About a week ago, I switched from my ICON - Verizon - with 8.0 OS (latest update) to the HTC One (M8) - Verizon - with "8.1 with Update" OS, which includes Cortana of course (no clue what 'Hey Cortana' is ?).
I was basically forced to do so because of the well documented problem with the ICON of 'sudden battery drain', rendering the phone unreliable.
This cost me $91 to end my Edge program early on the ICON (trust me, I will get VZN to credit this back shortly).
Anyway ...
What you *might* miss:
Dedicated camera button.
5 MP cam instead of 20 MP cam.
Power button is on Top instead of on the side with the Volume button. WTF?
This makes it a TAD more inconvenient to unlock the phone with your right hand when you pull it out of your pocket, or want to put in in lock mode.
Good news: HTC has a double tap option to wake up, and I installed the 'Nice Lock' app to lock directly from desktop. So, overall ... actually better than ICON.
Headphone jack is on the Bottom instead of on the Top of the phone.
This means if you have a 'kickstand' case like I to, the phone cannot be sitting vertically with a headphone plugged in. Another WTF ?
Another subtle thing. My "Bluetooth +" app does not show Off/On in its 'live tile' like it did on the ICON. No clue why. A minor disappointment.
Also, seems IE is getting 'hung up', in that suddenly shortcuts that I have tied to IE to bring up web pages end up with an error basically indicating that I do not have an internet connection. Not sure what's going on here yet. Reboot fixes it.
Upsides from switching:
"8.1 with Update" OS
Cortana (very cool)
Ringer volume and Vibrator intensity are 1000 times louder/stronger on the HTC than the ICON, where both were virtually non existent.
Whereas standby battery life on the ICON was good, it appears to be 2x on the HTC. So far ... ... ... I have not encountered the 'sudden battery drain' issue. If I do, and it persists, I'm done with Windows Phone (and I am a Microsoft MVP!) ...and I will switch to a Droid Turbo !
Speakers
So .... that's what I can tell you ...
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