HTC One Mini 2 vs HTC One M8: What's the Difference?

Over the last year or so, companies have started announcing 'mini' phones that are supposed to be miniature versions of their flagship devices. We saw this with the HTC One, as well as Samsung's Galaxy S4, and Motorola's Droid. It's smart. Instead of developing a lower-end phone with a brand new name to target those who don't quite fall into the category of 'big spenders' when it comes to buying a smartphone, they're cashing in on the big name with a lower cost offering. Unfortunately, the flip side is that these phones are always going to be compared to their more premium siblings.

Today, HTC announced the HTC One Mini 2. This is the follow on to the HTC One Mini we saw last year, a phone that was modeled on the original HTC One. So how does this year's HTC One Mini stack up to this year's HTC One? Well, there are a few key differences, though it isn't actually that much smaller than the HTC One M8 (it's 4.5 inches as opposed to 5 inches). One of the biggest is that the One Mini 2 misses out on the dual camera action we saw when the One M8 was announced earlier this year as well as Motion Launch, which allows you to check your phone without unlocking the screen. Right now, we're missing the most important detail, which is price. If HTC can come up with a mini price to match the title of this device, then it could be a winner. Right now, we don't have any information on pricing (for any region) or availability. The HTC One Mini 2 will go on sale in EMEA and Asia next month, though, and that should give us a better idea of pricing. In the meantime, check out the side-by-side comparison of the Mini 2 and the HTC One M8.

HTC One M8

Operating SystemAndroid 4.4.2Android 4.4.2Custom UISense 6Sense 6Screen4.5-inch LCD 720 x 1280 320 ppi5-inch LCD 1920 x 1080 440 ppiChipsetSnapdragon 400Snapdragon 801CPUQuad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A72.3 GHz quad-coreGPUAdreno 305Adreno 330RAM1 GB2 GBStorage16 GB16 GB or 32 GBRemovable StorageMicroSD (up to 128 GB)MicroSD (up to 128 GB)Camera13-megapixel 4128 x 3096 pixels with autofocus and LED flash plus a 5-megapixel camera up frontDual 4-megapixel 2688 х 1520 pixels with autofocus and dual-LED (dual tone) flash plus a 5-megapixel camera up frontConnectivityWiFi; NFC; Bluetooth; DLNA; GPS/GLONASS; HSDPA 42 Mbps, HSUPA; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth, DLNA, GPS/GLONASS, HSDPA, 42 Mbps (21 Mbps - AT&T), HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DLBatteryLi-Po 2110 mAh (non-removable)Li-Po 2600 mAh (non-removable) Dimensions137.4 mm (5.41 in) H65 mm (2.56 in) W 10.6 mm (0.42 in) D137 g / 4.83 oz146.3 mm (5.76 in) H 70.6 mm (2.78 in) W 9.4 mm (0.37 in) D159 g / 5.6 ozPriceNot Known$649 off contract

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  • ferooxidan
    if only they use at least snapdragon 600 and 2 gb ram it will be perfect.
    Reply
  • thundervore
    I was hoping to pick up a One Mini 2 for my upgrade from my One VX but not when they skimp on the hardware and cut the CPU, chipset and RAM in half.

    Well at lease the camera is 13 megapixel and not the 4 ultrapixel but then again they skimp on the dual led flash :(.
    Reply
  • bjaminnyc
    I was hoping to pick up a One Mini 2 for my upgrade from my One VX but not when they skimp on the hardware and cut the CPU, chipset and RAM in half.

    Well at lease the camera is 13 megapixel and not the 4 ultrapixel but then again they skimp on the dual led flash :(.

    I was skeptical about the 4mp camera on the M8. After 2 months of ownership I couldn't be happier. The quality of photos in low light situations is second to none IMO. I'm always surprised when on auto how dark it actually needs to be for the flash to go off. The MP race is just marketing hype.

    As impressed as I am with the cam, the battery life is ridiculous. I think I'm about as heavy a user as I know, I still end my day with a respectable % charge left. I forgot the charging cable on a day trip NYC->DC->NYC, turned on power save mode and was still surfing and listing to POD casts all day into the early evening.

    I 1,000% would recommend buying the M8 for its features, and it looks great as well.
    Reply
  • lp231
    The M8 camera's pixel at 2688 ? 1520, is that the combine total or each of them is at 2688 ? 1520? If that is the combined total, then the HTC One Mini, might knocked the M8 because it has a higher resolution camera. For the Joe and Jane, they don't care about the technical stuffs, if the camera takes excellent pictures, then the rest doesn't matter.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    The only sensible flagship "mini" is Sony Z1 compact. All other are low range mini phones... Nothing wrong in that, but they definitely are not worth of flagship branding.
    Reply
  • nebun
    it's kind of funny how everyone was bashing apple for not having a removable battery, now most smartphones have a non removable matter....how ironic
    Reply
  • jasonelmore
    it's kind of funny how everyone was bashing apple for not having a removable battery, now most smartphones have a non removable matter....how ironic

    Removable battery is really not a huge issue for most, it's the Micro SD card support that everyone begs for. Android KitKat has made it so easy to run apps and games off the SD Card, you just find the app in "settings" and hit the button that says "move to SD card".

    Whats more is, Samsung is making these Pro Series micro SD cards that are just as fast as the internal eMMC Nand. 90 Mb/s Read, 40 Mb/s Write, which is almost what the EmmC can do
    Reply
  • Blazer1985
    Please excuse my obscenity but since it is a 4.5" device and they are calling it MINI all I can say is "MINI MY ASS"
    Reply
  • adam010978
    When a battery can fully charge in the 15 seconds it takes for me to swap one out then me and the millions like me will agree with htcs bone headed decision to go with nonremovable batteries. Until then we will all by galaxies.
    Reply
  • hotice
    One fact that often seems overlooked is the Droid Mini is the only "mini" that's just as good as the premium/full version phone. The only differences in the Droid Mini compared to the Droid Maxx or Ultra is the screen size, screen type, and battery size. It's the same resolution display, same dual-core Snapdragon 4 Pro CPU, same Adreno 320 GPU, same low-power voice and contextual processors, 2GB of RAM, and it even has wireless charging and Droid Ultra does not. The only other difference I can think of is it doesn't have active notifications like the others because it's not an OLED display - which to me is a good thing since LCDs are brighter and usually use less power than OLED.
    I think other companies should take Moto's lead when they make a "mini" phone. It seems to me Moto is the only company that has done it right.
    Reply