HTC One (2014) Watch Thread

techrat said:
And you can get two for $149 if you use the code VERIZON30. Each phone has to be with a new contract though.
Click to expand...

Nice! I have 2 numbers ready for renewal so it is tempting, but neither my GF or Dad want a data plan. Is keeping the data plan part of the contract for the device?
 
techrat said:
And you can get two for $149 if you use the code VERIZON30. Each phone has to be with a new contract though.
Click to expand...

That's what I came here to find out! I was going to be surprised if you it was only one line but I thought I would do a little research. I will wait a month for this to go down to $100 for a single phone on my line.
 
So...

Should I go ahead and create an official owner's thread for this? I would be more than happy to keep the 1st post updated with whatever you guys want.

Unless this is the official thread. In which case I have a lot to say, lol.
 
Tried the M8 today. Sense 6 is amazing, very professionally designed and more useful functions than stock. Really liked it!

The phone is really too big for just a 5" screen. Next to a G2 you can see the difference in screen size.

I feel sorry for buyers, you have to use cases with expensive new phones and this is such a nice design. Also I find it strange knock on only turns the phone on, not off.
 
MrCrispy said:
I feel sorry for buyers, you have to use cases with expensive new phones
Click to expand...

Eh?
It'd be a cold day in hell before I'd put a phone into a case. The whole point of buying something that is small, thin, and lightweight (of which the M8 is neither) is to not bulk it up with one of those rhino cases of whatever those things are called.

I never understood why people put their phones in cases, just makes no sense to me at all. A phone is a tool, like a hammer. If you buy one for $200 on contract that's $100 per year, or ~$8/month, and even if the phone is completely worthless after 2 years then you got decent use out of it. In many cases we only upgrade after 2 years because we want to, not because the phone isn't usable anymore.

Yes, you'll get more money when you resell if you keep your phone in a case, but for the few more bucks you get you have to put up with carrying it in a case for 2 years. Stop the madness!
 
Thuleman said:
Eh?
It'd be a cold day in hell before I'd put a phone into a case. The whole point of buying something that is small, thin, and lightweight (of which the M8 is neither) is to not bulk it up with one of those rhino cases of whatever those things are called.

I never understood why people put their phones in cases, just makes no sense to me at all. A phone is a tool, like a hammer. If you buy one for $200 on contract that's $100 per year, or ~$8/month, and even if the phone is completely worthless after 2 years then you got decent use out of it. In many cases we only upgrade after 2 years because we want to, not because the phone isn't usable anymore.

Yes, you'll get more money when you resell if you keep your phone in a case, but for the few more bucks you get you have to put up with carrying it in a case for 2 years. Stop the madness!
Click to expand...

Can't understand why people put phones in cases? I do it because I want my phone to last. I work in construction and a case helps my phone last much longer. I can't count how many times it has been banged around and dropped. If it didn't have a case, then I would have probably purchased a phone or two already this year. It also helps keep my resale value. My hands are always dirty and having a screen protector + case helps keep the phone looking new. I'll gladly have my phone a little bit thicker and not as 'pretty' so it will last me longer.
 
Thuleman said:
Eh?
It'd be a cold day in hell before I'd put a phone into a case. The whole point of buying something that is small, thin, and lightweight (of which the M8 is neither) is to not bulk it up with one of those rhino cases of whatever those things are called.

I never understood why people put their phones in cases, just makes no sense to me at all. A phone is a tool, like a hammer. If you buy one for $200 on contract that's $100 per year, or ~$8/month, and even if the phone is completely worthless after 2 years then you got decent use out of it. In many cases we only upgrade after 2 years because we want to, not because the phone isn't usable anymore.

Yes, you'll get more money when you resell if you keep your phone in a case, but for the few more bucks you get you have to put up with carrying it in a case for 2 years. Stop the madness!
Click to expand...

Ya but phone companies typically only make 1 high end phone of a particular size. So if you want a phone you get what they have even if you personally do not care about the size / weight. So while you may want the One because of its fit and finish another person may only care about the boom sound and they will put it in a case to keep it nice. Some people just destroy a phone if it doesn't have a case. A few people I know even go both ways, they keep the phone in a case normally and then pull it out of the case for nicer occasions.

For some people like members of my family it will not last 2 years without a heavy large case no matter what phone you buy. And so far no company has seen fit to build a phone with strong resilient materials that would get rid of the need for a case for these people. If they did it would be great because it would be thinner than the phone with a case, probably better too.

The thing is everyone forgets over and over again that there are many different people in many different financial situations with thousand of combinations of desires for a phone. And for all that complexity apple only makes a single high end phone, HTC only makes about 2, and so on and even with all the different companies the differences from one phone to the next do not have a lot of options. Cases are one way people can customize their phone to their own wants.
 
Thuleman said:
Eh?
It'd be a cold day in hell before I'd put a phone into a case. The whole point of buying something that is small, thin, and lightweight (of which the M8 is neither) is to not bulk it up with one of those rhino cases of whatever those things are called.

I never understood why people put their phones in cases, just makes no sense to me at all. A phone is a tool, like a hammer. If you buy one for $200 on contract that's $100 per year, or ~$8/month, and even if the phone is completely worthless after 2 years then you got decent use out of it. In many cases we only upgrade after 2 years because we want to, not because the phone isn't usable anymore.

Yes, you'll get more money when you resell if you keep your phone in a case, but for the few more bucks you get you have to put up with carrying it in a case for 2 years. Stop the madness!
Click to expand...

And what happens when someone bumps into you, or the phone slips, and your brand new phone cracks and costs $200 to fix?

Your post ignores the entire point of cases, which is to prevent against accidents, not to increase resale value.

Phones are expensive purchases for most, why wouldn't you protect it??
 
Thuleman said:
Eh? I never understood why people put their phones in cases, just makes no sense to me at all. A phone is a tool, like a hammer. If you buy one for $200 on contract that's $100 per year, or ~$8/month, and even if the phone is completely worthless after 2 years then you got decent use out of it. In many cases we only upgrade after 2 years because we want to, not because the phone isn't usable anymore.
Click to expand...

Because not everyone treats every device like it will be trash.

I live near a beach. If I didn't keep a screen protector on my phone, the grain or two of sand that occasionally gets into my pocket would have already destroyed my screen before the first year.

I've seen cases being the difference between a slightly dented corner and a shattered screen.

But I guess we should just be like you and treat our devices without care.

PS: The up front price you pay for a phone with contract *IS NOT* the actual price of the phone you pay through the contract period. Some carriers permanently bake the phone subsidy price into their monthly rates (Verizon, for example) so you actually lose money if you don't upgrade when you can. However, for carriers that give you the option to get a discount through contract or pay full price up front... the monthly rate is lower if you do the latter.

So no, this is not a $200 toy you can treat like garbage... and many of us enjoy using a phone that doesn't look and feel like crap due to negligence.
 
There are reasons for cases but just because those of us who don't use cases, doesn't mean we intentionally treat our phones as trash.

I've never used a case for any of my cell phones and I stopped using screen protectors year ago. My phones look/looked just as new as when I got them. There may be environmental reasons, there may be aesthetic reasons but I personally don't see a use for cases.
 
The question about cases and screen protectors is how much do they really protect?

Now, I've seen plenty of screen protector videos to know that, yes, they do work for protection against ridiculous scratches. However, I've never seen a before and after drop test video. So those of you thinking that a phone case would protect against cracks are mostly believing that without imperative evidence. I've seen plenty of iPhone screens cracked despite in an Otter case. And I really doubt the ability of these cheap and highly popular thin "naked" cases. If you don't want to scratch up the phone's body, wouldn't a body skin protector be more convenient? It can be a telling sign that no case maker offers a warranty on protecting what it's actually made to protect like many power surge protectors companies offer for buying their surge protectors or battery backup units. (I could see buying an $80 case if they offer up to $600 protection for a year.)

Now there are cases that adds useability, like the dot matrix case; those I could understand.

That said, I have my HTC One and Nexus 5 in cases. I also believe in Jesus, so sue me.
 
Last edited:
CHANG3D said:
The question about cases and screen protectors is how much do they really protect?

Now, I've seen plenty of screen protector videos to know that, yes, they do work for protection against ridiculous scratches. However, I've never seen a before and after drop test video. So those of you thinking that a phone case would protect against cracks are mostly believing that without imperative evidence. I've seen plenty of iPhone screens cracked despite in an Otter case. And I really doubt the ability of these cheap and highly popular thin "naked" cases. If you don't want to scratch up the phone's body, wouldn't a body skin protector be more convenient? It can be a telling sign that no case maker offers a warranty on protecting what it's actually made to protect like many power surge protectors companies offer for buying their surge protectors or battery backup units. (I could see buying an $80 case if they offer up to $600 protection for a year.)

Now there are cases that adds useability, like the dot matrix case; those I could understand.

That said, I have my HTC One and Nexus 5 in cases. I also believe in Jesus, so sue me.
Click to expand...

I completely agree, cases only protect the phone if its impacted a certain way. Even then the shock of hitting the ground can still make the screen or LCD screen shatter even though the exterior looks flawless. I've had this happen on my Droid RAZR Maxx
 
HTC released their financial results and they are in trouble!! They really need this phone to be a huge hit to recover, I don't know how the company can survive otherwise.
 
DroidLife; HTC One (M8) Review
http://www.droid-life.com/2014/04/07/htc-one-m8-review/

Battery life sucks on the M8 ?

HTC claims that the new One (M8) could see upwards of 40% better battery life over last year’s M7, but I’m not I’m buying it. I saw average battery life in my testing on the 2,600mAh battery that wasn’t necessarily greatly improved over last year’s One. My testing typically includes multiple days in a row of nothing but 4G LTE, followed by a few with WiFi mixed in. On 4G LTE-only days, my phone was almost always begging for a charger after 10-12 hours of use and around 3 hours of screen-on time.


Per this review they say battery life is average at best, and not that good, only getting 3h On Screen time, and overall just like 10h - 12h of total battery life on the phone, and with WiFi on they get 14 hours total battery life.

I thought all the real world reviews of people, and other sites were raving about the battery life on this new One M8 ? getting like 5h to 6h On Screen time ?
 
One review out of many. His unscientific nonstandard methodology is also questionable. There's a good reason why most other sites run scripts. There are numerous comments on his page questioning it.
 
CHANG3D said:
One review out of many. His unscientific nonstandard methodology is also questionable. There's a good reason why most other sites run scripts. There are numerous comments on his page questioning it.
Click to expand...

You are correct, after reading more about that site, they seem very pro Samsung #1, and then Nexus devices #2, and anything else just sucks. Also one of the reviewers is known to be an HTC hater, per the comment section of regulars on that site.
 
Zorachus said:
You are correct, after reading more about that site, they seem very pro Samsung #1, and then Nexus devices #2, and anything else just sucks. Also one of the reviewers is known to be an HTC hater, per the comment section of regulars on that site.
Click to expand...

No.. I'm on Droid Life daily and read everything from them. They definitely don't show any bias toward Samsung. They do somewhat toward the Nexus and Moto phones though, just because they prefer stock Android over any other UI, so that's understandable. Their staff is pretty diverse though, one of which is actually an iPhone user (Ron).
 
With LCD displays and 'smart' cases like DotView or LG's window case, isn't the entire display on anyway and thus its not saving any power like in AMOLED. Then whats the point? You might as well see the full glorious display rather than a small portion.

The real innovation is Active display like on MotoX. Not these stupid cases.
 
MrCrispy said:
With LCD displays and 'smart' cases like DotView or LG's window case, isn't the entire display on anyway and thus its not saving any power like in AMOLED. Then whats the point? You might as well see the full glorious display rather than a small portion.

The real innovation is Active display like on MotoX. Not these stupid cases.
Click to expand...

It's just a stylish thing, I assume. But I guess you at least get some protection from the HTC dot case and you can still interact with the display through the case while it's closed, which is pretty cool. MKBHD gives a nice demo of it. Just like (pretty much) all other OEM accessories though, it's a bit overpriced at $50, IMO. I wouldn't spend any more than $30 on it, but then again, I'd rather have a normal TPU case that provides better drop protection.
 
The HTC One got updated yesterday by Sprint. Having an One available, it seems like it solved a battery life issue I originally observed. The extreme power saving mode is added. I also found toggle for "High Performance Mode" that HTC shamefully cheats with in some benchmarks; oh wait, internet say it was there before.

Now that the GS5 benchmarks are also out, HTC have more winning scores. Update: AnandTech's benchmark tools are immune to HTC's benchmark cheats. Quote: "All of our benchmarks are already immune to the optimization, so it’s really a matter of sacrificing integrity for no real gain."

BTW, the thing I like the most of the Dot View case is the ability to answer call without ear greasing up the screen.

One other thing, this "Sixth Sense" thing is hilarious. I don't think the phone "understands" me any better than before. Heck, my Nexus 5 feels smarter due to being able to say "Ok Google" on any launcher screen. I suppose that makes the Moto X the smartest phone ever.
 
Last edited:
CHANG3D said:
One other thing, this "Sixth Sense" thing is hilarious. I don't think the phone "understands" me any better than before. Heck, my Nexus 5 feels smarter due to being able to say "Ok Google" on any launcher screen. I suppose that makes the Moto X the smartest phone ever.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't think the new One has any particularly smart software -- it's just a ridiculously well-built smartphone with software that's generally unintrusive, and frequently handy (Motion Gestures in particular).
 
Domini said:
I completely agree, cases only protect the phone if its impacted a certain way. Even then the shock of hitting the ground can still make the screen or LCD screen shatter even though the exterior looks flawless. I've had this happen on my Droid RAZR Maxx
Click to expand...

me too, gorilla glass was fine, but the screen broke internally :(

So still no way to unlock the bootloader on the verizon version?
 
MrCrispy said:
I don't understand why HTC would have Knock on but not off. It makes no Sense.
Click to expand...
Because then tapping on browser or games would turn the screen off... or, if you make it launcher only, quick swiping across two screen will turn the screen off too. Why not wait for auto-sleep? (Note: For auto-sleep, if it's laying down, the time-out should be 15 seconds. If in a held position, it should be a minute. By default, the time-out is 30 seconds.)
 
CHANG3D said:
Because then tapping on browser or games would turn the screen off... or, if you make it launcher only, quick swiping across two screen will turn the screen off too. Why not wait for auto-sleep? (Note: For auto-sleep, if it's laying down, the time-out should be 15 seconds. If in a held position, it should be a minute. By default, the time-out is 30 seconds.)
Click to expand...

No it wouldn't. Knock off on G2 only works on empty area of home screen, or on notifications bar. It won't turn off if you double tap in an app.

There's an app called gravity screen that attempts to turn the phone on/off based on position and proximity sensor. It works quite well but drains battery with no hardware support.
 
Why did HTC not make all the color options available across all carriers?! I want to get a silver One M8 on Sprint but they only have Gunmetal and only Verizon has the Silver. While waiting for the silver edition, they run the risk of losing customers like myself to the GS5 or, god forbid I'm still waiting, the LG G3. :mad:
 
SoulCreatr said:
Why did HTC not make all the color options available across all carriers?! I want to get a silver One M8 on Sprint but they only have Gunmetal and only Verizon has the Silver. While waiting for the silver edition, they run the risk of losing customers like myself to the GS5 or, god forbid I'm still waiting, the LG G3. :mad:
Click to expand...

Carriers want exclusives.
 
T4rd said:
Just watched the MKBHD review. Makes me want it pretty bad now. Don't see a new phone in the future anytime soon though. :(
Click to expand...

He's probably the #1 tech reviewer on YouTube IMO :) :)

I am an ATT guy, but went to a nearby Verizon store, to see the different colors of the M8 in person. And my God, the Silver blows away the Grey, the silver looks so rich and high end, and I like the matte finish of the silver too, just looks like it was crafted out of a raw piece of aluminum. Where the Grey looks painted on, and way too shiny, Grey doesn't have that wow factor.

Why the heck doesn't ATT carry the silver ?

Oh yeah, the M8 trumps the S5 IMO. The M8 can be rooted, unlocked, S-Offed, custom recovery, and flash stock ROM's, or tweaked Sense ROM's, or GPE ROM's. The Boom speakers are crazy good for YouTube videos, and speaker phone conversations. And all benchmarks show the M8 has even better battery life than the S5, not by much, but still, end of the day the M8 has slightly better battery life.

S5 no root, no custom recovery, no flashing ROM's. Touchwiz is butt ugly, yes it's improved and looks much better on the S5, but still is a hog, and can still lag a little here and there. Ok the S5 is waterproof that is cool.

I'll take the M8 over the S5 any day
 
From what I've seen of the S5 so far, I think they both have about the same amount of trade offs.

- Display: Slight nod to S5 for better brighness, contrast and accuracy.
- Speakers: Huge advantage for the One.
- Durability: S5 for IP67 certified. Both phones will shatter if you drop them right (just like any other phone)
- Software: One for easier modding and better UI. Performance differences are negligible.
- Form factor: S5 for being a bit a bit smaller/shorter and better button placement.
- Battery Life: Very similar, but I like the option of putting a Zero Lemon battery into the S5 even at the expense of turning it into a brick.
- Camera: I haven't seen tests of the S5, but I assume it will be a similar story to last year with the S4 vs One M7. S5 will be better overall and One will be better in low light and nice enough as long as you don't crop/zoom.

Really for me it comes down to better speakers or better display, because I really love the AMOLEDs properties. But I haven't see the One in person, so I can't say really how much different it looks in person. I do listen to a lot of media on my phone though, so I would definitely make use of those speakers. Oh, and I really like the headphone jack on the bottom of the One. It's on the top of my Note 2 and I hate using headphones with it. Kinda makes me miss my Gnex in that regard. ROMing is not so important for me anymore. I was a big ROMer on my Gnex and when I first got my Note 2, but now that I've found Wanam Xposed, all I need is root and I can pretty much customize the stock ROM to my liking and with any additional features that other custom ROMs give me. I don't' have time to be backing up, flashing, restoring, setting up, then troubleshooting any issues associated with a lot of ROMs.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top