Gadgetory

the Titan the diamond the hd2 for years the name HTC was synonymous with windows smartphones and after a slightly concerning low Microsoft fans can breathe a sigh of relief HTC is back with the device we think is the most attractive Windows Phone ever from the company but does its performance live up to its look i'm michael fisher with pocket now and let's find out in our video review of the HTC One m8 for Windows as we said in our dedicated comparison last week the One m8 for Windows is physically identical to its Android powered predecessor that means we're looking at a unibody metal casing with a brushed hairline finish and a feel in hand that highlights its exemplary machining while Windows Phone isn't wanting for high-quality Hardware most of its top-shelf offerings till now have featured a polycarbonate build and that makes the 90 percent aluminium One m8 stand out even more dramatically and it stands out under the hood as well from the Snapdragon 801 to the expandable 32 gigs of onboard memory to the 5-inch 1080p display the One m8 carries some of the highest specs available on a Windows Phone including rare extras like an IR port and front firing speakers about the only thing we don't like about the hardware is how big it has to be to accommodate those speakers and also that slippery finish which makes it easy to drop this exceptional hardware demands an outstanding software platform to match in a visual sense Windows Phone 8.1 1 is that platform Microsoft's operating system looks better on the One m8 and almost any other smartphone and there are times that we think the m8 looks better running Windows Phone than Android these two were made for each other as for Windows Phone itself most of our impressions from our 8.1 review remain unchanged we're sad to see Microsoft compromised some of the clean look and feel of its original vision and annoyed by the occasional bugs that the company has yet to iron out but we are excited that the new software includes things like Action Center and start screen folders both of which are executed with Microsoft's usual visual flair Cortana is smarter than ever striking a nice balance between the utility of Google now and the personality of Siri and even traditional pain points like navigation are gradually improving don't let Verizon sell you on the need for its paid navigation software download the free here sweet instead on a road trip during our review period here maps actually plotted a decent course for us here drive plus got us there safely and here transit helped out after our return when we had to take a bus back from the car rental office here in the States we still prefer Google's navigation solutions on Android phones for the traffic prediction and delay alerts but even without those bells and whistles here usually gets the job done for us on windows phones and we like how easy it is to download maps directly to the device as well our bigger beef with Windows Phone 8.1 is its buggier than usual behavior with respect to past versions especially in terms of third-party apps with over 300,000 titles the Windows Store is more populated than ever but many top-tier apps lag months behind in terms of updates and even popular titles like Spotify hang and crash more often here than on other platforms first party software isn't immune to a rough edge or to either HTC zone blinkfeed app is more crudely honed here than it is on Android and it's camera app is less consistent as well sometimes bogging down right when it's least convenient speaking of the camera this is the first Windows Phone to boast HTC's duo arrangement and it carries the familiar mix of ups and downs the UI offers both simple and granular controls and the faux bouquet photos with enhanced depth of field are good enough for a quick wow effect but not much else we have a better time shooting conventional photos with the one m8 and despite its low resolution output it's quite possible to get some nice results as we've seen from past comparisons HTC software bumps up the saturation and contrast a bit and we don't have a problem with that when it leads to photos that look this good turn down the Sun and the m8 ultra pixel enhancements come into play to pull every last photon from the scene Windows Phone already had some excellent low-light cameras in the Lumia line and the m8 only bolsters that offering it also ups the game on the other side the wide-angle front-facing camera will be a welcome sight for anyone who takes a lot of group selfies videos shut with the 1080p camcorder are bumpier than what you'll get from one of those optically stabilized Nokia's and the manual focus could be a bit more precise still for the overwhelming majority of consumers that's picking nits especially if you make use of the excellent video highlights feature to spice things up this video camera is more than enough for documenting most life events from the banal to the spectacular this phone is for now exclusive to Verizon's LTE network which thanks to some recent enhancement got a made up marketing term X LTE and a not so made up speed boost we averaged 50 down and 12 up in Greater Boston on our six day test period which is a huge improvement over Verizon's performance last year coverage between Boston and New York is also excellent in rural and urban areas voice calling is also good with no clarity or loudness issues on either end audio through earbuds is rich full and loud and speaker phone calls are outstanding thanks to the boom sound speakers which are still the best smartphone speakers we've heard on a US carrier smartphone budding racecar drivers will be happy to know that gaming is no trouble on the one m8 for Windows so long as you can find a game you want to play in the Windows Store our old reliable asphalt ran wonderfully even in max graphics mode as did infinite flight and while you shouldn't play too many 3d games without being plugged in you'll be happy to know that battery life isn't bad usually on a day with two and a half hours of continuous moderate mixed usage we were still at over 70% charge after about 7 hours off the charger that said on another day with light usage but poorer coverage we blew through a quarter of the battery in one hour of standby so as always keep an eye on your power consumption the One m8 might not be exciting to you if you're a veteran of the Android world after all this is a phone that launched back in the spring but in the land of Windows Phone the m8 represents some of the best build quality and the highest specs the platform has yet seen along with an unparalleled audio experience if you're searching for the finest Windows Phone on Verizon Wireless and you don't need a camera with crazy resolution look no further than the HTC One m8 for Windows for more detail on the One m8 see our full written review available August 26th at PocketNow also be sure to check out our One m8 Android vs. Windows Phone comparison live now and our One m8 vs Lumia icon comparison coming later this week til next time this has been michael fisher with PocketNow captain to phones on twitter urging you to keep your tiles live and we'll see you on the next one you