After spending some time with the HTC One M9, and feeling pretty underwhelmed by it. I thought I would go back to using the One M8 to see what I would miss from HTC's latest flagship device.
I went for the Amber Gold version, and I am in love. To me this is one of the best looking "gold" phone in the market. Black with gold, never gets old. The gold is in a darker shade, almost copper, and the black accent matches the finishing perfectly. While the iPhone 6's antenna looks a little out of place, HTC made them work with the design of the phone. The most telling sign is that the back of the One M8 would not look as nice without those black lines. I am also a fan of this matte finish (same as on the Glacial Silver version) over the brushed metal finishing on the other M8 variants, and all of the M9 variants. It retains less fingerprints and grease.
When I am comparing the design of the One M8 Amber Gold variant with the dual tone silver and gold on the One M9, my personal choice would be the One M8. The One M9 feels sharper in hand, and more solid feeling. But the One M8 feels more comfortable in hand, smoother. The One M9's slightly reflective finishing also means that it is a little more "bling" than I would have personally liked. Objectively, it is going to be a matter of personal preference. Some will like the sharper look, some will like the softer approach. But one thing is for sure, the One M9 does feel like it has a better build. It feels more solid in the hand, and the way the front assembly is now a single piece looks better too.
In terms of hardware and performance, the 5-inch 1080p screen on the One M8 looks just as nice as the One M9's. In fact the colour reproduction looks more neutral to me, and more pleasing to the eye. The BoomSound speakers still sounds great. The Snapdragon 801 processor with 2GB of RAM still performs very well too, handling everything I threw at it with ease. The smaller 2600 mAh battery on the one M8 actually lasted longer than the One M9 in my time with it too.
Also, like the One M9, the One M8 has a tendency to run warm pretty easily too. But again, nothing major or alarming considering metal does conduct heat better.
When it comes to software, with the latest update to "Sense Home", HTC's launcher, I get the same predictive widget that tries to bring me apps that it thinks I am going to use at that moment in time. BlinkFeed is still there too on the left of the home screen. While themes are available on the One M8 as well, it is clearly a half-baked implementation at this point in time. At least until the One M8 gets officially updated to Sense 7 come August later this year.
The things I actually do miss are the "little things" in the settings app. In particular the more granular controls. The ability edit the navigation buttons are a nice touch, especially the button to pull down the notification shade. The ability to set which motion gesture I want or do not want is a nice addition too. Like I want the double tap to wake phone gesture, but not the volume button to launch camera gesture. On the One M8, it is all or nothing. But overall, performance of the UI on the One M8 and One M9 are almost identical. Not to mention with the Sense 7 update, the One M8 would have pretty much the same software as on the One M9, since there is no hardware dependant features as far as I can tell.
Which brings us to the camera, which is probably the biggest difference between the two. The One M9 uses a 20 MP rear facing shooter, while the One M8 uses the 4 MP UltraPixel camera with a depth sensor.
In daylight, the One M8 seems to produce more vibrant images, but also has the tendency to slightly overexpose shots when you tap the viewfinder to change the AE. But the camera app on the One M8 still feels less finicky for me compared to the One M9, where sometimes it takes a lot of tapping on the viewfinder to find a decent exposure setting. Overall the One M9 produces images with more details, and generally better looking.
(One M9)
(One M8)
(One M9)
(One M8)
When it comes to lowlight, there is no contest. The One M8 wins hands down for me. Firstly, the camera is a lot easier to handle. The large 2.0 µm pixel size on the sensor compensates well for the lack of OIS. Whereas on the One M9's conventional sensor, the lack of OIS makes shooting in lowlight situation frustrating. The camera either boost ISO which makes the shots even noisier than it already is, or it uses a slower shutter speed which makes the photos turn out slightly blurry from any tiny movement in your hands while capturing the shot.
The images taken on the One M8 are not only brighter (despite using a lower ISO and faster shutter speed), but also more detailed.
(One M9 Auto mode: ISO 1600, Exposure 1/9)
(One M8 Auto mode: ISO 1250, Exposure 1/11)
(50% crop, One M9 Auto mode: ISO 1600, Exposure 1/9)
(100% crop, One M8 Auto mode: ISO 1250, Exposure 1/11)
Indoor with a single ceiling lamp. The One M9 had to go all the way to ISO 1000, and even then, the exposure is still slower than on the One M8 with ISO 500.
(One M9 Auto mode: ISO 1000, Exposure 1/11)
(One M8 Auto mode: ISO 500, Exposure 1/14)
With both camera set at ISO 400, the shots on the One M9 looks noisier than on the One M8. The shots on the One M8 despite being only 4 MP shows more details.
(One M9 Manual: ISO 400, Exposure 1/15)
(One M8 Manual: ISO 400, Exposure 1/11)
For me personally, I would take the One M8's camera over the One M9's. The camera is simply easier to use to capture decent looking shots, and less frustrating too. The higher refresh rate on the viewfinder compared to the One M9 also gives the impression of a faster and more responsive camera. In the end, the advantages in lowlight conditions are pretty substantial, whereas the disadvantages in daylight conditions are not that drastic to me.
Full resolution images here: One M7, One M8, One M9, Galaxy S6, Note 4, Nexus 6
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Conclusions? Going from the HTC One M9 back to the One M8, it is surprising how little I miss on the One M9. It does not even feel like much of a downgrade despite the phone being a year old now. I actually enjoyed using the One M8 more than I did the One M9. To me, that says a lot.
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