Need new phone...Replace HTC M8

Romeomium

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 9, 2017
Messages
211
My HTC One M8 is dying, and I'm looking to upgrade.

Since I've been spending so much on my new computer, I'm not looking to spend more than $400, and that will be a big sell to the wife. I've thought about just getting another M8, but they're ~$150, and I can get "newer" phones for a bit more.

Things I'm considering are:

LG V10 (Stupid bootloop problem)
LG G5
OnePlus 3 (3T is more $, not sure it's worth it)

Loved my last few HTCs, but they've died somewhat early (1.5-2yrs) from failing USB ports, audio jacks and overall slowness. Not looking at Apple phones.

I'd prefer a phone with Qi charging built in, but I believe I can add it to LG phones without having to resort to a USB plugin.

Any other recommendations? Anyone use any of these 3?
 
You need to list what your requirements are to narrow the field: do you want 1 camera or 2, do you want a removable battery or not, do you want expandable storage or not, do you want an FHD or QHD display panel, do you want IPS LCD or AMOLED, do you want normal or shatterproof, etc etc. Can't realistically offer up suggestions until you define what you want your next smartphone to have or be capable of.
 
In addition to what Tiberian requested, you can also go to Phone Arena.
On the right side of that page look for Latest Reviews, Hot Phones, and New Phones.

Of great use is their Phone Finder and Compare function in which you select whatever phones interest you to create a comparison pane. You can also filter for whatever features you like.

Phone Finder And Compare Function.png
 
Last edited:
You need to list what your requirements are to narrow the field: do you want 1 camera or 2, do you want a removable battery or not, do you want expandable storage or not, do you want an FHD or QHD display panel, do you want IPS LCD or AMOLED, do you want normal or shatterproof, etc etc. Can't realistically offer up suggestions until you define what you want your next smartphone to have or be capable of.

Didn't know there were shatterproof screens out there now..that's cool! That said, I havn't broken a phone in awhile except for stupidly jumping in a lake...on two separate occasions. So I guess IP68 or at least water resistance would be good.

Don't care on screen type or resolution too much, though I'd prefer somewhat reasonable dimming/brightness settings. 1080p is fine when you're 6-12" away.

Removable battery is nice, but not necessary. Used to demand it, but as long as battery is big enough, I don't care as much.

A good/great camera would be awesome. My M8 is hit or miss with photos due to ultra pixels. I've missed some good shots of my kid already.

Only other thing in looking for is reliability/durability. Not up to ruggedized specs, but I used to like the galaxy active line. Samsung phones are just so damn expensive now even second hand. Wife lovers her Note 3, and Note 5 though.
 
Oh, and something at least as fast as Snapdragon 808. My phone is getting very laggy.
 
Used s7 edge off of swapa. If camera performance is not top priority get the 3T
 
Avoid the V10 and G5. Nothing but problems. The One Plus 3/3T is great, the S7 is STILL the best phone out there (next to the Pixel), and you can get them for under $400, and the HTC 10 is also pretty damn amazing too. Only the S7 has Qi though.
 
And there's the Droid Turbo 2 nowadays as well, getting older but a damned fine rock solid piece of hardware, microSD slot, very long battery life, QHD AMOLED panel, and that shatterproof plastic composite display surface protecting the panel. I owned one for a period of time, damned fine device overall it really is. Uses the revised Snapdragon 810 so heat isn't an issue nor is any kind of throttling, at least not with the one I had. Also factory unlocked for GSM operation anywhere which is a big plus - it's branded to Verizon but not limited to them (won't work with Sprint's network, however).

There are 32GB and 64GB models available, pricing on Swappa and other places is about typical, $200-350 nowadays, just one to consider.

And yes, it supports Qi wireless charging from the gitgo.
 
And there's the Droid Turbo 2 nowadays as well, getting older but a damned fine rock solid piece of hardware, microSD slot, very long battery life, QHD AMOLED panel, and that shatterproof plastic composite display surface protecting the panel. I owned one for a period of time, damned fine device overall it really is. Uses the revised Snapdragon 810 so heat isn't an issue nor is any kind of throttling, at least not with the one I had. Also factory unlocked for GSM operation anywhere which is a big plus - it's branded to Verizon but not limited to them (won't work with Sprint's network, however).

There are 32GB and 64GB models available, pricing on Swappa and other places is about typical, $200-350 nowadays, just one to consider.

And yes, it supports Qi wireless charging from the gitgo.

I'd never heard of this phone, and it looks interesting. I am on AT&T, and quick reading shows this phone doesn't have all the GSM LTE bands. Will need to check which ones are available in the places I'm usually around.
 
Avoid the V10 and G5. Nothing but problems.
I'd further clarify that by saying avoid LG, period. After the bootloop fiasco affecting the G4, Nexus 5x and to a slightly lesser degree the G5 they don't deserve a second chance.
 
I'd further clarify that by saying avoid LG, period. After the bootloop fiasco affecting the G4, Nexus 5x and to a slightly lesser degree the G5 they don't deserve a second chance.

This is a shame, they look like decent phones otherwise. I didn't realize it was so problematic until I started reading into it. Why the hell did the cheap out so much that the connections are failing?
 
LG was poised to take over the smartphone world. Moto was dying off, HTC was wrong-decisioning themselves to a quick demise, Samsung had the S6 memory management disaster, Sony was bumbling out of the US market, and LG was announicng some AMAZING stuff. And then they forgot how to fucking SOLDER PROPERLY. For 3 years. Incredible.
 
Yeah, someone really screwed the pooch there. Their hardware is very competitive, just flawed.

I've been looking through the recommendations, and unfortunately ruled out the Droid Turbo 2. I'm currently on Band 17, and testing it from my route to usual places between work and home, and it held constant the whole way. Not a huge area to test, but enough that I don't want to sacrifice the band.

BUT, this pointed me to the S7 Active, which has a very similar setup. I don't like Touchwiz, but I've rooted plenty of times in the past. Still need to do more research, but I'm leaning this direction right now...
 
I owned a Galaxy S7 Active myself in the recent past and I miss it dearly (owned a Droid Turbo 2 as well but I'll get back to that in a sec). The GS7A is a fantastic device, Snapdragon 820 powered, great display (Super AMOLED QHD), rock solid build quality even in spite of the hard ABS plastic corners for drop/shock protection, obviously IP68 certified, and a seriously great piece of hardware all around. Oh, the best part? The 4000 mAh battery which was giving me nearly 4 days of battery life but realize that's my particular usage with the device. That 4 days usually worked out to 12+ hours of SOT (Screen On Time), a few hours of calls (I use Google Voice so even though I have a T-Mobile number for service the only phone number I actually give out to anyone is my Google Voice number so all my "calls" are done with VoIP through that service, either on Wi-Fi most of the time or the cellular data when I'm out and about).

But seriously, I would regularly go 3-3.5 days between having to bother with plugging in to charge - and yes it does support Qi wireless charging as well. microSD slot for storage expansion (it only comes in a 32GB model), fingerprint reader (pretty fast and accurate), fantastic camera (same as the S7 of course, f/1.7 aperture), heartbeat and O2 sensors (for the health conscious), and so on.

Fantastic device and if you can find one for under $400 used (or even less) I'd say you won't be disappointed with it.

As for the Droid Turbo 2, it supports all the AT&T LTE bands except for band 17 but you already know that now so I suppose that's a wash. Still a great device even so.

But the GS7A is a damned fine device, and even with me being someone heavily involved in modding/ROMs/customization I decided that when I owned that GS7A I was just going to use it as it and be done with it. I grabbed some replacement UI skins from the Samsung software market, changed the look to something more pleasing than the stock Touchwiz UI (but realize it's still Touchwiz, just skinned) and felt that made it more usable at least to me. Yes I don't like Touchwiz overall but the phone was just so damned nice and fast that I made the 'sacrifice' and used it effectively stock since there wasn't much else to do. ;)

I can't think of a single thing to say about the Galaxy S7 Active as a past owner (aside from wanting another one I suppose) and I've always wondered why more people don't appreciate them. Yes I realize it's an AT&T exclusive but after a few months it can be unlocked for use with other carriers - ok, that leaves basically T-Mobile as well as the MVNOs for each carrier and not much else since it won't work on Sprint or Verizon but even so I'd still recommend it. If you're an AT&T customer (which you apparently are) I'd go so far as to say it's the best overall phone they sell, even past the S7 and S7 Edge but that's because I can't stand pretty shiny shit. :)

I've even got a ZeroLemon 8500 mAh extended battery pack for the Galaxy S7 Active - the company sent me a unit to review one after I applied to be a reviewer but the application process was when I actually did own a GS7A but they didn't start manufacturing them until months later after I sold it. They sent me the extended battery/case anyway so I borrowed a GS7A from a friend of mine for a week, did a review of it as they requested and it extended battery life almost to 6 full days without plugging in. So if you decide to get the Galaxy S7 Active and close to 4 days of battery life isn't enough and you need more run time, let me know, it retails for $99.99 but I'd cut that in half if you want it, only been used for about 4 days total.
 
LG is nothing but a disaster from it's hardware problems and bloated OS.

Samsung on the other hand, completely bloated and potential explosive.

I would go for HTC 10, had one and love it if I didn't have Pixel already.
 
I owned a Galaxy S7 Active myself in the recent past and I miss it dearly (owned a Droid Turbo 2 as well but I'll get back to that in a sec). The GS7A is a fantastic device, Snapdragon 820 powered, great display (Super AMOLED QHD), rock solid build quality even in spite of the hard ABS plastic corners for drop/shock protection, obviously IP68 certified, and a seriously great piece of hardware all around. Oh, the best part? The 4000 mAh battery which was giving me nearly 4 days of battery life but realize that's my particular usage with the device. That 4 days usually worked out to 12+ hours of SOT (Screen On Time), a few hours of calls (I use Google Voice so even though I have a T-Mobile number for service the only phone number I actually give out to anyone is my Google Voice number so all my "calls" are done with VoIP through that service, either on Wi-Fi most of the time or the cellular data when I'm out and about).

But seriously, I would regularly go 3-3.5 days between having to bother with plugging in to charge - and yes it does support Qi wireless charging as well. microSD slot for storage expansion (it only comes in a 32GB model), fingerprint reader (pretty fast and accurate), fantastic camera (same as the S7 of course, f/1.7 aperture), heartbeat and O2 sensors (for the health conscious), and so on.

Fantastic device and if you can find one for under $400 used (or even less) I'd say you won't be disappointed with it.

As for the Droid Turbo 2, it supports all the AT&T LTE bands except for band 17 but you already know that now so I suppose that's a wash. Still a great device even so.

But the GS7A is a damned fine device, and even with me being someone heavily involved in modding/ROMs/customization I decided that when I owned that GS7A I was just going to use it as it and be done with it. I grabbed some replacement UI skins from the Samsung software market, changed the look to something more pleasing than the stock Touchwiz UI (but realize it's still Touchwiz, just skinned) and felt that made it more usable at least to me. Yes I don't like Touchwiz overall but the phone was just so damned nice and fast that I made the 'sacrifice' and used it effectively stock since there wasn't much else to do. ;)

I can't think of a single thing to say about the Galaxy S7 Active as a past owner (aside from wanting another one I suppose) and I've always wondered why more people don't appreciate them. Yes I realize it's an AT&T exclusive but after a few months it can be unlocked for use with other carriers - ok, that leaves basically T-Mobile as well as the MVNOs for each carrier and not much else since it won't work on Sprint or Verizon but even so I'd still recommend it. If you're an AT&T customer (which you apparently are) I'd go so far as to say it's the best overall phone they sell, even past the S7 and S7 Edge but that's because I can't stand pretty shiny shit. :)

I've even got a ZeroLemon 8500 mAh extended battery pack for the Galaxy S7 Active - the company sent me a unit to review one after I applied to be a reviewer but the application process was when I actually did own a GS7A but they didn't start manufacturing them until months later after I sold it. They sent me the extended battery/case anyway so I borrowed a GS7A from a friend of mine for a week, did a review of it as they requested and it extended battery life almost to 6 full days without plugging in. So if you decide to get the Galaxy S7 Active and close to 4 days of battery life isn't enough and you need more run time, let me know, it retails for $99.99 but I'd cut that in half if you want it, only been used for about 4 days total.

Looks like this is the phone for me. Thanks for the positive feedback! Only negative thing I've found so far is the polycarbonate scratches really easily. BUT, it looks like I can pull this off when it does and add a tempered glass cover. Used my HTC M8 without a covert for 1.5 years though, and although it's got a few scratches, it's not bad.

I will likely also try a skin, as I have not used Touch Wiz since my wife's Note 3. I am on AT&T (probably should have post that in the original post), wife and I host a family plan and it's $45/mo per person. We were 12 year VZM customers, but they couldn't touch the price of AT&T. VZW service is better in Upstate NY though.

I would go for HTC 10, had one and love it if I didn't have Pixel already.
HTC 10 was my first choice. I've loved my last few HTC phones...but they really have not held up well. Since they're unibody, I can't fix them, and everything seems to wear out. Of all the phone makers, HTC has the best UI. I have nothing negative to say about Sense. Ideally, I want to keep my phones 2.5-3 years. My HTC's have all needed to be replaced at the 1.5 year mark. Wife said no more HTC :(
 
Looks like this is the phone for me. Thanks for the positive feedback! Only negative thing I've found so far is the polycarbonate scratches really easily. BUT, it looks like I can pull this off when it does and add a tempered glass cover. Used my HTC M8 without a covert for 1.5 years though, and although it's got a few scratches, it's not bad.

I will likely also try a skin, as I have not used Touch Wiz since my wife's Note 3. I am on AT&T (probably should have post that in the original post), wife and I host a family plan and it's $45/mo per person. We were 12 year VZM customers, but they couldn't touch the price of AT&T. VZW service is better in Upstate NY though.


HTC 10 was my first choice. I've loved my last few HTC phones...but they really have not held up well. Since they're unibody, I can't fix them, and everything seems to wear out. Of all the phone makers, HTC has the best UI. I have nothing negative to say about Sense. Ideally, I want to keep my phones 2.5-3 years. My HTC's have all needed to be replaced at the 1.5 year mark. Wife said no more HTC :(

Odd, my HTC M7 still going strong and smooth now..... Except the camera turns purple.... :arghh:
 
Odd, my HTC M7 still going strong and smooth now..... Except the camera turns purple.... :arghh:

I use my M7 as a baby play phone...for the 2-3 hours it lasts on the battery :) It's got a bug that maintains its at 2%-5% battery, but lasts a few hours like that. On idle, it lasts maybe 10-12 hours, and thats without being connected to ANY networks, wireless, etc.
 
I just had the charging port replaced on my kid's M8 for $70 at a local repair shop. If that's the issue with yours and you still want the phone, just go that route.

Crossing my fingers as I bought an M8 at launch and it's still solid. Gets a little sluggish for a second or two after sitting screen off for a couple hours, but other than that I can't see a reason to replace it yet.
 
I just had the charging port replaced on my kid's M8 for $70 at a local repair shop. If that's the issue with yours and you still want the phone, just go that route..

I considered that. I need a new port, new audio out, and would want to replace the battery. Looked up a couple places, and it was around the same cost as buying another one, so I scrapped the idea. I've been monitoring the RAM usage, and I'm always between 1.5-1.8, which is why mine feels so slow. I don't game with my phone, so this is just internet usage, work, plex/youtube/TV control stuff.
 
If the active got 7.0 treatment honestly touchwiz is much tamer. They borrowed heavily from the note 7 ui desgin ques
 
Touchwiz wasn't bad at all with Marshmallow, but it's fantastic with Nougat. And I was a former, hardcore Nexus/AOSP guy for the longest time.
 
The T-Mobile Jump lease on my Note 5 is expiring this month, this thread convinced me to trade it in for an S7. I love everything about the Note 5, but it's just too god damned big (and I have pretty large hands).
 
The T-Mobile Jump lease on my Note 5 is expiring this month, this thread convinced me to trade it in for an S7. I love everything about the Note 5, but it's just too god damned big (and I have pretty large hands).
Get the Edge. Well worth it for battery life alone and extra screen size. If you can wait for the S8, they might start giving better deals on the S7's to clear out inventory.
 
They actually just dropped the S7 by $200, but Pringle, if you hold off a bit, they SHOULD have a "trade in your Samsung X for a free S8" on release. I wouldn't doubt the Note 5 will be on the list. Announcement is in 2 weeks, doesn't make sense NOT to wait.
 
I'm also waiting a few weeks at least, as I feel the used S7 prices will drop regardless.
 
Looks like the announcement is the end of march (29th I think?) so launch day will be 4/10. If you preorder from T-Mobile you should have it by April 1st.
 
Odd, my HTC M7 still going strong and smooth now..... Except the camera turns purple.... :arghh:
Yikes. Same thing happened to someone I know. Apparently, its a HW fault that causes any lower light situation to wash out in purple.


As for those saying Touchwiz ain't all that bad... people have been saying that since Touchwiz debuted. I've never found a good implementation of Touchwiz.
 
No, I was VERY anti Samsung, and VERY anti touchwiz. I use Nova launcher instead of the standard touchwiz launcher, and Yaata/Google messages instead of Samsung's stock, but the ins & outs of Touchwiz are actually quite nice now.

As for the M7, it was a very common hardware issue when they were released. I had mine replaced 3 or 4 times through AT&T.
 
I loved my HTC M10, ended up leaving T-Mobile for Verizon and went with a Pixel XL (HTC device). I love the Pixel way more then the M10. I've used nothing but HTC devices since the G1 FWIW. So far the original Nexus and the Pixel are my absolute favorites
 
Pixel is way over priced... no denying it's not a good phone. Also some of the hardware issues they have had along with stock issues which imo has kept the price artificially high.
 
OP: which wireless carrier? Oneplus 3 or 3T are best ones on that list, but not compatible with Verizon/Sprint (CDMA). If getting LG V10 suggest getting a warranty to protect against bootloop, the achilles heel of LG V10 and G4.
 
I'd pick the OP3. I personally own the OP2, but a friend has trhe OP3, and it is blazingly fast in everything you set it to do.
 
I haven't seen anyone else mention it, but you should definitely check out the ZTE Axon 7.
It's a moderately priced phone you can buy unlocked and works fine on most networks.
It rivals all of the top flagship phones currently out there, and was just upgraded to Android 7.1.1
with the latest March 2017 Security patch. Check it out!

https://www.amazon.com/ZTE-Axon-Unlocked-Smartphone-Warranty/dp/B01FUF1EL8

Good Luck,

Silver
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I haven't seen anyone else mention it, but you should definitely check out the ZTE Axon 7.
It's a moderately priced phone you can buy unlocked and works fine on most networks.
It rivals all of the top flagship phones currently out there, and was just upgraded to Android 7.1.1
with the latest March 2017 Security patch. Check it out!

https://www.amazon.com/ZTE-Axon-Unlocked-Smartphone-Warranty/dp/B01FUF1EL8

Good Luck,

Silver
Thanks for reminding me of its existence. I remember really wanting the phone for its dual-sim abilities, but I decided against it due to not have T-Mobile Wifi Calling. It does now with the new update, so I'm reconsidering it.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
The ZTE Axon is an interesting device. Some of the best audio available with stereo speakers, a nice display and battery. Downsides are the camera and the software. Worth a look with its low price.
 
Thanks for reminding me too Sknight. Like Chang3D I too had forgotten about that phone. The Axon 7 packaged two components I was looking for at the time: a relatively large sized Quad-HD AMOLED screen with nice sounding dual speakers. However, I passed on it because it has non-illuminated, navigational buttons that you can't see in the dark (3:10) .
 
Last edited:
Back
Top