Gadgetory

mini metal m8 that's the idea with HTC's new one mini 2 miniature yes but with the fit and finish meant to make it impossible to ignore its flagship ancestry so if the larger one m8 caught your eye but proved too big for your hand is the one mini to a viable alternative or has HTC made too many sacrifices in its quest for a smaller footprint it's a good question let's see if we can answer it I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow and this is HTC One mini 2 versus HTC One m8 if you're wondering why HTC didn't just go ahead and call this the One m8 Mini well from a physical perspective that's understandable the one mini 2 uses the same planform the same aluminum housing the same speaker configuration and it even comes in the same colors as its larger 4runner in the hand despite being significantly lighter it elicits nearly the same feeling of quality to look a little closer you start to notice where corners have been cut just like on the last one mini a plastic border takes over from the aluminum at the phone's edges and the IR transmitter at the top has been ditched replaced with the relocated headphone jack the buttons on the mini don't have the satisfying click they do on the m8 the screen size is of course smaller on the mini but it's also a different display technology at a lower resolution it's tough to see the pixel density downgrade unless you're getting an eyeball right up against the screen but the m8 s-- richer colors definitely pop more in a side-by-side look we don't like it's much warmer whites much but the higher-end phone does offer slightly darker blacks onto the hood one of these is a muscle car while the other is well a respectable compact there's a gigabyte worth of difference in RAM here and while each offers microSD expansion up to 128 gigs the One m8 comes in a version that brings roughly double the internal storage and at the heart of it all the one Mini 2 brings a snapdragon 400 to the table quad-core yes but no match for the raw power of the Snapdragon 801 in the One m8 the important question is how much difference does that make on a day-to-day basis and the answer well not much at all with each phone running sense six atop Android 4.4.2 the software experience is almost identical and that's true of responsiveness to multitasking doesn't seem impaired by the reduced RAM on the one mini to the only way we could force an app crash was to juggle two memory intensive games and app launch times are about the same from blinkfeed to browsing to media to gaming these phones both deliver like dominoes now that being said there's no question that the one I made is the phone we'd choose for high-end gaming the beefier GPU in the Snapdragon 801 enables better graphics in some games and results in a smoother framerate and others plus the larger more vibrant higher resolution display is a real treat on the m8 and you've got a bigger battery and better boom sound to boot also the m8 s-- sensor core allows for conveniences like gesture based unlocking of the screen while the one mini two makes you hunt for the mushy standby key still frustratingly situated up top plus the m8 s larger size allows for a more spacious keyboard it's the little things that remind you which of these is the flagship and which is the tag-along you might think that's not the case in the camera department where on paper the one mini twos 13 megapixel camera handily beats the four megapixel shooter on the one m8 but in low-light those ultra pixels and the larger phone proved their worth here's the USS excelsior shot by the one mini two in a very dim room even with night mode applied we're not seeing much here now here's the same fine vessel shot by the One m8 boom and let's go darker here's a subway tunnel photographed by the one mini two in automatic mode and here it is with night shooting enabled here's the One m8 stake of the same scene is there any doubt which one of these you'd rather have in a low light situation turning the light up a little bit we still mostly like the m8 s photos better no you can't zoom into them as much as the nine or 13-megapixel shots from the one mini but the one who mates slightly wider angle captures more of a scene and just look at the color differences here the experienced I might call the one m8s photos oversaturated and over sharpened and our own Adam Lane goes into detail on this in a photo shoot out between these phones over at pocket now linked in the description but on the whole we think the m8s photos sure do look a lot less washed out you also have a wider range of options on the m8 including the unadulterated Zoe experience and the bouquet effects enabled by that special depth finding sensor but some of that can be approximated on the one mini to buy for example apps like Google camera in video it's more of the same brighter colors with better mid-tones on the m8 we even prefer the One m8 for selfies despite the front-facing cameras here being the same resolution and ostensibly situated behind the same wide-angle lens again check out our full photo comparison at pocketnow.com for some deeper thoughts on how these cameras compare for now we'll just say that despite the resolution golf we'd take the One m8 pictures over those of the One mini to any day of the week same goes for the boom sound speakers which are quite impressive on each model but the one mA it's larger chamber size gives it an oomph that the littler device can't quite match it's tougher to find a difference on earbuds though if it's there we can't pick it up and callers are similarly circumspect when it comes to identifying which of these sounds better they can't pick a winner and neither can we each device performs quite well on a TTS network in Greater Boston and New York City in speakerphone mode of course the One m8 still enjoys a slight edge and it's larger battery means it usually lasts longer as well we have more on these points in our full review of each device physically there are many advantages to the one mini to those who love the look of the m8 but ball cadets pockets training size may fall right in love with the smaller sibling and people who hold resolution above all else in the camera front will also be pleased the 1 mini 2 doesn't measure up to the one I made on the spec sheet but then it wasn't designed to and it really doesn't need to day-to-day it performs excellently despite its mid-range processor as heavy users we'd of course prefer the m8 for a daily driver and we continue to hold out hope that someday other manufacturers will follow sony's example and bring top shelf specs to a reasonably sized chassis until then those who want the look and feel of a flagship without splurging on the extreme high end will definitely appreciate the added choice that one Mini 2 represents our full review of the HTC One mini 2 is available right now at pocketnow.com linked in the description below be sure to check out our comparisons hands-on and other videos featuring this device and others here on youtube also follow us on social media but most importantly thank you so much for watching this has been michael fisher with PocketNow we'll see you next time that's a question worth answering and this is HTC One mini 2 vs. HTC ma'am it bit me m8 One m8 I'm Michael Fisher with pocket now with HTC One mini two versus it against HTC One m8 HTC they let me Nene Nene I'm Michael Fisher with pocket now and this is HTC One m8 Mini