TechNow: Meet HTC's 2014 flagship, the One M8

Jason Mackenzie  & Peter Chow introduce the HTC One (M8)

Initial colour options at launch

 Building on the astounding success of last year's critically acclaimed, award winning flagship, the HTC One (now called the One M7), Peter Chow and HTC have just unveiled their killer weapon for this year which we and they hope can pull them out of the financial problems they are facing since a long time.

Yes! That's the One M8 from all sides

    Yes, I know this phone has been leaked a numerous times but for those who forgot, here are the specifications:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support; 42Mbps HSPA+; LTE connectivity
• 5" 1080p capacitive touchscreen with 441pi pixel density; Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• 2.3GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU; 2GB of RAM; Adreno 330 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset (US / EMEA)
• 2.5GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU; 2GB of RAM; Adreno 330 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset (Asia)
• Android 4.4.2 KitKat with HTC Sense 6
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5 GHz); DLNA
• 4MP AF "UltraPixel" (2µm pixel size) camera with 1/3" sensor; 28mm f/2.0 lens; dual-LED flash; HTC ImageChip 2 withous OIS with 2MP depth sensor
• 1080p video capture with HDR
• HTC Zoe
• 5MP front-facing camera with BSI sensor; wide-angle f/2.0 lens; HDR; 1080p video recording
• 16/32GB of built-in memory
• microSD card slot; 50GB of free Google Drive storage for 2 years
• GPS with A-GPS; GLONASS
• MHL-enabled microUSB 2.0 port
• Bluetooth 4.0; NFC
• IR remote control
• Accelerometer; gyro and proximity sensor; ambient light sensor; barometer
• Best audio output on the market
• Fitbit fitness tracker app
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated microphone
• Front-facing stereo speakers with BoomSound and built-in amplifiers
• Gorgeous metal unibody with superb finish and tactile feel
• 2,600mAh battery; Extreme Power Saving Mode

HTC BoomSound delivers the richest and purest audio on any smartphone.

 The second generation HTC One  has addressed most of it's predecessor's major shortcomings. Superb to look at and hold and extremely capable, the HTC One (M8) is a proper flagship smartphone. The development team behind it deserves praise for improving the strengths of the first generation while also addressing some of its biggest shortcomings. The metal body has been improved and while the front facing speakers have been matched by Sony they are still a strong point in favor of the One (M8), against the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and LG G2. The presence of a microSD card slot means HTC's finest is also getting the cheaper memory expansion afforded to many of its rivals.
The chipset got an update to Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 801, meaning that the KitKat-topping Sense 6.0 runs as smooth as you'd expect. Speaking of the latest version of the HTC launcher, the new gesture controls and notification area toggles go a long way towards improving the user experience. Android purists will also appreciate that the M8, like its predecessor, will be available in Google Play Edition guise. HTC has even partnered with Google to bring support for its dual camera to stock Android.

It's available on the Play Store in the US! 

More about the camera: The new HTC One (M8) has much the same camera as last year. It's based on the same 1/3" 4MP camera sensor with a 28mm wide F/2.0 lens. The sensor has an 16:9 aspect ratio and outputs a maximum 2688 x 1520 pixel resolution, while switching to the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio limits the maximum resolution to 2048 x 1520 pixels, or just over 3MP.

Selfies are a big thing for the HTC One (M8). The front snapper now has a 5MP sensor, coupled with a F2.0 wide angle lens. That puts the HTC One (M8) in the awkward position of being the first smartphone with a front snapper of higher resolution than the back one.

The Ultrapixel sensor besides which sits the dual tone LED flash and on the top is the 2MP depth sensor for refocusing