the m8 from it's refined almost luxury grade construction to its rock-solid feature-packed software the all-new HTC One is an absolutely stunning smartphone it's not quite a Grand Slam we'd like to have seen more from its camera and some of its new features are less consistent than they should be but looking at the Android landscape in 2014 it's tough to see any competitor being able to live up to the all-around quality this package delivers put simply HTC has done it again once again for photos benchmark scores and much more granular information on the all-new HTC one check out our full review it's linked in the description down below but also here on YouTube we have a whole lot more including a comparison with the older HTC One and unboxing and a broader examination of HTC versus Samsung in 2014 be sure and check those out but before you go anywhere please leave us a like if you enjoyed this review and leave a comment down below let us know if you're going to pick up the new HTC One m8 or not or just what your thoughts on the device are until next time this has been michael fisher with PocketNow thank you very much for watching and we'll see you on the next one you