My predecessors were Samsung and LG, and in both I had a short time problems with the battery life and with the speed.
The HTC is in contrast to the other two with the speed of light traveling. I click an app / website / etc. to - bang - loaded.
The battery lasts for my use in the best case up to three days! Absolute record-breaking.
The design is very high quality and ultra chic. I use it without a case and have it drop even twice without impact - no scratches, no dents or similar.
The display (Gorilla glass or whatever it's called) is really awesome, the difference you notice immediately when the "wipe" function used when typing text. The fingers glide rucklos via the display where it has in other displays ever wiggled and glued.
The only (!) Negative I could find with the use to date is the Power button on the left top. Since I'm right-handed, I have to pretty contort your fingers to properly get at the button and get while still on VOLUME UP / DOWN buttons on the right side.
But the pure habit and for me just a mini small flaw, there is no penalty for it.
The connection via Bluetooth in the car is working properly, the speakers are crisp, just like the display. Colors are mapped colorfast, pictures look fabulous. The camera takes good enough pictures when I value better pictures, I take my SLR, so plays for me the camera for snapshots only a role, and in which I do not attach great importance to perfect shots ...
My conclusion: if does not get worse over a period of two years, the mobile massively, I'll stay with HTC. The best smartphone that I've ever owned.
PS Oh, with the microphone I have absolutely no problems!