Gadgetory

can Chinese maker oppose latest smartphone compete with the likes of what many have considered the best smartphone of 2014 so far I'm Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is the Oppo find 7 a versus the HTC One m8 the core philosophies behind both the One m8 from HTC and Oppo find 7 a actually aren't all that different if you don't consider the fact that the 7-8 isn't actually a Bose absolute less smart phone the fine 7 is but in actuality the find 7a is more in line with the One m8 anyway so this comparison actually makes a lot of sense both HTC and Oppo have set out to make absolutely stellar smartphones from a design perspective fully fledged feature set specifications and in overall performance we'd say they both did really well even if the outcomes were totally different let's take a moment to recognize that in the form of an in-depth comparison from the outside these two smartphones really couldn't look less alike the One m8 is a precision machined work of art the brushed aluminium makes it look more like a kitchen appliance than a run-of-the-mill smartphone but it really works well for the phone it's rounded smooth and just glides into the palm of your hand we figured the rounded back is about all the One m8 has in common with a fine 7/8 at least visually even if the curve of the 7/8 is more subtle its edges are more harsh it's much more boxy and stark and we really like that too but the fine 7a is made mostly of plastic whereas the One m8 is 90% aluminum the find 7a has capacitive navigation buttons while the One m8 has on-screen buttons and the fine 7a has a removable backplate and battery One m8 does not those are just a few of the design differences but certainly some of the most notable physical slides is also different though less than you might think considering this fine 7 a's display is half an inch larger diagonally the One m8 is just six point two millimeters shorter than the fine 7 a four point four millimeters narrower and zero point two millimeters thinner and the difference in weight is just 10 grams both have a certain heft that we're quite fond of both feel incredibly well built and one is not significantly easier to use one-handed than the other and the deeper you go as far as hardware the more like these two phones become both the Snapdragon 801 SOC with a quad-core Krait 400 CPU clocked at 2.3 gigahertz and an Adreno 330 GPU both have 2 gigabytes of RAM but with coming 16 gigabyte models with microSD card support for up to 128 additional gigabytes though the m8 also comes in a 32 gigabyte model and both come with five megapixel front facing cameras the difference in ratings on batteries is just 200 milliamp hours but the biggest differences are the cameras when a mate has a 4.1 megapixel camera Geoff's opposed to a 2 megapixel sensor for just measuring relative depth and the fine 7a has a 13 megapixel shooter capable of taking 50 megapixel images also the m8 has Wi-Fi AC support as well as an infrared blaster well defined 7/8 does not the displays aren't entirely different though despite the differences in size and type the fine 7a comes with a 5.5 inch IPS LCD with a resolution of 1080p the One m8 has a 5-inch s LCD 3 display also at 1080p so the one image display is obviously a higher density panel 441 pixels per inch to 401 which isn't exactly discernible both panels are incredibly vibrant with wide viewing angles and great contrast however the blacks are noticeably more inky on the one inmate's display and it certainly appears brighter by the way both foams are incredibly solid the One m8 admittedly feels nicer in the hand but the fine 7/8 has some perks of its own like the incredibly awesome notification LED that speaks straight to our inner nerd and the casing which may ultimately prove to be more resilient over time in terms of software these two are quite different the One m8 comes with a much needed lighter version of since version 6.0 atop Android 4.4.2 KitKat comparatively it comes with little bloat either from the respective carriers or partners or even HTC and the phone itself comes with a very near stock Android field even if there are minor tweaks to the UI here and there HTC is stopped focusing on creating visually different software for the sake of being different and started focusing on what truly matters user experience things like blink feed moves out and Zoe and value to the software without making it overbearing or over encumbered we wish we had such nice things to say about the software on the Oppo find 7 a which comes running and 4.3 jelly bean beneath what Apple calls color OS if you ever used my UI you'll likely feel right at home as there are a ton of visual similarities frankly it feels as if no Avenue was left untouched every virtual inch of the software has been customized and can be even further customized by the user from the gesture panel access by pulling down from the top of the display to the powerful theme engine it comes with a bevy of pre installed applications for better or worse and adverts heavily from the core Android experience some things we do like however like how the notification shade layout handles landscape orientation if there's so much going on that gestures and other inputs often conflict damaging the user experience one win for both phones though are all the gesture controls DoubleTap on the One m8 display and portrait orientation to turn the display on double tap the home button on the find 7/8 in any orientation to turn on its display draw a circle on the fine 7-days display and standby to launch yourself into the camera app or pick the m8 up in landscape and hold the volume button to do the same these are the sort of hidden features we'd love to discover and both of these phones come packed to the brim with them that said the One m8 takes to software battle in a landslide victory due to the overall better or simple user experience running the current version of Android and not bloating the phone with dozens of applications users may never use or need performance is actually a strong suit for both of these smartphones which should come as no surprise thanks to the Snapdragon 801 chips inside both come with the same 2.3 gigahertz clock speeds and any differences in the speed at which they open and close and switch apps are negligible one might be faster one time and the other might be the next its back and forth and both are more than capable of running all the best games on Android without a hitch both have the tendency to heat up quickly though we'd say the one a mate's heat dispersion is definitely more noticeable thanks to the all-metal build and we've actually noticed some lag on the find 7a whereas the one inmate has offered an overall smoother experience we'd like to talk battery life and network performance but we've been having issues with our fine 7/8 unit both with AT&T and t-mobile Sims here in the States we're currently working to resolve the issue but we decided to compare these phones anyway by the numbers however the find 7a has roughly an eleven point seven six one hour battery to the One m8 9.2 watt our battery we can't speak to its drain since we don't really know what's going on with the network but the fine 7a comes with rapid charge technology and a power brick that delivers 4.5 amps simply put this phone charges fast very fast both phones come with very loud speakers the fine 7-days dual rear speakers are actually surprised us but they're hardly a match for the one image dual front-facing boomsound speakers which offer better low-end better stereo separation and provide more volume and finally the cameras at 13 megapixels the rear camera on the find 7a is clearly capable of taking pictures with more detail but we felt the colors and images taken with the One m8 were more true to life however you can only crop so much with the one image camera at 4 megapixels and we've covered before how the duo chemistry focus feature only works as intended a fraction of the time yesterday we covered the standoff feature of the fine 7/8 camera taking 50 megapixel images with a 13 megapixel camera it sounds crazy but it actually works better than you'd think still neither camera is particularly mind-blowing they're both pretty awful at low-light shots the 578 is prone to blurry pictures and the One m8 just doesn't have the resolution to support the 4k age we're transitioning into both do however have 5 megapixel front-facing cameras for high-res selfies they don't exactly take amazing pictures but they're notably better than their 2 megapixel counterparts so where does all this leave us well with two very high-end smartphones from two companies striving to make the very best smartphones possible and if you're after quality you likely won't go wrong with either option though we feel the One m8 is definitely geared more towards the multimedia user you can't beat those boom sound speakers and it's build quality and design are definitely more noteworthy still the find 7a s camera software the gorgeous LED notification light rapid charging and the raw power of the Snapdragon 801 still make it a viable option the better overall experience comes from the One m8 no question as the software on the fine 7a is questionable but truthfully both handsets are absolutely killer folks that is gonna do it for this comparison if you enjoyed it be sure to click the thumbs up button below and of course stay tuned for more Oppo find 7 a coverage over the next week including a full review written and video here on the YouTube channel be sure to follow us on all the usual places twitter facebook and google+ at pocket now I'm Taylor Martin you can find me on twitter at casper tech and i will see you next time