HTC One (M8) Review

Pros 
Superb build quality, a gorgeous screen, excellent built-in speakers, a long-lasting battery, a processor that keeps on giving, and a feature set that will warm anyone's heart – these are just a few of the long list of things the HTC One does very well.

Cons 
Its rear-facing camera is almost as much of a disappointment as the camera on the original HTC One.

The Verdict

: 8.9/10

The new HTC One (M8) is, at least for the moment, the best smartphone you can buy. A few hiccups keep it from being perfect, but they didn't stop us from falling in love with this otherwise brilliant mobile device. 

Last year, the original HTC One turned heads. It packed surprisingly decent speakers and one of the sharpest screens we'd ever seen into a gorgeous chassis. True, it didn't quite offer Apple's level of hardware polish, but it was certainly the best-looking Android phone you could buy. It had its flaws – the camera, for example, was pathetic – but it still impressed. It was a contender.

The HTC One is, quite simply, the best smartphone we've ever reviewed.This year, HTC has released a new One. Officially called the One (M8) – parentheses and all – the new variant fixes almost every fault of its predecessor, and improves on those things the former model already did well. Its build quality, for instance, is superb, with a chassis every bit as impressive as what's coming out of Cupertino. Its speakers are the finest we've heard from any phone, ever. We've never once experienced a slowdown or stutter while using it, no matter what apps we've tried or games we've downloaded. Even its HTC Sense variant of Android has been improved, and is a pleasure to look at and use.

    

It has its flaws, of course. Despite packing in some fun and unique new features, the rear-facing camera is still a huge disappointment, capturing soft or even blurry photos that are passable, but don't pack the same punch you'd get from a Lumia device. But an underwhelming camera isn't enough to scare us away from an otherwise brilliant phone. More than a couple reviewers in the office would upgrade right now if they could – the HTC One is just that good. That's why we've given it our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award.