The quality of finish and assemblies is maddening and in no way inferior to Apple was the reference until now to me. The screen is fantastic, the definition is superb, the punchy brightness and almost true colors. The audio circuit, big selling point of HTC, is actually excellent, both for external HP as the headphone output. Autonomy largely possible to complete a full day even with heavy usage, and 2 days in moderate use.
The HTC Sense overlay is perfectly optimized: not a hitch in fluidity, sleek design and "adult" (away colors / shapes candy Samsung or LG), and especially HTC does not necessarily seek to do in the bidding functions unnecessary and inefficient. It is simple, efficient, I love. Obviously with its Snapdragon 800, no more heavy application does not even train.
From an ergonomic point of view, HTC could decrease the height of the terminal, removing the black bar on the screen or by integrating it as system buttons on the M7, but it certainly would have been necessary to sacrifice the battery. The sleep button is a bit too exposed, and tends when the phone is in my pocket to be activated, and thus wake up the phone without my wants.
The big problem most is the brushed aluminum unibody casing. The material is nice, because the touch is very soft, it does not take fingerprints and seems to be quite resistant to scratches ... But it has two problems, the first is that the phone is very smooth in decision in hand, and the aluminum does not stick to the skin as a lacquered plastic or glass. So the phone is very slippery, which leads to the second problem, which is that the aluminum could mark the slightest shock. And once labeled aluminum is irreversible. Before it happens I opted for the Double Dip HTC hull, rigid plastic, perfectly suited to the M8.
In short, a software optimization point of view, this is indeed the best Android phone I've had. It is efficient, the overlay HTC is pleasant to use, and the Micro SD port back deserves a big bravo.
But if you can criticize the plastic appearance of some competitors (Samsung and LG in the lead), we must also say that HTC will be much more fragile and exposed to everyday worries. Therefore buying a shell seems quite essential, especially if you're the kind clumsy.
Note that I sent a first copy of the phone because of dead pixel on the screen. My second copy appears in perfect contrast.
