HTC Launches the One M8s
by Brandon Chester on April 2, 2015 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Mobile
Today HTC is announcing a new smartphone that sits somewhere between their mid-range smartphones and their flagship ones. This new phone is the One M8s, and even with a quick glance you will notice that it looks very similar to HTC's previous flagship smartphones, the HTC One M8. In fact, the two devices are essentially identical in terms of their appearance and construction, with HTC's official specifications showing only a 0.2mm difference in maximum thickness between the two. Despite being nearly visually identical, the specifications of the M8 and the M8s differ in several ways, and I've compared them in the chart below.
| HTC One M8s | HTC One (M8) | |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, 4 x Cortex A53 at 1.7GHz + 4 x Cortex A53 at 1.0GHz | MSM8974ABv3 2.26 GHz Snapdragon 801 |
| RAM/NAND | 2 GB LPDDR3, 16GB NAND + microSD | 2GB LPDDR3, 16/32GB NAND + microSD |
| Display | 5” 1080p LCD | |
| Network | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x25 UE Category 4 LTE) | |
| Dimensions | 146.36 x 70.6 x 9.55mm max, 160 grams | 146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35mm max, 160 grams |
| Camera | 13 MP F/2.0 Rear Facing, 28mm (35mm equiv) and rear depth camera, 5MP F/2.8 Front Facing |
4.0 MP Rear Facing with 2.0 µm pixels, 1/3" CMOS size, F/2.0, 28mm (35mm equiv) and rear depth camera, 5MP F/2.0 FFC |
| Battery | 2840 mAh (10.79Wh) | 2600 mAh (9.88Wh) |
| OS | Android 5.0 with HTC Sense | Android 5.0 with HTC Sense |
| Connectivity | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, NFC | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, NFC |
| SIM Size | NanoSIM | |
At least on paper the M8s shares its chassis, cellular connectivity, and display with the M8, although it remains to be seen if it indeed uses the exact same LCD panel. WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity is also similar, although the M8s ships with Bluetooth 4.1 capable firmware out of the box. Beyond these specifications is where the differences between the two devices begin to arise.
The first major difference is obviously the SoC. While the One M8 used Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 with four Krait cores at 2.26GHz, the M8s opts for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 which has two clusters of four Cortex A53 cores at 1.7GHz and 1.0GHz respectively. It will be interesting to see how Snapdragon 615 compares to 801 with regards to performance as well as power consumption. On that note, the M8s is also able to fit a higher capacity battery in the same chassis as the original M8.
The last major difference between the two are the cameras. While the One M8 used HTC's 4MP "UltraPixel" sensor, the M8s opts for a 13MP sensor. Despite this, it retains the secondary depth camera which enables HTC's duocam post processing effects like depth of field and refocusing photos.
The comparison to the original One M8 is really just to show how the two devices differ inside since they share the same appearance. While the M8 was HTC's flagship smartphone, the M8s is not quite at that level. It seems to sit somewhere between the HTC Desire 826 and the HTC One M9, with a more premium design than the 826 but very similar specifications. As far as availability is concerned, the HTC One M8s will be launching in several parts of Europe. Pricing will vary from region to region, but the cost in the United Kingdom has been confirmed at £379.99 outright which gives some idea as to how much the HTC One M8s will cost compared to the One M9 and Desire 826 that sit above and below it respectively.
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eek2121 - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
I purchased an M8 a couple weeks ago (on Verizon). I knew the M9 was coming out, but i didn't care, it was free under 2 year agreement. I promptly rooted it, and when sunshine was updated I installed the lollipop GPe rom. The phone works flawlessly and gets 18-24 hours to a charge with my rather heavy usage patterns (hours of browsing the internet, listening to music, and watching youtube videos every day)Pissedoffyouth - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
This seems like a really decent phone to be honestEddyKilowatt - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Ditto. I think they took a page from Sony's Z3C playbook. Camera was the main thing holding me back on the M8, and this [should] fix that, if the sensor and software are decent. I like the unique speakers too, and don't care much about SoC as long as basic system functions are fluid. Hoping they send it over here to the Colonies. Also hoping that other vendors find that Z3C playbook page...MonkeyPaw - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
"the M8s opts for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 which has two clusters of four Cortex A53 cores at 1.7GHz and 1.0GHz respectively."Why 2 sets of identical cores running at different clocks? Or is that supposed to be another core type running at 1ghz?
Gich - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Differnet hardware optimizations.The ones at 1GHz consume less then the ones at 1.7GHz downclocked to 1GHz.
jjj - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
lol one can buy almost any phone launched last year for less in the UK. From the LG G3 to HTC's own M8.This is clearly just an attempt to mislead and sell less for more.Even the name is aimed to suggest that it's an updated version of the M8 in the same shiny tin can not a budget version. It's borderline fraud.
TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
the name m9 suggests an updated version, 8s suggests a slimmed down m8, so not sure where that becomes misleading (not everyone names phones the apple way). and of course a year old flagship would be less than a brand new upper mid range phone. that's not fraud, thats how markets work.jjj - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
You forgot to disclose that you work for HTC.jjj - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
But you are right on one thing, this is how markets work, folks like HTC get erased by competitors that don't have the ethics of a purse grabbing meth head.cwolf78 - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Just wow... How is the M8S *NOT* an "updated version of the M8? If it gets similar performance but improved battery life and camera, that sounds like an "updated version of the M8" to me. To be honest I'd rather have the M8S than the M9. I don't want a phone that runs hot, gulps down battery, has a worse screen and a lackluster (albeit higher res) camera without the depth sensor. The M8S being cheaper than the M9 is just icing on the cake. Why pay for a S810 if it's severely throttled under nearly every workload? Too bad there's no mention of a US release.