HTC One (M8) review: One and only

Phonebook

The People app in Sense 6 has seen some minor visual changes, but retains the same functionality as its predecessor.

You get the dialer, contacts, groups (including favorite contacts), as well as a call log. You can reorder tabs and remove the ones that you don't need (Groups or Call history).

The phonebook

Selecting a contact displays the basic details: name and photo, numbers, emails and such. That's just the first tab - the other tabs hold further details and means of communication, including email and a call log.

Viewing a contact

The second tab holds the texts, emails and call history between you and the given contact. The next one displays the contact's social networking updates.

Editing a contact

Telephony

The dialer on the HTC One (M8) displays your recent calls with the usual tabs above accessible via side-swipes. There's smart dialing and it works as expected. Once you start typing on the keyboard, contacts will be filtered by name or by phone number.

The dialer • the in-call screen

The smartphone packs a neat set of call-related tricks, such as automatically answering a call when you raise the device to your ear or automatically silencing the ring of an incoming call just by putting the phone face down.

Undoubtedly, the BoomSound front-facing stereo speakers are one of the One (M8) selling points. HTC claims they've improved them over the first-generation found on the original One and have made them 25% louder. And while the quality does seem a bit better, our test shows that the smartphone isn't any louder in real life.

In fact, the HTC One (M8) managed to get a lower score than its predecessor. It's not too far behind it, but the little differences left it with an Average score.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overal score
HTC One (M8)	65.8	64.7	75.7	Average
HTC One	69.3	66.6	75.9	Good
Apple iPhone 5	66.8	66.1	67.7	Below Average
HTC Desire X	63.6	61.6	69.6	Below Average
Samsung Galaxy S II Plus	65.7	61.5	66.6	Below Average
Samsung Galaxy S III mini	66.5	63.0	76.0	Average
Sony Xperia V	65.5	61.1	66.2	Average
LG G Pro 2	66.7	64.9	75.7	Average
Sony Xperia go	66.5	66.1	77.9	Good
Samsung Galaxy Express	67.7	66.6	75.7	Good
Samsung Galaxy Grand	74.1	66.2	76.0	Good
Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo	72.1	65.8	73.3	Good
LG Optimus L7	66.7	66.6	75.6	Good
Motorola RAZR XT910	74.7	66.6	82.1	Very Good
HTC Desire	76.6	75.7	84.6	Excellent

Messaging

HTC M8 is capable of handling all sorts of messages - SMS, MMS, email. There's also Google Hangouts, which can connect you to Google contacts via either texts or video calls.

SMS and MMS messages are displayed in threads - you see a list of all conversations, each one is listed with the contact's photo, name and the subject of the last message, as well as a part of the actual message. Tapping a conversation brings up the entire message history with that contact.

Messaging*composing a message

The HTC One comes with two email apps - the traditional Gmail app and the HTC Mail app, which merges all your email accounts into a single interface.

Gmail

There's hardly anything we can think of that the HTC One (M8) lacks in terms of email capabilities. The settings for popular email services are automatically configured. POP/IMAP accounts and Active Sync accounts are supported.

Typing

The keyboard offers well-spaced keys, but the overlay doesn't include any gaps between them. This is only a cosmetic feature and poses no discomfort. The 5" display diagonal offers plenty of space for comfortable typing.

HTC has included the T9 Trace keyboard, which acts like Swipe. You drag a finger over the desired keys and the phone predicts what you're trying to type. It works really well but language support is limited.

The Sense QWERTY keyboard