HTC M8 : First few shots & impressions

[jojo90]

Hi,

I received a warranty replacement for my (near end of contract) M7, HTC send me a brand new M8, nice one HTC .

Just thought I'd post a few first pics & impressions of the camera :

• 4MP is just sufficient, 16:9 default ratio is interesting, 3:2/4:3 cuts down the MP. Wouldn't get big prints off this however good enough for a camera phone.
• Duo Camera (little bit like Lytro, lets you select the focus point). This has been slammed in some reviews but to me it's brilliant. It's not the same as fast glass but it's good enough to get some bokeh from a cameraphone and easily passes non pixel peeping inspection. It's better than Google Camera's solution where you need to awkwardly move the phone up after you've taken the picture. Wish there was a way to switch this on by default.
• Manual controls are brilliant and intuitive. The traffic bokeh shot below was simple to take, just set minimal focus distance, exposure (optional), and click.
• Has some gimmicks but thankfully they aren't in your face.
• IS is digital, not optical like the M7, but seems OK so far.

As a phone it's great, slightly too big for me (M7 was perfect), but better in all other ways.

My hope is the HTC M9 will keep the Duo Camera, up the megapixels to allow better cropping, and maybe go for a slightly longer focal length! That would be getting close to a perfect cameraphone.

Anyway, here are a few pics taken oner the first week or two:


HTC M8 First Shots, Round and about London by _Jo Gray, on Flickr


HTC M8 First Shots, Round and about London by _Jo Gray, on Flickr


HTC M8 First Shots, Round and about London by _Jo Gray, on Flickr


HTC M8 First Shots, Round and about London by _Jo Gray, on Flickr

 

[Seahorse]

It's a stunning phone, and it's low light performance is streets ahead of the opposition. By way of comparison I have a work supplied Samsung Galaxy 5 which besides being a poor performing crapware filled (Samsung's own!) recycled lego brick, is almost useless as a camera despite the higher pixel count.

 

[andyred]

Daughter has the M7 and loves it - is very impressed with the phone and the camera...

Incidentally, why did your M7 go back - what was the fault ?

 

[jojo90]

Daughter has the M7 and loves it - is very impressed with the phone and the camera...

Incidentally, why did your M7 go back - what was the fault ?

It had a few faults :

• Purple tint to the camera in low light, mine was one of the worst examples I've seen on the web!
• Flash always went off at full power.
• Battery wasn't charging properly.
• Compass was erratic.
• The official HTC Flip Case caused 100+ 'pock marks' to appear on the rear of the phone, no idea why as there wasn't ever any trapped debris, seems this is a common problem.
• Signal strength was poor.

In fairness I'd taken it all over SE Asia for a year and a half. Had it running as a GPS unit round my neck for a 3000km motorbike trip in Vietnam . It was quite toasty after some of the rides!

 

[andyred]

It had a few faults :

• Purple tint to the camera in low light, mine was one of the worst examples I've seen on the web!
• Flash always went off at full power.
• Battery wasn't charging properly.
• Compass was erratic.
• The official HTC Flip Case caused 100+ 'pock marks' to appear on the rear of the phone, no idea why as there wasn't ever any trapped debris, seems this is a common problem.
• Signal strength was poor.

In fairness I'd taken it all over SE Asia for a year and a half. Had it running as a GPS unit round my neck for a 3000km motorbike trip in Vietnam . It was quite toasty after some of the rides!

Cheers mate

I'll keep an eye on my daughters just in case...

 

[stu.artd]

It's a stunning phone, and it's low light performance is streets ahead of the opposition. By way of comparison I have a work supplied Samsung Galaxy 5 which besides being a poor performing crapware filled (Samsung's own!) recycled lego brick, is almost useless as a camera despite the higher pixel count.

Yep, I read several reviews that stated how good the s5 camera was, but I'm disappointed with the handset as a whole and the camera as an individual element of it as well.