HTC today unveiled its newest flagship, the HTC One (M8). The company has been teasing us about this phone for weeks, and rumors about the device, codenamed the M8, have been doing the rounds for month. Now, it's official, and HTC is keeping the M8 name as well as the HTC One brand. Between leaks and whispered reports about the phone, barely anything we heard today was actually a surprise, but it's nice to meet the phone in an official capacity. And, of course, get hands on with the device.
As rumored earlier this month, the device packs a 5-inch FHD 1920×1080 display and a Snapdragon 801 SoC with a quad-core CPU clocked to 2.3 Ghz working alongside 2 GB of RAM. Qualcomm was on hand to talk up the Snapdragon 801, which is really no huge upgrade over the Snapdragon 800, but it is Qualcomm's newest chip and it matches the GS5 in that regard. The HTC One also boasts 32 GB of storage as standard, but comes with support for MicroSD expansion up to 128 GB. There’s a 5-megapixel camera up front for video calling and that unique Duo Camera that will allow you to choose the focal point of your image after you shoot. The Duo Camera comes with a BSI sensor with an F2.0 / 28mm lens and a pixel size of 2.0um. It also sports HTC's own ImageChip 2 with HDR video. You might remember that HTC teased us about the sound on this phone being even better than before and the phone itself being 'more metal.' To that end, HTC's BoomSound promises 20 percent louder speakers and a new premium design that’s almost all metal.
The spec sheet reads like a flagship and HTC is targeting those that crave the slickest latest high-end smartphones. That means it's going up against the likes of Samsung, LG and Apple.
Hardware Specs:
- Screen: 5-inch 440 ppi
- SoC: Snapdragon 801 2.3 GHz
- RAM: 2GB
- Color: Gunmetal Gray Hairline Finish
- Speakers: Dual Front Facing Stereo Speakers
Software Features:
- Motion Launch
- Extreme Power Savings
- HTC Zoe
- HTC Sense UI 6
HTC will be selling this device through carriers, of course, but the company is also offering an unlocked, SIM-free version, as well as a developer model. Both of these devices are available March 25 for $650.
Check out our sister site Laptop Mag for its review.
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