HTC One M8 review: Not worth it in 2018

The HTC One M8 is now four years old, and to be honest, it shows. Although the external design has aged beautifully, if you buy one today you’ll find the performance sluggish and the camera a disappointment. 

The follow-ups, fortunately, have all been solid improvements. While the HTC M9 was steady-as-she-goes, the HTC 10 was a great handset, and the U11 Plus was even better. Obviously the U11 Plus is the one to choose, given it has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset as the fastest phones around, but if your budget only goes so far, the HTC 10 remains a solid choice.

The original HTC One M8 review from 2014 continues below

HTC One M8 review: Design and build quality

It certainly still makes a striking first impression, and the One M8 is one of the few Android phones that can truly compete with Apple in terms of design. The M8 is almost 90% metal, with the few slivers of plastic left only being used to ensure the best possible reception for the internal antennae.

The curved back fits your hand comfortably and the brushed metal finish on our metal grey review unit glints in the light, making no mistake that the phone is made from metal rather than plastic. 

HTC One M8 review: Display

The HTC One M8 is slightly larger than the original HTC One, to make room for the bigger 5in LCD display. Both phones have the same 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, which means pixel density has dropped from 469ppi on the 4.7in original to 441ppi here, but in practice, it’s still impossible to see individual pixels.

The M8 looks incredibly sharp; even the tiniest of fonts are still legible and images are incredibly detailed. Image quality is fantastic, with natural colours and pure bright whites, along with impressively deep blacks for an LCD panel.

With a peak brightness of 491cd/m2 and an sRGB colour spectrum coverage of 93.7%, the M8 is among the best LCD screens we’ve seen in a smartphone, rivalling the iPhone 5s in terms of brightness and contrast.

HTC One M8 review: Sound

HTC’s front-facing BoomSound speakers are a great match to the beautiful display, and make watching YouTube videos a joy; they are impressively loud, but also very clear, with no signs of distortion or clipping when pushed to their limits.

There’s even a small amount of bass, so you won’t instantly need to reach for a pair of headphones when someone sends you the latest viral video.