HTC delivers a unique experience with the design of the HTC One M8, so you would expect they would also deliver a novel experience with the case they’ve designed for the M8. Let’s take a look at the official HTC flip cover!
Review: Slickwraps Real Cork Skin for the HTC One M8
I love natural fiber cases and covers for our phones. There’s something really cool about the feel of it in the hand, and I think they age better than metal or plastic.
Slickwraps now offers a cover made out of cork! Let’s go hands on!
Related:
Slickwraps Glow in the Dark skin for Pebble Smartwatches.
Slickwraps Carbon skin for the HTC One M7
More info on Slickwraps.
Shop Slickwraps on Amazon.
HTC Unveils One Mini 2 Mid-Range Android Smartphone
Following in the footsteps of last years One Mini, the One Mini 2 continues HTC’s new design language found on the M8.
Shrinking the screen to a 4.5″ 720p display, the OM2 features a number of our favorite features from the M8 like Boomsound speakers, Blinkfeed, and Zoe. What’s different is an odd collection of specs.
First, we expected the camera would not be HTC’s new dual camera sensor setup which provides depth info to the M8, but it’s also not the same 4 Ultrapixel shooter we’ve seen since the M7. It’s a 13MP BSI sensor. Something of an odd move considering the lengths HTC has gone to in promoting Ultrapixels. There’s also no mention of OIS on board.
A Qualcomm 400 quad-core should be plenty powerful for most folks, and thankfully HTC has seen fit to add in NFC and a larger battery. That combo of efficient processor, Android 4.4, and a 2100 mAh battery should provide for noticeably better screen on time over the last Mini.
A MicroSD card slot will be appreciated by many, but OM2 owners will lose out on the M8’s IR blaster to use the phone as a universal remote, and it doesn’t appear to have 802.11AC WiFi either.
Continue reading “HTC Unveils One Mini 2 Mid-Range Android Smartphone”
Galaxy S5 vs One M8 Camera Showdown Part 2: Real World Video Tests!
In our first part, comparing still photos, the Galaxy S5’s larger sensor showed a clear advantage in offering up a shallower depth of field for more photographic output.
Now we’re going to compare video performance in a series of real world tests. Brightly lit outdoor scenes, low light, tracking movement, and image stabilization. Will the M8 be able to eke out a victory here?
Galaxy S5 Video Tests
HTC One M8 Video Tests
HTC One M8 Camera outclassed by Galaxy S5, and it has NOTHING to do with MegaPixels…
Let’s get this out of the way right now. The One M8 camera is good. Maybe it’s even “very good”, but over the last year we’ve seen some excellent cameras bolted onto the backs of our phones by companies like Sony and Nokia.
The M7 was my favorite camera on an Android phone of last year, and was only bested by the likes of Nokia. It lost the resolution battle with only a 4MP sensor, but the combo of larger “UltraPixels” and Optical Image Stabilization made it one of the best devices to shoot on in indoor and low light environments. Outdoor pics were very good, low light pics were gorgeous, and video was nicely smoothed out by the stabilizing hardware.
My expectations were tremendously high for the M8.
How much better are the BoomSound Speakers on the HTC One M8 vs the M7?
The M7 was a revolution. Stereo front facing speakers on a phone. With one listen, it became my preferred multimedia mobile, and the standard by which I judged every phone and tablet which followed it. Every single audio review I’ve done since has been normalized against the M7.
It should come as no surprise that a newer phone will have better features than its predecessor. We call that “progress”, but considering how stellar the audio playback was on the M7, many of us had doubts that the M8 would be demonstrably better.
Well we were wrong.
Take a listen for yourself as we pit the former heavyweight up against the new champion. The M7 is dead. Long live the M8.
HTC One M7 Speaker Playback Test
HTC One M8 Speaker Playback Test
Continue reading “How much better are the BoomSound Speakers on the HTC One M8 vs the M7?”
Just for Fun: When Tech PR Get Into a Twitter Fight – HTC Edition
Companies keep such tight reigns on their marketing and messaging, that when the occasional “human” moment leaks through it can be oddly refreshing. One of the top fights in smartphones right now is the HTC One M8 vs the Samsung Galaxy S5. You can expect a little A LOT of smack talk from these respective camps over the coming months, though it’s rare to see a company wade into a fight directly
Fanboi flame wars are tiresome, but coming direct from corporate, this was kind of fun. Here’s HTC Senior Global Online Communications Manager Jeff Gordon (@urbanstrata), taking the bait.
Click here to enjoy the carnage.
@stevekovach @urbanstrata he started it.
— Philip Berne (@philipberne) March 25, 2014
The HTC One (M8) shipping experiment – Making up for lost time…
There used to be a time when a company would announce a new product, and that product would be available to purchase roughly around the time of the announcement. In the every increasingly visceral pace of tech advancement, now we hold previews to announcements, and once a gadget is announced it can take weeks or months before it’s actually available to consumers.
With the unveiling of the M8 yesterday, HTC launched an agressive campaign to make the phone available to consumers. Critical timing as Samsung has already taken the wraps off of the Galaxy S5, but hasn’t yet started shipping it.
Working with AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, HTC is already selling and shipping the phones through carrier websites. Those signing up on Big Red can walk into select stores and see the phone in person. How refreshing. Announcing a product which is actually ready to ship. Continue reading “The HTC One (M8) shipping experiment – Making up for lost time…”