HTC One (M8) And One (E8) Review: A Flagship And Its Sidekick

By Don Woligroski
published

We run HTC's flagship Android smartphone, the One (M8), through our exhaustive benchmark suite. In addition, we take a close look at its less expensive sibling, the HTC One (E8). Both devices are compared and tested against a strong field of competition.

Results: Battery Life

The 2600 mAh battery in HTC's One (M8) and (E8) is larger than last generation's by 300 mAh. That's not a huge difference, particularly if the newer device uses power faster than its predecessor. But to ensure battery life actually does improve, the company adds a power-saving mode, too. This setting throttle back the SoC, lowers brightness, disables the vibrate feature, and slows your data connection. Consequently, the phone uses little power in standby.

Based on our time with the One (M8), HTC appears to have a not-altogether elegant, but still-effective solution for road warriors who can't get their mobile devices to last long enough. At times, this phone's battery seems to last forever.

Basemark OS II

The Basemark OS II battery test scores are derived by repeatedly running the devices until enough data has been collected to determine a drain rate.

The Basemark battery test mirrors the experience we just described, going so far as to appear over-optimistic. Let's move on to the other benchmarks for confirmation.

BatteryXPRT 2014

BatteryXPRT 2014 is a specialized battery testing application for Android devices that provides users with an "expected" Lifetime score, as well as an overall Performance score. The test has two variations: Network-Connected and Airplane Mode.

We had trouble getting the airplane mode test running on a number of devices, but HTC's One (M8) at least performs well in the networked benchmark.

GFXBench 3.0

GFXBench's battery test measures battery life and performance stability by logging frame and battery discharge rate as the on-screen T-Rex test runs for 30 consecutive iterations. The results are given in two scores: estimated battery life in minutes, and the number of frames rendered on the slowest test run (to gauge if a device is throttling). Both tests are run at the device's 50-percent brightness level in the free Community Edition, while the paid Corporate Edition can be set to 0 percent, 25 percent, 75 percent, 100 percent, or whatever the device's native slider is set to. We very specifically calibrate all units to 200 nits before doing any battery testing.

The One (M8) does well from a performance standpoint, finishing second to the class-leading iPhone 5s, which renders at a much lower native resolution.

Given strong performance, as indicated by the frame rate measurement, a 140-minute result isn't bad compared to the rest of the field.
HTC One (M8)
HTC One (E8)

Don Woligroski
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Heironious
    The pricing says 1,309.00 for it on Amazon? May as well buy it straight from an authorized dealer for half that. It's a gorgeous phone and I don't regret picking it up over the Samsung S5 (mostly because of the cheap plastic of Samsung).
    Reply
  • LordConrad
    I love my M8 except for that stupid depth-camera, they should remove it and bring back OIS.
    Reply
  • blackmagnum
    HTC M8 versus Samsung S5. No contest!
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Just stop comparing to the iPhone 5s until a comparable 64-bit chip is released and implemented into Android phones. Until then, the iPhone 5s "appears to be faster" (only on benchmarks) but as many of us know, it justifies buying an iPhone for most users, even though a 64-bit processor in a mobile phone may be pointless (for now).
    Reply
  • kevith
    What is the price of E8? All over the article it says 699$, more than the M8 at 659.
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    If I were the android type I would get this phone hands-down. If they released a WP version then I would jump all over it over the stuff Nokia has been pushing out in 2014 so far.

    The only 'complaints' that I have are the lack of wireless charging (impossible due to the metal back plate right?), and the lack of a sort of Nokia Glance screen (though other android devices are picking up similar features). The cover seems to bring that Glance functionality... but I really don't like that cover and would rather not. The thing is that with my lowly 920 I have built myself an upright wireless charging stand, and with glance screen enabled whenever the device has access to power, it makes a most excellent clock/notification center. With my 920 approaching 2 years old I am starting to look for a replacement, and as of the moment I am not finding one. WP has seemingly abandoned the high end devices, I am not apple compatible, and Android devices have a lot of really neat features... but then you deal with non-standard UIs and gimmickey software. I really hope something really good comes out before Christmas because the 920 is not getting any younger.
    Reply
  • stevessvt
    Wow, these benchmarks are, by far, the lowest I have seen for the M8. 27K in Antutu? Was power saver on?
    Reply
  • Avus
    Holy!! $1300 for a phone.... I am too cheap for that...

    I am currently using Nexus 5 and happy with it. If I want to buy a phone now, I may want to get an Oneplus One.
    Reply
  • envy14tpe
    Great phone but that camera is what holds me back from buying it. So Samsung or Google gets my money, although Apple has the best camera. (However, no Apple..screen wayyy to small...Android flagship phones have been over 4" for 2+ years)
    Reply
  • TeKEffect
    Me and my friend are both having problems with the usb port. They went cheap on the cheapest part. I would google the problem before getting the one.
    Reply