Is HTC One M8 Ending iPhone, Samsung’s Reign?

HTC has done it again.

If you might recall, just last year HTC released what is considered the best all-around Android phone of all time, the HTC One.

This year, the Taiwan-based company unveiled its new flagship Android phone, the HTC One M8. The device runs on KitKat, the latest version of the Android OS. The new HTC One M8 builds on the already impressive HTC One and gives us a smartphone that’s far and away the best Android phone to date. Some even fear that with the One’s gaining popularity, iPhone and Samsung might possibly lose their current lead in the smartphone market.

Aesthetically, the HTC One M8 looks almost identical to last year’s One, but the housing has been completely redesigned and in a good way: there’s less plastic, and much more metal. The plastic running around the outer edge of the phone is gone since the aluminium backing now reaches the sides and bottom of the phone, leaving only the top edge with a thin plastic strip.

In addition, the HTC One M8 now comes with a larger 5-inch monitor boasting a stunning 1920 x 1080 display. This has a higher resolution display than the 1136 x 640 Retina display of the iPhone 5s’s 4 inch monitor. The HTC One M8’s smooth graphics, vibrant colors and impressive contrast are easier to appreciate, thanks to the bigger monitor size. That being said, Samsung Galaxy S5’s Super Amoled HD display is simply breathtaking, and easily has the best display among the three.

But rest assured, the HTC One M8 isn’t just the old HTC One wrapped up in a pretty new package with a bigger screen.

The new One also comes with a “Duo Camera”. The back panel houses two 4-megapixel lenses, and what this does is it allows the user to apply new focus-based photo effects like blurring the foreground or background, which you can apply even after taking the photo. When it comes to quality, the new One produces good images, but not as good as photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S5’s 16 megapixel camera or the iPhone 5s’ 8 megapixel one, both of which produce images with truer colors.

With Sense 6.0 user interface, HTC makes the Android 4.4.2 KitKat feel user-friendly, faster and more intuitive. The HTC One M8’s 2.3Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor and 2GB Ram can easily handle multitasking processor intensive apps without slowing or bogging down. Samsung’s slightly tweaked TouchWiz user interface basically does the same job for the Galaxy S5, but the Sense 6 feels more friendly and useable.

Overall, the HTC One M8 is all you could want in a smartphone and then some. Its gorgeous aluminium casing trumps the Samsung Galaxy S5’s cheap feeling case and it’s ease and speed of use makes it much more than just a pretty looking phone.

With pressure mounting on the performance of the iPhone 6, Apple is going to have to bring it’s A-game to best the HTC One M8 when the iPhone 6 is released this year, most likely in September. Until then, the jury’s still out on which company will earn the crown for making the best smartphone of the year, but as of now, the HTC, with the new One is by the far the clear winner.