Do you have the M8 for WP tell us what you think!

[Jnelson071]

What speeds were you getting with T-Mobile?

Actually, the phone stays on LTE 85% of the time. I've only seen edge in spotty areas where my 1520 and 925 (T-mobile) get spotty service as well. Also this phone is BLAZING fast!!! Leaves the others in the dust. Sadly I won't have it long as my girlfriend has fallen in love with it.

 

[cbreze]

Can you do the gestures for Cortana without the dot view case, or can only tap to turn on the phone?

got mine a couple hours ago. tap to turn on the phone works, but cortana swiping to turn on is a dot case feature. checked out that dot case. not for me at all. definitely an acquired taste preference thing.

 

[Jnelson071]

Can you do the gestures for Cortana without the dot view case, or can only tap to turn on the phone?

NO, gestures for Cortana only work with the dot view case. As for tap to turn on, it works with or without the case.

 

[unstoppablekem]

got mine a couple hours ago. tap to turn on the phone works, but cortana swiping to turn on is a dot case feature. checked out that dot case. not for me at all. definitely an acquired taste preference thing.

Yeah, I heard the dot case makes it hard to take photos with and to hold the phone with the flap pushed back.

 

[cbreze]

Got mine earlier today and love it so far, of course usually is the way with new devices. As I was playing around with it I noticed it seemed something was missing. Oh yeah, the damn laggy wake up problem was gone. SWEET! Full wifi bars. Sweet again. I'm really liking the rounded corners unlike the icon's square sharp edge corners. Gives it a much smoother, aesthetically pleasing look over all. The bottom on screen buttons had me a tad concerned about originally turned out to be a non issue 5 minutes into the set up. So easy to lower the bar and bring it back anytime.
It got warm while I was setting it up and syncing all my stuff, but while it came with a 52% charge on the battery in about four hours of constant setting up and playing while listening to pandora it dropped to 18% and I put it on the charger. I thought that wasn't to bad considering what I was asking of it and being warm most of that time due to all the work it was doing. I'm hoping this bodes well for future battery usage. My icon rarely lasted a day.
​ Much more to do with it, but it's looking good, happy to have it so far and my expectations are high for keeping it. Once I see the pictures and have time to make some camera adjustments I'll know for sure. If I'm still happy with it at that point I may sell the icon or not. ciao

Yeah, I heard the dot case makes it hard to take photos with and to hold the phone with the flap pushed back.

Hard to type also. To me the dot case just looks to clumsy besides covering up an otherwise good looking piece of tech.

 

[unstoppablekem]

It blinks orange when your battery is critically low

So it has a notification LED, sort of?

 

[unstoppablekem]

Got mine earlier today and love it so far, of course usually is the way with new devices. As I was playing around with it I noticed it seemed something was missing. Oh yeah, the damn laggy wake up problem was gone. SWEET! Full wifi bars. Sweet again. I'm really liking the rounded corners unlike the icon's square sharp edge corners. Gives it a much smoother, aesthetically pleasing look over all. The bottom on screen buttons had me a tad concerned about originally turned out to be a non issue 5 minutes into the set up. So easy to lower the bar and bring it back anytime.
It got warm while I was setting it up and syncing all my stuff, but while it came with a 52% charge on the battery in about four hours of constant setting up and playing while listening to pandora it dropped to 18% and I put it on the charger. I thought that wasn't to bad considering what I was asking of it and being warm most of that time due to all the work it was doing. I'm hoping this bodes well for future battery usage. My icon rarely lasted a day.
​ Much more to do with it, but it's looking good, happy to have it so far and my expectations are high for keeping it. Once I see the pictures and have time to make some camera adjustments I'll know for sure. If I'm still happy with it at that point I may sell the icon or not. ciao



Hard to type also. To me the dot case just looks to clumsy besides covering up an otherwise good looking piece of tech.

Yeah, the 928 and Icon/930 have very sharp edges, and heavy and thick. The M8 WP seems thin and light for a phone made of 90% metal, and comfortable to use, without the Dot Case of course.

 

[Brandon Tobias]

nice screen shots would be cool i kinda want a clear pic of the nav bar for an idea i have and also to see what unique settings and enhancements HTC made

 

[microhaxo#WP]

I am planning to purchase either the icon or the One to replace my 8x. My #1 complaint is that I can't view my 8x screen outdoors. Which phone do you guys think has the better screen for outdoor usage?

The icon is better outside. Has clearblack, a polarized layer that blocks glare and also has a high contrast mode in direct sunlight.

 

[tlgem]

OK got mine this afternoon
All I can say is it's different - There are pro's & cons for both the icon (current phone) & m8
Wake from sleep the m8 wins the icons lag to wake was very irritating for me plus the double tap to wake is nice
Screens (both on medium brightness) the icon has a little better color pop but out doors I'd have to turn brightness up the m8 screen is more usable under all light conditions without adjusting brightness
Build goes to the m8 it just feels good in the hand - I never liked the icons block shape but they are both solid built phones
Sound in phone calls, media, speakerphone goes to the m8 nuff said
M8 doesn't work with nokia/ here apps this isn't a problem for me but if your big into those apps its probably a deal breaker
I like the camera and picture quality on the m8 (Ive used it indoor out doors & low light & I don't know why there are so many bad reviews about it) its faster to start faster taking pics than the icon & I like the editing/effects. The icon has a better camera in general its better if you crop or enlarge your pics (I don't) but needing separate apps for effects panorama etc always seemed odd to me.
I haven't made up my mind about the software action bar yet with it taking up screen real estate its nice to be able to hide it but then having to mess with it all the time bug me a little right now
The m8 in general is noticeably faster than the icon
I like the power button on top I was always hitting the volume on the icon instead of power
The notification led being there & not working is aggravating but i've learned to live without it
So bottom line I can see personal preference / use being a big influence in which phone YOU find to be better but as for me as of right now I think I'll be keeping the m8 if anything changes in the next 13 days I'll let you know
Edit 1 my mistake some of the here apps still work (maps, drive) just camera apps don't all nokia apps were grayed out when I did restore so I assumed ...
The small arrows showing network activity were omitted on the m8 a small but useful thing for me hop they bring them back
Not one stuck loading screen eating battery or reboot + battery life has been excellent - Looking more & more like its a keeper

 

[cbreze]

nice screen shots would be cool i kinda want a clear pic of the nav bar for an idea i have and also to see what unique settings and enhancements HTC made

Have you seen this?
Here is how the new Nav bar works on the HTC One M8 for Windows | Windows Phone Central

 

[night26]

You can double tap to unlock then hit search button for Cortana like normal, but the dot case makes it one step, just swipe down.

 

[Great deal]

Cant wait to see what MS bring out next year, if they use this phone as a benchmark (will be better ofc) it will be amazing.

 

[cbreze]

I'm noticing how much better Cortana sounds coming thru these awesome speakers. Like she's sitting right next to me. I'm liking this sound system better even than I thought I would. Everything thru them just sounds richer , fuller and more clear. Not tinny.:smile:


This isn't a bug just something I noticed. The double tap to wake works consistently when you are holding the phone in hand. When its sitting on a table its hit and miss getting it to wake up. Kinda defeats the purpose of having in sleep mode on a bedside table. If your already holding it the phones not the only thing awakening. Maybe better in this situation to reach over and press the power button to wake it up. Or better yet have an awesome night clock app which I've yet to find a decent one in the store.

 

[kevinm25a]

Picked mine up yesterday, had purchased the Icon, but when I went into the Verizon store, I found that I really liked the M8 better.

Surprisingly, the IPS display on the M8 is actually superior to the AMOLED on the Icon to my eyes. Considering I almost always prefer the color pop and super dark blacks of AMOLED, this IPS panel is amazing. Not quite as black, blacks, but the color reproduction is fantastic. The one thing I miss from the Icon is the Color profile settings. The M8 only has adjustments for Brightness, and as usual its Auto, Low, Med, and High, no sliders. Unlike the Icon, the Auto setting works really well, and never seems to go to dark.

As everyone else has said, the all metal chassis is fantastic looking, and feels about like a river rock or pebble in the hand. In fact it can be pretty slippery if you have wet or sweaty hands. It is also noticeably lighter than the Icon, same width, and about 1/4" longer due to the Boomsound speakers.

Ahhh, those speakers, man what a difference. This was one of the main deciding points for me on this phone. Unlike most folks around here, I really don't use the camera much, other than to snap a whiteboard here or there, so it made no difference to me. The sound however really matters, as I use speaker phone on and off all day, and listen to music the rest of the time. This thing sounds amazing. Deep, rich, full sound, and there is even enough separation between the speakers that you get a full stereo effect when in Landscape.

The power button on the top of the phone takes a little getting used to, but it works pretty well. The on screen navigation buttons are no big deal, and give you several options on how they operate. Slide up to show, slide up to hide, auto hide and show based on actions, and hit a small arrow to hide, and swipe up to show. Pretty easy to setup the way you like it.

Battery life is better than the Icon, I'm still testing, but so far this phone came off charger last night at 10 pm, its now 1 pm, 15 hours later, and I have 82% battery, even after installing a bunch of apps, listening to a lot of Pandora, taking calls etc.

The SDXC slot is a fantastic addition, I keep all my music there now. This phone is unlocked, and will work with LTE on Verizon, and T-mobile. AT&T however will only get 2g/3g, no LTE.

Another interesting thing I have noticed is that the M8 consistently has 1-2 bars better signal strength than the Icon here in Dallas. WiFi and Bluetooth too have much higher signal strength, than the Icon. Not sure if that is due to better hardware, better antenna, or the all metal chassis, but there it is.

I use the proshot app with the camera, and as far as functionality goes, it looks to be the same with the same options. Blinkfeed, is something that was sorely needed for Windows phone. Since flipboard has yet to bring an app to WP, blinkfeed does a really good job of aggregating my news, articles, social media in one easy to read place, Love it.

As for performance, it is noticeably quicker than the Icon, especially when restarting, opening large apps, etc.

Overall, this is a fantastic device, and really will come down to what features/functions are most important to you.

If your a camera geek with a need for a high end phone camera, the Icon is the way to go. If you prefer the design, signal strength improvements, and blinkfeed additions, then give the M8 a look, its one hell of a nice device.

 

[RichHowerton]

Upgraded one of my old lines to this phone. Really nice device. Battery life is better than the icon. Bluetooth range is better than the icon. Put in a 128gb SD card. Was able to put all my music and some movies. Wow. Lots of room still on the card. Loving Cortana, and speakers. Now that I can't use mix radio, back to Xbox music. Xbox music is so much better now than before, much easier working with playlists. Loving 8.1 and notification center. Camera decent, but icon is better. Lighter than the icon. If this phone had icon's camera it would be the perfect windows phone.

But since I am talking about the perfect windows phone....give me a slide out keyboard like the touch pro/2 had, and wireless charging.

 

[cbreze]

Loving Cortana, and speakers. If this phone had icon's camera it would be the perfect windows phone.

Doesn't Cortana's voice sound great coming thru those speakers? Like she's sitting right next to you.
While the camera is decent and I'm fine with it, it is the only thing lacking from my icon. The rest is all good. I still have my icon and can make quick comparisons like speaker quality. I'm kind of surprised other manufacturers haven't jumped on this 2 speaker option. I had an E90 Nokia communicator back in the day that had dual speakers. Really makes speaker phone calls much more pleasant.
Side note: Yesterday I wanted to run the battery down completely for its first full complete charge to possibly help with conditioning. Well I didn't think I was going to make it before I fell asleep. Finally as I was crawling into bed I saw it had shut itself off,(@2%) and this was after I threw everything I could think of at it to wear it down. Now I know where it shuts down at and from the lo warning at 10% to 2 % shutdown took 2 hours, dropping very slowly. This battery seems very good and I thought id miss wireless charging, but with this beast I can go all day and then some, so don't need that feature it seems. Happy with my decision to pick up a ONE.

EDIT: Just occurred to me I've been up almost 2 hours using my ONE lightly in that time and its still pegged at 100% charge. My icon same usage would always be down to 92% or so by now. I do believe this device is handling battery usage better. Oh, and it does charge to 100% not 99% like the icon. Sweet!

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

For those who have the M8, how do you like the onscreen softkeys? I'm concerned that the familiar "three-dots" menu button is too close to the Search button, is it easy to trigger that accidentally?

Picked mine up today. It's my second HTC. My first was My Trophy, a phone that I never had one problem with. As much as I loved my two Nokias, I did have a few issues on that end. They did get fixed and the phones were still great ones.

This phone is slim, superfast, and this battery does not like draining even when gaming. My brother has a One M8 that drained a bit faster doing less work - and that phone gets good battery life on the Android end. I'm a bit disturbed that HTC can make such a well designed, thin phone with such great battery size while Nokia made big bricks like the Icon with smaller mAh batteries and no microSD support. And I like Nokia/MS quite a bit, for the record, but this phone is just as well designed. I still have my 928 for backup but also primarily because the mic system on that thing (and the Icon) is astonishing, so I will take it to concerts with me.

As for the Nav Bar - love it. Have it set to my Theme Color, so nice to be able to get variation down there. It hides easily and comes back easily. No issue accidently searching when tapping "..." - no issues accidently launching Cortana anymore period. I prefer the Onscreen keys, though I would like to have the hardware camera button for launching (I rarely used it for taking the picture), but I will get used to launching HTC Camera or ProShot.

Here's a screen cap with the Nav Bar on the Start Screen with it colored.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

One more thing. Superfast reboot. It has not done any autoreboots, but I have rebooted it and it is superquick. It takes about 15 seconds. My 928 took about 45. Also shuts down faster, though still will automatically power on if plugged in via USB for charging. Wish it wouldn't do that.

 

[pdt]

I've had an HTC 8X since it first came out on Verizon a couple years ago. It was the best phone I've ever had. I was dragging my feet on upgrading it, but planning to get an Icon. But when the new HTC came out with better battery life and an SD card slot, I decided to go for it. I'm very happy I did - as good as the 8X was, the M8 is even better: faster, bigger brighter screen, more storage, louder clearer speakers, all the things the previous posters said.

My only complaints so far: The case is a little slippery, compared to the 8X, so I'm more worried about dropping it. Easy to solve, of course. Also, WP 8.1 has a couple of annoying bugs that still need to be fixed, especially with bluetooth.

Overall, though, I'm very pleased and am learning new ways to use the device. Cortana makes a big difference of course, but also the combination of big bright screen, speed, and Nokia software improvements mean that the navigation experience is vastly improved. And it is liberating to have all my data, photos, movies, etc. with me when I'm out and about. I'll probably carry my tablet around less often.